Abstract
M.A.
The dissertation analyses the political involvement of two women's organisations, Kontak
and Women for Peace, during the period 1976-1990. Both organisations were established in
the political watershed year of 1976. Kontak had its roots in `verligte' Afrikaner thinking
concerned primarily about the image of the Afrikaner as oppressor. Women for Peace
stemmed from the heart of liberal capitalist thinking fearing that the welfare community was
under threat. Both organisations thus arose from the privileged white establishment and in
this aspect differ from the many other women's organisations that existed in the period under
review.
The meaning of "political involvement" is defined in the study and evaluated in terms of the
protest registered against the apartheid system, the ideological stand that was taken and the
extent to which race relations improved. The latter was after all an essential objective of
both organisations, more particularly to end conflict than to ensure a complete transition to
democracy.
The positioning, objective and conduct of the abovementioned organisations must of
necessity be highlighted against the background of the oppressive political situation of the
day. For this reason the study provides an overview of the political context within which the
organisations had to function. It commences with the riots of 1976 when the National Party
came under increasing pressure to scale down apartheid and make it more acceptable.
Mention is made of the power of the National Party to equate matters of national interest
with discrete party political interests. Further mention is made of the unbridgeable gap
between intra-parliamentary and extra-parliamentary politics and how the decisive power of
the latter was publicly suppressed. The impossibility of "political neutrality" is emphasised
and that was precisely the label that the two organisations under discussion would have liked
to attach to themselves.
Kontak and Women for Peace were not the only players in the field of women's
organisations. The study briefly discusses a few of the other main players such as the ANC
Women's League, Inkatha's Women's Brigade and the Black Sash. Both Kontak and
Women for Peace explicitly stated that they wished to seek reconciliation and peace between
privileged whites and disadvantaged blacks "outside of the party-political arena". Neither of
them could escape their political roots, however. The new enlightenment in the National
Party for example prevented Kontak from taking an increasingly critical stand against
apartheid. In the same way the much sharper voice of the Women for Peace was silenced by
the approval of liberal PFP thinking. Both organisations registered protest within the safety
of intra-parliamentary politics. They constituted no revolutionary threat for the apartheid
state and their leaders were neither imprisoned nor banned.
In summary it can be said that both Kontak and Women for Peace were able to realise the
objectives of reconciliation within their chosen but limited target groups. Praiseworthy
projects were undertaken and strong anti-apartheid positions were adopted. Democratic
adjustments were constantly made with regard to membership, leadership hierarchy and
language orientation. As far as the political main stream was concerned both, however, were
wrongly positioned. The black majority moved in extra-parliamentary circles, outside the
field of experience and even the protest actions of privileged whites. For this reason Kontak
and Women for Peace were unable to contribute directly to the democratic transition to black
majority rule but to some extent succeeded in sensitising the privileged white communities to
accept change.