The collapse of any social order is inevitably presaged by the failure of its normalizing institutions to command their accustomed ideological authority. All long-held values, assumptions, and moral codes and norms of behavior are suddenly called into question. Uncertainty replaces confidence. Chaos replaces order. The glaring gap between rhetoric and reality becomes too obvious to elicit respect.

The collapse of Portuguese colonization in 1975 and the ensuing independence of Mozambique, Angola, and Zimbabwe and the intensification of the national and class struggles in Namibia and South Africa has produced a crisis of unprecedented proportions for the South African regime and its imperialist backers. Historical alliances and loyalties are being undermined.