Third Force (South Africa)

The "Third Force" was a term used by leaders of the ANC during the late 1980s and early 1990s to refer to a clandestine force believed to be responsible for a surge in violence in KwaZulu-Natal, and townships around and south of the Witwatersrand (or "Rand").^[1]

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that:

while little evidence exists of a centrally directed, coherent or formally constituted "Third Force", a network of security and ex-security force operatives, frequently acting in conjunction with right-wing elements and/or sectors of the IFP, was involved in actions that could be construed as fomenting violence and which resulted in gross human rights violations, including random and target killings.^[2]

Uses after 1994[]

Today, the high rate of protest in South Africa is often attributed to a "third force",^[3][4][5] often assumed to be linked to foreign intelligence agencies, opposition political parties and white intellectuals.^[6][7] In this context the term 'third force' functions in South Africa in the same way that the term 'outside agitator' functions in the United States, a term often argued to have racist origins.^[8]

However, S'bu Zikode of the shackdweller's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has deconstructed the term by claiming the third force is the anger of the poor.^[9] Abahlali baseMjondolo has also argued that "it is clear that the third force is just another name for the organised poor".^[10]

The ANC also often refers to protestors and other critics as "counter-revolutionaries".^[11] Cosatu President Sdumo Dlamini has claimed that popular organisations active in local politics are linked to the CIA.^[12]

The Mail & Guardian has reported that: "According to grassroots activists the accusations of 'criminality' and 'third forces' are familiar: used to delegitimise and dismiss dissent and grievances - and perpetuate the notion of a society homogenously content with an ANC-led government."^[13] The newspaper also quoted activist Ayanda Kota as saying that these allegations "take the agency away from us. It's the same argument used for the mineworkers fighting for a living wage: they are being used by some 'third force' . . .Poor people…apparently can't organize. It was the same with Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement - the CIA were behind them."^[13]

The xenophobic pogroms in May 2008 were also ascribed to 'the third force'.^[14] In 2015 Malusi Gigaba also ascribed xenophobic violence to a "third force".^[15] Protest at mining on communal lands,^[16] independent trade union action,^[17] student protest^[18] and the formation of new political parties has also been seen in conspiratorial terms by the ANC.^[19] Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the ANC, has ascribed strikes on the mines to the agency of 'white foreigners'.^[20] The ANC controlled eThekwini Municipality in Durban has repeatedly claimed that 'the third force' is behind land occupations in the city.^[21] Charles van Onselen argues that the ANC uses the idea of 'the third force' as a conspiracy theory to deflect attention from its own failings.^[18]

Notes[]

See also[]

• Civil Cooperation Bureau - an apartheid era military hit squad
• Inkatha - Zulu cultural and political organisation