Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the relations between revolutionary ANC-aligned comrades and localised witchcraft cleansing operations in 1986 and how these relations animate contemporary political practices.

Paper long abstract:

The paper explores the fraught relations between revolutionary, nationalist ideologies of ANC aligned comrades and localized witchcraft cleansings operations called the Shozoloza in the rural uprisings of 1985 and 1986 in Nkomazi South Africa. In nationalist discourse the latter had failed to understand the revolutionary ideologies, which subsequently led to the witchcraft accusations. However this paper argues firstly that the relationship was quite ambiguous, as the ANC aligned comrades drew strength from the witch hunts. Secondly, the witch hunts drew their strength from an alternative, popular nationalism at odds with the ANC. This division continues to inform rural politics in Nkomazi, and the paper ends by bringing the conflict between popular and liberal nationalism into contemporary South African history.