Such is the extreme nature and prevalence of violence in South Africa that it has become part and parcel of our everyday lives. It looms large - the none-too-subtle and ever-present threat that our personal safety is never guaranteed and, in many ways, we live under siege. Crime is most definitely the outstanding contributor to this general mood but the feeling that the government isn't serious about addressing the situation, coupled with the contempt that seems to define its attitude towards the criminal justice system in general and the judiciary in particular only serves to reinforce the idea that this state of affairs is not temporary but will define the our society and the way we live, for some time to come.

The reasons for this high crime rate are complex and diverse. Obviously, a large part of it has to do with the ANC government's response, another with our history and the many ways in which poverty and inequality undermine or democracy today. There are, no doubt, several other sociological, economic and cultural factors that contribute. One worth considering - given the way in which it seems to be manifesting on an ever-more regular basis - is the role that violence plays in the ANC's political culture.

Any democratic organisation that conceives itself as, first and foremost, a revolutionary movement (the ANC has never fully made the transition from social movement to political party) is always going to have a place for violence in its language and analysis, if not explicitly, then implicitly - subtly informing its logic and thinking. Consider, for example, ANC Youth League President Julius Malema's suggestion this past weekend that: "We must also intensify the struggle to eliminate the remnants of counter-revolution, which include the DA and a loose coalition of those who want to use state power to block the ANC President's ascendancy to the highest office of the land."

Eliminate? Counter-revolution? Is the man quite mad?

Depressing, but by no means an aberration - the ANC has, over the last 14 years, consistently invoked violence as it has set about imposing itself on South Africa's constitutional democracy. Interestingly, unlike Malema's call to arms, the ANC often uses violence or the threat of violence internally, against itself; if not actually killing or assaulting its own members, then suggesting that if the ‘right' outcome is not forthcoming, violence is a possible alternative.

Today we look at ten of the more explicit expressions of violence by various members of the ANC, and those aligned to it. More often than not they can be explained by the phenomenon outlined above although, as ever with the ruling party, some of them are just plain bizarre. You get one point for identifying the author in each instance and one point for identifying the context in which the statement was made. See how well you do.

WHAT THEY SAID

1.a. "Kill the boer, kill the farmer."

1.b. "Kill the boer, kill the farmer."

1.c. "Kill the boer, kill the farmer."

2. "You must kill the bastards."

3. "There will be blood in the courtroom if they reinstate the charges."

4. "We are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma."

5. "...because Jacob Zuma is one of us, and he is one of our leaders, for him, we are prepared to lay our lives and to shoot and kill."

6. ""

7. "Aluweth' Umshini Wami."

8. "Skwatsha uyi rubbish."

9. "Are we in a jungle, when duly elected members of the ANC are threatened with violence and death?" 10. "Zille won't rule us, we will show you."

WHO SAID IT

1.a. The slogan that just won't go away. Similar to the APLA chant, "One settler, one bullet" and, true to form, the person responsible was from the ANC Youth League - the late ANCYL President and staunch Mbekite, Peter Mokaba. Mokaba was no stranger to controversy or the outlandish and bizarre; in March 2002 he told the New York Times:"HIV? It doesn't exist. The kind of stories that they tell that people are dying in droves... It's not true. It's not borne out by any facts. Where the science has not proved anything, we cannot allow our people to be guinea pigs. Anti-retrovirals, they're quite dangerous. They're poison actually." With regard to his ‘kill the boer' chant, according to his obituary in the Guardian newspaper, Mokaba coined the phrase at a political rally following the assassination of the ANC leader Chris Hani. Although another obituary, this time in the Independent Newspaper, claims: "Mokaba became famous, or infamous, for his frequently shouted slogan at mass political gatherings in the 1980s and early 1990s: ‘Kill the farmer, kill the Boer!'" In 1997 the TRC was told that the repeated use of the slogan by ANC leaders had led to the deaths of numerous farmers. Whatever its origins, Mokaba was clearly responsible for it, and unable to keep it confined to the struggle to end apartheid, consistently invoking it post 1994 and in a constitutional democracy, despite even the ANC having banned it. The 2010 World Cup stadium in Polokwane is named after him.

1.b. Same chant, different author. Or perhaps one should say, different authors, although Peter Mokaba was not entirely absent. This time it was shouted by a crowd gathered at Mokaba's funeral, in early June 2002. At roughly the same time, the slogan was chanted during a youth gathering by ANC members in Galishewe near Kimberley. Also present at the funeral were Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela and both came in for criticism for failing to intervene and silence the crowd. Yet, in contrast to his attitude at the funeral (and his silence with regard to the more recent remarks by Julius Malema), Mbeki used his reply to the debate on the Presidency's budget vote, on 19 June, to state: "nobody anywhere in our country, whoever they are, has a right to call for the killing of any South African, whatever the colour, race, ethnic origin, gender or health condition of the intended victim" and, later, that nobody had the right to"threaten violence to advance their particular goals" - a response endorsed by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). Nevertheless, a complaint was lodged with the SAHRC, contending that the slogan constituted hate speech. The SAHRC initially disagreed with this but, in appeal hearing, in July 2003, reversed its decision, arguing that in its context, the slogan did indeed constitute hate speech on the basis that ‘harm' extends to include psychological harm that may be caused to"minorities or vulnerable groups". In response, the ANC welcomed the finding that "no evidence exists to suggest that the ANC encouraged either directly or indirectly the chanting of the slogan at either of the events."

1.c. Later still, in February 2004, the slogan would surface again, despite the SAHRC's ruling. This time, members of the tripartite alliance - particularly, the ANC and COSATU - appearing outside the trial of Mark Scott-Crossley, at the Phalaborwa magistrates' court in Limpopo, carried posters saying "Kill the boer, kill the farmer" and"Castrate the boers". The DA took the two organisations to the Equity Court. In response, COSATU spokesperson Patrick Craven stated: "We have made it quite clear that ‘kill the boer, kill the farmer' is not and was never a COSATU slogan. We understand how those protesters were feeling, and we believe in the rule of the law, and that the law should take its course."

2. On this occasion it was not a party representative but an ANC member of government; and not just any member of government but the Deputy Minister of Safety and Security, Susan Shabangu. She was responding to questions by residents in Pretoria West, in April this year, who were complaining about poor police performance. Her speech received a standing ovation. The full quote reads: "You must kill the bastards if they threaten you or the community. You must not worry about the regulations. That is my responsibility. Your responsibility is to serve and protect. I want to assure the police station commissioners and policemen and women from these areas that they have permission to kill these criminals. I won't tolerate any pathetic excuses for you not being able to deal with crime. You have been given guns, now use them. I want no warning shots. You have one shot and it must be a kill shot. If you miss, the criminals will go for the kill...The constitution says criminals must be kept safe, but I say No! I say we must protect the law-abiding people and not the criminals. I say that criminals must be made to pay for their crimes". Perhaps the most problematic line - amid many - is that expressing her belief that people should ignore the Constitution. That a Deputy Minister can openly call for the Constitution to be disregarded, no matter how compelling the popular appeal, is deeply problematic - the first step on a very slippery slope. Nevertheless, Jacob Zuma suggested Shabangu had a point and the ANC kept a stony silence. In a post-cabinet briefing government spokesperson Thema Maseko said: "government's position is that every action taken by the police must happen within the regulatory framework, so there is no possibility that the police can be expected to operate outside the law..."

3. No one has been more outspoken in their support for Jacob Zuma than the COSATU leadership. Being, first and foremost, a trade union movement (you would be forgiven for thinking it is a political party, such is the manner in which it conducts itself) the organisation does not have a radical youth wing that it can rely on to up the ante in the same way the ANC can. But Zuma is from KwaZulu-Natal, and if there is any branch of COSATU which acts like the ANCYL, it is the one from KZN. And so it was, on 20 February 2007, that this particular regional branch made this now infamous threat of violence. It was, of course, referring to the possibility that the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) might re-institute charges of fraud and corruption against the ANC Deputy President. And, as with the ANCYL, it demonstrated a profound disregard for the rule of law and the Constitution in doing so. A good test of the logic of these sorts of statements is an analysis of the implications. For example, COSATU says there will be "blood in the courtroom" but whose blood exactly are they talking about? Are they going to kill members of the NPA? If so, which members (there are quite a lot of them)? Are they going to kill the judge? If so, what about the state prosecutors? Or are they just referring to a general killing of anyone in the vicinity of the courtroom? Hard to say.

4. The statement that caused all the current controversy. Speaking at Thaba Nchu in the Free State, on 16 June this year (Youth Day) - in his first public speech - the newly appointed president of the ANCYL Julius Malema made the above statement; and then, following a massive outcry, promptly denied the obvious implications saying, "We never called on anyone to take up arms and kill". (See here for a video clip which sums it all up). Once again a complaint was laid (by the DA) with the SAHRC, but this time the Chapter Nine institution fudged its response, initially giving Malema an ultimatum to withdraw the comment, then extending the deadline, then, following his refusal to retract, completing the compromise by issuing a wishy-washy joint statement with Malema and accepting his assurance that he will never use the ‘kill' word again. Instead, he went on to say that the Youth League should "eliminate" the official opposition. True to his word, he didn't use the word ‘kill', so one has to assume the SAHRC is fine with that.

5. Not to be outdone by Malema, COSATU Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi was quick to jump on the band wagon, reiterating the ANCYL's sentiments while speaking at the funeral of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union's vice president and ANC veteran Pretty Shuping, on 21 June. And, again, just as with Malema, Vavi defended his remark and refused to retract, saying that he was "...not going to waste [his] time with the human rights champions of yesterday". He too ignored the SAHRC's deadline and, this time unlike Malema, didn't ever bother to meet with the Commission. The SAHRC, on the other hand, doesn't look like its going to do anything about it. The DA laid a criminal charge against Vavi.

6. There's nothing here, because nothing was said. It is easy to forget that, while Malema was speaking on 16 June, there, sitting quietly in the front row behind him, was ANC President Jacob Zuma; no doubt quite pleased with the way things were going. He said nothing, didn't act to counter Malema's remark, issued no public condemnation and adopted the exact same attitude with regard to COSATU Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi - a fairly powerful indictment of a man with aspirations to the highest office in the country.

7. In English it means ‘Bring me my Machine Gun' and is the title of the cry that has been Jacob Zuma's rallying song at almost every party political gathering he has attended; once Zuma was even joined in its singing by a gospel choir, after a church service in his honour. (Here is a video clip of Zuma in full flight.) Zuma has repeatedly denied that the song is, in any way, intended to invoke violence but this is simply to feign ignorance; for what Zuma might think and how his supporters interpret it are two entirely different things. Indeed, he even seemed upset when the song was used by those people who brutalised foreigners during South Africa's recent spate of xenophobic attacks, saying: "Umshini wami belongs to the ANC. Who are these people abusing this song while they are doing wrong things?". The people involved, however, had a different take altogether, with eye witnesses saying "When he was campaigning to become president of the ANC, he said he would get rid of all the foreigners."

8. "Skwatsha, you are rubbish" a group of ANC members shouted at ANC Provincial-Secretary Mcebesi Skwatsha, before one of them plunged a knife into his neck, on 12 June this year. Fortunately, it was not fatal, but it certainly constituted the most high profile internal ANC attack out of an ever-increasing number. (To read an on-the-scene account of events see here.) Skwatsha was part of a provincial delegation that was meeting with the suspended Boland regional executive committee as well as branch chairpersons and secretaries in Worcester. The two members responsible - Ndikho Tyawana and Sicelo Mvunyiswa - were promptly expelled from the party and Tyawana currently faces a charge of attempted murder in the Worcester magistrate's court. Skwatsha and ANC Premier Ebrahim Rasool have been waging a factional war in the province for years now and, in what is quite possibly the biggest understatement in South Africa's recent history, Skwatsha said the following in response to the attack:""We are not the most united organisation." Quite.

9. The Skwatsha incident is as disturbing as it is worrying - a ruling party at war with itself can only have a detrimental effect on our democracy - but it is by no means an isolated incident. Indeed, hardly a week has gone by since the election of Jacob Zuma as ANC president in which the feud between his supporters and those of former ANC president Thabo Mbeki has not manifested itself in physical violence. The quote above was posed not by some dispassionate outsider but by the ANC's own North West provincial spokesman, Lolo Mashiane - province wracked by this sort of infighting. The article from which it is drawn lists some other incidents; here is a brief summary, with a few additions:

· In June this year, in Vryburg in the North West, two ANC members were admitted to hospital after being shot;

· On 8 July, Six prominent members of the ANC who were arrested in Schweizer Reneke in the North West on charges of assault, attempted murder and malicious damage to property were granted bail. Several other party members sustained injuries when factions of the ANC clashed;

· In Limpopo, there have been violent skirmishes, violent disruptions of branch meetings, stabbings and fist fights. One leader was even attacked with an axe;

· In Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, police are investigating violent assault cases involving Steve Tshwete mayor Matlhakeng Mahlangu and five fellow councillors who are accused of mobbing and beating an outspoken party member last month. Seven local ANC leaders were arrested and charged with intimidation and assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm. A number of ANC members had to be hospitalised, while police were probing new evidence that at least one provincial ANC leader at the meeting pulled a firearm. (See Mpumalanga Today; 14 July 2008);

· And, in April, the ANCYL's conference ended in chaos with rival factions throwing water bottles at each other, and even exchanging blows.

10. And when ANC members aren't physically assaulting each other, they are perfectly happy to turn on the opposition. This particular statement was shouted at DA leader and Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, on 22 April 2006, when Zille had tried to address a meeting in Crossroads. Chairs were flung at her and as she was escorted away in a car, an angry mob tried to stop the car from leaving, throwing rocks and half-bricks at the motorcade. Of course the ANC blamed Zille. ANC Western Cape Chairperson James Ngculu said Zille had provoked residents and Western Cape Deputy ANC Leader Randall van den Heever said "provocative and disruptive" behaviour on the part of the mayor "gets her into trouble", both, of course, without any evidence. An interesting exercise is to compare the ANC's response to its member's attack on Zille, with that of their various attacks on each other. No prominent ANC leader seems to be accusing Mcebesi Skwatsha of being provocative and disruptive. But then why have standards when double standards are so much easier?

This is an edited version of an article which first appeared on the Democratic Alliance weblog, The Real ANC Today, July 20 2008