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The Natal Story : 16 Years of Conflict
NB: NB: There was a furious SECRET Black-on-Black Civil War in the province of Natal in South Africa. Very little is known about it. It raged for 16 years. 12,000 people died in it. This is the first book to ever be written about this Secret war that occurred during White rule in South Africa.
Author: Anthea Jeffrey
Published SAIRR, Jhb, 1997
902pp; size 238 X 160mm; map
Hardback;
ISBN 0-86982-453-8
From the early 1980s to the mid 1990s more than 12 000 people died in virtually unchecked political violence between the UDF and the Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu/Natal. Many thousands more were injured, rendered homeless or cast adrift as refugees. Conflict in the region left a trail of devastation marked abandoned villages and the blackened ruins of empty houses. It unleashed a savagery and a thirst for revenge which will not easily be countered. It made parts of the province, in the words of the late Chris Hani, ‘like a wasteland, where people move around like dead souls.’
This book attempts to explain the horror of this undeclared war. It describes 16 years of conflict in an objective and unprecedented manner in which equal weight is given to the views of the opposing rivals.
The first scenario developed by the ANC, attributes the conflict to Inkatha, acting as a surrogate of the former South African apartheid state and in collusion with ‘third force’ elements within the police and army to retard or undermine the transition to democracy.
The second scenario developed by the IFP, attributes the conflict to the ANC/SACP alliance, and the strategy of violent destabilisation that it developed to overthrow the government, eliminate black political competitors and introduce a centralised and socialist state.
Jeffrey not only describes the theory of violence put forward by each of the protagonists, but also outlines the evidence that appears to substantiate both opposing views.
The book also describes the relevant reports of the Goldstone Commission and the Transitional Executive Council (TEC), as well as then trials of Colonel Eugene de Kock and General Magnus Malan and the insights these provide into a ‘third force’ role in violence.
This is the most comprehensive account of the conflict that devastated the region for two decades.
NB: The Price includes shipping costs inside South Africa.
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R300.00 |
