Marit Stiles is a member of the SAR editorial collective.

Ethnicity and Politics in South Africa by Gerhard Maré, Zed Books, New Jersey 1993. 121 pages.

With democratic elections approaching, South Africans are faced with a number of challenges. Violence permeates communities across the country and the ANC, supported by the majority of South Africans and highly favoured to win the election, finds its supporters on the battleground yet again, involved in a number of so-called "ethnic conflicts."

In Ethnicity and Politics in South Africa, Gerhard Maré, himself a self-described former "uncritical participant in ethnic group consciousness," compares Afrikaanerdom, and other ethnic identities involved in conflict, with the manipulation of the Zulu ethnic identity. Maré examines the concept of ethnicity and its relevance to South Africa, today and in the future. Throughout, he usefully differentiates between on the one hand, the need to express cultural diversity and, on the other, the manipulation and politicization of ethnicity.

Maré begins his investigation by examining the very notion of "ethnicity," comparing it to a "story." According to Maré, what matters is not the historical validity of a people's claim to an ethnic identity but rather the significance they assign to the identity. Indeed, rather than relegating ethnic identity to the status of false consciousness, he recognizes that a group's ethnicity exists before an individual member's birth and socialization and is, in fact, an integral element of that individual's identity. In other words, the key question concerning ethnicity in politics is not whether such a story is based in historical fact, or whether it is myth, but that it is accepted by a group or groups as adequate.

Having established his stance on the identification of ethnicity, Maré takes his analysis a step further by correctly pointing out that ethnicity is as necessary and real as it is dangerous in its malleability and power to mobilize. To fully understand the reasons for this inate danger, Maré notes that we need to understand not only the spark that leads to violent conflicts, but also the context that allows it to flare up.

Demystifying the Zulu identity

Social mobilization along ethnic lines has been revived in many parts of the world as groups and individuals compete for material resources and power. In order to preserve cultural diversity and identity, while at the same time seeking to resolve conflict, Maré calls for the testing of myths of origin; critically examining "tradition" (as southern African feminists have been doing in relation to patriarchal interpretations of "tradition") and cultural "distinctiveness"; and probing for flexibility in supposedly rigid ethnic boundaries.

Maré begins this project of demystification in the book's second section: an analysis of the political manipulation and mobilization of Zulu ethnicity by Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Here Maré illustrates the fine line between the role of ethnicity in meeting the needs of a people who long for security and the ease with which such identities can be used to fuel antagonism, fear and aggression.

Beginning with a useful periodization of Buthelezi's activities in KwaZulu and as leader of Inkatha, Maré illustrates the development of a parallel and, at times, intersecting path with the National Party's vision of African politics. He shows the proximity between Buthelezi's political manipulation of the Zulu "story" and apartheid's ideological manipulation of the past.

Through an examination of the context within which Inkatha developed, Maré concludes that Inkatha is first and foremost based on the politicization of ethnicity. The symbols of the "Buthelezi-Zulu identity" can be seen to define the Zulu ethnic identity on the basis of rejection - the enemy becomes the "other," against which the "Zulu" identity is defined.

Maré's detailed account of Buthelezi's manipulation of history for political gain succeeds in illustrating how Buthelezi has shaped, through his role as historical interpreter, Inkatha's historical myths, and the impact this has had on the overall politicization of Zulu ethnic identity. Maré also effectively illustrates that these stories are successful not because of any inherent truth, but because of the existence of other conditions that allow some Zulu people to be mobilized.

Maré weaves Buthelezi's role in ethnic manipulation into a discussion of the regional history of conquest and colonialism. Maré argues that it is the historical specificity, or cultural distinctiveness of a people combined with the deplorable socio-economic context within which this story is told, that enables ethnic mobilization. The introduction of apartheid with its ethnic politics and ethnic enclaves, and the consequent social and economic disruption within the region, provided openings for Buthelezi and others to manipulate regional identity. According to Maré class plays a central role here, in the manipulation of "Zuluism" to meet the needs of a new, predominantly male, petty-bourgeoisie and political elite.

Lessons for a new South Africa

Maré's greatest contribution is his discussion of the possible resolution of ethnic conflicts in the new South Africa. As he notes earlier in the text, what we learn from the critical examination of a group's ethnic identity is that groups can and do change, evolve and dissolve. In the final section of his book, Maré effectively applies his observations of the past to the present negotiations.

While maintaining that ethnic identity is essentially "real" and important, Maré argues that in the context of present-day South Africa politicized ethnicity is also the greatest threat to stability. The solution, then, is not to discredit ethnic identity per se, but rather to depoliticize and sever it from its relation to specific class and gender interests. With this in mind, he presents a four-pronged approach to the problem of ethnic conflicts in South Africa.

First, in order to remove ethnicity as a resource for political mobilization and manipulation, ethnic groups must not be "constitutionally rewarded for their group identity" [p. 107]. The rights of the individual must be protected in a Bill of Rights and the rights of particular groups must not be given special dispensation. Maré observes that, in the case of Inkatha, such group recognition can encourage politicians to use ethnicity as a means of suppressing other social divisions.

Second, Maré addresses the conditions from which politicized ethnicity arises: frustrated political and economic goals. The next step in depoliticizing ethnicity is to change economic relations such that the material foundation providing the "spark" for ethnic mobilization no longer exists.

Third, Maré argues that the denial of political reward for ethnicity must be accompanied by the empowerment of other group identities, such as trade unions, women's organizations, and local-level democratic structures. Such strengthening is important in order to lessen the obvious presence of ethnicity at the level of social representation.

Finally, and I believe this is where Maré's argument is of most value, he argues that the depoliticization of ethnic identity should not undermine its importance. Particularly with regard to cultural resources such as language and education, ethnic identity must be taken seriously.

Rather, what must be strived for is "variety." Instead of calls for unity, Maré seeks sensitivity to the diversity of cultures, languages, and histories. To ensure that ethnic diversity is maintained in a productive manner it must be accommodated in policy formation at the "non-political" level: education, language, cultural institutions, and so forth.

The greatest short-comings of this book, perhaps, are the questions which fall beyond the parameters of Maré's focus. While it is certainly an insightful glimpse into the making of myth and conflict, it is limited in that its focus excludes an examination of the myriad interpretations individual members of a society may have of the same myth. Societies are diverse, people are diverse, and one is left without a sense of the power of individuals and groups of individuals within a society to play a role in the shaping and re-shaping of that myth.

For example, when he speaks of the place of women in the Buthelezi-Zulu myth ( as the nurturer and bearer of the male "warrior"), we are left with the impression that all Zulu women accept this interpretation. Are there no Zulu feminists? Because of the nature of the questions Maré addresses, we do not get any sense of the diverse reasons women adopt such an identity, nor do we gain understanding of the possible counter interpretations of Zulu womanhood. This certainly falls beyond Maré's mandate but merits further study and investigation. Within his mandate, on the other hand, he can also be criticized for failing to present as clear an understanding of the context within which Zulu women may have identified with the myth, as he has provided for our understanding of the male adoption of their warrior identity.

Nevertheless, this book is a valuable and very accessible account of ethnic conflict. Most importantly, it offers a foundation upon which ethnic conflict can be dealt with in the new South Africa and throughout the North and South. It is both an astute analysis of the past . . . and a prediction of a dire tomorrow if policy-makers and negotiators do not today take into account the lessons of this past.

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