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").[1]
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.[2]
Today, the high rate of protest in South Africa is often attributed to a "third force",[3][4][5] often assumed to be linked to foreign intelligence agencies, opposition political parties and white intellectuals.[6][7]
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.[8] Abahlali baseMjondolo has also argued that "it is clear that the third force is just another name for the organised poor".[9]
The ANC also often refers to protestors and other critics as "counter-revolutionaries".[10] Cosatu President Sdumo Dlamini has claimed that popular organisations active in local politics are linked to the CIA.[11]
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."[12] 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."[12]
The xenophobic pogroms in May 2008 were also ascribed to 'the third force'.[13] In 2015 Malusi Gigaba also ascribed xenophobic violence to a "third force".[14] Protest at mining on communal lands,[15] independent trade union action,[16] student protest[17] and the formation of new political parties has also been seen in conspiratorial terms by the ANC.[18] Gwede Mantashe, secretary general of the ANC, has ascribed strikes on the mines to the agency of 'white foreigners'.[19] The ANC controlled eThekwini Municipality in Durban has repeatedly claimed that 'the third force' is behind land occupations in the city.[20] 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.[17]