After the assassination - political aftermath following the murder of the South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani

National Review, May 24, 1993 by Andrew Kenny

TO UNDERSTAND the mood of South Africa, you should imagine a man suffering from a wasting disease and stoically preparing the medications that will make his life bearable. then a witchdoctor tells him his illness is really caused by an evil spell and, if he makes a human sacrifice and dances in the moonlight, the spell will be banished and he will have perfect health. Ecstatic, he does so, the magic fails, he feels despair, and he returns to his medications. But in a few months' time another witchdoctor comes along...

The cold prognosis is that South Africa is about to follow black Africa into economic decline. The general mood is of glum resignation, but there are episodes of violent exultation. Black and white prophets call for one last great cleansing by blood to bring about the African Utopia or the Boer Republic of Virtue.

The world saw a glimpse of these turbulent forces after the assassination of Chris Hani, the black leader of the South African Communist Party. Unfortunately the world looked through the idiot eye of television, which reduces events to an animated horror comic. In fact the violence and plunder were responsibly contained by the leaders of the ANC, and on the day of the funeral political murders were below their average of eight a day. Moreover, the South African public is so stupefied by endless slaughter--tribal murders, criminal murders, murders for muti (using human body parts for magic), murders of passion, murders of boredom--that this storm caused no panic but only a deepening sense of dread.

Dominating South Africa is a troika of the National Party Government, the ANC--Communist Party alliance, and big business. They have different tribal bases (Boer, Xhosa, and English) but their political ideas are the same. They all are authoritarian; they all believe in the corporate state. Popular support for them is large in number but small in enthusiasm. The elections, which should happen within a year, are almost certain to bring about a coalition government between the NP and the ANC.

Opposed to them are white and black nationalists. Here there is much enthusiasm, but with this fundamental asymmetry: the white militants are proud of their past and sure of their identity; the black militants are ashamed of their past and confused about their identity. (The only black party proud of its African past is Inkatha, a traditionalist, mainly Zulu party and an opponent of the ANC.) In the townships, the more the black militants curse the white man, the more they want to be like him; the more they eulogize their African traditions, the more they jeer at the tribesmen in the bush who still practice them.

The white nationalists are divided between two ideas, a reduced Volkstaat (Afrikaner homeland) and white domination over the whole country; and between two methods, negotiation and force. The idea of a Volkstaat is a good one, which could contain peacefully the energies of Boer nationalism. One possible site is the forbidding semi-desert of the northern Cape, where the Volk could build a Boer Israel on the banks of the Orange River. However, the sacrifices necessary for such a fulfillment are currently too much for most of the Volk, and so the Conservative Party, the official opposition in the dying white parliament, offers them confused and unworkable schemes for prolonging apartheid. The loudest party of white nationalism is the AWB (Afrikaner Resistance Movement), a fascist party lead by Eugene Terr'Blanche, the greatest mob orator in South Africa. It has a simple message for the whites: When things fall apart, we are here to protect you.

Four bullets fired at close range into Chris Hani on April 10 have shaken South Africa. In the shock of the killing, the first thought of the troika was to prevent a conflagration, and the government wisely gave way to the leaders of the ANC to calm the black populace. The white and black militants, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to make incendiary speeches. The two best performances in this tense time were from Nelson Mandela for peace and from Eugene Terre'Blanche for war.

Slow, elderly, dignified, Nelson Mandela appeared on TV and appealed for restraint. At the funeral, he stood before the agitated black crowd, sympathizing with their anger but pleading for calm. By contrast, his estranged wife called for violent insurrection. Winnie Mandela, who now travels the townships in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes and accuses the ANC leadership of "elitism," appeared in battle fatigues before a black mob in Cape Town urging revolution. Her co-speaker, Peter Mokaba, leader of the ANC Youth, chanted, "Kill the Boer!" to huge applause. It was disturbing but silly.

A more chilling message came from the AWB. For years, the government-controlled SA Broadcasting Corporation had condemned Chris Hani as a murderous Communist in league with Satan. Now, anxious to soothe the black majority, the SABC mourned him as John the Baptist. The AWB held to the old view. Addressing a worried white crowd with his huge, operatic voice, Terre'Blanche managed (like Hitler) to present himself as both a man of peace and an invincible force who would not hestitate to meet violence with violence. He exulted over the death of the evil Communist Chris Hani. After the assassination, some black violence spilled into white suburbs and, where the police force is increasingly demoralized, armed soldiers of the AWB guarded white citizens. This is a sinister omen.