History Below the Water Line: The Making of Apartheid’s Last Festival

Abstract

South Africa, at the beginning of 1988, has been characterized as a society at war (Cock 1989: 1). In response to sustained, organized and widespread popular rebellion from the early 1980s, the apartheid state had declared a state of emergency, set in place a series of measures to remove community leaders (through assassination or imprisonment), made attempts to silence the opposition press, and simultaneously provided for limited social and political reforms. These reforms, the state envisaged, would be the basis for the emergence of leaders who would cooperate with its structures as well as have community support, thereby ensuring the continuance of white minority rule (Cock 1989: 144–7). The South African Defence Force (SADF) was also involved in wars against the Angolan government, which had been going on for almost 13 years, and the anti-colonial liberation forces in Namibia.

This paper is based on research for the NRF funded Project “The Heritage Disciplines,” based in the History Department at the University of the Western Cape. The financial support of the NRF towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions and conclusions expressed in this essay are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the NRF. For assistance with this research I would like to thank Joanne Parsons, Sgt Coetzee, Evangelina Lindt, Lincoln Bernardo and the staff at the Dias Museum Complex, particularly Erna Marx.