A history of youth politics in Limpopo, 1967 - 2003

This thesis is an exploration of student and youth politics in the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province) from the height of apartheid in 1967 through the first decade of the ANC’s rule until 2003. It analyses three major trends over this period: the elite-led protest politics of the Black Consciousness era in the late 1960s and 1970s, the turn to mass-mobilized protest of the 1980s, and the consolidation of student and youth movements around the reconstituted ANC Youth League in 1990. It is primarily concerned with exploring the intersection of education and political protest in Limpopo, and the effect of mobilizing ideologies such as radical Christianity, Africanism, and non-racialism, on student and youth activists. It argues that across decades, organisations, and ideologies, this region has produced generations of influential young political leaders. It provides an institutional history of the University of the North and situates that university in a broader narrative of South African political history: from its contribution to the roots of Black Consciousness in student Christian movements, and the role of local university politics in influencing national protests, to the geography of the university itself as a place of political education (for students and nonstudent youth alike) and as a battleground between students and police. It considers the introduction of violence into student protests, the regional expansion of school and then youth politics beyond the crucible of the university, and the refashioning of social structures (like arbitrating in witchcraft accusations and domestic disputes) in homeland villages by politicized youth. It further contributes new insights into the formation and emergence of the ANC Youth League in the 1990s, and suggests that understanding student organisations and events during the 1970s and 1980s, in particular, sheds light on the shape of South African youth politics today.This thesis is not currently available on ORA