Based on first-hand accounts and court records, this book tells the story of the Langa massacre of 21 March 1985 and the events that followed, showing how they marked a turning point in South Africa's history.


Whereas the mass shootings at Sharpeville in 1960 resulted in the balance of forces shifting decisively in favour of the regime as leaders were jailed and resistance movements banned, 1985 was the year that the tide turned in favour of the mass democratic movement and away from the apartheid regime. This book traces the line from the massacre and the first 'necklacing' to the declaration of the state of emergency and the launch of Operation Zikomo by the ANC's armed wing to the fiscal crisis and the imposition of comprehensive sanctions by the UN and European Union by the end of the year - moments which together laid the ground work for the end of apartheid and the election of the country's first democratic government nine years later. The book captures the reality of the everyday struggles and collective actions against the state violence and structural injustice of the 1980s in South Africa, uncovering the granular details behind the historical, sociological and political theories of the democratic transition. Written with the ongoing rise of authoritarian populist regimes across the globe in mind, the book emphasises the localized dynamics of struggle and local resistance to antidemocratic forces.