Indians Versus Russians: An Oral History of the Political Violence in Nxamalala (1987–1992)

Twelve thousand people lost their lives between 1985 and 1996 in the Natal province and the KwaZulu homeland as a result of the conflict between the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the African National Congress (ANC), on the one hand, and the Zulu traditional movement Inkatha (renamed Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1990), on the other hand. This is a conservative figure. Deaths from political violence are notoriously difficult to establish and the real numbers are probably higher. In addition, many people were wounded, injured, tortured, raped and abducted. Extensive damage was inflicted on private and public property. According to one source, arson and petrol bomb attacks destroyed or damaged 1,103 houses between 1987 and 1989 in the Natal Midlands alone. During the same period 291 vehicles, 126 of them buses, were damaged or destroyed through arson or stoning.4 It is estimated thatbetween 200,000 and 500,000 refugees fled the conflict in the province between 1984 and 1994.