ABSTRACT During the transition to democracy in the 1990s, South Africa was engulfed in escalating violence. The majority of the violence occurred in KwaZulu and Natal and the African townships in the Pretoria – Witwatersrand – Vereeniging area. It pitted supporters of the African National Congress against the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). In the area around Johannesburg, the IFP’s mobilisation in workers’ hostels created violent rifts between township communities and IFP aligned hostel dwellers. Based on life history interviews and archival research, this article explores what mobilised hostel dwellers into violent action. The article argues that rumours of threat and expulsion led to the politicisation of ethnic identities and the strengthening of ethnic solidarities. The expulsion of Zulu-speaking hostel dwellers from Sebokeng hostel in July 1990, and the destruction of two hostels in the East Rand, triggered fears among hostel dwellers that their lives and their place in the city were at risk. It paved the way for a discourse of victimhood that framed violence against township communities as ‘defensive’, in an attempt to reverse the status of perpetrators and victims. These fears were further exacerbated and manipulated by IFP propaganda and their espousal of Zulu ethnic nationalism.

中文翻译：

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南非种族隔离中的旅馆战争：谣言，暴力和受害言论

摘要在1990年代向民主过渡期间，南非陷入了不断升级的暴力之中。大部分暴力事件发生在夸祖鲁和纳塔尔以及比勒陀利亚–维特沃特斯兰德–韦雷尼欣地区的非洲城镇。它使非洲人国民大会的支持者反对因卡塔自由党（IFP）。在约翰内斯堡附近的地区，IFP调动工人宿舍的行为在乡镇社区和IFP对齐的宿舍居民之间造成了暴力冲突。根据生活史访谈和档案研究，本文探讨了动员旅馆居民采取暴力行动的原因。文章认为，威胁和驱逐的谣言导致种族认同政治化和加强种族团结。1990年7月，将来自祖鲁语的旅舍居民从塞波肯恩旅舍驱逐出境，东兰德（East Rand）的两所旅馆遭到破坏，引发了旅馆居民的担忧，他们的生活和在该市的地位受到威胁。它为讨论受害者行为铺平了道路，这种行为将针对乡镇社区的暴力定性为“防御性”，以试图改变犯罪者和受害者的地位。IFP的宣传及其对祖鲁族民族主义的拥护进一步加剧和操纵了这些恐惧。