The Black Sash, Vol. 34, No. 3 -...

The Black Sash, Vol. 34, No. 3

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Alternative title The Black SashThe Black Sash

Author/Creator The Black Sash (Cape Town)

Publisher The Black Sash (Cape Town)

Date 1992-01

Resource type Journals (Periodicals)

Language Afrikaans, English

Subject

Coverage (spatial) South Africa

Coverage (temporal) 1991

Source Digital Imaging South Africa (DISA)

Relation The Black Sash (1956-1969); continued by Sash(1969-1994)

Rights By kind permission of Black Sash.

Format extent(length/size)

52 page(s)

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Volume 34 Number 3 January 1992THE LAND QUESTIONAPARTHEID'S EARTH LEGACYLAND OWNERSHIPAND THE RIGHT TO SHELTERTHE DAY THE BLACK SASH TOOK ON BOPTHE TAXI WAR AS A TACTIC

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SASH .1 y, I)-'Above:Living in Oukasie, a reprieved townshipoutside Brits, Western Transvaal.Opposite:Threatenedwith removal but makingscones in Machakaneng.Volume 34 Number 3 January 1992SASHcontentseditorial ruralwomenJanet Small and Mamlydia Kompereport on a growing force5the right to privateproperty or the righttoshelter?Sheena Duncan presents anargument which appeals to an innatesense of justice8apartheid's earthlegacyAscarce resource is deeplydamaged, says Lesley Lawson13goedgevonden: acase studyGeoffrey Budlender details acase ofunfinished business15the day the blacksash took on bopPat Tucker's response to four daysof dire straits inbophuthatswana -with humour

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January 1992 SASH17 36human rights land reform: amonitor, I presume? question of prioritiesFirst and Third Worldtensions Theresa Fleming takes a cool look atoutlined by Mary Burton land-policy issues19 internationalnetwork:peace and the police38land tenure out ofafricaMignonne Breier examines thecurrent state of violence225Long Street, 7700 Mowbray, SouthAfrica. Local subscriptions per yeartaxi war as a tactic 41 (postage included):Aregional case study reveals themes three tributes South Africa: R15,00of national significance, Ros Bush To AungSan Suu Kyi, Nadine External subscriptions per year (air-argues Gordimer and Mama Zihlangu26 mailpostage):Botswana, Malawi, Zambia andZimbabwe: R30,00in community UK and Europe: R37,0042 United Statesand Canada: R45,00Photo essay by Gill de vlieg reviews Australia and-Zealand: R50,00NB: If making payment fromoutside30 South Africa please add R10,00 tothe language struggle 46 cover bank charges (cheque payable toTheBlack Sash).Gudrun Oberprieler introduces a letters Black Sash Officestopic of major future importanceHeadquarters: 5 Long Street,48 7700 Mowbray, South Africa685-351333 Telephone: (021)1ax:(021)685-7510news-stripanother betrayalThe story of the KobusPienaar Mfengu byLala Steyn focuses on lessonsfromAfircan experenceSASH magazineSASH magazine is the official journal ofthe Black Sash. It is publishedthreetimes a year under a system of rotatingeditors. While editorials and editorialpolicy adhere broadly to the policiesofthe Black Sash, the views and opinionsexpressed in other material do not nec-essarily reflect the opinions oftheBlack Sash.All political comment in this issue,except where otherwise stated, is byPat Tucker, 5 Long Street,7700Mowbray.The contents of this magazine areprotected by copyright. Application forpermission to reproduce maybe ob-tained from the Black Sash, 5 LongStreet, 7700 Mowbray; telephone(021) 685 3513, facsimile (021) 6857510.in the USA permission should besought from the Fund for Free Expres-sion, 485 Fifth Avenue, NewYork~N Y,0017-6104.Published by the Black Sash, 5 LongStreet, 7700 MowbrayPrinted by Clyson Printers (Pty) LtdDesktoppublishing by birga thomasSA ISSN 0030-4843Subscriptions

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4 SASH Januan 1992EDITORIAL COMMITTEECoordinating editorSarah Anne RaynhamEditor ,fbr this issuePatTuckerProofreading, layout and designSally AndersonBetty DavenportRos EmmanuelDomini LewisCandyMalherbeSarah-Anne Raynhambirga thomasShauna WestcottReviews editorNancy GordonArchive anddistributionAnn MoldanLou ShawRegional representatives:AlbanyGlenda MorganBorderMarietjie MyburgCapeEasternCathy HicksTransraulPat TuckerNatal CoastalAnn ColvinNatal MidlandsJenny ClarenceNorthernTransvaalIsie PretoriisSouthern CapeCarol Elphickeditorial`Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield;but in the seventh youshall let it rest and lie fallow. Let the needy among your people eat of it, andwhat they leave letthe wild beasts eat ...'(Exodus 23.10 and 1 l )`Six years you may sow your field and six years you may prune yourvineyardand gather in the yield. But in the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath ofcomplete rest, a sabbath ofthe Lord ...'(Leviticus 25.2-4)T message is thousands of years old and rooted in caring-for the environmenthnd forthose, human and animal, rich and poor, who inhabit it. It is as relevantnow as it was then but it is increasingly ignoredby people who lay claim to`civilisation' but who, in the pursuit of greed, use latter-day laws andsophisticatedtechnology to disinherit their compatriots and destroy their heritage.Much of this issue focuses on what,in these transitional times, has become oneof the crucial debates - the question of land, its allocation, its preservationand itsrestoration to those who, through the long, eroding and corrupting apartheid years,have been deprived of whatwas theirs.We focus on the plight of communities who have been robbed of their inheri-tance; on the plight of landleeched beyond endurance by the overpopulationinduced by homeland and influx control legislation, by poverty,ignorance anddeprivation. We look at issues of priorities in land reform and the vexed questionof whether propertyinterests should be enshrined in a bill of rights.No conclusions are reached. The intention is simply to throw some lighton thedebate and raise some questions in the minds of those who are moving towards andthinking about a newdispensation.And in the process of examining our relation to the land, we should consider thatthe notion of ownershipof the land has not always been a given. As she looks atthe question of property rights, Sheena Duncan quotesLeviticus (25.23-24) in thisregard: `... the land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine; you arebutstrangers resident with Me. Throughout the land that you hold, you must providefor the redemption of the land.'

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lanuurv 1992 SASH rJThe understanding that human beings arestewards rather than owners of the landmay be thebasis for a creative solutionto the redistribution debate. In this firstof the articles on the land issue preparedby theTransvaal region of the BlackSash, Sheena Duncan examines thecontentious issue of property rightsthe righttoprivate propertyor the rightto shelter?`The inevitable clash will occur over property rights, and itcannot be expectedthat either side will back down withouta fight. Vested property interests - like those of the monar-chy, nobility andclerics of revolutionary France - will at-tempt to thwart the ambitions of the newly enfranchisedpopulation as far aspossible. One of their principal weap-ons of defence will be the bill of rights, and the variouscourts of law which will becalled upon to enforce it.'[Donald Leyshon, Leadership, vol. 9, Dec./Jan. 1990/91]Approximately seven million SouthAfricans are with-out adequate shelter - `adequate' being defined onlyas protection from the elements and security oftenure.This is not the consequence of the lifting of influxcontrol but is the result of the freeze on the provision offamilyaccommodation for black people in the urban areasand the rigid enforcement of the migrant-labour system,both ofwhich were intensified by the National Partygovernment in 1968.`... use of the land for the production of food forfamily,community and nation'16th century scene from A Book of Diverse Devices

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SASH January 1992`Should anyperson beallowed theconstitutionalprotection ofownership ofproperty withwasunjustlytaken awayfromothers ...?'Over 86 per cent of the land area of SouthAfrica is owned by 25 per cent of thepopula-tion, most of them white - private individuals,large corporations and the state. Most of the 14per cent set asidefor occupation by the blackpopulation is also owned by the state withownership vested in the homelandgovernments.The repeal of the land acts and the GroupAreas Act will enable some wealthy people whoare black toacquire property, but will not makeany difference to the dispossessed in the fore-seeable future.Much of the landowned by white interests isnot used. It was purchased with a view to futureprofits and lies fallow around the cities andinrural areas as an easy means of enrichment inthe future, or as a tax advantage in the present.The dispossession ofblack people has been apattern throughout the 340 years of whitecolonial occupation of South Africa. In the 20yearsbetween 1960 and 1980, more than threemillion people were removed in terms of thegovernment's resettlementpolicies and theGroup Areas Act, from land and property whichthey owned, or occupied and used.To enshrine theright to private property,subject only to the concept of `faircompensation' in the event of expropriation, inaconstitutional bill of rights will, in the presentsituation in South Africa, enshrine and perpetu-ate injustice - anexceedingly dangerous thingto do. A bill of rights which seeks to entrenchthe status quo will inevitably be ignoredandoverthrown however valuable its provisionsmay be.What, for instance, would constitute `faircompensation'?Is itwhat the purchaser paid for the propertyat the time of purchase - with or without anadjustment for inflation?Is it whatthe person or community whichwas dispossessed was paid in compensation- if they were paid at all?Is it currentmarket prices - grossly distorted0ZaarUas they are by the fact that land has been heldunused for long periods and, inconsequence,market forces have been manipulated to en-sure a shortage of a finite resource?Has any person theright to own land whichhe or she does not use and to seek constitutionalprotection to keep those in need of landforshelter or food production from making use ofit?Should any person be allowed the constitu-tional protection ofownership of propertywhich was unjustly taken away from others (inthe absence of any recognition of human rightsortheir constitutional protection) to the exclu-sion of claims for restoration, restitution or, atthe very least,reparation?Surely the debate must begin with the priorright - the right of people to basic protectionfrom rain, wind andheat, the right to privacyand security of tenure, the right to the use ofland for the production of food forfamily,community and nation.Only if these factors are taken into consider-ation can we start to construct a bill ofrightswhich will enable these needs to be met in thefuture.To take as the point of departure the enshrin-ing of theconsequence of past injustice is toperpetuate that injustice and to make it almostcertain that a future democraticallyelectedgovernment will be unable to fulfil the aspira-tions and demands of the deprived majority.That will, in turn, leadto the collapse of allorder, and bloody revolution.So, we cannot protect the rights of existingproperty owners at thepresent time in SouthAfrica. Those rights are in direct conflict withthe right of the homeless and landless to shelterandthe means of production.We can, however, look for creative ways inwhich we can address the problems ofbringinginto being a just social order. These solutions donot have to entail nationalisation which isexpensive tointroduce and non-productive in itslong-term results.We must recognise the difference between`ownership' andusage. Ownership as defined inlaws inherited from Europe is a concept foreignto the people of Africa who understandland asbeing something given in trust into the steward-ship of the present generation by the ancestorsfor the benefitof future generations. It is to beused and preserved to that end and for no otherpurpose.This understanding is exactlythe same as thebiblical understanding of land in relation tosociety and is the common inheritance of allthose broughtup in the Judeo/Islamic/Christiantraditions:`Your land must not be sold on a permanentbasis, because you do not ownit; it belongs toGod, and you are like foreigners who areallowed to make use of it.' (Leviticus 25:23)

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11 an-, 1992 SASH 7We need to note that the people we call`squatters' rarely move on to land that is beingused. Theland they occupy is land that isindeed òwned' but is not being used in anyvisible way. It is èmpty', just as thehistorybooks have taught our children through theyears of apartheid and before that the landappropriated by whitesettlers and trekkers wasèmpty'.Ironically, perhaps the way forward for us isthat designed by the private sector,through theefforts of the Urban Foundation, when theypersuaded the government to introduce the99-year leaseholdsystem in 111.That, of course, did not affect land ownedprivately but led to a form of secure tenure onland owned bythe state and its various agents inblack urban townships - the administrationboards, later development boards, andstill laterblack local authorities.This is an absolutely secure form of tenurewhich begins the 99-year cycle again ateachtransfer of a house through sale or inheritance.The land itself remains the property of the statewhich can betranslated as `the people' or, God'according to one's own interpretation of wordsand ideologies.What if that conceptwere to be enshrined ina bill of rights extended to all owners of unusedland? Some legal instrument needs to bede-vised which would compel all owners of unusedland to confer a secure leasehold title on thosewho will use theland for shelter or production.Existing rights of ownership would not beviolated and rules could be legislated toensurethat if the owners needed to terminate theleasehold agreement for purposes in the publicinterest, they wouldhave to prove the necessityin the courts and offer just compensation tothose who would have to be moved.That wouldbe a more appropriate way ofprotecting the rights of ordinary people againstthe powers of the rich or the powersofgovernment. It would approximate more closelythe concept of the jubilee year:`Count seven times seven years, atotal offorty-nine years. Then, on the tenth day of theseventh month, the Day of Atonement, send aman to blow atrumpet throughout the wholeland. In this way you shall set the fiftieth yearapart and proclaim freedom to all theinhabi-tants of the land ... In this year all property thathas been sold shall be restored to its originalowner. So whenyou sell land to your fellowIsraelite or buy land from him do not dealunfairly. The price is to be fixed according tothenumber of years the land can produce cropsbefore the next Year of Restoration. If there aremany years the price shallbe higher, but if thereare only a few years the price shall be lowerbecause what is being sold is the number ofcropsthe land can produce.' (Leviticus 25)Perhaps that is what guided the UrbanFoundation in its efforts in the lateseventies ...perhaps not! It certainly is a blueprint forleasehold rather than absolute ownership.And it is a soundfoundation for constitu-tional thinking in South Africa at the presenttime if we are to secure people in all thevariousforms of tenure which exist at present and makesure that they will not be further dispossessed inthe future bya bill of rights which entrenchesthe injustices of the past.Sheena Duncan is national advice office co-or-dinator of theBlack Sash and a former nationalpresident.Land and ShelterStatement issued from the Black Sash nationalconferenceheld on 3 March 1991T he issue of fair and equitable access to land and shelter musthe addressed in theprocess of creating a new, just and stableSouth Africa.This is a matter of considerable legal and emotionalcomplex-ity. It is a major point of conflict now, and will continue to be sountil a broadly accepted national policy can beestablished whicheffectively acknowledges - and fairly addresses - contendingclaims for the right to land and shelterincluding those which arenot necessarily based on the Western concept of private propertyand title deeds.The BlackSash believes that: all people are entitled to safe, secure and affordable shelter inan environment that providesopportunities for work and fulfil-ment of other basic needs;the process of developing an appropriate national policyonland and settlement must be based on the participation of all af-fected parties; andactions must not be taken nowwhich preclude implementationof fair policy in the future.With the above in mind, the Black Sashcalls for a moratoriumon the sale or lease of state, public andpara-statal land, if that transaction effectively removes landfrom a process ofequitable distribution;calls for a moratorium on the arrests for `squatting', evictionsand demolitions of existingdwellings, and removals in the ab-sence of a suitable alternative;calls for the amendment of the Prevention of IllegalSquattingAct so as to afford the homeless assistance rather than persecu-tion;commits itself to a long-term campaignto inform itself and the=its on the range of contending perspectives onland and the right toshelter.`(Theleaseholdsystem] ... isan absolutelysecure formof tenurewhich beginsthe 99-yearcycle again ateachtransferof a housethrough saleorinheritance'.

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SASH .larauary 1992apartheid'searth legacyThe irony and the tragedy of the heated contest over landis that so littleof this frail resource is arable and somuch is damaged beyond repair. Lesley Lawson took thepictures and tells thestory.Viewed from the air, the hills ofNatal bear vivid witness to thelegacy of apartheid. At first they aretopped byburnt-out circles, wherehomesteads have fallen in fiery battles.Then the hilltops begin to bleed withsoil erosion; herethere are vaststretches of shacks, further on, the roll-ing fields of sugar cane.The apartheid years have left a tornandwounded land. They have createda divided agricultural system bothsides of which have serious inbuilt en-vironmentalproblems. They have alsolaid the basis for irrational urbanisa-

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January 1992 SASHThe Jukskei River flowing throughAlexandra township inJohannesburg 1991tion patterns whichhave destroyedgood farming land and are threateningthe quality of water and air.Homeland and influx controllegis-lation created a period of ruralisationwhich is contrary to all world patterns.Between 1960 and 1980, theofficialfigures, quoted by Wilson andRamphele in Uprooting Poverty, theSouth African Challenge, show thatthepopulation of the homelands in-creased from 4,5 to 11 million. Muchof this increase was caused by apart-heid policy.Today the averageamount of potentially arable land inthe homelands is 0,2 hectares per per-son.The equivalent inwhite farmingareas is nearly 20 times more (2,9 hect-ares per capita) (Christodoulou andVink, The Potential for BlackSmall-holder Farmers).Abednego Mvelase, a ruralfieldworker in the Herschel district ofTranskei, describes it like this:`TheLand Acts squashed us in here likesardines. Our people are growing innumber, but the land stays thesamesize.'In fact he is wrong. The land isactually shrinking. This ongoing en-forced ruralisation had a directandimmediate effect on the quality of theland which was already too scarce tosupport a viable rural economy.Over-population, overgrazing and inappro-priateland use have led to serious soilerosion in large parts ofTranskei,Ciskei and KwaZulu. Dongas andsheet erosion take the place of grassand trees, leaving the landunusable.Creina Alcock, writing about ero-sion in the Msinga district of Natal,says: `Old fields have vanishedcom-pletely ... opening up extraordinary ex-panses of stone. Bedrock is beautiful,although there is a strangenesswalk-ing on solid currents ... In 100 years acentimetre of dust will have grownfrom the rock. In 10 000 yearstherecould be soil to plough. Rock is notmotionless. But for a man in a hurry,bedrock is the end of time. When hehitsbedrock, he is face to face withnothing.'Overcrowding and poverty havedamaged the land in other ways. Manyruralpeople rely on wood as theirmajor source of energy. Over the yearsdensely populated areas of the home-lands havebecome stripped of trees,leaving the bare hillsides even morevulnerable to erosion. For example, of250 woodlandsidentified in KwaZulu50 years ago, only one-fifth remain. Inthe Qwa;wa homeland there are noforests left at all.Theshrinking of the forests createsterrible hardship for rural women whomust walk for hours a week to fetchfirewood. A1986 study in Ciskei,Transkei, Lebowa and Gazankulushowed that the average round trip forwood varied from 5,6 to9,4 km(Eberhart and Gandar, Energy, Pov-erty and Development in SouthAfrica).Soil erosion and deforestation inturnaffect the country's river systems.The role of trees in catchment areas isto regulate the flow of water - withoutthem weare prone to flash floods anddrought. In addition, the topsoil lost byerosion lands up in the rivers in theform of silt, andexacerbates this pro-cess. Many of South Africa's majorrivers run through or originate in thehomelands. The Tugela,Caledon, Or-ange, Fish, Crocodile and Letaba riv-ers have all been affected by erosion(Cooper, From Soil Erosion toSus-tainability).Without grass, soil or trees thehomelands have become barren homesindeed. Ecosystems have beende-stroyed and many of the natural plantsand animals have long since been lost.In some areas it has becomedifficultto find grass for thatching, or medici-nal herbs. And it is no longer possiblefor the hungry to live off the fleshandfruits of the bushveld.One Transkei farmer, NotobelaSiyatsha, who has lived in Sunduzavillage all her life said. `Iam so wor-ried about the soil erosion, because ifthe ground keeps on going, how willwe live? We have no factorieshere.The soil is our factory and our wholelife is tied to it. I can still rememberwhen there were trees everywhereandthe soil was good.'In the white heartland, erosion isalso taking its toll. A recent Depart-ment of AgriculturalDevelopmentstudy has shown that at least 9 millionhectares of arable land and 21 millionhectares of grazing land inthe whitefarming areas is currently subjecteither to wind or water erosion. Of this,some 11 million hectares - or 13percent of total white farming land - hasbeen damaged by mild or severeerosion.The cause in this case isinappropriateland use, much of which has been en-couraged by decades of government af-firmative action policies.From the1930s agricultural subsidies were de-signed to help poor farmers survive. By1970, these subsidies made up20 percent of the average farming income. By1991, although the subsidy policy hadchanged, the agricultural debtamountedto over R17 billion. Rural researcherDavid Cooper writes: `Rather than help-ing agriculture as a sector, thesubsidieshave retarded its productivity by keep-ing poor "unscientific" farmers on theland.'

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10 SASH Ja!iuary 1992Soil erosion in the Herschel district ofTranskeiSome of the subsidies actively en-couragedfarming practices whichwere economic and ecological suicide.For example the maize subsidy -com-bined with a fewgood we, years -encouraged farmers to grow maize inunsuitable parts of the Transvaal andOrange Free State. In thedroughtyears of the 1980s these areas began tocollapse.Karoo farmers have also abused theland. Huntley, Siegfriedand Sunterestimate that these farmers have over-stocked their farms by about three mil-lion sheep. (Huntley,Siegfried andSunter, South jfican Environmentsinto the 21st Century) This is contrib-uting to the eastwardencroachment ofthe Karoo desert. Bushveld andgrassveld systems in white rural SouthAfrica are also under pressure.Hunt-ley et al. estimate that the carryingcapacity of 14 million hectares -e,uivalent in size toTranskei,Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei -is rapidly decreasing because of bushencroachment.Ironically the liftingof the very leg-islation which condemned people tolife in degraded rural slums has led toa whole new range ofenvironmentalproblems. Since the 1986 abolition ofinflux control, we have witnessedrapid urbanisation. The UrbanFoun-dation estimates that some 750 000 aremoving into the urban areas everyyear. The majority of these peoplecan-not be accommodated within the for-mal townships, and have made theirhomes in shacks on barren piecesofland outside the city. About a quarterof the country's population is now liv-ing in these squatter camps. This islandwhich, in a more rational society,is ideal for market gardening and othertypes of `urban' agriculture.For the residentsof the camps, thelack of housing and service infrastruc-ture - water, sewage, electricity, re-fuse removal - makes for amiserablequality of,, fe. It is also threatening thequality of the water and the air for thewhole of South Africa. Airpollutionfrom informal and formal coal stoveshangs over the townships in the Vaaltriangle where acute respiratoryinfec-tion is becoming a major cause of childdeaths.A recent study has shown that thequality of water in thePretori-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging area is de-teriorating. Researcher Hen, Coetzeewrites: `Urban settlements have amas-sive impact on water quality. Runoffeffluent and seepage all affect rawwater quality.' A Centre for ScientificandIndustrial Research study in thegreater Durban area has also shown ahigh degree of faecal contaminationfrom therunoff from informal settle-ments.It would be wrong to think that theapartheid system is entirely to blame forall of this.South Africa's environmentalproblems are also rooted in the fact thatwe have a poor resource base. Our cli-mate isdry and erratic; soils are thin andfragile. We have untrustworthy riversand insufficient ground water. In factonly about11 per cent of our land isarable.But the very frailty of the resourcebase is reason enough to expect a govern-ment tostructure land and agriculturalpolicies on principles of environmentalsustainability. However, decades of plan-ninghave been in the service of an ideo-logical vision of the future - and in thisprocess the land itself has been hurtbe-yond repair.Lesley Lawson is a writer andphotographer with a particularinterest in the environment.

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-u-1111 SASH 11organisingrural womenRural women, primary caretakers of the land, are begin-ning to assert theirrights. Among their demands areequal rights to the land for women and representation inland-policy decisions. LydiaKompe and Janet Smalldocument an emerging force.11has become something of a clicheto say that rural women inSouthAfrica are the most oppressed of thecountry's peoples. But while this factmay be generally accepted, mostpeo-ple have little understanding of what itmeans in reality and, like other facts oflife, such as the drought in theEasternCape, observers believe the situationis unchangeable, an unpleasant naturalphenomenon.Womenthemselves, though, are farfrom passive victims accepting theiroppression. Though women in remoterural areas oftenhave little power orresources to challenge their materialand psychological oppression, in theTransvaal Rural ActionCommittee's(TRAC) experience, they are bothacutely conscious of the problems andconstantly seeking ways tochangetheir circumstances.Recently, when TRAC fieldworkerswere discussing the question of watersupply in thevillages of Moutse in theNorthern Transvaal, a local activisttold of direct action taken by a groupof women. There isonly one boreholein the village of Mpeleng which pro-vides drinking water. The pump regu-larly breaks down leavingresidentswithout water until officials from theDepartment of Development Aid senda technician to fix the pump,whichmight take a couple of weeks.In September 1991, a group of 200women marched to the local Depart-ment ofDevelopment Aid office anddelivered a petition demanding bettermaintenance of the water pump. Therewas noreporting of this event in news-papers. When we asked the activistwhy the press was not informed, hesaid the womendid not want to delaytheir planned action while the presswere contacted. The march was an or-ganic action, arisingfrom the dailyexperience of suffering in women'slives.This example gives some insight intothe basis of women'sorganisation inrural areas. Traditionally women aremembers of burial societies and churchclubs. Through theseforums, they giveeach other and receive from each othermaterial assistance. TRAC fieldworkerLydia Kompe hasbeen building on thesefoundations in the years she has beenworking with communities which haveengaged instruggles to resist forced re-movals and incorporations.

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12 SASH .-u- 1992`Women have to carry the full responsibility of the rural household,but in many instances they havenot been given the authorityneeded for decision-making.'It is well documented that becauseof the apartheid policies ofinflux con-trol and migrant labour, women haveended up the majority of residents inrural areas. They have had tocarry fullresponsibility both for managing thehousehold and for any agriculturalsubsistence.Betterment policies, forcedremov-als and incorporations into homelandshave had a serious impact on people'saccess to land and ability toengage inviable agriculture. In earlier times,there was a strict gender division oflabour between men and women inthehousehold and in agriculture. The so-cial relations in the family have beenaffected by the destruction ofthehousehold as a self-sufficient entity.Women have to carry the full respon-sibility of the rural household, but inmanyinstances they have not beengiven the authority needed for deci-sion-making. In some ways their posi-tion hasbecome even less empowered.With the community-threateningcrises of forced removals and incorpo-rations, itwasthewomen who facedthe bulldozers and policemen. Thewomen had the confrontations withofficials and received theeviction no-tices. It was also the women who hadto sustain the community in the dread-ful process of resettlement.They hadto reconstruct homes, find schoolingfor children and places to shop.In TRAC's experience, womenwereusually the fiercest resisters becausethey stood to lose the most. The menwere full members of thecommunity,but left most weeks for work in aneighbouring town. The day-to-dayexistence of the community was inthehands of the women and the oldpeople.Traditional community decision-making structures such as thekgotla(community council or committee)most often comprise older males rep-resenting the family groups orkgoros.The kgotla discusses the situation, as-sesses all information and decides oncommunity strategy. Since inmanytimes of crisis the decision-makerswere absent, they had to rely on reportsfrom their wives or sisters.TRACfieldworkers were able to use this ab-surd situation to promote the import-ance of including women in theactualdiscussions.It was exactly such a situation thatallowed the Mogopa women to getformal representation on thekgotla -a most unusual event. TRAC hasworked with women's groups in manycommunities, but in few other caseshasthis work resulted in women gain-ing formal representation on suchbodies.The involvement of the women to-gether inthe struggles has had an im-portant impact on their consciousness.For example, Braklaagte in the west-ernTransvaal, which was forcibly in-corporated into Bophuthatswana, hasa strong women's group. They or-ganised astokvel or money collectionwhich was used in times of crisis tobail children out of jail, pay for trans-port of injured tohospital or conveysupporters to court cases. The abilityof the women to finance such activitieswhich were of generalcommunityconcern helped to promote their stand-ing in the community and to bolstertheir self-esteem.In the 1990s,rural communities arefacing fewer old-style apartheidforced removals or incorporations. In-stead TRAC is being askedto assist withissues like reclaiming land, develop-ing neglected rural areas, negotiatingwith local authorities forresources andconsidering policy options for the fu-ture. The women's groups that beganor grew during the crises arestill inplace. Their concerns now are the con-ditions under which people live today.TRAC has hosted forums forwomenfrom distant rural communities in theTransvaal to meet together and talkand the issues arising arewide-rang-ing. The women speak of the poorinfrastructure which makes their livesso hard - inadequate watersupply,poor health services and few educa-tional opportunities for their childrenor themselves. They have awell-de-veloped consciousness about nationalpolitical issues and about domesticmatters. Many of them are activesup-porters of political organisations suchas the African National Congress(ANC), but they express the need foraforum or association of rural womenwhich could deal with the real 'bread-and-butter' problems in their lives.TheRural Women's MovementIn April 1990, sixteen women's groupswhich had worked with -AC in the pastmet for aweekend workshop inMatjakaneng, near Brits. After compar-ing information about their areas andhistories, thewomen decided theywanted to formalise some kind of ruralwomen's association which would bringwomen togetherfrom time to time. TheRural Women's Movement, a loosestructure of women's groups, wasborn.At a follow-upmeeting in October1990, an executive structure waselected. This executive has held threemeetings in 1991. Membersof the ex-ecutive felt that groups with whichTRAC has contact in the northernTransvaal should be drawn intothestructure.TRAC held two workshops in thenorth - the first, in December 1990,brought five areas together andre-sulted in the election of three moreexecutive members. At that workshop,the women discussed the situation intheirareas and examined ways ofstrengthening their groups. There wasmuch discussion about demands forrights in afuture South Africa.The northern Transvaal has strongtraditions of tribal authority and thewomen spoke about the`strongrepression' of women by chiefs. Theydid not reject the system of chiefs com-pletely, they merely wanted thechiefsto recognise and support women's ef-forts to organise. The participants alsodiscussed the problems with someofthe local practices such as polygamywhich can cause terrible conflicts be-tween women. Delegates felt thatwomen'slack of independent accessto land in rural areas has been onereason why women have agreed topolygamousmarriages.The second northern Transvaalworkshop, in May 1991, was forwomen's groups from Moutse, a large=en's43 villages nearGroblersdal. Common problems aboutwater supply, no access to land, poorhealth facilities andinadequate educa-tional opportunities came up in reportsfrom the groups. Women agreed thatstrong organisation wasthe only wayto tackle these problems. They dis-cussed strategies for approaching the

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local tribal authority to get support totake up these struggles. They also sug-gested future policy changes whichwouldaddress these problems in thelonger term.Delegates asserted that womenshould have independent rights toland, andwomen should be repre-sented on the land distribution mecha-nisms. Many opinions were airedabout the oppressiveaspects of tradi-tion which affect women. It wasstrongly felt that though this was adifficult issue to tackle, becausemenfelt threatened, it was the responsibil-ity ofwomen to try and change oppres-sive practices in the interests oftheirdaughters' futures.goedgevonden:a case studyThe 7 000 people of the Goedgevonden community areamong themillions whose struggle against forcedremoval and dispossession continues. Geoffrey Budlenderof the LegalResources Centre outlines their embattledsituation.A draft constitution for ruralwomenThe Rural Women's Movementexec-utive drew up a draft constitution inJune 1991. The proposed constitutionoutlines the following aims: To createforums for rural womento unite against oppression;to demand that women have equalrights to land;to encouragewomen to be self-reliant, independent and creative;to achieve a situation in whichwomen have a say in politicalmat-ters at a national level and in ourcommunities;to help women gain access to lit-eracy, adult education andtrain-ing to improve their lives;to acquire =c es to developrural areas would improvewomen's daily lives,to provideopportunities to bringrural and urban women closer.The Rural Women's Movementsees itself open to all oppressedruralwomen in the northern Cape andTransvaal who wish to join the strug-gle for women's rights. It is an import-antstart in the struggle forempowerment of a group of peoplewho have no intention of remainingforever oppressed.JanetSmall and Mamlydia Kompeare TRAC fieldworkers.From 1947 the Goedgevonden com-munity, about 7 000 people,livedand farmed on several Ventersdorpfarms owned by the South African De-velopment Trust. As was commoninsuch areas, the people regarded the landas their own, although they were notformally the owners.A forced removaltakes placeIn 1978 the community was removedagainst its will to the areas ofVrischgewaagd and Gannapan, intermsof the `homeland consolidation'policy.After they had been moved, not allthe land which had been promised wasmadeavailable to them. Their situa-tion was aggravated when additionalpeople were put on part of the landallocated tothem. A once self-support-ing and contented community founditself reduced to an unproductive anddestitutecondition.The government leased the land atGoedgevonden to white farmers, whouse it for grazing. Thus far theLegalResources Centre (LxC) has seen onlyone of these leases, which provides fora monthly rent of less than 17cents perhectare. The other leases are appar-ently in similar terms. The leases aresubject to one month's notice.Thesettlement areas are incor-porated into Bophuthatswanawithout the consent of the com-munityIn 1984 Vrischgewaagdand Gannapanwere incorporated into Bophuthatswana- without consultation with the com-munity, and without itsconsent. Be-cause of its opposition to incorporationinto Bophuthatswana, the communityhas continually found itself atlogger-heads with the Bophuthatswana author-ities. The authorities refuse to allowthem to hold meetings, and thepolicehave acted harshly against them.For many years, the communitymade repeated attempts to resolve itsproblemsthrough negotiations withthe South African government.The Legal Resources Centrewrites to the statepresidentasking for a meeting on thematterOn 2 February 1990 the community'sattorneys (-) wrote to the statepresi-dent describing the community's prob-lems, and asking for a meeting withhim or a member of his cabinettodiscuss the matter.On 10 May 1990 the deputy minis-ter of Education and Development Aid(Piet Marais) repliedthat `... it will not

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14 SASH .Ianmy 1992be possible for me to grant you or yourclients an interview, due to the fact thatthey had no landrights at Goedgevondenand Velgevonden and that the farmsVrischgewaagd and Gannalaagte are nowincorporatedinto Bophuthatswana...'The letter suggested that the com-munity direct its complaints to thepresident ofBophuthatswana.On 29 May 1990 the LRC wrote toMr Marais pointing out that past at-tempts to negotiate withtheBophuthatswana authorities had notonly been fruitless, but had com-pounded matters, as the communityhad beenvisited with harsh retributorymeasures. The letter urged the deputyminister to reverse the attitude ex-pressed in hisletter, adding:`ln the light of what our clients per-ceived to be the South Africangovernment's betrayal of them; yourre-fusal to meet with them; and now theadvertising for sale of the farms referredto above, we are instructed that ourcli-ents have resolved to return to the landon which they were living prior to theirremoval to VrischgewaagdandGannapan. Despite advising them of theconsequences of this course of action,they appear to be quite fearless intheirresolve. We have urged our clients notto embark upon this course of action, atleast pending your response to thisletter.The disastrous consequences, for allconcerned, of an unsympathetic re-sponse from the South Africangovern-ment at this stage need hardly be stated.'The government refuses tomeet; the community returns tothelandThe government response was con-tained in a letter dated 7 August 1990from Mr Marais:`I have to inform youthat as yourclients live in the independent country ofBophuthatswana, it would be inappro-priate and totally irregularfor me toagree to meet them for discussions.'Its efforts to resolve its desperate sit-uation through negotiationshavingfailed, the community decided to moveback to Goedgevonden. On 11 and 12April 1991 about 400 peoplemoved onto the land at Goedgevonden and startedbuilding their homes.The Department of Agriculture thensealed offthe area. A water truck pro-vided by Operation Hunger, a statehealth mobile clinic and trucks con-taining basic foodsupplies have notbeen allowed on to the land.An eviction order and the right toappeal are grantedThe state attorney -representing boththe minister of Agricultural Develop-ment and the white farmers who hadrented the land andadjoining farmsfrom the government-made an urgentapplication to the Supreme Court forthe eviction of theGoedgevondencommunity. Mr Justice Goldstein ulti-mately granted an eviction order, butmade the followingremarks:`Given the profoundly tragic his-tory of this matter, no court can grantan order for eviction in thepresentcircumstances affecting hundreds ofpeople without feelings of distress andanguish. But the principle at stakehereis a cornerstone of the rule of law. Theprinciple that no man may take the lawinto his own hands as therespondentshave done is sacrosanct ... It existedlong before the misfortune which dis-possessed the respondentswas con-ceived of, and hopefully, it willcontinue to exist and be respected longafter that misfortune is corrected, anditand their pain are no more than a bloton the pages of our history books.'Judge Goldstein also remarked, inrelation tothe government's refusal tomeet community representatives: `Itseems to me that the government com-mitted an errorof judgement in adopt-ing this attitude. The fact that therespondents were living inBophuthatswana did not detractfromthe fact that their grievance related toevents in South Africa and that theylaid claim to ground in this country,bothof which vitally concerned theSouth African govemment. Perhapstimeous negotiations which the re-spondents wishedto engage in couldhave avoided the crisis which hasarisen here.'Judge Goldstein gave the commu-nity leave toappeal to the AppellateDivision against the eviction order.This means that the eviction order isstayed until the appealhas been de-cided. This will probably happen in1992.The AWB threatens thecommunityMeanwhile, on 18 April, theAfrikanerWeerstandsbeweging (AWB) and thelocal member of parliament held apublic meeting at Ventersdorp. Atthatmeeting an ultimatum was issued: un-less the Goedgevonden communitymembers were removed within 30days,the AWB would remove them.On the night of 10 May a largegroup of white farmers, apparentlyfrom a wide area,made two attacks onthe community. They were repulsedby the police and thereafter attacked aneighbouring blackcommunity.Community members made an ur-gent application to the Supreme Courtfor an order interdicting the AWBandMr Eugene TerreBlanche from attack-ing them. In due course, an interdictwas granted.The communityrepresentativesand the `task force' meetDuring the court proceedings, com-munity members and LRC and Trans-vaalRural Action Committee (TRAC)representatives finally obtained thelong-sought interview with the gov-ernment. Theymet three cabinet min-isters (Justice, Development Aid andAgriculture) and two deputy minis-ters. The governmentrepresentativesstated that a `task group' would be setup to negotiate with the community.The task group, it emerges,is asub-committee of the crisply named`Committee for the Co-ordinated Hand-ling of State Owned Land forAgricul-tural Purposes'. The chairperson isGilles van de Wall, former directorgeneral of the Department ofDevelop-ment Aid.At the end of August communityrepresentatives met the task force.Since then they have had threemeet-ings with the task force in which theyhave pressed the community's claimfor the restoration =unity's land.Acurious aspect of this procedureis that the government appears to bebypassing its own Advisory Commis-sion forLand Allocation, which is cre-ated by the Abolition of RaciallyBased Land Measures Act.Whether the communityrepresen-tatives make submissions to that com-mission will depend on what successthey have in the currentmeetings withthe task force. UGeoffrey Budlender is deputynational director of the LegalResources Centre.

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the daythe black sashtook on bopWhen a posse of Transvaal Sashers set out for a quicklittle protest action inBophuthatswana, they thought theywould picnic in a scenic spot on the way home. It didn'tturn out like that, says PatTucker.E thel never did get to see Henry Vor join her friends for dinner,though she made good progress ontheintricate, pastel-shaded (and miracu-lously spotlessly clean) baby blanketshe was knitting. The picnic was eatenonthe charge-office floor, not in theveld under the early summer sun.Ken's birthday present was consumedbefore hehad a chance to know aboutit. Nothing went quite as it should haveon that steamy Saturday in Mmabatho.Still, thestalwart women of the BlackSash succeeded in retaining both theirsashes (`we will not surrender ourtradi-tionaleapons', declared Gudrun) andtheir senses of humour despite all theefforts of the Bophuthatswanaauthori-ties to remove both.In retrospect, they, and their fivenon-Sash co-prisoners, look on theevents of thatweekend as somethingof an adventure with plenty of laughterin the telling. Their first post-prisonmeeting was notunlike an old girls'reunion. None the less, the taste ofBophuthatswana `democracy' thatrocketed them into theheadlines andinto the courts was neither fun norfunny.Saturday, 5 October 1991, beganearly for the group whogathered in aparking lot, picnic hampers (and, as itturned out, knitting) at the ready. Theobject: to focus on thebanning of theBlack Sash and on the manifold injus-tices in Mangope's homeland haven ofconstitutionally entrenchedcivil rights.Waved off by Barbara, left standingbleakly holding a scribbled list ofnames and numbers of next of kin,theytravelled in convoy (`because wewanted to be noticed'), instructed byEthel to look out for a suitable picnicspot for theirreturn.Gill was fined for speeding throughMagaliesburg. Pam was feelinggrumpy at having had to get up at fourinorder to drive for three hours, pro-test for half an hour and spend threehours driving back. They boughttuisgebak inKoster (animal-shapedbiscuits and shortbread - the gift Kennever got) and had tea at Paul's housein Rooigrond.Oneof two Lauras did a recce to seewhere the roadblocks were. Sheilasuggested an obscene answer toEthel's worriesabout what to say toany obstructive policeman. They alldiscussed at length what they woulddo if they couldn't getthrough theroadblock and not at all what wouldhappen if they did.They did. The recce revealed theroadblock underthe bridge - so theywent over the bridge. Simple, really.Past Mangope's statue (which was too`measly' to make anappropriate focusfor the protest) and on to the shoppingcentre where a triangular island pro-vided an ideal venue.Itwas decided that 11 people wouldpicket (and link arms around the lamppost on the island if anybody shouldtry toarrest them), the rest would re-cord the event on film. So the 11 stood- determined to hold out for 30 min-utes butprepared to go quietly after 15if asked to.It didn't quite work that way. Theyalmost made it through the 30 minutesbuta determined warrant-officerbrought an abrupt end to the stand byconfiscating the posters. Demanding areceipt, ourbrave protesters, accom-panied by assorted journalists and ob-servers,drove into the grounds of theMmabatho policestation, a Laura re-marking as they passed the gates thatperhaps this wasn't such a good idea.She was right. Etheland anotherLaura will long remember room 116into which they were led ... and left.Ethel fumed because she wasgoing tobe late for the movie. Laura fumedbecause she wanted the poster boardsback for the morning market.Thosewaiting in the charge office fumed be-cause they didn't know what had hap-pened to Ethel and Laura. Sotheyopened the picnic baskets. Gill went tolook for them, calling the names of themissing pair insistently as shewan-dered through the empty corridors.They emerged (with receipts). Ev-eryone emerged - into the courtyard,intotheir cars - and found themselvessurrounded by heavily armed policewho said they weren't going anywhere.Andsome of them didn't. Others

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16 SASH January 1992Released. The detainees and theirlawyers after their release fromMmabatho policestation.Previous page: Janet Small and GudrunOberprieler make their protest at theBophuthatswanademonstration.THE CASTBlack Sashers:Ethel WaltMamlydia KompeLaura PollecuttAdelheid KistnerPam LloydSheilaWeinbergGudrun OberprielerDi CharltonJanet SmallPenny GeerdtsKathleen SidebottomGill de VliegMaref:LauraTaylorObservers:Lauri Adams and Chris Benner(USA)Kerstin Moller and HeinerKucherer (Germany)did - they wentas far as Mafikengpolice station. Gill was released be-cause she had a press card. The press,having sufferedconsiderable harass-ment, were released because they werethe press. The rest spent one of thenastier weekends oftheir lives copingwith overcrowded cells, inoperativetoilets, unusable showers, inediblefood, filthy blankets - at leastone ratand fear as to whether or when theywould get out.Despite pizzas and Kentucky FriedChicken provided by Gilland theMafikeng Anti-Repression Forum(Maref), entertainment for the Mafikengcaptives provided by Mamlydia, andageneral aura of courage, it was no picnic.They waited -alot. They waited forcleaning materials (a plate piled highwitha year's supply of Vim and afilthy cloth). They waited for food(prison food supplied without eatingutensils; non-prisonfood suppliedwith love). They waited for their law-yer (finally allowed in late on Sundaynight). They waited for news oftheirfate (viciously distorted by assortedpolicemen).Adelheid became ill and was takento hospital - an experience shewouldnot willingly repeat. (`If a good doctorarrives in Bophuthatswana,' she wastold, `they immediately deporthim.')But she did come back with a medicinespoon!Back home, Barbara was undersiege - press, families,concernedSashers, press, families ... A picketwas mounted in Jan Smuts Avenuecalling for the release of thecaptives.`I am here,' said one poster-holder,`because we need Ethel for a fourth atbridge.'Meanwhile in Bop cameMonday,came court and cheerful advocateLawLever to tell them that theBop= rities had called out the `bigguns' andwere going to oppose bail.They did. And, in the process, threwthe book at them - charged them withfurthering theaims of an unlawful or-ganisation and disturbing the peace.Back to the cells.Came Tuesday and a knight in theform ofSenior Counsel, Jules Browde.Instant trial. Conviction for holding anillegal gathering, fines - release!Now they aretalking about what todo next! Some of them concede theyare in no hurry to take their protestposters back toMmabatho. 0Pat Tucker is a journalist and bookeditor and a member of the BlackSash's Transvaalregion.

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1-1992 SASH 17human rights monitor, I presume?In response to apparent tensions among a world-wide range ofnon-governmentalhuman rights organisations, the Harvard Law School Human Rights Programme andHuman RightsInternet sponsored a five-day workshop for human rights activists to ex-plore both differences and commonalities.Mary Burton finds the report on this interna-tional workshop particularly pertinent to current discussions on the rolesandresponsibilities of human rights organisations during the South African transition period.number,,' orgincludinganithsatioens in BlackSouthSashAfrica,define themselves as human rights or-ganisations. We all proclaim ourcom-mitment to the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, campaign for a bill ofrights to be enshrined in a newconstitu-tion, and seek to contribute to a `humanrights culture' in this country. Indeed,after the recent publication ofthe SouthAfrican Law Commission's latest rec-ommendations for a bill of rights, thereis a considerable degree ofaccordacross a range of political opinionabout the need to foster and protecthuman rights.This apparent consensusconcealsrather different understandings ofwhat can be classified as human rights,and particularly of what the roleofhuman rights monitors and activistsshould be. The differences encompassquestions about whether socio-eco-nomicinequalities can be dealt withthrough a bill of rights and a constitu-tional court (the `second generation'rights), andwhether human rights ac-tivists are or even can be impartial intheir monitoring and exposure of vio-lations. There isdisagreement aboutwhether non-governmental or-ganisations (NGOs) concerned withhuman rights should documentandcriticise only state action which con-travenes human rights, or should alsodirect their attention to actions byop-position groups.A recently published report of aRetreat of Human Rights Activistsdemonstrates that thesedifferencesand self-searchings are not peculiar toSouth Africa. The report, compiled byHenry J. Steiner and calledDiversePartners, shows how 32 participants atthis five-day retreat came `from Af-rica, Asia, East and WestEurope,Latin America and the Caribbean, theMiddle East and the United States -the majority from the Third World,aquarter of them women'. They repre-sented non-governmental humanrights organisations (which have expe-rienceda dynamic growth in the lasttwenty years, as has the human rightsmovement itself) and internationalNGOs, defined asthose which operatein two or more countries, for exampleAmnesty International and the Inter-national Commission ofJurists.The purpose of the retreat was `toexplore the problems and disagreementswithin the NGO community, in ordertoinduce reflection by all participantsabout what NGOs' roles are and mightbecome', and `to explore whatwasdisputed as well as what was shared,frustrations as well as satisfactions'.One of the early questions dealtwith washow, given the diversity ofNGOs, to define a `human rights' or-ganisation. For a public interest groupto qualify, must itbase its criticism ofstate conduct on international humanrights law? Many of the participantsconcluded that `it wouldbe impracti-cal and unwise to maintain a protectiveboundary around some core or tradi-tional preserve of humanrights work,such as the protection of individualsagainst violence or discrimination.Who would define and monitor suchaboundary, and what sanctions could beimposed on organisations crossing itbut still claiming to be humanrightsNGOsT Others argued that `to be ef-fective, it was important for NGOs tohold to clearly defined mandatesbasedon consensual legal norms'.Changing mandatesThe report refers frequently to the`mandates' of organisations -what wein the Black Sash call our `aims andobjectives', as set out in our own con-stitution. It is interesting to readhowsuch mandates differ, and also howthey vary over time. The entire humanrights movement is in a period ofchangeafter a phase of strong growth,and it seems to be moving towards alinkage of human rights concernswithdevelopmental and environmental is-sues. It is also being pressed to dealwith ethnic conflict, with genderdis-crimination, and with disputed landrights of indigenous peoples. We inSouth Africa are facing the samechallengesand experiencing the sameuncertainty about what the `coreidentity' of the human rights move-ment is.The initialmandate of an organisa-tion is determined by the political con-text in which it comes into existence.A changingpolitical context can leadto a change in mandate. Ideologicalpositions and geographical locationare also relevant:`Western NGOscommitted to the liberal traditionstress the protection of civil and polit-ical rights, whereas NGOswithinThird World states of massive povertygive more attention to economic andsocial rights.' The need to raisefunds,and to retain the support of membersor attract greater support, as well asassessment of levels ofeffectivenessare other factors which can influencea change in mandate. So too are inter-nal and external pressuregroups - forexample those demanding a more spe-cific focus on women, or children, orland rights. In turn, a change inman-date is bound to have an impact onmembership, support and effective-ness.The traditional perception ofhumanrights organisations is that they have afocus on civil and political rights, a com-mitment to due process, anindividualis-tic rather than a group orientation inrights advocacy, and a belief in the ruleof law. NGOs in this classicwestern

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18 SASH Janum v 1992liberal mould tend to see themselves asnon-party political monitors, objectivedefenders ofrights, and investigatorsof government abuses or discrimina-tion. In much of the world, however,the pressing issues ofpoverty and de-privation as well as repression are suchthat civil and political rights are onlyone part of a solution.When humanrights organisations focus on only oneaspect, their work is incomplete, andthe concept of human rightsitself isundermined in the eyes of those whosuffer oppression and exclusion fromopportunity. The report reflectsthesedifferent perceptions and the continu-ing debate they engender.Dilemmas of transitioncOne chapter deals withNGOs in 'spe-ial situations': political transformation after aperiod of repression; foreign occupation; internal armedconflict.The section on political transfor-mation or `redemocratisation' has aparticular resonance for us, as we hopefora `democratisation' of South Af-rica. Participants from countrieswhere political life is opening or re-opening spokeabout their frustrationsas the international community and,indeed, much of the national commu-nity itself, felt able torelax its vigi-lance, even while adverse effects ofrepression remained. Chile was de-scribed as `a country where thesunseems to be willing to shine again butwhere we will not see a rainbow sosoon'. As the storms of violence assailachanging South Africa, we wonder ifthe clouds will ever lift, and it seemsfar too early to expect the rewardsofsunshine.The second section on countriesunder foreign occupation looked at thedifficulties and strategies of NGOsinsuch a situation.Thirdly, special questions wereposed for human rights organisationsin countries which experienceinternalarmed conflict. Should they `coverconduct by insurgents - guerrillaforces seeking political change, anethnic orreligious group seeking self-determination - as well asgovernments'? A decade ago it wouldhave been almost uniformpolicy toview conduct by non-governmentalgroups, `however destructive towardsopponents or unengaged civilians,as amatter for the state's criminal law ...That policy has changed in many in-stances in the light of the growingin-cidence and brutality of ethnic,religious and ideological conflicts,and in response to sharp criticism bygovernmentsof NGO reports that arecritical of state action but silent aboutsimilar or worse behavior of insur-gents.' This is thedilemma which hastroubled the Black Sash on many oc-casions, and poses a challenge to allhuman rightsorganisations in thiscountry.The ways in which governmentsdevise strategies to protect themselveswere also dealtwith. In some cases,governments can control the flow offunds to NGOs, and impose other re-strictions on their work.In addition,mention was made of the growing so-phistication of governments in coun-tering adverse reports. somehaveemployed public relations firms, orsought United Nations advisory ser-vices, or aid programmes forimprovedadministration of justice. These strate-gies may produce cosmetic reforms, orhave some real benefits, butthey willtend to divert attention from the workof the NGOs in exposing violations ofrights.Working relationshipsTherelationships and networkings be-tween not only NGOS and interna-tional NGOs but also between NGOsand politicalparties, mass movementsand religious groups gave rise to con-siderable discussion at the retreat. Pre-dictably, thedifferences here wereshaped by the difference of politicaland socio-economic climate in the var-ious regions.Numerous tensions sur-faced, and the view eventuallyexpressed could be no more than thatthe `independence of anddiversityamong NGOs had a positive value ...the apparent chaos, better understoodas decentralisation and diversity,con-stitutes the movement's great strength:the dynamic and evolving character ofNGOs, and their influence onhumanrights thinking as a whole'.Despite these and other sharp dif-ferences, the final assessments spokeof theenhanced mutual understandingand solidarity which had resulted fromthe exchanges. The process of discov-ery ofvariations within the experienceof the international human rightsmovement had led participants to re-flect freshly ontheir own work.The value of the report for us lies inits ability to cause all of us who are partof this movement to do thesame. Arewe to become victims of the divisionsso prevalent in South Africa? Are weto point fingers at oneorganisationwhich claims to support the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights butseems to favour the allies andorgansof the state while condemning the ac-tions of the resistance movements, orat another which appears to leantheopposite way? We may need to behonest about the fact that a =rhet-oric of rights does not necessarilymean wehave a common vision ofwhat a transformed society should be.But surely there must be a way inwhich we canbecome `diversepartners' in the process of trying tobuild a human rights culture here. Thismust mean an examinationof ourmandates, of the way we define ourtasks, and of how effective we can bein communicating to the widersocietyour shared belief in the enduring val-ues of equal and enforceable humanrights for all.We in the Black Sashneed to exam-ine how we can impartially and effec-tively fulfil our mandate in thistransitional period. Is it enoughtocarry out the `characteristic activities'of a human rights NGO: monitoring,investigating and reporting on viola-tionsby the state; lobbying local andinternational bodies; mobilising inter-est groups; educating the public; rep-resenting theviews and needs of our`clients'? If we did all this well, itwould surely be a significant contribu-tion. It would be betterstill if we coulddo it in a way which enables us toexamine the structures which createthe conditions for injustice, andthen tochallenge the system of oppressionand denial of rights as a whole (nomatter who holds the reins ofpower).Then indeed we could claim to be trueto our original aims of promoting jus-tice, democracy and human rightsandliberties for all.Mary Burton is a vice-president of'the Black Sash and a formernational president.The reportdiscussed is Diverse Partners.No 7-Governmental Organisations in theHuman Rights Movement. The Report ofaRetreat of Human Rights Activists,co-sponsored by the Harvard Law SchoolHuman Rights Program and HumanRightsInternet; by Henry J. Steiner.

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peaceand thepoliceWhen the National Peace Accord was signed on14 September 1991 hope was high that politicalviolencewould diminish significantly. This hope faltered duringdelays in setting up structures forensuringimplementation of the accord. Black Sash members wereamong those who warned that a vital ingredientcould bemissing: commitment from some of the signatories -notably the South African police. A major obstacletopeace continues to be community mistrust of the securityforces. Measures to build community confidence inthepolice are essential if the accord is to succeed.Mignonne Breier reports.The political violence that hasspreadthrough South Africa isthreatening to destroy its already ail-ing economy and kill hope of negoti-atedsettlement.Between January 1990 and July1991, according to a recent article inIndicator South Africa, more than3500 people died in political violence.Latest reports from Black Sash moni-tors confirm what the newspapers saydaily:there is no sign of abatement.In Natal alone, according to theBlack Sash Repression MonitoringGroup there, anestimated 1 088 peo-ple were killed in unrest in the first 10months of this year. That is about fourpeople aday.Policemen, too, have died in thecrossfire. AWeekly Mail article in No-vemberput the number of policemenwho hadbeen murdered on the job inthe first 10 months of 1991 at 112compared with 107 for the whole of1990. Of this year'spolice deaths, 61occurred in `unrest and terror' inci-dents. In addition, the report said, therewere at least 548unrest-related attackson the police and 868 policemen wereinjured in the course of their duties.Various organisationshave tried toapportion the blame for the violence.The Community Agency for SocialEnquiry (CASE), published areport re-cently in which Inkatha came off worst- held to be the aggressor in 130 re-ported acts of violence on theReefduring a 12-month period. The SouthAfrican Police (SAP) were found tohave been the aggressor in 84reportedacts of violence, the African NationalCongress (ANC) in 13.This report, predictably, was re-jected by Inkathaand the SAP. Thelatter responded with details of a sur-vey of its own which identified theANC as the majoraggressor.While reports like these say asmuch about statistics as they do aboutviolence, countless other sourcesindi-

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cate that behind the violence are peopleintent on destabilising the community.Of particular concern are allega-tionsthat members of the SAP, insteadof trying to stop the mayhem, are ac-tually encouraging it either by deliber-ate actsor by failure to do their duty.Reports from Black Sash monitorsdetail allegations of police misconductthat range frompersistent racist ha-rassment of communities (such as theregular arrest of people on charges ofdrunkenness in partsof the easternCape) to allegations of police incite-ment to attack in parts of Natal.In Cape Town in October 1991,ajoint forum of organisations (includ-ing the Black Sash) which had beenmonitoring violence in the black town-shipsbecame so concerned about alle-gations of police involvement invarious acts of violence, particularly inKhayelitsha,that they put a series ofdemands to the regional commissionerof police. One of these demands wasfor anindependent monitoring team tomonitor police conduct in the blacktownships surrounding Cape Town.In her latestreport on the violence inthe Natal Midlands region, Black Sashresearcher, Anne Truluck, concludes:`The role of thesecurity forces var-ies considerably from area to area. Insome areas, security forces appear tobe actively involved indestabilisation;in one they have been actively facili-tating peace. Their overriding role,however, has been one ofomitting todo their job. It would appear that indi-vidual personality plays too great apart in determining security forceac-tion or lack of it'That policing is needed is not dis-puted. As Paul Graham argued in anarticle in Idasa's journalDemocracy inAction recently, `violence increaseswhere law and justice are inactive'.`Structures and activities whichin-crease the accountability of securityforces are essential', he said. `Butthese need to be created to enhancethepolice's ability to act professionally,rather than to sideline them. There isno alternative to the security forces -onlythey have the resources to police.Enabling them to become officers ofthe peace is the way forward.'The NationalPeace Accord, signedin September by more than 20 or-ganisations including the government,ANC and Inkatha, ismeant to do justthat. Provisions that could be used tocompel sound policing practices and acooperative relationshipbetween thepolice and the communities include: a code of conduct for the police;a special unit to be set up in termsofthe accord to investigate alle-gations against the police; andthe Commission of Inquiry intothe Prevention of PublicViolenceand Intimidation.`There is no alternative to thesecurity forces - only theyhave the resources to police.Enablingthem to becomeofficers of the peace is the wayforward.'The value of the Peace Accord willrest with its ability to holdthe signato-ries to the principles to which theyhave committed themselves. `This canbe done by monitoringcompliancewith the accord and exposing non-compliance. Apart from formal moni-tors, each and every individualcanassume some responsibility for this"watchdog" role by familiarisingthemselves with the principles and ob-jectivesof the accord and by notingand reporting failure to abide by it.'A major limitation of the Peace Ac-cord is that itssuccessful implementa-tion depends on the commitment of theparties involved. Laurie Nathan, se-nior researcher atthe Centre for Inter-group Studies, Cape Town, is one ofseveral observers oft he SAP scene whobelieve it is unlikelythat this commit-ment will be forthcoming from the po-lice. He believes the SAP are unlikelyto change in anymeaningful way dur-ing the transition process in South Af-rica for the following reasons:The police areoverwhelminglypartisan. For decades their pri-mary role has been the mainte-nance and defence of minorityrule andapartheid and white po-licemen are renowned for theirracist attitudes. About two-thirdsof the police in the TransvaalandFree State are Conservative Partysupporters.As a result of this partisanship,they lack legitimacy amongthemajority of blacks. `Among town-ship residents they are regarded asthe enemy.'The SAP suffers from a lackofprofessionalism for a number ofreasons which include the factthat they have been poorly paid,attracting recruits witha low stan-dard of education.There is a pervasive culture in thepolice of violence, extra-legal ac-tivity and disregardfor officialregulations. `When talking abouttransforming the police we aretalking about changing a culture.'The SAPhas been geared to counter-insurgency, not crime prevention.Since the 1976 uprising SAP training,weaponry,technology and internalorganisation have been increasinglymilitarised. 'Even if police wanted toact in a morerestrained manner theyare not equipped to do so.'Black Sash monitor LenaSlachmuijlder, holds similar concernsaboutwhether the Peace Accord willsucceed in compelling `sound policingpractices'.In her latest report on violence in

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the Natal Coastal region Slachmuijl-der says the main problem with thesecurity forces there is that theyhaveèxtremely poor relations with thecommunity'.`The causes for this are deep-rootedand will not easily nor hastilybe recti-fied. So long as this situation contin-ues ,they will find themselvesmistrusted while trying to carry outtheirinvestigations.'There is also a lack of coordinationbetween security forces. Ìn somecases there are the KwaZulupolice,SAP Riot Unit patrols and an SADFCamp all in the same area. Yet at notime is there a strategy worked outwithrepresentatives from each forceto coordinate a plan of action. Thislack of coordination is damaging toboth communityrelations and suc-cessful investigations.'Slachmuijlder says there is a bulkof evidence pointing to KwaZulu po-liceinvolvement in the violence -through direct participation, support-ive action and non-response. Ìf unrestbreaks out,rather than report cases tothe KwaZulu police, residents willcome to lawyers and monitors for as-sistance.'`Despitethe signing of the Peace Ac-cord by KwaZulu, there has been nochange in this lack of confidence, nordoes it seemlikely to change soon.'Of the SAP Slachmuijlder says: Àl-though amongst the riot police there is anincreasinglyfavourable response whencalled, the normal operating police sta-tions are still entangled with many prob-lems. Inmany cases the police officers,particularly the more senior ones, havebeen taught to see the ANC as the enemyandthus have many barriers to overcomebefore they truly see themselves as pro-tectors of the "community" assuch.'Slachmuijlder says there have beenrepeated reports of SAP members wear-ing balaclavas and otherwiseconceal-ing their identity while carrying outsearches in the Port Shepstone area.Ìnvestigations into political vio-lenceproceed slowly if at all, and it isunclear what sorts of checks are donewithin the police station to keep tabson casesunder investigation. With afew exceptions, the SAP have not gen-erally gained the confidence of thecommunity, andhave not proven thatthey will make concerted efforts totrack down known perpetrators ofcrime to bring peace.`Thepublic relations branch of theSAP is increasingly diplomatic, yet ifone looks beyond the surface, or hascontact withmany police members onthe ground, many of the attitudes haveremained the same. However, the re-cent jointmonitoring between the SAPand the ANC at the Gamalakhe Shaka'sDay Rally was truly a step in the direc-tion of thefuture concerning improvedrelations with the SAP.'When one considers the misgivingsexpressed by Nathan andothers andthe levels of mistrust that exist be-tween the parties to the accord it is notsurprising that there is a growingreal-isation that the accord is unlikely towork without considerable public in-volvement and monitoring. Some be-lieveeven this will not be enough.They say an additional mechanism,with recognised neutrality and credi-bility, is requiredto enforce the provis-ions of the accord.Nathan believes there is no alterna-tive but to call for aninternationalmonitoring force to monitor police ac-tivity in South Africa during its transi-tion period in the way thatUntagmonitored the elections in Namibia.`The only way we are going to con-tain police excesses is by policingthepolice.'Mignonne Breier is a journalist andcommunications lecturer, and amember of the Black Sash CapeWesternregion.`The police shall be guided by abelief that they are accountableto society in rendering their po-licing servicesand shall there-fore conduct themselves so asto secure and retain the respectand approval of the public.Throughsuch accountabilityand friendly, effective andprompt service the police shallendeavour to obtain the co-op-eration ofthe public whose part-nership in the task of crimecontrol and prevention is essen-tial.'`The police ... supportspromptand efficient investigation andprosecution of its own membersalleged to have acted unlawfullyand shall commititself to con-tinue the proper training and re-training of its members ...'Quotes from the National Peace Accord

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whose tacticis the taxi war?Khayelitsha residents in Site B inspectthe still smouldering wreckage of shacksand theburnt-out hulk of a minibus aftera night of violence.There have been - and still are - many efforts to end thetaxi war inthe Cape Peninsula. Black Sash members areinvolved, both in the field as monitors and as representa-tives onstructures such as the Joint Forum on Policingand the Cape Town Peace Committee. Despite the workof thesebroad-based bodies, the war continues.Rosalind Bush asks why.

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he taxi war in the Cape PeninsulaT17ared in November last year, re-surfaced sporadically early this year,and sincethen has escalated out ofcontrol. This has happened despite un-flagging and comprehensive efforts bya broadcross-section of parties to re-solve the conflict.The more the conflict escalates andthe longer it continues, the morecom-plex and intractable it becomes. Otherconflicts and issues are caught up in itand complicate efforts to address it.Tounderstand what is impeding a resolu-tion to the taxi war, it is necessary firstto know something of the history oftheconflict and the extent of the effortsmade to stop it.YThe roots of the taxi war, embeddedin the apartheid system,go back someforty years. Lagunya (Langa,Guguletu, Nyauga) Taxi Associationoperated, in accordance with theirper:solely in and between the town-ships. Influx-control regulationsexcluded many people from gettingpermits to runtaxi routes into and fromCape Town's city centre. An informaltaxi sector developed among those le-gally excluded by`section 10' fromurban residence rights which werenecessary for getting permits.These `pirates', whosubsequentlyformed Webta (Western Cape BlackTaxi Association), ran the gauntletwith the authorities - beingharassed,fined and imprisoned - in order tooperate the more lucrative routes toand from the city centre. TheWebtalogo - two hands clasped - is seen asa symbol of the unity that was forgedbetween the `pirates' facing thisad-versity.With the abolition of influx controlin 1986 and the advent of deregulation,the Road Transportation Boardissuedpermits to the `pirates'. An investiga-tion by the Cape Town city councildiscovered that the Webta stampwasrequired before permits for the cityroutes were issued. Lagunya taxiswere effectively excluded fromtheseprofitable routes.Last year Lagunya began operatingfrom a new rank in Site C, Khayelitsha.Their taxis ran fromSite C to CapeTown. Previously Lagunya had run aservice from Khayelitsha to Guguletuand Nyanga, from whereWebta taxisran the route into town. The newLagunya operation further exacerbatedrivalry between Lagunya andWeb.over profitable ranks and routes, andsporadic violence resulted.Efforts to stop and resolve theconflictAn attemptto mediate in the conflict,which was threatening the safety oftownship residents, was launched latein 1990 by theWestern Cape Civic As-sociation (WCCA), the Western CapeUnited Squatters Association (Wecusa)and the HostelDwellers Association.Subsequently the Taxi Crisis Coordinat-ing Committee (TCCC), composedmostly of members ofthese three civicbodies irrespective of political persua-sion,wasformed inMarch 1991.BY 4 April 1991 the TCCC hadsuc-ceeded in bringing both taxi or-ganisations to agreement on a ten-point plan. The most significant fea-tures of thiswere a code of conduct, anagreement to unite into a single bodyusing one logo, and acceptance of atable of fares.The community boycottinstituted in protest at the taxi mayhemwas lifted following the agreementand taxis returned tothe road.However, within days Webta re-neged on the agreement by loweringtheir fares and removing from theirtaxisthe accepted T-emblem whichidentified them with the agreement.The TCCC responded by calling for acommunityboycott of Webta aimed atbringing Webta back into line. Theboycott was not broadly adhered to,however, possibly asa result of poorcoordination, which caused some con-fusion in the community. The atmo-sphere was not improvedbystone-throwing at Webta taxis under-taken by individual elements, mostlyyouths.The war escalated as Webtaat-tacked Lagunya, in an attempt to getLagunya taxis off the road as well.Webta blockaded the roads aroundtheAfrican National Congress (ANC) of-fices in Athlone, demanding ANC in-tervention to stop the stoning ofWebtataxis. At the same time, however,Webta continued to refuse to acceptthe ten-point plan to which it hadpre-viously agreed.In June 1991, the concern that at-tempts were being made to `politicise'the taxi war wasexpressed by MichaelMapongwana, TCCC member andWCCA chairperson. He found it neces-sary to stress that theTCCC was `not apolitical organisation trying to getpower'; it was simply `working forpeace'. At the same timeallegationssurfaced that a `third force' was fuel-ling the conflict caused by the taxifeud in an attempt to destabilisethecommunity.Subsequent events were tostrengthen these fears. Less than amonth later Mapongwana wasassassi-nated in what appeared to be a care-fully planned `professional' hit job.Pro Jack, an ANC activistwell-knownas a mediator, had been killed in asimilar manner only weeks earlier, aswas Khayelitsha ANC YouthLeagueleader Zola Ntsoni.When Webta drivers were arrestedand charged with murdering Mapongw-ana, civicleaders expressed fears thatcommunity anger towards Webta might

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24 SASH .1 -1112spark revenge attacks. At this point theCape Town city council were asked toexamine their role inattempts to re-solve the crisis.Cape Town city council roleIntensive efforts followed, includingdiscussions with theMinistry ofTransport on new taxi regulations, andnegotiated interim agreements withthe rival parties on ranks androutes. Acentral focus of negotiations was howto resolve the conflict between Webtaand sectors of the broadercommunity.Deadlock was the result, however,with calls from the community for thedissolution of Webta on the onehand,and on the other a refusal from Webtato compromise its identity. A compro-mise in the form of a changed logowassuggested by the council, who em-ployed an artist to design 12 differentoptions, but Webta refused to acceptanychanges and returned to the roadwith their old logo.flIn Khayelitsha residents reactedwith anger, torching Webtataxis.Webta hit back with force. During thenights of 3 and 12/13 September, sec-tions of Site B in the squatter areaofKhayelitsha were attacked and over200 shacks were set alight. Reportsindicated that at least six people werekilledand dozens were injured as theyed from the flames and from attack-ers. Thousands were left homelessanddestitute.Violence soared in the ensuingweeks; both Webta and Lagunya driv-ers were gunned down and theirtaxisburned. Twenty Lagunya vehiclesparked opposite the Site B police sta-tion were torched. An increasing num-berof taxi passengers and townshipresidents were becoming victims ofthe feud.Since August field monitors fromtheBlack Sash, the Urban Monitoringand Awareness Committee (Umac),the Democratic Party (DP) and theANCWomen's League have been inter-viewing victims of the violence inKhayelitsha, collecting statementsandaffidavits.One of the allegations made mostfrequently in the evidence collectedwas that white men, thought to bepo-licemen from the uniforms they werewearing, had played a role in the vio-lence. The regional commissionerofpolice, Major-General Nic Acker, re-sponded by setting up a special inves-tigation unit to investigatetheseallegations.In addition, Acker and other seniorpolice officers met with representa-tives of the organisationsmentionedabove and= organisations, subse-quently known collectively as theJoint Forum on Policing. TheJointForum proposed certain urgent interimmeasures to address the violence inKhayelitsha and elsewhere on thePen-insula until such time as the regionalstructures for the Peace Accord wereset up.In the same week the mayorofCape Town, Frank van der Velde, andarchbishop Desmond Tutu convened apart Conference whose focus wastheresolution of the conflict aroundthe taxi war. A broad range of constit-uencies were represented: business,manyreligious faiths, government,police, civic bodies, trade unions, po-litical organisations, human-rightsgroups, lawyers,and the rival taxigroups.The Peace Conference mandated aPeace Committee to take forward dis-cussions betweenthe two taxi groups.The committee came up with a pack-age of what it believed were minimalrequirements: that thetaxis should op-erate without an association name foran interim period; that policing shouldbe intensified; thatownership of taxisand potential conflicts of interestshould be investigated; a ceasefire;and a rapid start to negotiatingnewby-laws.Lagunya accepted this package,Webta refused but then proposed ameeting with Lagunya alone, aimedatworking out a solution acceptable tothe taxi industry. Lagunya agreed, thePeace Committee was supportive, andthemeeting took place on 14 October.Agreement was reached on division ofroutes for the interim period andaprogramme of action was mapped out.This was considered a major break-through.The following day aLagunyadriver was shot dead. One day later, ata follow-up meeting, Webta backedaway from the agreement. AWebtadriver was shot, a taxi burned, and thewar resumed.Emergency patternsAt an emergency meeting thePeaceCommittee concluded that the negoti-ation strategy had come to a dead-endand that new measures wererequired.They noted certain patterns that hademerged in the course of the negotia-tion efforts: Lagunya acceptedeachpeace proposal, whether it emanatedfrom the TCCC or the city council orwas negotiated in bilateralagreementswith Webta; Webta, on the other hand,repeatedly reneged on agreements; theWebta executive committeewouldreach agreements which they seemedunable to sell to their constituency.The Cape Town city council areatpresent working on tough new by-lawswhich give the traffic manager thepower to cancel the permits of mem-bers ofa taxi association if they areguilty of misconduct. However, forsuch laws to be effective they clearlyneed a mechanismto monitor theirimplementation and to enforce them.Given these wide-ranging and in-tensive efforts to stop this violentcon-flict, what is impeding its resolution?Any resolution depends in the firstplace on committed, effective andim-partial policing, and on people seeingthat justice is done and done swiftly.The absence of such policing is prov-inga serious obstacle to achievingpeace. To be fair it must be said thatthere are notable exceptions, for ex-ample, th=eof a Lagunya driver(reportedly a former kitskonstabel)from a Webta attack, and the pursuiton foot and arrest of thealleged killerof a taxi driver. In the main, however,the role of the police in the conflict hasbeen found wanting if notdecidedlysuspect.Monitors have been dismayed atthe absence of preemptive and preven-tative police action, whichthey have

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January /992 SASH 255witnessed first-hand on occasion. Forexample, Umac were monitoring anarea that had beenunder attack an hourearlier. About 25 armed policemenwere also present. Webta taxis arrivedon the scene and 20 to30 men armedwith axes and pangas got out. Theybegan to advance angrily to where themonitors, who had beenjoined by afew ANC officials, were standing. Thepolice made no attempt to disarm themen or to defuse a potentiallyexplo-sive situation.The Webta men threatened to re-turn later that night and Umac and ANCrepresentatives weresufficiently con-cerned to brief the commissioner ofpolice and to request that he send introops to protect the people.The re-sponsewas that reinforcements couldbe deployed the following morning atthe earliest. That night hundredsofshacks were burned to the ground aspeople slept without defence.Affidavits and reports testify to theabsence oftimely police intervention.Site B police station is about 150 me-ters as the crow flies from areas thatwere under attackand where houseswere torched. Beyond this, attacks andkillings are executed with impunity.Perpetrators of theviolence are notarrested. Over 30 affidavits have beensubmitted to the special investigationunit appointed by Acker,yet recentpolice report-backs reflect little if anyprogress in investigations.Of even greater concern than thisapparentnon-action is the allegationthat police have been involved inmany of the attacks. In the affidavitscollected by BlackSash and Umacmonitors during August and Septem-ber, repeated claims are made thatwhite men, often incamouflage uni-form ,supported or took part in theattacks. Some affidavits describedsome attackers askitskonstabels, or`men in blue overalls' (such askitskonstabels wear), or men wearingbalaclavas.Evidence of policeinvolvementin attacksSworn statements report the presenceof casspirs and yellow police vehiclesat the scene ofcertain night attacks. Insome cases the identification or regis-tration numbers of these vehicles havebeen noted andreported to the police.R1 and 38 cartridges (the type used bypolice) have been found at the scenesof attacks.It iswidely believed that the nightattacks and burning of shacks in areas ofSite B in Khayelitsha were carried outby Webtamembers supported by police.Substance- s added to this belief whena Webta taxi operator, one M. Gubayo,who isalso a (Khayelitsha) LingelethuWest town councillor, gave evidence ina bail application made subsequent to hisarreston a charge of murdering aLagunya taxi driver at the Nyanga taxirank on 27 October.Gubayo said undercross-examina-tion that he had been in the companyof police when he fired at Lagunya taxidrivers ,He a battle scene'on 2October. He said he had been assistingthe police and claimed that he was a`protected person' (Cape Times,31October 1991). Bail was refusedbut granted a week later.The hearing took place during aspecial night sitting atWynbergmagistrate's court. It was only withsome difficulty that the Cape Timesfinally managed to get permissiontolisten to the tape recordings of thehearing. It seems that efforts weremade to prevent the evidencefromsurfacing.Does this partly explain Webta'srecalcitrance? Is their unwillingness tocompromise and their readinessto re-nege on agreements predicated on theknowledge that they can act with im-punity?One of the questions beingasked iswhether behind certain taxi operatorsthere are faceless owners whose aim isto gain control of the taxiindustry,worth an estimated R2 billion a year.Taxi operators with such patronswould be sustained in the conflict,en-abled to endure the fight without feel-ing the need to compromise or reach anegotiated settlement with theirrivals.Are there people with vested inter-ests in this conflict? Is their motive oneof commercial greed, oropportunitiesfor destabilisation, or both?The course the taxi war has takenseems to fit a pattern that hasemergednationwide: that of shadowy elementsmanipulating existing local conflictsin order to destabilisecommunities.The simultaneous escalation of theconflicts nationally prior to the signingof the Peace Accord alsosuggests thatthe violence is being deliberately or-chestrated on a national level. The taxiconflict should have stoppedlong agogiven the efforts made to resolve itsince it first began. Yet it has escalatedand fanned the flames of otherexistingor potential conflicts.The sections attacked and burnt outin Khayelitsha were known to be areaswith strongANC support. It is ANCmiddle-level leadership figures whohave been assassinated. The wife andfour children of anANC branch chair-personwere shot and killed, and theirhome was set alight while he was atwork. Pro Jack wasgunned down,Mapongwana was killed, and each in-cidentadded to the heat of communityanger towards Webta andtheLingelethu West town council.It is not surprising, then, that thereis a strong belief that certain elementsaredeliberately adding fuel to theflames of the taxi war, elements intenton fragmenting communities, under-mining theANC and derailing negotia-tions for a new constitution.The National Peace Accord (clause1.8) pinpoints the essentialingredientfor success in negotiated resolution ofconflict: `The implementation of asystem to combat violence andintim-idationwill only succeed if the partiesinvolved have a sincere commitmentto reach this objective.' 1.1RosalindBush holds the politicalrepression portfolio on the nationalexecutive of the Black Sash

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26 SASH ........ 1992IN COMMUNITY

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,Ianuary 1992 SASH 27OppositeINSECURE: A couplethreatened with removal froma farm south ofJohannesburg.November 1987.AboveDESTITUTE: A farm workerinjured on the farm and leftwithoutcompensation.Driefontien, EasternTransvaal, May 1984.RightDISPOSSESSED: Magopacouple inBethanie,Bophutswana. March 1984.

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28 SASH .Ianua, 1992AboveBELEAGUERED: Husband and wife in Oukasie, Western Transvaal. April 1986.

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lanuarv 1992 SASH 29AboveDETERMINED. Schoolmaster and his wife, Daggakraal, EasternTransvaal. February1985.

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the language struggle- some thoughts onlanguage policyin south africaLanguage is so much more than a means ofcommunica-tion. Gudrun Oberprieler shows why decisions on futurelanguage policy will have a decisive effect on thepoliticalprocess and on the lives of millions of South Africans as itdetermines their access to knowledge and power.The horrific eruption of violenceand the tragic loss of life afterFebruary 1990 seem to provide littleevidence that thestruggle of arms willmake way very soon for the struggleof words around the negotiating table.Yet one dare not losehope that theword will finally win against theweapon.The shaping of a new society hasalready begun on many levelsbut howmany South Africans, who have beendeprived of every human right in theland of their birth throughouttheirlives, are once again excluded fromparticipating in the process of deter-mining the future of their country bythesimple fact that they have not (atall or sufficiently) mastered the lan-guage(s) in which consultation and ne-gotiationsare taking place?For the ill-educated masses in thiscountry existence, and often bare sur-vival, has always been astruggle withand for words - with the words of thelaw which govern every aspect of theirlives but are written in alanguage theyoften cannot understand, and for thewords to express their suffering andanger if anybody cared tolisten. For ithas been the government's deliberatepolicy that black South Africans re-ceive most of their (often verymeagre)education in their home language,while almost all official documentsand much other written informationexistsonly in the two official lan-guages, English and Afrikaans.A person who is illiterate in a soci-ety based on literacy andwritten com-munication is severely disadvantaged;a person who has no or very littleknowledge of the language(s)inwhichthe official affairs of the country he orshe lives in are conducted is reducedto the status of a minor. In SouthAfricamany citizens are suffering from bothdisabilities. The rights of citizenshiphave been denied them notonlythrough apartheid laws, but alsothrough the language barrier, erectedand upheld by the Nationalist govern-mentto keep black South Africans `intheir place'.The struggle for political suprem-acy during the last 350 years inSouthAfrican history has always been veryclosely linked to the issue of language.The very early period of Dutchoc-cupation at the Cape is characteristicof imperialist expansion everywherein the world: at first interpreters wereusedfor trading between the Dutchand the local people, and when the

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.lanuary 1992 SASH 31Dutch East India Company had settledand the demand for labour increased,the indigenouspeople simply had tolearn the language of the occupiers.In the mouths of the Khoisan andthe Malay slaves, Dutchslowly devel-oped into what was to becomeAfrikaans. Since the Dutch were pri-marily traders, however, they madenorigorous attempt to teach their lan-guage or religion until the British oc-cupations of the Cape (1795 to 1803and1806 to 1814), when English be-came a serious competitor of Dutch.This resulted in the so-called`taalstryd' (languagestruggle) whichaccompanied the century-long strug-gle for political domination betweenthe Boers and the British.Incontrast, the British tried veryenergetically to replace Dutch withEnglish in all spheres of public life.The Anglicisationeffort was pursuedstringently especially during the sec-ond and third decades of the 19th cen-tury. Although theculmination of theAnglo-Dutch conflict, the Anglo-BoerWar (1899 to 1902), ended with thedefeat of the Boers,Afrikaner nation-alism, and with it the striving for rec-ognition of their language, wasquickly revived.It was no smallvictory that, withthe formation of the Union of SouthAfrica in 1910, Afrikaans became oneof the official languagesalongside En-glish and Dutch (which was later aban-doned) and that thereafter parentschose the language in whichtheir chil-dren were educated.With the coming to power of theNational Party in 1948 the earlierevents were almostreversed. It nowbecame the concerted aim of the Na-tional Party to substitute Afrikaans forEnglish in all domains ofpublic andsocial life or, where this proved im-possible, to promote Afrikaans on anequal footing with English. Now itwasthe turn of English-speakers to worryabout the survival of their languageand culture in public life.Sheen Duncanhas expressed theview that the founding and initial suc-cess of the Black Sash had much moreto do with this fearthan with concernabout coloured people losing theirvote. `In 1955', she has said, `the gov-ernment had introduced asenate bill topack the senate with its own support-ers in order to get the necessary two-thirds majority to changetheconstitution so they could stop col-LANGUAGE STATISTICS FOR SOUTH AFRICAHome-language Percentageofspeakers South AfricanpopulationPresent official languages 24,34%Afrikaans 6188981 15,66English 34320428,68Nguni languages 43,41Ndebele 799 216 2,02Swati 926 094 2,34Xhosa 6 891 358 17,44Zulu 8 541 17321,61Sotho languages 24,52%North Sotho 3437971 8,70South Sotho 2652590 6,71Tswana 3 601 609 9,11Tsonga 1349 022 3,54Venda 763 247 1,93Other languages n/a 2,26Source: Gerhard K. Schuring, Language Planning for anew South Africa.Research lecture, Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria; 1990oured people from having thevote.`It was this act by the NationalistParty that brought the Black Sash intoexistence in the first place. Lookingbackon it now, I think that the mass ofwomen who joined the Black Sash inthe early years could not have caredtwo hootsabout whether colouredpeople lost their vote. They caredabout the fact that if the governmentcould manoeuvre in thatvery immoralway, it could also stop the Englishlanguage from enjoying equal rightswith Afrikaans.'The languagepolicy of the Nation-alist government was not limited to thepromotion of Afrikaans. It was ex-tended very quickly toother popula-tion groups in the country and becamethe foundation of apartheid ideology,with far-reachingconsequences.Black people were - and still are -grouped together according to theirhome language, and on the basisof thisthey are perceived to belong to thesame ethnic group. White people, onthe other hand, are groupedtogetherregardless of their home language.This basic concept of apartheid ide-ology, the equalisation oflanguage,culture and nation, is completely re-moved from reality and was mainlydevised to divide the black peopleinthis country-an aim which has, unfor-tunately, been successful to a consid-erable extent.Why is language soimportant to allof us and why is it such an emotionalissue? The obvious answer is that lan-guage is much more thansimply ameans of communication. In all itssubtleties it is also a carrier of tradi-tions and values and through thatacarrier of a person's identity and self-image, of his or her self-definition andself-expression. Language and allthatgoes with it gives one a sense of be-longing that is difficult to achievethrough any other means, except per-hapsthrough one's love of the placeone grew up in.This is why language has playedsuch an important role incolonisationprocesses everywhere in the world.The well-known Kenyan writer, aca-demic and activist, Ngugi waThiong'o,

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`... the non-indigenous language becomes associated with positivevalues like advancement, access to knowledge,better livingstandards and power, while the people's own languages becomeincreasingly synonymous withbackwardness and other negativeimages.pointed out on a recent visit to SouthAfrica that the economic andpoliticalcontrol of the colonist is incompletewithout cultural control. If he controlsthe culture and the language, thecolo-nist also controls the values of the peo-ple and their self-definition and thusdefines their world and its socialorderto suit his own purposes.Therefore the oppressor strives toelevate his own language and suppresstheindigenous languages. In this waythe non-indigenous language becomesassociated with positive valueslikeadvancement, access to knowledge,better living standards and power,while the people's own languages be-comeincreasingly synonymous withbackwardness and other negative im-ages.In South Africa this strategy hasbeenpursued in two ways. On the onehand the education of black children inthe official languages has in most in-stancesbeen disastrously poor, creat-ing major obstacles for tertiaryeducation. The universities now haveto deal annually withhundreds of ap-plicants whose knowledge of lan-guages in general is far superior to thatof their white fellow-studentsbutwhose poor knowledge of English pre-vents them from being able to followlectures.Now the status of both thecurrentofficial languages as well as, that of allthe African languages spoen in thiscountry is coming under scrutinyandwill hopefully be debated for the firsttime in South African history insteadof simply being enforced by thoseinpower.The question of a new languagepolicy has been discussed in differentquarters for some time now. Thelasttwo years have seen a number of pub-lications as well as conferences andworkshops on language usage,learn-ing and planning.As yet, few concrete and detailedproposals have been formulated. Themain outcome of theongoing debatethus far is the recognition of the com-plexity of the situation, the recordingof factors that will have to betakeninto account, and the spelling out ofthe questions that will have to beasked. A major obstacle is the lackofresearch in many areas, and a majortask will be to consult as many con-cerned groups as possible beforedeci-sions are made.The most carefully consideredmodel to date is that of the NationalLanguage Project (NLP) inCapeTown, although to my knowledge italso does not go beyond a general out-line. This model is based on theas-sumption that all languages spoken inSouth Africa should be treated as ofequal importance, since if the lan-guagepolicy is supported by the ma-jority of the people it will help in theprocess of nation-building.Neville Alexander of theNLP pro-poses three models which could beimplemented successively as the situ-ation in the country changes: atfirstEnglish as the national official lan-guage with all other languages (in-cluding Afrikaans) having officialstatus on aregional basis; thereafterEnglish, Standardised Nguni andStandardised Sotho as national officiallanguages, with theother languageshaving regional status; in the finalstage Standardised Nguni andStandardised Sotho as the onlyofficiallanguages.Whether the standardisation of theNguni and the Sotho language groups,as well as the phasing outof Englishwould be a practical solution or couldbe justified in terms of expense is inmy opinion a debatablequestion.The African National Congress(ANC) has drawn up a working paperin which several options areoutlined:English as the only official language;six (English, Afrikaans, Nguni, Sotho,Tonga, Venda) or four(English,Afrikaans, Nguni, Sotho) official lan-guages and only English or Englishand Afrikaans as officiallanguages,both with regional languages depend-ing on the linguistic area. The secondand third models would requirethestandardisation of the Nguni andSotho languages.The draft paper acknowledges thatall the options except the firstarecostly both in terms of time and finan-cial resources. It ends with the state-ment that `it is not possible at thisstageto opt for a national language and builtinto each option should be reassess-ment of language policy atregularintervals'. Whether a language policy,with its very far-reaching implications,could or should be reviewedandchanged periodically remains verydoubtful.The importance of the languageissue cannot be underestimated asitaffects all spheres of public and sociallife. The final decision on a new lan-guage policy will to a large extentdependon two factors - finances andwho will make the decisions.Whatever model is chosen in theend, two things wouldideally be en-visaged: a concerted effort by manygroups to overcome illiteracy, and suf-ficient opportunities for allpeople ofthis country to learn the official lan-guage(s) to a degree that makes theirparticipation as full citizenspossible.Where this does not happen, the cur-rent state of affairs of dependence andpatronage will continue. Sadlyenoughits perpetuation is in the interest ofcertain groups and individuals who aredetermined not to lose their positionofpower over others.Alternatively, at least as an interimmeasure for the foreseeable future,more funds should bemade availablefor the extension of translation ser-vices. But the reality is that funds arescarce and the language issuewillprobably take a back seat in relation toall the other urgent needs in the coun-try.Another question is who willfi-nally decide on a language policy. Ex-perience in this and other Africancountries shows that the sobering real-ity isthat it will probably be the poli-ticians rather than the linguists andcertainly not the people of the country.One can onlyhope that despite thecomplexity of the situation in a coun-try like South Africa, where 24 lan-guages are officiallyspoken as mothertongue, a new government will beguided by the current debate and willattempt to act in the interestof all thepeople. 1-1Gudrun Oberprieler lectures inGerman and is a member of theregional council of the BlackSashTransvaal region.

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Janumy 1992 SASH 33another betrayal:the story of the mfenguof tsitsikammaThe Mfengu of Tsitsikamma farmedtheir land for130 years until they were forcibly removed in 1977 toa remote and dry area of Ciskei. Since then theyhavemade repeated, unsuccessful attempts to return to theland they consider their legal home. Kobus Pienaargivesthe background to an unfinished story.In December 1977, about 4 000Mfengu (also known as Fingo peo-ple)were removed at gunpoint fromtheir land in the Tsitsikamma district.The 'and had been granted to them 130yearsearlier by Sir George Grey inreturn for the loyalty and support theyhad shown to the colonial government.The familieswere rounded up,trucked off and dumped 300 km awayin a barren and overcrowded resettle-ment camp in Ciskei,ironically namedElukhanyweni, `the place of light'.Now, 14 years later, the Mfengu peo-ple are poised for a last-ditchattemptto recover their land.Though the early history of theMfengu is under some dispute amonghistorians, popularhistory has it thattheir roots lie in Shaka's 19th-centuryWars of Conquest- the Mfecane. As aresult of these wars, weare told,groups of the Bhaca, Hlubi, Zizi andBhele people, later collectively called`Mfengu', were driven southwardstofind shelter amongst the Xhosa-speak-ing tribes with whom they struck up arelationship, characterised byexploi-tation and subservience. The nameMfengu is derived from the wordukufenguza, which means to wanderaroundseeking work.During the Sixth Border War(1834-35) the Mfengu decided to as-sist the British against the Xhosa.Fortheir efforts, a small group of Mfenguwere rewarded with land in theTsitsikamma forest, about 130 kmwest of PortElizabeth and 20 km in-land of the Indian Ocean. During the1840s, only some 6 000 ha of Mfenguland was surveyedand registered,Znominally in the name of either theMoravian Church superintendent orthe civil commissioner ofUitenhage,to be held in trust on behalf of theMfengu tribe and their descendants.This land was tamed andsuccessfullyfarmed by the community for morethan 130 years.The Mfengu, however, had accessto far more than themere 6 000 ha thatwas initially registered. During the en-suing years, white farmers started set-tling in the area andonly some of thefurther portions of land to which theMfengu had access became registered.During the 1900s, theMfengu had ac-cess to and actively farmed some8 000 ha of fertile coastal land.`Black spot' removalsIn 1975 aresolution was passed inparliament approving the removal ofthe Mfengu in terms of the black-spotremoval policy. Asimilar resolutionwas approved at the time with regardto the people of Mogopa. The resolu-tion was followed by astate presiden-tial order thatthe Mfengu should movefrom the land in September 1977.When it became apparent thattheorder was to be executed, an urgentapplication was made to the supremecourt in Port Elizabeth, to declarethestate president's order null and void.The application was dismissed.(In 1984, however, the Mogopacommunity wasserved with the sameorder and they made application tohave the order squashed. They failedin the TransvaalProvincial Divisionbut took the case on appeal toBloemfontein, where, unbeknown tothe Mfengu, the statepresident'sorder, which was identical to that ofthe Mfengu, was ruled to be null andvoid. The implication of this is thattheorder for the removal of the Mfenguwas in actual fact also null and void.)Some nights after the defeat in thePortElizabeth court, the governmenttrucks arrived and the rounding-up offamilies started. Some co=Ymembers resisted,but they rested and taken to Ciskei. At the timeof the removal, their cattle were soldoff at firesale prices to whitefarmersin the district. Unharvested crops hadto be abandoned.The only compensation the com-munity received was anegligibleamount of about R200 000 for theirhouses, sheds, churches and schoolswhich were demolished soon aftertheremoval. The years since 1977 haveseen continuous attempts by the com-munity to reclaim its land, representedinits efforts by a committee of com-munity leaders known as theTsitsikamma Exile Association (TEA).`My people saythat I must tell yorr, that if they do riot hear fromyou, they will return to Humansdorp on foot. They will rather diealongthe road than to die in Keiskammahoek.' - Letter fromStanford Mtselu, chairperson of the TEA to Dr Koornhof, 1981

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34 SASH ,ranuarv /992`They came in buses and trucks with guns and clubs. We tiveremoved in a cruel manner. Thewomen and children were crying.Ìn the Tsitsikamma I farmed with cattle and had a good income. Iwas the owner- ofthree houses, 37 head of cattle, 40 sheep and 6horses.Ìn Ciskei it was too dry to graze. I continually had to hear howthesheep were bleating from hunger...`They call the place the place of light, but really, it is the place ofsadness ... Iwant to go home, back to my birthplace.' - TembaXayimpiMfengu land soldIn 1982, despite the fact that the landwasstill scheduled for the exclusiveoccupation of black people in terms ofthe 1913 and 1936 land acts, an adver-tisementappeared in the newspapersinviting whites to make application tobuy about 6 000 of the 8 000 ha ofMfengu landwhich was to be dividedup into 19 portions. The cost was threeor four times less than the market valueof the land atthe time. About 150farmers applied.It was only in June 1982 that parlia-ment decided that the land should bedeletedfrom the Land Act Schedules.Having done so, in order to maintainthe quota of scheduled land in theCape province,land of alleged equalagricultural and pastoral value was tobe added into the schedule in the vicin-ity of Queenstown,which was there-after incorporated into Transkei.At the time, a delegation of Mfengucommunity leaders travelled toCapeTown to plead their case with PietKoornhof, minister of cooperation anddevelopment, but he refused to seethemon the grounds that they wereCiskeian citizens.The attempts of the Mfengu to haltthe sale of their land failed.Between1983 and 1987 it was sold in 19 lots towhite farmers for R1 345 613,10 - aquarter of the market value. Onlyl946 ha of land was not sold and stillvests in the state.On 7 April 1983 the committeewrote to Koornhof, inviting himtovisit El ukhanyweni to witness first-hand the severe problems being expe-rienced by the resettled communityÌ amnow 74. As 1 stand here Iam a man without land,without cattle or sheep andpoultry as before. All that Ican rely onnow is my old-agepension, and the statepresident can think for himselfhow difficult it is to come out,on that...'Document showing the original 1841title deed of the land granted to theMfengu by Sir George Grey(from LandUpdate, 6 February 1991)

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January 1992 SASH 35whose members were starving anddying. At the same time, they oncemore asked to beallowed to return tothe Tsitsikamma at their own expense.When no reply was forthcoming, aletter of reminder wassent on 24 June1983. On 14 August 1983, the com-mittee also sent a letter to the directorof human rights at theUnited Nations(UN) asking for relief and assistanceand for the UN to approach the SouthAfrican government onbehalf of theMfengu people.Attempts to regain landIt was only during February 1984 thata reply was eventuallyreceived fromKoornhof, categorically stating thatthe government was not prepared toconsider the return of the Mfengutothe Tsitsikamma.Towards the end of 1985 theMfengu were still making attempts toregain their land. They againat-tempted, by means of a letter to GerritViljoen, minister of constitutional de-velopment, dated 7 October 1985,tosecure an interview with him. He wassupplied with a petition signed by1200 people in favour of returning totheTsitsikamma.The next move of the TEA was anattempt to visit minister Viljoen but,once again, on 4 February 1986,thecommunity was advised in writing bythe department that their request toreturn could not be acceded to. Despitethisnews, on 9 May 1986, a letter wassent to Tuynhuys requesting a meetingwith state president P. W. Botha.Twomonths later a letter was received fromthe minister of constitutional develop-ment requesting copies of allcorre-spondence in the Mfengu matter.A further letter of rejection was re-ceived on 8 July 1986. In theinterim,continued attempts were made to ob-tain assistance from influential groupssuch as the Council of Churches,theN. G. Church, the National Party andthe Broederbond, but without success.With the declaration of the stateofemergency in 1986, events could notbe taken further and the attempts of theMfengu to regain their land werese-verely thwarted.When the state of emergency waswithdrawn, the committee could onceagain make attempts toregain theirland. In 1990 they again wrote toViljoen asking him to meet them.Again they received a letter statingthatthe matter was receiving attention.`Compare what the loss would be were the 19 rich, farmers, whohave lived on theland for the past eight years, to lose their farms,with the loss of the approximately 5 000 inhabitants of theTsitsikammawho had lived therefor nearly 200 years. Who hassuffered the most and who are the losers?' - Isaac ThembaniIn April1990 the committee ap-pointed the Legal Resources Centre toprovide them with legal advice. In ad-dition, in July andAugust, committeemembers travelled throughout theeastern Cape to establish local com-mittees and in Novembermembers ofthe local committees met in Port Eliz-abeth and a democratically elected ex-ecutive committee of the TEAwasappointed.In December 1990 the communityplanned to clean the graves of theirforbears, from which they hadbeenbanished more than 13 years pre-viously. However, as most of thesegraves were situated on landcurrentlyoccupied by white farmers, they werenot permitted to undertake this cam-paign. In January 1991 thecommunityagain wrote to the farmers and saidthey intended to visit the graves inFebruary. A meeting was heldbe-tween the farmers and the TEA and anagreement was reached in accordancewith which a group of 60 Mfengumencould visit the area to clean the fivegraveyards. This visit took place on23 February 1991 and ended with aserviceat one of the graveyards whichwas attended by about 100 members ofthe community.In March 1991 thegovernmentpublished a White Paper in terms ofwhich they refused to return any landto dispossessed communities.As a re-sult, on 10 April 1991 TEA delegatesparticipated in a national day of protestagainst the White Paper. Protestactiontook place in Port Elizabeth,Humansdorp and King WilliamsTown where 13 members were ar-rested.On 21 and22 April 1991 the TEAorganised a workshop which was at-tended by 250 delegates from theMfengu community.Several deci-sions were taken at the workshop. Fifty families would be resettledon Mfengu trust land at Clarksonat theend of June 1991;the Moravian Church would benotified of the decision;the community would begin aninternalfund-raising drive to col-lect money for transport costs;the invitation from minister Jacobde Villiers to meetcommunitieswhich wished to return to theirland must be responded to and aTEA delegation must attempt tomeethim;a supreme court application forthe return of the land must be ini-tiated.In May 1991 it came to the attentionof theTEA that some of the farmersintended to sell their farms at a greatprofit prior to the expiry of the ten-yearperiod. TheTEA requested the ministerof agriculture, Kraai van Niekerk, togive an undertaking that no furthersales would takeplace. The undertak-ing was given.Shortly thereafter, however, theTEA was informed that the ministerhad made a`mistake' and that one ofthe farmers had been granted permis-sion to sell. As a result of this a su-preme courtsummons for the return ofthe land was issued against the 19white farmers, the South African De-velopment Trust, theminister of pub-lic works and land affairs, and the statepresident.The TEA continued to meet with thegovernment butdespite a promise byminister De Villiers that this door wasopen to communities who wished tonegotiate a return totheir land, the TEAwas refused their request.With the help of archbishop Des-mond Tutu, a meeting was set up inJuly1991 between the TEA committee,president De Klerk, the community'slawyers and a minister of the Morav-ianChurch. To the delegation, it ap-peared as if the state president listenedto their representations attentively.Hepromised to discuss the matter with hisministers and to give attention to thevarious matters that had beenraised.The community is still waiting.Kobus Pienaar is an attorney at theLegal Resources Centre in PortElizabeth.

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36 sasH -zBefore reforms can be made to land policy in South Africa,it is necessary for all communities to be allowedto debate,consult and negotiate. Land is used for both agriculturaland non-agricultural purposes and it is important tounder-stand how it can be used most productively, without under-mining the complex social fabric. Though thissubject canbe emotionally addressed, Theresa Fleming attempts arational view, making a plea for a f exible approachwhichwould accommodate both local and national needs.land reform:a questionof prioritiesLand issues, the landquestion, theland debate, call it what you will,it is being talked about at length inSouth Africa at present. In the past18months there have been at least threemajor conferences on the land ques-tion in southern Africa, not tomentionspecial editions of many major jour-nals on the land issue. Community-based organisations areholdingworkshops to inform both communi-ties and policy-makers of the needs ofcommunities and the possibleoptionsfor land reform. It is clear that withoutdue consideration of all the processesof consultation and negotiation,aland-reform policy is likely to havelimited success.Land is necessary for agriculturalproduction as well as for otheruses. Inany society the process of allocationand the regulation and control of landrelationships are indicative of theso-cial, political and economic prioritiesof that society.Dennis Davis and Hugh Corderargue that in a society intransitionfrom a racially oppressive structuralarrangement of political and economicforces to one organised alongnon-racial, democratic lines which seeks toaddress the wrongs of the past, there islikely to occur a disparity betweenanoverprotective and involved state andthe protection of individual rights.While this is easy to distinguish in alegalisticsense, it is often more diffi-cult in a political sense.The ideological base of the struc-ture of the state and society isreflectedin the legal system, but the politicalramifications of the relationship maybe more complex to discern. Itiswithin the context of this complexityof relationships, alliances and agendasthat the land question and related is-suesin South Africa must be observed,researched and hopefully, understood.This discussion hopes to transcendtheemotional content and look at the prin-ciples and possible consequences ofland reform.

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Some issues which affect landreformEven if it is not initiated by the state, aland-reform programme is usuallyim-plemented through state mechanisms.The desired results are a reflection ofthe nature of the state, stateideologyand economic policy. It therefore fol-lows that in order to determine (asaccurately as is possible in anesti-mate) the effects of possible land-reform programmes, a clearunderstanding of the state is necessary.On theother hand, there are a number ofissues that are affected by the regulationof the relationships to land, and thatarespecific to the shaping of a land-re-form policy for the future. These is-sues are, briefly:1 The rate and nature ofurbanisa-tion.2 Settlement patterns and the geo-graphical locations of desired set-tlement.3 Migration rates andreasons formigration.4 Agricultural - forms of produc-tion, that is, commercial, peasant.5 Access to capital goods,infra-structure, credit, and markets.6 Economic growth potential ofchanging the relationship to landin terms of forwardand backwardlinkages and final demands of ag-riculture.7 Access to land for agriculturaland non-agricultural use.8Regulation of land relationshipsthrough legal mechanisms.9 Roles of land - political, eco-nomic, social.The discussioncontinues in thelight of some of these issues: particu-larlyaccess to land for agricultural andnon-agricultural use, theeconomicgrowth potential of various policies,and the regulation of relationships toland in terms of its social, politicalandeconomic roles as perceived by theoccupants and users of that land.No `right' or `wrong' perceptionsTheargument stresses the relative un-importance of the so-called diversitiesbetween a `Western' and an`indigenous'perception of land tenure and land. Whileit would be naive simply to regard theperceptions as being thesame, it isargued that, for both, the compositionof land relationships are equally com-plex and are based on the sameneeds.These are simply demonstrated in dif-ferent ways in relation to different so-cial systems. In other words,neitherone nor the other nor anything in be-tween should be perceived as `right' or`wrong'.Several issues, such aslevels ofpoverty, ecological conditions, eco-nomicsystems, to name but a few,directly influence relationships totheland. Another question is whether for-mal or informal tenure best helps pro-ductivity. A major issue, central totheland-reform debate is the question ofproductivity. It has been under thetopic of productivity that the debatearoundtenure (formal and informal)has developed.The two driving forces for land re-form are social equality and agricul-tural(and other) productivity. There isvery little empirical evidence to recon-cile indigenous land allocation sys-tems andtenure with Western landallocations and tenure. The currentstate of indigenous systems is differentfrom their originalform when landwas abundant and boundaries werefew. Over time, these systems havebeen subjected to colonialpenetrationin Africa as a whole and to apartheidin South Africa, but they have adaptedto suit new conditions andrestrictionsand have survived, if in a distortedform.Productivity in indigenousland-rights systemsA recent empiricalstudy by Migot-Adholla et al. researched the possibleconstraints that indigenous land-rightssystems have had onproductivity inGhana, Kenya and Rwanda. Theyfound ample evidence to prove thatindigenous land-rights systemsare ev-olutionary rather than restrictive to de-velopment. However, other academicopinions had, prior to this,arguedagainst the assumption that low pro-ductivity was simply a result of com-munal forms of tenure and allocationofland.Bruce suggests that `individualisa-tion may come about as the spontane-ous, evolutionary response ofanindigenous tenure system to pressuresexerted by a market economy'. He ar-gues further, to demonstrate thecom-plexity of the relationship of tenure toproductivity, that while the above maywell be true it is also possiblethatindividualisation could be initiatedthrough a specific tenure reform.A frequent argument against themaintenance ofcommunal forms oftenure is that they are regressive andnot conducive to development and in-creased productivity.But it appearsthat in South Africa there is in factevidence of a move towards in-dividualisation of land holding andthatthis has been the case for a numberof years. (Migot-Adholla et al. andBruce and Letsoalo.)The main argument inMigot-Ad-holla et al. is that there is evidence of`spontaneous individualisation of landrights over time, whereby farmhouse-holds acquire a broader and more pow-erful set of transfer and exclusionrights over their land aspopulationpressure and agricultural com-mercialisation proceed'. This processhas been evidenced in South Africainareas where there has been totalchange in the orientation of land-rightsallocations, particularly in semi-urbanareasin bantustans, although this isundoubtedly an area where there isgreat scope for further research andinvestigation.

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38 SASH Jani-v 1112Social networksRights to land and the role that landplays in the social networking of indi-vidualsare vital issues in examiningthe evolutionary nature of indigenousland-rights systems. This examinationtakes accountof the way in whichunemployed people are absorbed intothe fabric of the landed society, ageingpeople have thesecurity of a place forretirement, and there is a network thatcan provide support for children in theabsence of workingparents.Thus, the vulnerable people in apoor society can be incorporated in aland-rights system which issupportiveand in which different stages along theevolutionary continuum can be ac-commodated. Rights of use andoccu-pation can then extend to family andkinship networks, thus reducing thenumbers of landless.The evolution ofindigenous land-rights systems has been a result ofincreasing population pressures andintensified farming methods.Land islikely to be invaded or occupied andused by others it it is left unused for along period of time. It can bearguedthat the process of urbanisation and thecreation of a landless proletariat con-tributes to the furtherindividualisationof land rights. Improved transportroutes and physical access to marketsare likely to increase farmincome andprovide inputs for increased produc-tion.The possibility of constraints onproduction as a result of tenurere-quires that the discussion be taken toits ultimate conclusion, which is theregistration of title deeds and individ-ual,private freehold of land. The ques-tion to be asked is, is registration thelogical end to the discussion ofin-dividualisation of land rights, or is itmerely one option? This is not a ques-tion to be answered here, but rather tobedebated and researched.Access to landThe important issue is that everyoneshould be able to gain access toland.Access does not simply imply thatland be `made available'. It refersrather to fostering an economy that isgrowingand able to expand to meetthe employment needs of an escalatingpopulation. It implies laws that are freefromrestrictions on access based onrace, religion or any other form ofdiscrimination. It implies affirmativeaction in order toassist black farmerswho want to farm, affirmative actionto ensure that what little land has beenavailable for occupationby blacks isnot appropriated by wealthier whiteinterests.In conclusion I propose four im-portant points forconsideration in thedevelopment of a land policy for SouthAfrica:Land reform must be recognisedas only onecomponent of bothagrarian transformation andnational development. The otherissues to be considered incon-junctionwith land reform are anintegrated rural-development ap-proach,the environmental sus-tainability ofdevelopment andthe need to generate non-agricul-tural income in rural areas andthus stabilise the ruralpopulation.Land policy must address keyconstraints. For land to be usedeffectively, a land policy mustconsider theimportance of provi-sion for training, the supply ofcapital goods, marketing and ac-cess to credit facilities. It mustalsorecognise the social welfareneeds of people in relation to land.Land policy must be realistic. Itmust be based oncommunity andindividual needs, which havebeen carefully represented in pol-icy-formulating forums, and mustnotbased on external ideologiesand bureaucratic rationalities (orirrationalities). The policy mustrecognise that conflictover landis inevitable and constant and re-quires fair, legitimate, locally-based conflict-resolutionprocedures.Landpolicy must be com-prehensive. It must take accountof the different yet overlappingusage values placed upon land.Itmust be flexible and capable ofadapting and changing as the en-vironment changes and it must beable effectively tobalance na-tional against local needs. jTheresa Fleming has completed aMasters thesis in Developmentplanning andis involved in theUrban Removals Group of'theTransvaal Black Sash.`We are committed to privateproperty and f -eeenterprise as thebasis on which a new South Africawill be built.'F. W. de Klerk`What this 'free market" policy willdo isto allow a few black people tobuy land. Buying and selling is notpart of our culture. We believe thatland is a God-givenasset, given toall people. Therefore every personhas the right to a piece of land tolive on, but not to sell it like apieceof property.'Western Transvaal communitieshe government's intention to im-Tposefreehold as the only formoftenure is as well known as communityopposition to this. Indigenous forms oftenure in South Africa - calledcom-munal, customary, traditional or com-mon property systems - take complexand diverse forms which provideanessential form of social security topoor communities. In some parts of thecountry, which experience semi-aridandarid conditions, communal tenuresustains the environment better thanleasehold or freehold because stockare free tomove according to theweather between winter- and summer-rainfall zones. This is impossiblewhere individuals havetenure over anexclusive plot of land which is oftentoo small to allow for the necessaryrotation.

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land tenure out of africaLala Steyn was one of twelve South Africanparticipants attending a two-months coursedesignedfor them by the Land Tenure Centre of the University ofWisconsin, Madison, USA. She draws on coursedebatesand experiences from two African countries to argue thatforced conversion from communal to freehold formsofland tenure has been generally unsuccessful.One of the most important featuresof a land-reform programme isthekind of tenure systems it provides for.Debates on this issue in South Africatoday centre around freehold andcom-munal tenure. This article examinescertain myths surrounding freehold,such as the belief that the forcedcon-version of communal tenure to free-hold will result in increasedagricultural production. This has notbeen the resultin most African coun-tries, and we illustrate this argumentby drawing on Kenya and Lesotho asexamples. Kenya is auseful modelbecause of the number of similaritiesto South Africa, including the form ofits colonisation. Lesotho, whichhas asimilar form of communal tenure toparts of South Africa, is relevant be-cause tenure there has adapted tonewcircumstances without being con-verted to freehold.It is necessary to say at the outsetthat people have differentconceptionsof communal tenure, sometimes as-suming it to mean cooperative farm-ing. Although it is importanttoacknowledge the existence of diverseforms of communal tenure in differentparts of the country, it can be said thatingeneral communal tenure has astrong element of individual use rightsas well as communal grazing rights.While thisarticle concentrates onforms of tenure in rural areas, it shouldbe remembered that there are also im-portant debatestaking place aboutforms of tenure in urban areas.Freehold mythsThe South African government's land-reformlegislation passed in June 1991follows a pattern introduced in manyAfrican countries through the insis-tence ofagencies such as the WorldBank and USAID. They are importantinternational players who are alreadyengaged indiscussions with govern-ment and opposition forces in SouthAfrica. These agencies have arguedthat the conversionof communal tofreehold tenure and the registration ofland titles will lead to increased secu-rity of tenure, which willlead to agri-cultural investment and thus greaterproductivity. As a consequence ahealthy land market will develop.Thishas in fact not occurred in most Afri-can countries where it has been im-plemented, such as Kenya andUganda.Increasingly in the last few yearsexperts from these same institutions,Shem Migot-Adholla from theWorldBank and David Atwood from Us_,have challenged these myths by ex-posing what has happened in realityonthe ground. Let us look at what hap-pened in practice in places like Kenya.KenyaThe form colonisation took inKenyahas its parallels in South African his-tory. White farmers were given thebest land, worked by cheap blacklab-our. Native reserves were created andmigrants came to the cities to sell theirlabour, carrying identity cardswhichdescribed their homes as the placetheir ancestors came from irrespectiveof whether they were born thereorlived there. Chiefs were imposed andgiven new powers to allocate land.Individual freehold tenure forblacks wasintroduced in the 1950sduring the Mau Mau rebellion, towhich the issue of land redistributionwas central. Large-scaleland consoli-dation and registration took place be-cause the government believed itwould: 1) create a stable Africanmid-dle class, 2) encourage security of ten-ure, 3) enable title to be used for creditand thus encourage agriculturalin-vestment, and 4) encourage the devel-opment of a land market.In most parts of the country, how-ever, security oftenure did not in-crease. The process of implementingfreehold through registration provideda mechanism for the richto get landwhile the poor lost their land. For ex-ample, the following groups of peoplelost their land: 1) Mau Maususpects inthe central province, 2) certain catego-ries of tenants such as the muhoi andjadak groups, 3) landholdersabsentwhen the adjudication of land disputestook place, and 4) married sons orwives, as land was registered inthename of the family head.As a result of this process tenurerights became unclear because, evenwhere land wasregistered, customarylaw continued to influence the way inwhich most people dealt with theirland. A gap developedbetween the

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control of rights in the land registerand those recognised by loca"' mmu-nities. Communities have ways of con-trollingaccess to land and using itwhich differ from controls imposedfrom above. This fact should not beignored.A furtherconsequence was thatsmallholders failed to get credit ormake investments. They did not wantto use their land ascollateral becausethey feared losing it if unable to repaytheir loan. The banks were not pre-pared to give collateral onmoveableassets such as livestock or crops. Theyonly gave it on land. Thus only largefarms owned by wealthyindividualsusually got credit. People generallydid not make more investments be-causethe risk factor was too greatandthere were ro favourable credit facili-ties or government subsidies to assistthem. The freehold-tenuresystemmeant that the farmer had to take risksalone, without support from the com-munity network.A well-functioningland market hasnot been created in Kenya. The en-forcement of a freehold system fromabove and the disregard forlocal cus-tomshas meant that, despite consider-able government expenditure on landregistration, customary lawcontinuesto determine sales and successions. Inmany areas people live on land regis-tered in the name of another orof adeceased person. People refuse to giveup their land even if they are forced tosell it on paper.The assumption thatfreehold tenurewould lead to increased production ig-nored the fact that people use land tosatisfy a variety ofneeds-as inheritancefor their children, for a second wife, forcash-borrowing power, for speculation,as a source ofrevenue or to farm.In Kenya, as in South Africa, landhas an important social security func-tion. Urban jobs are notsecure enoughand do not provide for old age. Landin the rural areas provides a place forsurvival.Another argumentused by support-ers of freehold tenure is that commu-nal tenure leads to land degradationand freehold is the onlyanswer to con-servation of the environment. Thismyth is questioned more and more byenvironmentalists who pointout thatin semi-arid regions, such as the com-munal areas of Namaqualand, commu-nal systems sustain theenvironmentbetter than the economic units im-posed by the government. It is wellknown that white farmers onlyreducetheir stock when conservation legisla-tion is enforced. Effective conserva-tion legislation and enforcementwithcommunity participation and co-man-agement, as is being developed inLeliefontein (Namaqualand), couldwellprovide an answer.LesothoThe Lesotho experience illustrateshow a communal-tenure system hasadapted to newcircumstances withoutbeing converted to freehold tenure.The communal land tenure systemin Lesotho allows allBasotho accessto land for subsistence purposes anddoes not allow for land to be sold.In Lesotho pressure forconversionto freehold from foreign-donor agen-cies and commercial farmers has beenresisted by the government andthosewho believe in the communal land ten-ure system. Thus, despite the fact thatproductivity in agriculture hasde-clined since the 1960s, most peoplelive off wages from men working onSouth African mines and food is im-portedfrom South Africa.The main reason for this resistanceis, as a farmer says, `Land is a sort ofsecurity. We mostly relyon workingin the mines, and we start thinkingabout the time we will be cominghome, and have nothing to live on.Wewill just get a few bags of grain [fromour land] but it is much better thangetting nothing. There are no pen-sions,nothing. That is the problem.'The communal land-tenure systemhas adapted itself to accommodate anincreasedpopulation and the resultinglimit on land. It has also adapted itselfto the fact that workers can earn moreas migrantson the mines than fromfarming.Share-cropping, renting and leas-ing arrangements have developedwithout leading toincreased poverty.In share _cropping arrangements ahousehold with land, but no resources,makes a deal with ahousehold whichhas no land, but has access to resourcessuch as draught oxen or tractors. Eachgets half of the crop.According tocustomary law all Basotho have theright to land but because of populationgrowth there is not enoughland for all- thus no more land can be allocated.Thus, for example, a migrant who hasmoney and can buy/rent draughtoxenor a tractor will make a deal withsomeone who has land to use the land.In leasing agreements a farmerwithoutland will enter into long leaseswith landholders who do not have theresources to farm. The landholderswill be paidrent in kind. The length ofthe lease gives the farmer security toinvest inputs which may increase pro-ductivity. In othercases rental may bepaid in various forms: school fees,housing, cash, inputs for a portion ofthe land in exchange forthe right tofarm the remainder, or providing forwidows in their old age. In more prob-lematic cases landholders havebeenpaid for land giving the buyers thecustomary right to use the land as theirown. This has led to those withlandlosing their only bargaining tool andthus to destitution.In general, commercial farmers inLesotho see the absenceof a land marketas an obstacle to developing commercialagriculture. They argue that commercialagriculture will leadto higher levels ofsocial security than land and ask: `If theyare self-sufficient across the border [inSouth Africa], whycan't we do it here?'However, there are also counter argu-ments.Weigh this `self-sufficiency' upagainst the high deathrate due to mal-nutrition in South Africa despite itbeing a country `wealthy' enough toexport food. This question canalso bebalanced against the following state-ment by Border communities:`A hundred years ago the govern-ment saidthat individual ownershipwas a good thing for black people andit passed the Glen Grey Act. Twenty-five years later itsaid it was a bad thingand changed the policy back to a kindof communal tenure. Twenty yearsafter that it startedmoving us aroundin our communities calling it "better-ment". And all the while poverty andlandlessness grew andgrew. Now itsays freehold is the best after all. Wein the Border area are sick and tired ofthe government thinking itknowswhat is best for us.'Lala Steyn is the rural coordinatorof the Surplus People Project

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.Tanuary 1992 SASH 41three tributes`The quintessential revolutionis that of the spirit', saysNobel Peace PrizewinnerAung San Sun Kyi. Thetributes, to her as well asNadine Gordimer and the lateMama Zihlangu, show thattheirlives bear witnessto this insight.Aung San Suu KyiNadine GordimerMarna Dorothy ZihlanguSalute to Aung SanSuuKyi of BurmaA tng San Sun Kyi, Nobel PeacePrize winner for 1991 and prisonerof the Burmese government isthedaughter of a revered national leaderwho was assassinated in 1989. Sun Kyilived in exile until three years ago.Re-turning to help her ailing mother shesoon became the focus of increasinganti-government protest and helpedtofound the National League for Democ-racy. The govemment house-arrestedher in July 1989 but in 1990 had toallowfree elections, in which the League wona landslide victory.However, the military have hungon to power and SunKyi is still inisolation.Here is a sample of her Gandhianphilosophy, contrasting with the bru-tality of a government thatmassacredsome 4 000 student demonstrators inSeptember 1988.`The quintessential revolution is thatof the spirit,born ofaconviction of theedfor change in those attitudes andvalues which shape the course of anation's development.A revolution thataims merely at changing of cial policiesand institutions with a view to improvingmaterial conditionshas little chance ofgenuine success. Without a revolution ofthe spirit, the forces which hadproducedthe iniquities ofthe old order wouldcontinue to operate, posing a constantthreat to the process of reform andregneration.'From TheFar Eastern Review, 18 July 1991available at the Black Sash national office.Margaret NashMargaretNash suggestsreaders write to SuuKyi, affirming her commitment, and to theBurmese government calling for her releaseand fordemocratic rule. (Send letters orpostcards via Black Sash national office.)Tribute to Mama Dorothy Zihlangu25December 1920 -11 September 1991In June this year, the University ofCape Town awarded an honoraryMaster'sdegree to Mama Zihlangu, inrecognition and in celebration of a lifededicated to the fight for freedom andjustice in thiscountry. She receivedthe homage as a frail but proud littlefigure. The family had assembled fromfar and wide to sharein the celebra-tions, which stretched over a couple ofdays and characteristically involvedwhat appeared to be thewhole ofGreater Cape Town.By then, she had suffered from illhealth for a long time. However, herstrong spirit anddedication promptedher always to live beyond her strength,to mobilise, organise and nurture. Sherecognised and wasspurred on by themany tasks that lie ahead, especially inthe women's organisations. Themarginalisation of women atthe ANCconference in June was a source ofgreat concern to her.Mama Zihlangu took part in theDefiance Campaignin 1952. She iswell known for her part in building theFederation of South African Womenin 1954. She often spokeabout themarch of the women to the UnionBuildings in 1956, remembering hercomrades Dora Tamana andMamaSilinga.Mama Zihlangu played a majorpart in building ANC structures in theWestern Cape. She was banned,ar-rested, detained several times- but herfighting spirit remained undaunted byharassment, restrictions, byphysicaldanger and personal suffering. In1960, she was released from jail just intime to give birth to her sonMelisizwe.She and her husband were then bothbanned and put under house arrest. Astwo banned people living in thesamelittle house in Langa, they were givenstrict instructions not to speak to oneanother! (The banning wasdroppedafter lawyers challenged it.)In the late 1970s and throughout the'80s, Mama Zihlangu was instrumen-tal infounding the United Women'sOrganisation and then, in 1987, in re-viving the Federation of South AfricanWomen inthe Western Cape. This sheachieved despite restrictions placed onher during the state of emergency. Thethreat ofimprisonment did not deterher from travelling far and wide tomobilise women and bring differentgroups of townshipand rural womeninto political organisations.In three years (1985-1987) shespent almost 12 months in jail - with-outcharges ever being laid against her.When she was not in jail, she workedunderground. Many meetings of theFedsawexecutive during that timewere held in parking lots or obscurevenues in order to protect Mama fromprying eyes. Hertriumph came whenshe was able to attend the MalibongweConference in Amsterdam under anassumed name andwith a false pass-port - and mischievously introducedherself to all of us there as `MrsDaniels'.During the late '80s sheoftenworked closely with the Black Sashand formed strong bonds with manymembers in the Western Cape. Sheoftenspoke of `my friends on that side'- meaning the other side of the subur-ban railway line, where most of theBlack Sashmembers live.She displayed a remarkablewarmth, generosity, concern and lovefor all people in all walks of life. In

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Cape Town, she will also be remem-bered for making one of the more un-usual of wedding speeches: InFebruary1990, when Cheryl Carolus and GraemeBloch took time off from the struggle toget married, Mama Zihlangu(who hadlong pressurised Cheryl to marry andhave children) delighted all assembledguests with a fiery speech ofcelebration,ending in a rousing `And now apartheidcan just fuck off!'It is people like Mama Zihlangu whohave, throughtheir life and work, beliedthe ideologies of division and mistrustthat have ruled South Africans for solong. Throughthem we have beenshown some of the deep generosity ofspirit that is able to forgive great andbitter injustices of ourcommon past. Itis a spirit from which we may drawstrength and hope.Hamba kakuhle Mama Zihlangu.KarinChubbTSalute to Nadine Gordimerhe award to Nadine Gordimer ofthe Nobel Prize for Literature isrecognition of thequality of her workand confirmation of her world stature.Nadine Gordimer would have been awriter wherever andwhenever she hap-pened to live. South Africans are fortu-nate that she has lived here, at this time,and has illuminedthis world with hervision.Over the decades, writing that whichshe, as artist, has felt compelled to write,she hasbeguiled, amused, delighted,embarrassed and simultaneously con-scientised her readers. Her work has ledto newinsights, keener perceptions, to aview - seldom flattering - of ourselvesas we appear to others.All South Africansshould be de-lighted and proud that she has beenawarded the Nobel Prize, an honourwhich will bring her newreaders andwill stimulate many to re-explore herstories, novels and essays.Nadine Gordimer, who found herselfa`member of the minority-within-thewhite minority', achieved a balance be-tween the demands of her craft and thoseofsocial responsibility. One remembersher encouragement of the literary mag-azine Classic; her vigorous oppositiontocensorship; her support for young anddisadvantaged writers and of the Con-gress of South African Writers(coSAw);her outspoken opposition toinjustice and courageous evidence at theDelmas trial.Her living as well as her writing isaninspiration. Nancy GordonGoing GreenEdited by Jacklyn Cock andEddie Koch (Oxford UniversityPress, 1991)In1971 Marvin Gaye wrote a songcalled `Mercy, mercy me (the ecol-ogy)'. Among the words of the songwere:`thingsain't what they used to bewhere did all the blue skies go?Poison is the wind that blows ...oil wasted on the oceans andseas,fish full of mercury ...What about this overcrowded land,how much more abuse from mancan it stand?'He wasway ahead of the now pop-ular green movement. But a lot hassince been written on the subject -in Europe the issueshave becomepart and parcel of people's lives andpols.In South Africa, though, these is-sues are lower on the agendathan thefight against apartheid.In Going Green, Jacklyn Cock andEddie Koch significantly raise the en-vironmentissue on the priority list bycombining it with the apartheid issueinto `green politics' through a compi-lation of writingswhich have a com-mon ideology - people are at thecentre of the environment.In this collection, the focus on peo-ple isregarded as primary to caring fornature. This is an important move fromenvironmental awareness focused onthe`preservation of wilderness areas,and particular species of plants andanimals' and campaigns to save thewhite rhinoor stop seal culling.Cock argues that `green politics hasto be anchored in the needs of themajority of the people andfor the ma-jority of our people environmental is-sues mean no clean water, noelectricity and no propersanitation'.Green politics calls for an end to thearms race and the process ofmilitarisation and it unites those peo-pleopposed to each other on otherissues, she says.The book is divided into seventeensections.There are the predictableones deal-ing with the waste problem - chapterl l -our current system relies heavilyREVIEWSand dangerously on theintegrity ofindustrialists who bear the onus of dis-posing of hazardous waste correctly'-and chapter 12 - `in the thirdworld,erosion is associated with and causedby poverty; rural people, often pushedonto marginal lands for commercialorpolitical motives, are forced to stripthe land of wood for fuel, and resort toovergrazing or overcultivation tomake aliving. Thus, a cycle of landdegradation and deepening poverty isset up.' But these chapters do not addmuch new tothe debate.Then, there are the fresh ap-proaches. In chapter 6 - `Reds andGreens' - Rod Crompton and AlecErwinaddress the question of labourand the environment. This chapter ar-gues that workers are often in thefrontline ofenvironmental abuse andtrade unions therefore have a crucialrole to play in the transformation pro-cess. `TradeUnion struggles for healthand safety in the workplace constitutethe first line of defence for an embat-tledenvironment,' they say. They fur-ther argue that the path forpost-apartheid reconstruction must beone where pollutioncontrol does notmean the closure of factories and sub-sequent loss of jobs, but rather favour-ing employment. Thus,trade unioninvolvement is essential, they say.In chapter 8 - `Flowers in theDesert' - David Fig deals with how alocalcommunity has taken on theEskom and AEC parastatals to preventnuclear reactors being built inNamaqualand. `Mustwe prepare ourown gallows?' was the community'scry. Plans for the nuclear reactors havenot been shelved, but thefight againstthem is relentless.Margaret Jacobsohn describes inchapter 14 - `The Crucial Link' - hermonths withsemi-nomadic Himbaand Hereto herders in the Kaokoveld.They showed how development of thecommunity and theprotection ofplants can co-exist and how conserva-tion underpins development.Now, on to technical matters.Sub-jectively, the layout and design ofGoing Green enhances various sec-tions. The good use of white spaceandhighlighted quotes is particularly ef-fective. This format allows the readerto seize on a specific chapter with clar-ityof mental purpose. Unfortunately,

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Ja,TUarv 111, SASH 43REVIEWSthe centre gutter is too narrow and thetext tends to disappear into thebind-ing.There is a good spread of photo-graphs.However, this brings one to a seri-ous flaw. Notwithstan'ding thephoto-graphic contributors prowess, thereproduction is poor, presenting im-ages which are fuzzy and often vague.Thefinal edit also seems to havebeen somewhat neglected. Picturecredits are inconsistent as regardstype-face andpositioning, there aremany literal errors and quotes are re-peated by the various authors. Somemay argue that thisattention to detailis irrelevant, but they detract from thebook.Despite these criticisms, GoingGreen is a good collectionof writingsof new environmental thinking in thiscountry.And 20 years on, it is good to knowthat South Africans arebeginning toanswer another of Marvin Gaye'squestions: `Who really cares?'Obviously the editors and contrib-utorsdo.Diane StuartBLACK SASH PUBLICATIONMasisebenzisane -Let us work togetherPenelope Geerdts (BlackSash,1991)The South African DomesticWorkers Union has been waitingfor years for something like this -,ahandbookfor domestic workers, andalso for employers, telling them oftheir rights, advising them how to dis-cuss matters suchas a contract of em-ployment, wages, workhours,overtime, leave, etc.This Black Sash booklet is particu-larly goodbecause it sets out thesematters, and also analyses some of theproblems that face domestic workers,in a wayacceptable to both worker andemployer. We examined and dis-cussed this book at our SADwu HeadOffice anddecided we would like tohave copies in the hands of all ournational council members, and even-tually get copies intothe hands of allour members.We are pleased to note that theBlack Sash is agreeable to peoplecopying the book,which means it canbe supplied cheaply to many workers.We think it looks attractive and likethe illustrations.PenelopeGeerdts has done a tre-mendous job, and we are glad to workhand in hand with the Black Sash forbetterunderstanding between domes-tic worker and employer.Myrtle Wit"" (SADWU HeadOffice)The Bounds ofPossibility:The legacyof Steve Biko and BlackConsciousnessN. Barney Pityana, MamphelaRamphele, Malusi MpumlwanaandLindy Wilson (eds) (DavidPhilip, 1991)A brilliant book. It illuminatespast, present and future in a waythat is relevant toall South Africans. Italso vividly reminds us of SteveBiko's courage, the starkly contrastingbrutality of his murderers,and of thedaily need for each of us to choosewhere we stand, and who we are. Ibelieve that it should be read byeveryperson seeking an understanding ofoppression and liberation.My point of view: I am not a BlackConsciousness(BC) scholar, but haveread about it with interest over theyears. I aspire to being a feminist; thesimilarities betweenBlack Conscious-ness and `separatist' aspects of Femi-nist Consciousness are astounding.Apart from the narrativedetail, youcould in this book replace 'black man'with `woman' and `white' with `man',and have an equally valid accountofpolitical realities. So, as much as a mancan be pro-feminism, I am pro-blackconsciousness. (This may blind metowhat others may see as a `weakness' -a one-sidedness, an absence of con-trariness in the book.)The editors havesucceeded in thetwo-fold goal articulated in their intro-duction: òne, an analysis of Steve'slife and politicalcontributions in thecontext of the political developmentsin South Africa today; two, todemonstrate that Steve Biko'sphilos-ophy and the ideas of Black Con-sciousness have spread through thewhole thought structure ofliberatorypolitics in South Africa'. They go onto say:Èach contributor has also at-tempted to examine the legacy ofthatperiod in the light of contemporarypolitical realities ... It has been partic-ularly difficult to capture the essenceofwho Steve Biko was in a singlechapter, but we believe that LindyWilson's chapter Ja professionallydocumented,lively, heart-rending andthoroughly gripping story) forms abasis for further biographical workwhich will have to bedone in the fu-ture. We present him as we saw himand interacted with him,' with love,respect and the unique contextof theirown intelligence.N. Barney Pityana's contributionon medical ethics is chilling to themarrow; another,`Revolution withinthe law?', exposes clearly the lie ofSouth Africa's `reputation of having animpartial and independentjudiciary'.In two of her contributions,Mamphela Ramphele's inimitable un-derstanding of the dynamics of genderand ofcommunity development willbe particularly stimulating and usefulto Black Sash members.Neville Alexander's 1974paper isfascinating as à contemporary assess-ment of BC as it was happening, so tospeak', and Geoff Budlender on`BCand the Liberal Tradition: Then andnow' will strike a chord with those`whites' opposed to apartheid, forwhom `theemergence of Black Con-sciousness was a painful and bewilder-ing development'.Philosophical, historical,wonder-fully readable, paper after paper fur-ther explores BC, in the context of itscontinued impact, the armedstruggle,psychology, culture and theology.The legacy of Black Consciousnessinspires hope that the bounds ofpossi-bility are more expansive than we dareto believe at present.Annemarie Hendrikz

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44 sasl .1 ........ 1112REVIEWSJump and Other StoriesNadine G,,-din,er (David Philip,Cape Town, 1991; 257 pages)Iis a pleasure as well as a challengeturn from factual reports andanalyses of our current situation to thedeeper,many-faceted truth of art.Nadinc Gordimer's sixteen stories,mostly set in contemporary South Af-rica, deal with theconsequences ofpolitical repression. A sure recipe forgloom? Indeed. Yet the book leavesone with a surprising senseof hope, ofexhilaration almost, for in protestingthe subjugation of the individualhuman being, Gordimer celebratesthedignity of the human spirit. Her read-ers share in that celebration.Several tales derive from recentevents,protagonists familiar frommedia reports; we enjoy observinghow Gordimer, perceiving a particularsignificance, hasembroidered, ex-panded a bare outline, to illumine herinsight.In the title story, for instance, adisillusionedcounter-revolutionarychanges allegiance and exposes thedestabilisation he helped organise.The theme goes beyonddestabilisa-tion, to examine its dehumanising ef-fect on the perpetrators. We develop agrudging compassion for theanti-hero, himself victim of political re-pression, rejecting, albeit too late, hiscorrupt patrimony.A far more attractivehero (in `SafeHousesrecently returned fromexile, is once again a fugitive from thecourts, hiding in rugby crowds,atmovies. We are fascinated by his ad-ventures (real or apocryphal), by hiswit, his chutzpah; but it is his coura-geousdedication to principle thatgives significance to this tale.A very different experience is thatof the apolitical stockbrokerjoggingbeyond his usual limit early on a Sun-day morning. Suddenly caught up in acrowd of blacks hacking a mantodeath, he is saved by a squatter womanwho bravely but angrily shelters him,and then reluctantly has her songuidehim back to the main road. Safe home,he finds himself unable to speak abouthis experience, is immobilisedwhencalled upon to save or kill a birdtrapped in the drainpipe. Who is vic-tim, who perpetrator?The pleasure ofreading these sto-ries lies in sharing the wit and bril-liance of Gordimer's writing; theexuberance of her artisticcreativity,guided always by informed intelli-gence; her ruthless uncovering of moti-vation and prejudice; herpresentation ofnew perceptions. And here lies thechallenge: offered these new percep-tions, dare we open our mindsto them,make them our own, act upon them?Or do we say `Brilliant!' and close thebook?Nancy GordonApartheid CityinTransitionM. Swilling, R. Humphris and K.Shubane (eds) (Oxford UniversityPress, Cape Torn, 1991)here is no doubtthat South Afri-cancities are currently being sub-ject to an unprecedented degree toforces of change. However, asMarkSwilling points out in his introductionto this book, the significance of thetransition in South African cities liesin itsclose interrelationship with tran-sition in other spheres - the politicaland the economic in particular. In es-sence, thelegacy of the apartheid city,which brought about the spatial sepa-ration of race groups, of incomegroups and ofdifferent forms of landuse, has succeeded in affecting almostevery aspect of the daily life of theurban dweller. And forthose who arespatially marginalised, who are poorand not classified `white', this effecthas been almost entirelynegative. Theimportant lesson in this for policymakers is that whatever government isin power, or whatever economicsys-tem prevails, unless the issue of urbanspatial structure and service delivery isresolved, the crises whichcurrentlybeset the cities will continue.This book provides a useful re-minder ofthe multidimensional natureof the urbancrisis and helps to focusthe various arenas in which the crisisis manifesting itself.Part I reviews the factorswhich,historically, have shaped the urbanisa-tion process in South Africa, and Part11 establishes the current formsofurban management and representa-tion. The subsequent three sectionsfocus on different aspects of theurbancrisis, the first being the fiscal crisis.The spatial and governmental frag-mentation of the apartheid cityhaveinevitably resulted in financial disasterfor those local authorities (which areprimarily in charge of Africanareas)dependent on a poverty-stricken resi-dential population as a revenue base,and the political conflict whichhasensued over the payment of servicecharges has been equally inevitable.The second aspect of urban crisis isthatof service delivery, and this sec-tion of the book focuses on housing,land and transport. The latter in partic-ular isaptly described as a 'time-bomb'; the recently emerged taxiindustry, which is a direct response tothe spatialfragmentation of the citiesand the impossibility of providingsuch cities with good public transport,may yet spark offconflict which willaffect both political and economictransition.The third section - on urban crisis- focuses on politicalissues and thepositions of the various political actorsat the local level: township or-ganisations, liberal initiatives andtherole of the Conservative Party are cov-ered here. The final section of thebook, entitled `StrategicPerspectives',examines the way for-ward; it raises some important ques-tions and it is clearly here that ourgreatest concerns mustlie if transitionis to occur successfully.Vanessa Watson (Director: UrbanProbienisResearCh U1til)Living, LovingandLying Awake at NightSindiwe Magona (David Philip:Africa South New Wr-iting,1991;168 pages)had enjoyedSindiwe Magona'sfirst book and looked forward toreading more about her life - how shemanaged to get away fromselling

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REVIEWSsheeps' heads (oh, the smell and theflies!) and to improve her situation. SoI was a bit disappointed to find acol-lection of stories, but as I read 1 waswon over. There are these stories aboutdomestic workers; we allknowwomen who have been in situaticmslike these, but Sindiwe Magona de-scribes things just as they are,makingyou want to laugh and to cry, just aslife does. That poor woman having toleave her children with anunlovingmother-in-law, because her husbandfails to support her. `Tssp! Her hus-band was a dog that unsheathesitselfonto a tuft of grass. He forgot the grasshe'd peed on. Forgot what came fromthat. Ttssp-Ttssp!'And then there isAtini, her`medem' calls her Tiny - name toodifficult to remember! - and becauseAtim is desperate for work andshelter,she must humbly accept whatever her`medem' tells her; a funny littlewoman, not bad, but just selfish, un-ableto see another person's point ofview.This book will amuse workers be-cause we recognise our lives in it. Itmay amuseemployers too, becauseSindiwe Magona can write very clev-erly; but hopefully it will also givewhite people a betterunderstanding ofwhat life is like for black people, espe-cially for a black domestic servant,yourhusband gone orpassed on, livingaway from your family and children,in a little room by yourself, strugglingjust in order to earn a fewrands foreducating your children or helpingyour mother - no hope of saving foryour own old age.Ellen Kuzwayo'sstories are aboutolden days; the male writers describelife in the Transvaal townships. ButSindiwe Magona, really shetells it- ustas it is here in the Cape, or as it wasvery recently, before the violence.We black domestic servants knowsomuch about the life of white fami-lies, we can understand their prob-lems. Sindiwe Magona gives whitefamilies theopportunity to learn some-thing about our lives and our prob-lems. I hope she will reach manypeople.NomalizoKamisaWomen and Resistancein South AfricaCherry' Walker (David Philip,1991)first published in 1982 (OnyxPress,London) his importantbook is no doubt well known to mostreaders ors ASH, despite the fact that itwas banned andunavailable in SouthAfrica for many years.As first published, it detailed andrecorded her story of 20th century po-liticalstruggles of South Africanwomen and immediately became -and still is an invaluable resource foracademic andactivist alike.Not everyone agrees with Cherry'Walkers' analysis, and even somefacts in the book werequestioned.However, it would be gratuitous torevive the debate here, and interestedreaders are referred to theJO'arnal ofSouthern At -ican Studies,10/1(1983),Work in Progress 34 (1984) and 36(1985), as well as anunpublishedpaper by Josette Cole (Department ofEconomic History, University of CapeTown, 198_5).Walker herselfscrutinises the ma-terial with care and fresh insight, in thepreface to the second edition. Thispreface is in itself astimulating contri-bution to contemporary political dis-course and examines in athought-provoking way suchconceptsas, for example, motherhood and thefamily.I would recommend that womenwho read the first editionre-engagewith the author, nine years later, byreading the second edition preface -which will probably tempt you tore-read the whole book. To those whohave not yet explored these pages, youare missing out on a very importantpartof your own heritage as SouthAfrican women.Walker's conclusion of the secondpreface speaks for itself: `WomenandResistance does not present a coherenttheory of geudered politics in twenti-eth-century South Africa; it is, asal-ready noted, a task that has just begun.As suggested in the previous section, Ibelieve that developing this theoryre-quires taking seriously women's ownunderstandings of their roles and pri-orities - moving beyond seeing themasmere victims of patriarchal domina-tion to an appreciation of their own,gendered interest. It also requires tak-ing theirhistory seriously. ThisWomen and Resistance attempts todo.' I believe it succeeds.Annemarie HendrikzThe Time ofthe StiltedPeopleAnne Schuster, illustrated byPeni van Sittert (Buchu Books,1991; 88 pages)StorylandCompiled byJay Heale,illustrated by Joan Rankin(Tafelberg, 1991; 160 pages)he Time of the Stilted People is anadventure storyfor seven- toeight-year olds which from the veryfirst page is exciting, with an originaltheme.The stilted people are arace apartand although they look and behavevery differently from other people,they have some similarities. Theyarenot appealing, with their shaved heads,painted faces, bodies that make themlook like living corpses on stilts.Theymove from town to town lur-ing people into atrance with their hyp-notising smell and weird ways. Then aband of sixfriends helps bring lifeback to their own community.A wonderful story that is jam-packed full of fun.It is wonderfulthese days when youfind a collection of good South Afri-can stories, especially when, as inStoryland, you get 27 all inone go.These stories - for 1 I - to 14-yearolds - are wells set and make aperfect combination, ranging fromshipwreck,adventure, a cricket gameto dinosaur adventures, folktales, truestories, and Christmas treasures.Most of the storiesare original - Iwished there were more.Rebecca Haynes (aged l4 years) ~J

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46 SASH January /992SNAP REVIEWS LETTERSSouth African Cities: A manifesto for changeDavid Dewar andRoelof Uytenhogaardt (Urban Problems Research Unit,University of Cape Town, 1991; 113 pages, illustrated)Despitethe importance of urbanisation, and the magnitude of economic,social and political problems which potentiallyaccompany it, there are veryfew fundamental questions being asked about what South African citiesshould become:there is none of the intense debate which occurs, forexample, around economic and political futures. The bookdevelops from abase of first principles and, arising from this, a set of concrete actions which,the authors argue,represent a positive path forward towards increasinglymore convenient, efficient, viable, equitable and liveablecities.The primary purpose of the book is to initiate, and to contribute to, avigorous debate on urban futures which willresult in positive, large-scaleactions within a short period.An Unofficial War - Inside the conflict inPietermaritzburgMathew Kentridge (David Philip, 1990; 249 pages, illustrated)Report on the struggle between Inkathaand the UDF and its horrific effect onthe lives of individuals; the roles of the warlords and of the police; peace-broking.Includes a chronological overview from September 1987 to June1990. Index. Weakened by a striving forreadability.The Killings in South Africa(Africa Watch, USA, 1991)Deals with the violence in Natal and the Transvaal,focusing on the role ofthe security forces and the response of the state. Chilling report, concise andobjective, by arespected monitoring agency.Flashes in Her Soul - The life of Jabu NdlovuJean Fairbairn (Natal Worker HistoryProject, Buchu Books, 1991; 90 pages,illustrated)Warmly personal story of a strong and compassionate woman,dedicatedshop steward of the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa andcommunity leader of Imbali, killedwith her husband and daughter in the warin Natal. Try to listen to the magnificent singing of Bambatha's Children forafuller appreciation of the suffering in Natal Midlands.Songsources: Using popular music in the teaching ofEnglishTerry Volbrecht (Buchu Books, Cape Town, 1991)This book will be a valuable addition to any school languagelibrary and alsoa rewarding book to dip into for anyone interested in promoting languageskills outside the formalclassroom. It provides a bridge between conven-tional and more communicative approaches.Volbrecht suggestscommunicative ways in which popular songs can beused to make the syllabus relevant to students' interests. It isspeciallyappropriate as it includes local, not only Eurocentric or American, popularsongs.N. M. G. 0nuclear powerandgender activityAndrew Kenny replies to MikeKantey's critique (Letters, SASH,September 1991)am replying to theextraordinaryletter by Mr Mike Kantey, not onlyattacking my article in favour of nu-clear power but also your magazineforpublishing it. Mr Kantey is entitled tohis opinions but he really must get hisfacts right. To reply to his six points:1Nuclear power in the West hasproved safer than any other meansof generating electricity, includ-ing solar power. TheChernobylaccident happened because of acrazy reactor design which wouldnever be allowed in the West. Buteventhe`holocaust' of Chernobylcaused far less death and diseasethan coal burning in the commu-nist countries.2 Nuclearpower produces thecheapest electricity in the Euro-pean Community.3 The nuclear power industry is theonly powerindustry that hassolved its waste problem. Thewastes from coal stations aremore dangerous than nuclearwaste, lastlonger and are mas-sively larger. There is no technol-ogy for collecting and storing coalwastes, some of whichremaindangerous forever.4 There is less connection betweennuclear power and nuclear weap-ons than there isbetween the steelin a sword and the steel in aploughshare.5 Whether or not electricity shouldbe centrally produced isa sepa-rate argument affecting mostforms of electricity production.6 There is enough uranium in theearth's crust tosupply man [sic]with energy until the sun burnsout.I used to work for ESKOM, in bothits coal stations and its nuclearstationbut no longer do so. I do not earn apenny from the nuclear industry. I sup-port nuclear power because, frommyexperience in the power industry andfrom my reading, I believe nuclearpower to be the cleanest and safestform ofelectricity generation, includ-

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LETTERSing all the forms of `alternativeenergy'.It is pure sexual bigotry to suggestthat you can give a gender to atech-nology and call it `masculine'. Sciencebelongs to all of us. Although, to becandid, I must admit that some ofthestrongest support I found for nuclearpower comes from the women work-ing in the nuclear industry. Thisisprobably because nuclear power offersthe best future for their children.Recently I took part in a friendlyandconstructive debate on nuclearpower with Earthlife Africa in Johan-nesburg. Both they and SASH maga-zine haveshown that they are in favourof open debate with both sides beingallowed to present their arguments. Iurge Mr Kanteyto follow their en-lightened example.maintain the watchdogroleBasia Ledochowska, Cape Town,writes:have just readM. Ottaway's article(SASH, September 1991) and I wantto tell you how impressed and encour-aged I feel. I hope thatthe Black Sashwill take as seriously its role as thewatchdog of human rights under anyfuture government, as it did inthe eraof apartheid.I think it was, of all people, Lenin,who said that every government tendsto oppress its subjects.Simone Weil,that great philosopher of human rights,talks about `justice this fugitive fromthe victorious camp'. In otherwordsany government in power `needs con-stant watching' to quote Ottaway.I believe that the danger of mis-deedsby the people in power goingundiscovered is greater in South Af-rica than in European countries be-cause themajority of the workingpopulation is by the fact of its illiteracypractically cut off from the possibilityof exercising controlover the authori-ties.I should like to add another obser-vation to Ottaway's list of difficultiespreventing people fromdenouncinghuman rights violations. There is atendency among people who sufferedunder one system of governmenttosupport a system which appears to beits antithesis. People from eastern Eu-rope who came to South Africa inthelast 40 years tended to support theNationalist government because of itsstrong condemnation. of communism-whose oppressiveness made them fleetheir motherlands. Now, people whosuffered under apartheid show aten-dency to greatly admire communismwhose appalling human rights recordin every country in which it wasestab-lished is glossed over.Having had the opportunity of ob-serving both `regimes' at close quarters- I found manyremarkable similaritiesin their treatment of ordinary people.False dichotomies of that kind are afavourite weapon ofdemagogues andneed watching very closely.Let us hope that the Black Sash willnever waver in its determinationtodenounce human rights violations in-cluding doublespeak and misinforma-tion from whichever quarter.a plea for thededicationAnn Stekhoven, Cape Town,writes:1 would like to congratulate you allon the excellence of theSeptemberissue of SASH magazine.However, it has disappointed mevery greatly that the `dedication' hasbeen left offthe back of the cover, notonly in this issue, but many others aswell.Do members of the Black Sash notwant toremember this dedication?Has it been forgotten - or deliberatelydiscarded?I, and I know many others, feelthatwhatever new ideas and focuses wemay have, it cannot be right to removethese words, which point to theinspi-ration, trust and faith that have helpedus build and be creative.Can we please have it back to re-fresh our heartsand minds?Refer to back page (editors)`significant sisters'recommendedBetty Davenport, Cape Town,writes:usuallyfind I read SASH from coverto cover, but seldom have I read anissue as the September 1991 with suchsustainedinterest and appreciation. Ithink you have put together an ex-tremely balanced edition with enoughanalysis of theposition of radical andmarxist feminists and of liberal andsocialist feminists to make it accept-able to all. I found thearticles by Dor-othy Driver, Denise Ackerman andFidela Fouche particularly thoughtful.I can recommend a librarybookwhich makes really absorbing reading,about the women whose `fanaticism'paved the way for changes inlegisla-tion in their field - inter alia law,medicine, education, politics, birthcontrol-during the late 19th and early20thcenturies. It puts into perspectivethose causes which have been ad-dressed for over 100 years, and which,despiteimproved legislation, are stillareas where women are discriminatedagainst.The book is Margaret Forster's Sig-nificantSisters - The grassroots ofactive feminism 1839-1939; Penguin,London, 1986 (ISBN 0-14-008172-0).

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48 SASH Ju~u~arc 11112JEWS-STRIPRegional newsBophuthatswana stand,arrest and human rightsThe actionstaken by theBophuthatswana government inresponse to the Black Sash stand inMmabatho as reported in theinterna-tional media, illustrates how littlepresident Mangope is concerned abouthuman rights and how even themostinnocent of political actions is disal-lowed in his homeland.The prospects for Bophuthatswanahunger strikerJohannes Semi lane lookbleaker than ever. There is also in-creased concern that the MafikengAnti-Repression Forumwhich gavesupport to the Black Sash stand and tomembers while they were in jail, willnow face even moreharassment thanin the past.Barbara Klugnian(Transvaal region)On 11 October, members of theNatal Midlands BlackSash,joined by representatives from theDemocratic Party, the Pietermaritz-burg Agency for ChristianSocialAwareness, the Association for RuralAdvancement, the ANC Women'sLeague, and the EndConscriptionCampaign, stood in silent protestagainst the arrest of 1 1 of our membersin Bophuthatswana./envyClarence(Natal Midlands region)Beulah Rollnick beginning her 100th day book at the Johannesburg BlackSashadvice office. (All cases are written up in 100-page day books. On an average thereare two to three cases perpage.)Capital punishment groupA dossier has been compiled on thedeath penalty as requested bytheBophuthatswana representative at theChancery. Included amongst other in-formation is a copy of InsideSouthAfrica's death factory and an addressby Peter Storey delivered in Johannes-burg in 1989. The dossier wasfor-warded with a letter dated 1zOctober1991 to president Mangope. To date,no reply or acknowledgement hasbeenreceived.Isie Pretorius(Northern Transvaal region)Sylvia Nilsen honouredOn 23 October 1991, SylviaNilsen, amember of the NatalCoastal region, was named Woman ofthe Year by the Durban branch of theUnion of JewishWomen.Sylvia Nilsen is a long-standingmember of the Black Sash and hasworked in the Natal Coastal adviceofficesince 1985. She is now the pen-sions co-ordinator for the Natal Mid-lands office. She was named Womanof the Yearfor her outstanding contri-bution to the community, particularlyin the field of disabled rights. In thisregard she startedthe South AfricanBrittle Bone Association in 1979. Atpresent she is vice-chairperson of theSouth African InheritedDisorders As-sociation.Ann Strode(Natal Midlands region)

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,lanuary /992 SASH 49Western Cape:NEWS-STRIPVisits by leading international feministsPeace initiativesandmonitoring"-Atthe tragedy of the taxi war con-Atinues, Black Sash members inthe Western Cape are very involvedinmonitoring the situation, and arecalled out on a daily basis to take state-ments and offer support to people whohavehad their homes burnt down, andrelatives and friends killed. They areinvolved in the Western Cape repres-sionmonitoring group which has beenpart of the Quaker Peace HouseResource Forum over the last months.The groupoperates as an information-sharing forum, looking at reports onunrest and violence coming in fromtownshipfieldworkers, the UrbanMonitoring and Awareness Commit-tee (U-C), civic associations, theWestern Province CouncilofChurches (wPCC) and others.Helen Zille chairs the Police Forummeetings at which the Black Sash alsohas fourrepresentatives. One of theconcerns expressed at these meetingsis that the police in uniform and cam-ouflagedressfrequently do not wearany form of identification on theirclothing in their patrols in the town-ships.The Black Sash isalso representedon the Peace Committee initiated bythe mayor of Cape Town, Mr Frankvan der Velde, andarchbishop Des-mond Tutu.Carol Lamb(Cape Western region)Book launchOn 27 September, together withFogarty'sbookshop, a launch washeld for Kathryn Spink's book BlackSash: The Beginning of a Bridge inSouth Africa. LesleyFrescura, theregion's newsletter editor, gave a shortaddress to the members and supporterspresent, which looked atthe history ofthe organisation and ahead to the future.Judy Chalmers(Cape Eastern region)Above: Rudha Kumarreceiving FracturedCity, a Black Sash publication, from MaryKleinenberg.Right: Angela Davis.A ngela Davis,American human-rights activist and author, touredthe Pietermaritzburg unrest areas wickmembers of the ANCWomen's League.The branch was invited to join themfor a morning's discussion and severalmembers also attended aseminarwhich Davis addressed at the Univer-sity of Durban-Westville.Radha Kumar, one of India's lead-ingfeminists,was also in Pietermaritz-burg for a few days which enabled thebranch to spend several hours with herin fruitfuldiscussion about her in-volvement with the community inBhopal, particularly the women, afterthe disaster there. Hercourage andcommitments often in the face of ex-traordinary odds, is an example andencouragement to us all.JennyClarence(Natal Midlands region)Robben Islandphotographicexhibition inCape Town0aPenny Sachs has beenresponsiblefor arranging an exhibition ofphotographs featuring returning polit-ical prisoners, mainly from RobbenIs-land. This has been displayed atvarious venues, for example CowleyHouse and the Baxter Theatre complexinRondebosch, with great success.Ta

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50 SASH January 1992NEWS-STRIPNorthern Transvaal:Private eventsEnlarging membership appears tohave beenthe primary preoccu-pation of theregion! Wewelcome sec-retary Cathy Matthews' twins,committee member Kathy Payse'sdaughter and chair Kerry Harris' son.Isie Pretorius(Northern Transvaalregion)The domesticworkers groupThis hasconcentrated on givinginput on the recommendationsput out by the National ManpowerCommission regarding theextensionof labour legislation to domestic work-ers. Apart from internal discussion, ageneral meeting was held towhich theSouth African Domestic WorkersUnion (SADWU) was invited.I have been involved as a researcherin a studycommissioned by IDASAat the request of the eMgwenya com-munity (Watervalboven). It aims toassess incomepatterns of householdsand the affordability of services pro-vided to residents. The report hopes toprovide the relevantinformation to allbodies involved in the negotiation pro-cess regarding the future of the admin-istration of thearea.Penny Geerdts(Northern Transvaal region)The move towardsa single municipalityAlthough Knysna was in thenewsa few years ago when the ideawas put forward that it have a singlemunicipality, there has since then beenlittletangible progress on the issue andno attempt to discuss it in a publicfor... Therefore when CapeWestern's adviceoffice committe de-cided to hold its September meeting inthe local advice office, the opportunityto organise a publicmeeting about asingle municipality was seized. Themeeting was well attended by all sec-tions of the community, whoheard theviews of the mayor, the town clerk, theKnysna Civic Association, and theHornlee Interim ManagementCom-mittee on the issue. Jenny de Tollyrounded off with a general overview ofthe situation in South Africa, andthefranchise locally and abroad. A livelydiscussion ensued, and many pointswere made and grievances aired.Thebranch is proud of its organisa-tion of the meeting, the feedback fromwhich was positive, and is optimisticthat if themomentum is not lost some-thing constructive will flow from theoccasion.In the ensuing weeks, the SouthernCapebranch of Cape Western hasbeen invited by the municipality toattend the inauguration of a new clinicin `WhiteLocation', and a'think-tank'on job-creation for school-leavers.Carol Elphick(Southern Cape branch)Patriotic/UnitedFrontconferenceR epresentatives from the BlackSash attended the Patri-otic/United Front conference held inDurbanin October.Attended by 92 diverse or-ganisations, it aimed to mobilise theforces of democracy to act in unity withacommon viewpoint on the process oftransition - which formed the substanceof discussions. The conference wasdi-vided into four sessions - one each oninterim government/transitional author-ity, all-partyconference/pre-constitu-tional assembly meeting, constitutionalassembly, and violence. Our greatestfrustration wasthat of being unable tospeak for the Black Sash on these is-sues as we have not yet developedofficial positions onthem.The theme which dominated dis-cussion was violence. It seemed clearthat everyone present accepted thatthecurrent violence was being orches-trated, if not initiated by the state.There was a general feeling of crisis,thatsomething had to be done, everytime the topic was raised. I found my-self (and I think many others did too)feelingcaught in a catch-22 situation- that transition will be difficult, if notimpossible, whilst violence continues;but until thereis transition (at least tothe point of an interim government),violence will inevitably continue.Although no conference iswithoutits frustrations and problems, it wasexciting to be part of such a historicalevent, a useful and positive stage intheprocess of change to a democratic,peaceful South Africa.Anne Truluck(Natal Midlands region)Discussion groupona constitutionAlthough issues and events oftenpre-empt debate, regional coun-cil has formed a smalldiscussiongroup to begin investigating the pro-cesses towards the development of anew constitution for SouthAfrica.They have drawn up a questionnairewhich has been sent to all regions, andthe responses to this will beformu-lated into a document for NationalConference 1992.Carol Lamb(Cape Western region)Women's issuegroupThe October general meeting wasorganised with the focus being onhow the Black Sash could become in-volvedin the campaign for a Women'sCharter. It was addressed by represen-tatives from the ANC's Women'sLeague andthe Democratic Party.Laura Best(Northern Transvaalregion)

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.1 nuurp 1992 SASH 551NEWS-STRIPTraining courses in the P.E. advice officeThe Port Elizabeth advice office(nowcalled the Black Sash ad-vice office) has organised six three-week courses in the past twelvemonths, with attendancefrom adviceoffice workers in 13 rural areas in theeastern Cape and also from urban of-fices. It is hoped that next yearmoresupport and training will be offered inorder to strengthen the network ofrural offices that is becoming estab-1 ished.Judy Chalmers(Cape Eastern region)Casspir debateThe Black Sash and the End Con-scription Campaignjoined forceson two Sundays in protest at the pres-ence of a casspir, billed by the or-ganisers as a welcome diversionforchildren, at a local market. The standdrew considerable public interest andcopies of the letter written in protesttothe officer-in-charge of the police re-serve were handed out to people in thepark. The casspir is still ondisplay,however, to people who seem unwill-ing to admit to or recognise the veryserious statement its presence ismak-ing.Jenny Clarence(Natal Midlands region)Above:Cathie Binnell, Debbie Matthews andHern Luyten (SACHED)with trainees inthe Black Sash P.E. advice office,October 1991.Below:The protest =against thepresence of a casspirat thePietermaritzburgmarket.ObituariesOlive ForsythOliveForsyth, an early memberof the Black Sash, died inPortElizabeth on 30 May 1991,aged 88.She joined the Black Sash inPietermaritzburg virtually at itsinception, workingand stand-ing with other stalwarts likeMaimie Corrigall, Meg Straussand Pam :asShe was one of those whostood inBergville when minis-ter Paul Saner arrived to ad-dress the local agriculturalshow and, on that occasion,wasaccompanied by her daughterBridget (Ward) who is an ac-tive member of the Transvaalregion.Pat TuckerLesleyMartinLesley Martin, a staunch sup-porter and committed member,died whilst on a visit to her sonin America. We willmiss herintellect, her caring, and herwonderful feisty letters to thepress. She was a lesson in cour-age to us all.

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The Black Sash dedicationIn pride and humbleness we declare ourdevotion to the land of South Africa; wededicateourselves to the service of ourcountry. We pledge ourselves to uphold theideals of mutual trust and forbearance,ofsanctity of word, of courage for the future,and of peace and justice for all persons andpeoples. We pledge ourselvesto resist anydiminishment of these, confident that thisduty is required of us, and that history andour children willdefend us.So help us God, in whose strength wetrust.

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