War Veterans and Democracy in South Africa: 'a Wolf in Wolf's Clothing'‪?‬

ABSTRACT The recent appearance of Umkhonto we Sizwe * military veterans in camouflage uniforms on the streets of Cape Town demanding an apology from the newly elected premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, following a letter to the president raises a number of fundamental questions, of which the most important relates to the potential influence of the military veterans on the democratic dispensation in South Africa. Is it desirable in a new and fragile democracy to have a paramilitary force operate within the niche normally reserved for civil society groups in order to challenge the state? The article analyses the place of these military veterans in a democracy and consider the desirability of their presence within civil society.