Development Studies Working Paper, no. 40

On June 12, 1986, the South African government responded to a strong upsurge in popular resistance with an intensive security crackdown. It is estimated that between 25 000 and 40 000 so- called extra-parliamentary opponents were detained during the first twelve months of South Africa's third state of emergency. These detentions, plus a range of other repressive devices, were part of a determined campaign on the part of the state to reorientate the political process in favour of white domination. There can be little doubt that this third state of emergency, two years old in June 1988, has halted - albeit temporarily - the erosion of the state's authority. Extra-parliamentary opposition has been bruised. Yet Pretoria's purpose is not merely to secure the grudging compliance of a submissive and sullen black community. The government's longer-term aim is to create a climate in which selected "moderate" black groups can be persuaded to endorse a reformed version of the present, apartheid-based, constitution. This report is largely based on the findings of an attitudinal survey of township residents in two Eastern Cape towns which was conducted one year after the third emergency was declared. A considerable volume of information on repression in the Eastern Cape - and, particularly, social conflict emanating from the actions of officials of the state - has been gathered over the past three years by organisations of lawyers, church bodies, local communities, and support and monitoring groups such as the Black Sash. Much of this is in the form of signed statements by eye-witnesses, newspaper reports, and documentation from political trials. However, up to this point no empirical study of any scale of such conditions in the region has been undertaken.Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER