Local government elections, violence and democracy in 2016 : the killing fields of kzn

• Pages: 43-53
• Author: Mary De Haas
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC195505
• Date: 01 January 2016
• Published date: 01 January 2016

43

SA Crime QuArterly No. 57 • SePtemBer 2016

The killing f‌ields

of KZN

Local government elections,

violence and democracy

in 2016

* Prior to her retirement in 2002 Mary de Haas was a senior lecturer

and programme director in the department Social Anthropology

at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). She is currently an

Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Law, UKZN. Her KZN

Monitor website, www.violencemonitor.com, contains reports on

violence and human rights abuses in the province.

Mary de Haas*

mary@violencemonitor.com

http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413-3108/2016/v0n57a456

In KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), the province dubbed

the ‘killing f‌ields’ in the early 1990s, all post-

1994 elections have been marked by intimidation

and violence. In the past decade intra-party

conf‌lict, especially over the nomination of local

government ward candidates, has increased.

In 2011 the conf‌lict within the African National

Congress (ANC) went beyond individual

competition and was symptomatic of increasing

factionalism within the party itself.

This article explores the legacy and current

manifestations of violence in the province, and

includes a focus on the powerful eThekwini

Metro region and the intra-party violence in

the Glebelands hostel ward. Crucially, it also

contextualises the violence that preceded the

August 2016 local government elections.

Political violence 1994–2015

The violence that engulfed KZN in the 1980s

and early 1990s continued for several years

after the 1994 elections, with an estimated

4 000 deaths between May 1994 and December

1998.1 Most of the violence occurred between

the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP),

but in the Richmond area in particular many

deaths were linked to internecine ANC violence

before and after it expelled warlord Sif‌iso

Nkabinde in 1997.2

Elections have since been periods of tension,

requiring the presence of state security in volatile

areas. The f‌irst local government elections in

November 1995 were delayed in KZN until May

1996, and necessitated the deployment of the

This article explores the intersections between party interests, democratic accountability and

violence in KwaZulu-Natal. It begins with an overview of the legacy of violence in the province before

detailing how changes in the African National Congress (ANC) since the 2007 Polokwane conference

are inextricably linked to internecine violence and protest action. It focuses on the powerful

eThekwini Metro region, including intra-party violence in the Glebelands hostel ward. These events

provide a crucial context to the violence preceding the August 2016 local government elections. The

article calls for renewed debate about how to counter the failure of local government.