‘From confusion to Lusaka’: the youth revolt in Sekhukhuneland

After a series of rebellions in the 1950s, the South African Bantustans remained largely quiescent. Only after the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983 did rural areas once more become the scene of widespread protest and resistance, as revolt spread from the townships to remote villages in the Bantustans. However, rural organisation was a much neglected issue in the programme of the UDF's national leadership. The process of rural mobilisation in the Transvaal Bantustans owed more to local youth initiatives than to any planning or co‐ordination on the part of the UDF leadership. This article examines the role of the UDF in Lebowa, focusing in particular on youth movements in Sekhukhuneland.