Apartheid

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stabbing spear. Instead of throwing the spear once, as had been the military (or fighting)
tradition in southern and eastern Africa since time immemorial, the Zulus held on to their
unusually short spears during battle and engaged in man-to-man combat, an infinitely more
bloody, and successful, war technique. It even led to the routing of an 8,000-strong British
army at Isandhlwana on January 22, 1879. The British lost 1,800 men in a single day. 204
Although population density was low in southern Africa compared to Europe, North
Africa or South and East Asia before the advent of the white invasions, it was high relative to
continents such as Australia, North America, or most of South America before the white
invasions there. The land was only to be stolen slowly. Other factors relevant here include the
white reluctance to dedicate overwhelmingly large troop contingents against South African
indigenous nations. The southernmost Bantu-speaking population group, the Xhosa, (who
were neither the southernmost indigenous metalworkers nor the southernmost domesticators,
the Khoi Khoi were), were only subdued over a period of 175 years, which included nine
wars. The Europeans only advanced in the southeastern part of South Africa, against the
Xhosa, at an average rate of less than one mile a year. 205 After diamonds and gold had been
found in South Africa during the second half of the 19 th century and after the British had
introduced machine guns to Africa, however, the conquest picked up speed and all of South
Africa was under white rule by the turn of the century.
The main patterns of physical violence in South Africa under apartheid in the narrow
sense are still being investigated. Because of the widespread suffering during this period and
as a negotiating chip in the phased hand-over of power to democratic majority rule between
1990 and 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was created. The idea was to
allow victims of these gross human violations to learn the truth about their suffering or about
the suffering of their loved ones. It was widely believed that by finding out the truth,
compensating victims and granting amnesty to those who committed gross human rights
violations out of political motives, reconciliation and improved historical knowledge would
result, and to some extent, this has proven to be the case.
Due to political pressures and limited time and money, the Commission was designed
to question the gross violations of human rights that took place during the most violent phase
of apartheid in the narrow sense, from 1960 until 1994. In doing so, the TRC examines the
reasons and factors which led to such violations, as well as taking into consideration those
who were affected by these acts, whether the victims themselves or their relatives, by
compensating them with small, mainly symbolic, sums of money. Those who committed the
violations would be granted amnesty only if they qualify as politically motivated and
proportional to their assigned role in the conflict, and if they tell the full story why and how
they committed their crimes. The victims and the perpetrators are of all groups and races.
One of the most well known cases covered by the TRC was that of the murder by
policemen of Steve Biko, the leader of the Black Consciousness movement, who died in
prison in 1977 after having been tortured brutally and almost continuously over a period of
three weeks. The five policemen who are widely considered responsible for his death have
continuously denied any direct involvement in his killing. First, they were exonerated by the
apartheid authorities. After apartheid, however, a TRC investigation was initiated. They
sought amnesty but were turned down. They told the amnesty panel of the TRC that they
believe Biko’s death to have been an accident, an accident that took place after the prisoner
was beaten by the five policemen with a rubber hose, followed by 24 hours of chaining. This
resulted in brain damage, yet Biko received no medical treatment, since the policemen felt he
was ‘...arrogant, aggressive and he didn’t answer questions at all.’ Later, state doctors found
him fit to face further torture without an examination. This was an innocent man, who had
never committed a violent act, and the state knew this. After being thrown naked and
204 Thompson 1990: 26ff. See also previous chapter.
205 Diamond 1998 (1997): 397