The state and the state of violence in the Western Cape : an exploratory study

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study concerns the state and violence in the Western Cape. This study wasundertaken because the Western Cape has since 1996 been plagued by violence,including bombings, assassinations and violent protests. In particular these violentincidents have been labeled as terrorism or urban terrorism. The South Africangovernment does however not have a definition or a policy promulgated into lawregarding terrorism. Very little progress has been in apprehending the person(s) andor group(s) responsible for these incidents of violence. The study therefore looked atviolence in the Western Cape in an exploratory way.The aim of the paper was to (1) find credible appropriate definitions of terrorism, (2)to identify possible role players in violence, (3) to establish a chronology of violentevents, (4) to identify the frequency, distribution and patterns of violence, (5) analysethe communication of events. An underlying theme throughout the paper is the weakstate in which violence is a cause, consequence, and indicator of the weak state. Theviolence-plagued Western Cape is the geographical focus of the study. The paperlooks at three incidents of violence, representative of the types of violence that havetaken place in the Western Cape. The bombing of the Planet Hollywood restaurant,the killing of policeman Bennie Lategan and the killing of gangster Neville Herold arethe cases discussed by in paper. For the purpose of the paper, the period of interest isthe transitional period of the 1980's to 1994. The period under study is August 1998to December 1999.After careful consideration of all the information the following conclusions wherereached. The killing of Bennie Lategan is a terrorist act while the killing of NevilleHerold and the Planet Hollywood bomb blast are not terrorist acts according to thedefinition used by this paper. PAGAD emerged as the major role player involved inviolence. The organization is also complex and multidimensional with variousgroupings within the organization. The weak policing and justice systems are amongthe factors contributing to violence. The propositions and theories suggested by this study are based on currentinformation and therefore speculative. Should more information become availablethese propositions may need to be revisited. Continual research on this topic istherefore important.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University