| | In 1981 John Saul and Stephen Gelb's valuable long essay, The Crisis in South Africa (henceforth TCSA), was first published. In late 1986, TCSA was republished, with added material by Saul alone. In his new extended introduction, Saul writes: Such has been the pace of events in South Africa since (1981) that few would now doubt either the depth of that country's crisis or the strength of the resistance (p.10). This remains broadly true even now, in the second year of the second State of Emergency: the state continues to be repeatedly and successfully challenged in the courts, in the workplace (including the important victory in the SATS dispute), and in the townships (where rent boycotts continue, and the new Deputy-Minister for Constitutional Development and Planning admits that they will need to negotiate with at least some leaders in, for example, organisations affiliated to the United Democratic Front (UDF). But what has really been happening in the 1980s, how, and why? |
