DEDICATION

"The progress of struggles for liberation and justice depend not on the
immense sacrifices of a few heroic leaders but on the modest sacrifices of
ordinary people."

Kovin Naidoo,
President Chatsworth Youth Congress, 1985-1986,
National Vice-President, South African National Students Congress, 1990-1991
and
President, University of Durban-Westville Students Representative Council,
1987-1990

This thesis
is dedicated to all the activists of the 1980s who chose to
take on the might of the apartheid state and whose dedication
and commitment to a democratic and just South Africa helped
bring about one of the most dramatic political transformations
of the twentieth century.

In particular, it is
dedicated to three special people in my life who are not here to share
in the completion of this work:

My late mother,
who passed away tragically in April 1980, for instilling in
me the values that have shaped my own minuscule contributions
to society and whose efforts to educate her children against
many odds serves as an inspiration;

Lenny Naidu,
my friend and comrade, who grew up with me in the sprawling
township of Chatsworth where we shared many extraordinary and
unforgettable experiences before he was assassinated by apartheid
hit squads in June 1988;

and Joan
Wright, a very dear friend who took me under her wing and provided
me with magnanimous support in Oxford, who died on South African
soil on her way to visiting a rural development project for
Oxfam (UK) in October 1990.