Politicised ethnicity and regional political economy in KwaZulu-Natal

This chapter sets out to examine the manifestations of ethnic mobilisation and contestation over a regional power base in the KwaZulu Natal region of South Africa in the run-up to the first democratic elections in 1994. The chapter examines the history of ethnic homeland politics in KwaZulu Natal; the conditions and patterns of political violence in the province; the regional political economy of KwaZulu Natal; contested notions of regionalism among the dominant political parties in the region, and recent mobilisation around ethnicity by the key political players in the region.