Chapter 1D – CCTSA

The Perfect Storm

IMPENETRABLE DARKNESS

NATIONWIDE PROTEST AND THE UDF

PW Botha’s reforms ignited revolutionary expectations throughout South Africa.

They led to the establishment of the United Democratic Front, a broad coalition of churches, trade unions, and NGOs opposed to the PW Botha government.

The United Democratic Front rejected PW Botha’s reforms, and demanded one man, one vote elections as soon as possible.

UDF poster

UDF meeting

Violent protests flared up in many parts of the country involving:

efforts to make communities ‘ungovernable’;
attacks – including ‘necklace’ killings – on people regarded as government collaborators; and
sensational nightly international TV coverage of violent protests.

In 1985 and 1986 the government declared draconian States of Emergency:

more than 26 000 people were detained without trial;
restrictions were placed on local and international TV and press reporting; and
reform measures came to a grinding halt.

Vigilantes, unopposed by the police, set fire to homes in Crossroads, near Cape Town, in May 1986. An estimated 80 000 people were left homeless and 60 dead as a result of Witdoeke action in 1986.