ABSTRACT
South African society and its democratically elected regime face severe challenges in terms of crime and violence, poverty, inequality, and racial and ethnic tension. The political violence, often referred to as ‘black-on-black’ violence, posed serious threats to a peaceful transition to democracy and is of particular significance as a context for constitutional design. According to the conspiracy explanations violence is fuelled by covert state violence coupled with open use of force. ‘Ethnicity’ frequently figures as the main explanation of violent conflicts, for example in Rwanda and Burundi, in Sudan and Somalia, in the former Yugoslavia and Trans-Caucasus, in Burma and Sri Lanka. ‘Ethnicity is a fundamental fact of social and political life in South Africa and is a decisive factor underlying political violence. While the political importance of ethnicity is contested, South Africa is indisputably a multi-cultural society. Its white elite is divided by language as well as religion.
