As three years of violence in the Natal region escalated during March and April, evidence from independent monitors held Inkatha to be mainly responsible. In the three years more than 3,000 people have been killed and between 60,000 and 100,000 forced to flee their homes. Partisan policing contributed to the conflict, as did lack of confidence in the courts, as perpetrators of violence escaped with impunity.
Gatsha Buthelezi, leader of the Kwazulu bantustan and president of Inkatha, has used the bantustan state machinery to coerce people to join the organisation. The formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983 and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in 1985, which was launched in Durban, was perceived as a threat to Inkatha. Its response was the formation of the United Workers Union of South Africa (UWUSA) in an attempt to challenge COSATU.
The bantustan authorities used both Inkatha and UWUSA in attempts to undermine the strategies of popular opposition such as consumer and bus boycotts, strike action and other protests. In 1985, following the dismissal of 1,000 SARMCOL workers who were members of the COSATU-affiliated Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU), UWUSA organised their replacement. Several MAWU shop stewards were murdered by Inkatha members, an inquest found. In September 1987, as forced recruitment into UWUSA continued and as the UDF and COSATU grew in strength, Inkatha violence escalated.
In December 1987, the Natal Chamber of Commerce unsuccessfully attempted to mediate. Independent monitoring groups, including the University of Natal's Centre for Adult Education, produced evidence suggesting that Inkatha, with the support of the police, was the cause of the violence. Although over 1,000 people were detained in terms of the emergency regulations in 1987 in the region, none of them were members of Inkatha, the Centre said. The Centre supported evidence in a COSATU report that over 90 per cent of the victims of the violence were non-Inkatha members.
In 1988 and 1989, further attempts by the local UDF and COSATU leadership to reach peace failed. Calls for peace this year by Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders have gone unheeded by Inkatha.
Although the government points to the violence in Natal to justify retaining the State of Emergency, violence has escalated in spite of emergency rule. Evidence given to the RS Douglas Commission of Inquiry (established at the request of the Congress of Traditional Leaders — CONTRALESA) reveals that the South African Police have openly sided with Inkatha, standing by while crimes of arson and theft were being committed by Inkatha vigilantes. The responsibility for the policing of townships is primarily that of the Kwazulu bantustan police (KZP), controlled by Buthelezi.
The Minister of Law and Order in his visits to the area has only met with officials of Inkatha and has reiterated their assertions that the UDF is responsible for the violence. Allegations against police collaboration with Inkatha vigilantes in the region have gone uninvestigated. Repeated calls for the setting up of an independent judicial commission of inquiry made by different bodies including the churches and the ANC went unheeded.
On the other hand, in response to a demand in February by Buthelezi that black soldiers be withdrawn from the area because of alleged anti-Inkatha attitudes, the Minister of Law and Order announced in April, without any public investigation of the allegation, that the soldiers in question were being replaced.
When Inkatha launched an indiscriminate and unprovoked attack on the Edendale community on 25 March they were being escorted by the police, according to the report of a UDF/COSATU Joint Working Party. Police did not seriously attempt either to disarm or disperse Inkatha impis (warriors), but sided with them. The impis used rifles and other weapons which are not easily obtainable. The revelation that new military reinforcements to the area were from 32 Battalion, notorious for its brutal engagements in Namibia and Angola, provoked strong protest from the ANC and local authorities.
As peace efforts failed and calls for peace went unheeded, there were public protests directed at the bantustan authorities. They took the form of stayaways in April by civil servants who are members of the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union class boycotts at schools and public marches. The situation of refugees remained desperate as the regime refused to declare the area a disaster area, and police activities continued to exacerbate the situation.
