Third Force (South Africa)

For other uses, see Third force (disambiguation).

The "Third Force" was a term used by leaders of the ANC during the late 1980s and early 1990s to refer to a clandestine force believed to be responsible for a surge in violence in KwaZulu-Natal, and townships around and south of the Witwatersrand (or "Rand").[1]

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that:

while little evidence exists of a centrally directed, coherent or formally constituted "Third Force", a network of security and ex-security force operatives, frequently acting in conjunction with right-wing elements and/or sectors of the IFP, was involved in actions that could be construed as fomenting violence and which resulted in gross human rights violations, including random and target killings.[2]

Goals of the Third Force

After the state of emergency, and by the end of December 1986, South Africa’s counterrevolutionary force upgraded its strategy from simply suppressing the total onslaught to suppressing the total revolutionary onslaught. The government’s goal remained to gradually reform South African politics from simply white minority rule to a more palatable representative state that would be more sustainable in the future.[3] As a result, the NP strategy included reform, but the sluggish pace at which they aimed to do so was at odds with many South Africans as well as the global community.[4]

By switching the threat away from communist influenced rebels and onto the socio-economic troubles of South Africa, the state employed their third world status to justify the systematic violence and oppression of the common people by the white minority elite. In this sense, the state seemed to believe that using violent force to suppress the unrest of the people remained a necessary evil in order to prevent chaos apparently inherent in Third World societies. Thus, the government sought to disregard the checks and balances of the courts and law, in order to force their authority on a people whom they believed required coercion.[5]

Ultimately, the transformation of the government to essentially a totalitarian state influenced the secret assassination units to assume an all-powerful role that necessitated complete obedience to them and the status quo.[6] As a result, the value of human life became diminished in the face of the state. The ideal of the state became the primary concern of South Africa’s government and superseded the individual liberties of its people. The secret police, consequently, embodied the will of a government that offered a choice either between utter obedience or death.[7]

Uses after 1994

Today, the high rate of protest in South Africa is often attributed to a "third force",[8][9][10] often assumed to be linked to foreign intelligence agencies, opposition political parties and white intellectuals.[11][12] However, S'bu Zikode of the shackdweller's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has famously deconstructed the term by claiming the third force is the anger of the poor.[13] Abahlali baseMjondolo has also argued that "it is clear that the third force is just another name for the organised poor".[14]

The ANC also often refers to protestors and other critics as "counter-revolutionaries".[15] Cosatu President Sdumo Dlamini has claimed that popular organisations active in local politics are linked to the CIA.[16]

The Mail & Guardian has reported that: "According to grassroots activists the accusations of 'criminality' and 'third forces' are familiar: used to delegitimise and dismiss dissent and grievances - and perpetuate the notion of a society homogenously content with an ANC-led government."[17]

The newspaper also quoted activist Ayanda Kota as saying that these allegations "take the agency away from us. It's the same argument used for the mineworkers fighting for a living wage: they are being used by some 'third force'… Poor people…apparently can't organize. It was the same with Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement - the CIA were behind them."[18]

The xenophobic pogroms in May 2008 were also ascribed to 'the third force'.[19] In 2015 Malusi Gigaba also described xenophobic violence to a "third force"[20]

Protest at mining on communal lands,[21] independent trade union action[22] and the formation of new political parties has also been seen in conspiratorial terms by the ANC.[23] Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the ANC, has ascribed strikes on the mines to the agency of 'white foreigners'.[24]

Notes

  1. ↑ The Historical Significance of South Africa's Third Force, Stephen Ellis Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Jun., 1998), pp. 261-299
  2. ↑ "Section 4 Appendix: The 'Third Force'" (PDF), Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report 6, 2003, p. 584
  3. ↑ Florini, Ann M. Third Force, The; The Rise of Transnational Civil Society. Carnegie Endowment, 2000. pg 34
  4. ↑ O'Brien, Kevin. "The Use of Assassination as a Tool of State Policy: South Africa's Counter-Revolutionary Strategy 1979-92 (Part II)." Terrorism and Political Violence 13.2 (2001): pg 123
  5. ↑ Wilson, Richard. The politics of truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Legitimizing the post-apartheid state. Cambridge University Press, 2001. pg 67
  6. ↑ O'Brien, Kevin. "The Use of Assassination as a Tool of State Policy: South Africa's Counter-Revolutionary Strategy 1979-92 (Part II)." Terrorism and Political Violence 13.2 (2001): pg 123
  7. ↑ Wilson, Richard. The politics of truth and reconciliation in South Africa: Legitimizing the post-apartheid state. Cambridge University Press, 2001. pg 67
  8. ↑ [http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=108219 ANC: "Abahlali and opposition a third force"], Mhlabunzima Memela, The Witness, 17 October 2013
  9. ↑ 'Third force' link to unrest GRAEME HOSKEN and SIPHO MASOMBUKA, The Times, 7 February 2014
  10. ↑ A revolution’s dreams betrayed, Malaika wa Azania, Sunday Independent, 30 March 2014
  11. ↑ Abahlali's Vocal Politics of Proximity: Speaking, Suffering and Political Subjectivization, Anna Selmeczi, Journal of Asian and African Studies, October 2012 vol. 47 no. 5 498-515
  12. ↑ On the Third Force, SACSIS, 2012
  13. ↑ Zikode, S'bu (2006), We are the Third Force, Abahlali baseMjondolo
  14. ↑ The Third Force is Gathering its Strength, Abahlali baseMjondolo, 3 March 2010
  15. ↑ The ANC's imagined and real enemies: 'Creeping counter-revolution' vs. creeping scandals, Ranjeni Munusamy, 21 January 2012
  16. ↑ Conspiracy theories tell us much about South Africa, ANTHONY BUTLER, Business Day, 23 AUGUST 2013,
  17. ↑ Activists decry talk of 'third force' at Marikana, Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian, 24 August 2012
  18. ↑ Activists decry talk of 'third force' at Marikana, Niren Tolsi,Mail & Guardian, 24 August 2012
  19. ↑ Michael Neocosmos, From Native Foreigners to Foreign Natives, CODESRIA, Dakar, 2010, p. 118
  20. ↑ Outbreak of xenophobic attacks ‘shows lack of leadership’, Staff Writers, Business Day, 16 April 2015
  21. ↑ Mining is a 'done deal', Fred Kockott, IOL, 2008
  22. ↑ Gwede's Swedish diplomatic row, By LOYISO SIDIMBA AND CANDICE BAILEY, Sunday Independent, 23 June 2013]
  23. ↑ New parties a sign of 'foreign agents', says MK Vets chairman, COLLEEN GOKO, Business Day, 30 APRIL 2013,
  24. ↑ "White foreigners": The danger of history repeating itself, Terry Bell, GroundUp, 13 June 2014

See also

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