Consociationalism in South Africa: The Buthelezi Commission and beyond

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Periodical article

Title:	Consociationalism in South Africa: The Buthelezi Commission and beyond
Author:	Southall, Roger J.
Year:	1983
Periodical:	Journal of Modern African Studies
Volume:	21
Issue:	1
Period:	March
Pages:	77-112
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	South Africa KwaZulu
Subjects:	political philosophy plural society Ethnic and Race Relations Politics and Government
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/160617
Abstract:	Increasingly attention is being paid to consociationalism as a potentially workable framework whereby the White minority's present monopoly of political power could be nudged towards a democratic form of rule in a reasonably just, evolutionary, and non-violent manner. The debate about consociationalism has hitherto been conducted at a very abstract level. This may now change as a result of the recent political initiative taken by Gatsha Buthelezi, Chief Minister of the Kwazulu Homeland, in establishing a Commission to consider 'The Requirements for Stability and Development in Kwazulu and Natal' which reported in October 1981 by recommending a consociational structure of government for Kwazulu and Natal combined. This article argues from a radical perspective that the Buthelezi Commission guidelines offer little in the way of practical and progressive political options. Notes.