Misplaced Pages

Part of a series on
Apartheid
Events 1948 general election Coloured vote constitutional crisis 1956 Treason Trial Sharpeville massacre Rivonia Trial Soweto uprising Church Street, Pretoria bombing Vaal uprising Trojan Horse Incident Khotso House bombing Cape Town peace march CODESA Assassination of Chris Hani Saint James Church massacre 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis Shell House massacre
Organisations ANC APLA IFP AWB BBB Black Sash CCB Conservative Party DP ECC FOSATU PP RP PFP HNP MK PAC UDF Broederbond National Party COSATU Security Branch SACC SADF SAIC SAMA SAP SACP State Security Council
People Vernon Berrangé P. W. Botha Steve Biko Mangosuthu Buthelezi F. W. de Klerk Ruth First Bram Fischer Arthur Goldreich Chris Hani Bantu Holomisa Joel Joffe Ahmed Kathrada Albert Luthuli Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Mac Maharaj D. F. Malan Nelson Mandela Govan Mbeki Thabo Mbeki Raymond Mhlaba Benjamin Moloise Albertina Sisulu Walter Sisulu J. G. Strijdom Joe Slovo Robert Sobukwe Helen Suzman Adelaide Tambo Oliver Tambo Eugène Terre'Blanche Desmond Tutu H. F. Verwoerd B. J. Vorster Jacob Zuma
Places Bantustan District Six Robben Island Sophiatown South-West Africa Soweto Sun City Vlakplaas
Related topics Afrikaner nationalism Apartheid in popular culture Apartheid legislation Cape Qualified Franchise Disinvestment campaign Freedom Charter Internal resistance to apartheid Kairos Document Music in the movement against apartheid Nostalgia for apartheid Project Coast Sullivan Principles
Category
v t e

The "Third Force" was a term used by leaders of the ANC during the late 1980s and early 1990s to refer to a clandestine force believed to be responsible for a surge in violence in KwaZulu-Natal, and townships around and south of the Witwatersrand (or "Rand").

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) found that:

while little evidence exists of a centrally directed, coherent or formally constituted "Third Force", a network of security and ex-security force operatives, frequently acting in conjunction with right-wing elements and/or sectors of the IFP, was involved in actions that could be construed as fomenting violence and which resulted in gross human rights violations, including random and target killings.

Uses after 1994

Today, the high rate of protest in South Africa is often attributed to a "third force", often assumed to be linked to foreign intelligence agencies, opposition political parties and white intellectuals.

However, S'bu Zikode of the shackdweller's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has deconstructed the term by claiming the third force is the anger of the poor. Abahlali baseMjondolo has also argued that "it is clear that the third force is just another name for the organised poor".

The ANC also often refers to protestors and other critics as "counter-revolutionaries". Cosatu President Sdumo Dlamini has claimed that popular organisations active in local politics are linked to the CIA.

The Mail & Guardian has reported that: "According to grassroots activists the accusations of 'criminality' and 'third forces' are familiar: used to delegitimise and dismiss dissent and grievances - and perpetuate the notion of a society homogenously content with an ANC-led government." The newspaper also quoted activist Ayanda Kota as saying that these allegations "take the agency away from us. It's the same argument used for the mineworkers fighting for a living wage: they are being used by some 'third force' . . .Poor people…apparently can't organize. It was the same with Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement - the CIA were behind them."

The xenophobic pogroms in May 2008 were also ascribed to 'the third force'. In 2015 Malusi Gigaba also ascribed xenophobic violence to a "third force". Protest at mining on communal lands, independent trade union action, student protest and the formation of new political parties has also been seen in conspiratorial terms by the ANC. Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the ANC, has ascribed strikes on the mines to the agency of 'white foreigners'. The ANC controlled eThekwini Municipality in Durban has repeatedly claimed that 'the third force' is behind land occupations in the city. Charles van Onselen argues that the ANC uses the idea of 'the third force' as a conspiracy theory to deflect attention from its own failings.

See also

• Civil Cooperation Bureau - an apartheid era military hit squad
• Inkatha - Zulu cultural and political organisation
• Outside agitator

Notes

1. Ellis, Stephen (1998). "The Historical Significance of South Africa's Third Force". Journal of Southern African Studies. 24 (2): 261–299. doi:10.1080/03057079808708577. hdl:1887/9519. ISSN 0305-7070. JSTOR 2637528.
2. "Section 4 Appendix: The 'Third Force'" (PDF), Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, vol. 6, 2003, p. 584, archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2005
3. ANC: "Abahlali and opposition a third force", Mhlabunzima Memela, The Witness, 17 October 2013
4. 'Third force' link to unrest GRAEME HOSKEN and SIPHO MASOMBUKA, The Times, 7 February 2014
5. A revolution’s dreams betrayed, Malaika wa Azania, Sunday Independent, 30 March 2014
6. Abahlali's Vocal Politics of Proximity: Speaking, Suffering and Political Subjectivization, Anna Selmeczi, Journal of Asian and African Studies, October 2012 vol. 47 no. 5 498-515
7. On the Third Force, SACSIS, 2012
8. Zikode, S'bu (2006), We are the Third Force, Abahlali baseMjondolo
9. The Third Force is Gathering its Strength, Abahlali baseMjondolo, 3 March 2010
10. The ANC's imagined and real enemies: 'Creeping counter-revolution' vs. creeping scandals, Ranjeni Munusamy, 21 January 2012
11. Conspiracy theories tell us much about South Africa, ANTHONY BUTLER, Business Day, 23 AUGUST 2013,
12. ^ Activists decry talk of 'third force' at Marikana, Niren Tolsi, Mail & Guardian, 24 August 2012
13. Michael Neocosmos, From Native Foreigners to Foreign Natives, CODESRIA, Dakar, 2010, p. 118
14. Outbreak of xenophobic attacks ‘shows lack of leadership’, Staff Writers, Business Day, 16 April 2015
15. Mining is a 'done deal', Fred Kockott, IOL, 2008
16. Gwede's Swedish diplomatic row, By LOYISO SIDIMBA AND CANDICE BAILEY, Sunday Independent, 23 June 2013]
17. ^ The top 10 ANC conspiracy theories, Charles van Onselen, Rand Daily Mail, 25 May 2016
18. New parties a sign of 'foreign agents', says MK Vets chairman, COLLEEN GOKO, Business Day, 30 APRIL 2013,
19. "White foreigners": The danger of history repeating itself, Terry Bell, GroundUp, 13 June 2014
20. .eThekwini says third force behind increased land invasions in Durban, Se-Anne Rall, The Mercury, 17 January 2019

v t e Politics of South Africa
By province	Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Limpopo Mpumalanga North West Northern Cape Western Cape
Political movements	Ideologies African nationalism Afrikaner nationalism Anarchism Anti-war Black consciousness Environmentalism Federalism Feminism Liberalism Libertarianism Pan-Africanism Non-racialism Trotskyism Political parties see South Africa political parties Other political organisations AfriForum Afrikanerbond Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) Congress of South African Students (COSAS) Earthlife Africa Keep Left Khanya College Koeberg Alert Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP) People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD) South African Liberal Students' Association (SALSA) South African Students Congress (SASCO) South African Wine Initiative Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF)
Trade unions and Social movements	see South Africa trade unions Equal Education Mandela Park Backyarders People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) Poor People's Alliance Abahlali baseMjondolo Landless Peoples Movement Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Reclaim the City Social Justice Coalition Treatment Action Campaign Unemployed Peoples' Movement
Law	see South African law
Political culture	African Renaissance Alternative media Azania Corruption (Don't) touch me on my studio Freedom Charter Proudly South African Rainbow nation Renaming Tenderpreneurs Toyi-toyi Ubuntu UnFreedom Day White monopoly capital Ungovernability Xenophobia Anti-Chinese sentiment Anti-Indian sentiment Slogans "Amandla Ngawethu!" "No Land! No House! No Vote!" "Dubul' ibhunu" (Shoot the Boer) "One Settler, One Bullet" "Each One, Teach One" Books and periodicals African Communist Amandla ANC Today Biko I Write What I Like Long Walk to Freedom Molotov Cocktail No Land! No House! No Vote!
Other	Corrective rape Crime Cape Independence Elections e-tolling Farm attacks Gupta family HIV/AIDS Labour brokering Land occupations Legacies of apartheid Lindela Phala Phala robbery Political assassinations Political repression Protests Sexual violence Shack fires Terrorism Third Force
Category

v t e Political history of South Africa
Defunct polities	Kingdom of Mapungubwe (c. 1075–c. 1220) Dutch Cape Colony (1652–1806) Mthethwa Paramountcy (c. 1780–1817) Ndwandwe Kingdom (c. 1780–1819) Cape Colony (1795–1910) Zulu Kingdom (1816–1897) Natalia Republic (1839–1843) Natal Colony (1843–1910) Orange Free State (1854–1902) South African Republic (1856–1902) Griqualand East (1861–1879) Griqualand West (1870–1873) Goshen (1882–1883) Stellaland (1882–1885) Nieuwe Republiek (1884–1888) Upingtonia (1885–1887) Klein Vrystaat (1886–1891) Orange River Colony (1902–1910) Transvaal Colony (1902–1910) Union of South Africa (1910–1961) Transkei (1976–1994) Bophuthatswana (1977–1994) Venda (1979–1994) Ciskei (1981–1994)
Events	Pre-colonial Bantu migrations Battle of Salt River 1652–1815 Dutch settlement French Huguenot settlement Khoikhoi–Dutch Wars Xhosa Wars Battle of Muizenberg Battle of Blaauwberg Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 1815–1910 Mfecane 1820 Settlers Great Trek Boer Republics Transvaal Civil War Mineral Revolution Witwatersrand Gold Rush South African Wars South Africa Act 1909 (National Convention) 1910–1948 South West Africa campaign Maritz rebellion Rand Rebellion Great Depression 1946 African Mine Workers' Union strike Bantustans Apartheid 1948 general election Apartheid legislation Pass laws Internal resistance Coloured-vote constitutional crisis Defiance Campaign Congress of the People Freedom Charter Women's March 1956 1957 Alexandra bus boycott Sharpeville massacre 1960 republic referendum International isolation UN Resolution 1761 UNSC Resolution 591 Academic boycott Disinvestment Constructive engagement Tar Baby Option Sporting boycott Olympics Rugby union Rivonia Trial Durban Moment Border War Israeli alliance Israel–South Africa Agreement Mafeje affair Soweto Uprising Weapons of mass destruction Project Coast Church Street bombing 1983 constitutional referendum Langa massacre Rubicon speech Operation Vula Dakar Conference Transkei coup d'état Ciskei coup d'état Venda coup d'état Third Force CODESA Storming of the Kempton Park World Trade Centre Bisho massacre 1992 apartheid referendum Saint James Church massacre Bophuthatswana crisis Shell House massacre Post- apartheid 1994 general election Government of National Unity Reconstruction and Development Programme Truth and Reconciliation Commission Arms Deal Floor crossing Soweto bombings African Renaissance Travelgate Xenophobia Attack on Kennedy Road Blikkiesdorp Marikana massacre 2012 Western Cape farm workers' strike Nkandlagate Racism 2014 platinum strike #RhodesMustFall protests #FeesMustFall student protests Tshwane riots 2019 service delivery protests 2019 Johannesburg riots COVID-19 pandemic 2020 Phala Phala Robbery 2021 unrest Lady R incident
Political culture	African nationalism Afrikaner Calvinism Afrikaner nationalism Anarchism Azania Baasskap Boerehaat Black Consciousness Movement Cape Independence Day of the Vow Greater South Africa Honorary whites Rooi gevaar Slavery Swart gevaar Uitlander Volkstaat
Defunct organisations	Civic and political organisations Afrikaner Bond Afrikaner Broederbond Afrikaner Party AITUP APO AVF BPC Black Sash Boerestaat Party CDA CNIP CTEG COD Congress Alliance COSG CP DLF Dominion Party DP (1973–1977) DP (1989–2000) DPP DSM ECC FA FD Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners GNP Het Volk HNP (Herenigde) HNP (Herstigte) IDASA ID IP ISL Jeugkrag Johannesburg Reform Committee Labour Party (1910–1958) Labour Party (1969–1994) Liberal Party (1953–1968) NA NCP Natal Indian Congress NLP NNP NP NPP NRP NUSAS Occupy Orangia Unie Oranjewerkers Orde Boerevolk PAVN PFP Progressive Party (Cape Colony) Progressive Party PRP Radio Freedom Reform Party SABP SADECO SAIC SASO SAYCO SAYRCO South African Party (Cape Colony) South African Party (1911–1934) South African Party (1977–1980) TNIP Torch Commando UFP United Party Unionist Party National Party of Venda Volksparty Workers Party WOSA Trade unions and social movements APF BCM BLATU CNETU CTSWU FCWU FNETU FOSATU ICU IWW MUSA NEUM NURHS PAWE SAAPAWU SACTU SAIF SARHU SATUC Die Spoorbund UDF Umkosi Wezintaba Paramilitary and terrorist organisations APLA ARM AWB BBB Boeremag Greyshirts MK Ossewabrandwag Orde van die Dood PAGAD SANF
Histories of political parties	African National Congress Democratic Alliance Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
Category

• Apartheid in South Africa
• Human rights abuses
• Politics of South Africa
• Political organisations based in South Africa
• Political terminology in South Africa