cal violence in South Africa. That was a record number, but it was only a
prelude to what followed. There were 3,699 political killings in 1990;
2,7° 6 in 1991; 3,347 in 199 2 ; 3,794 in 1993; and 2,476 in 1994. 24 It was
the South African state, in the form of the government, the civil service,
and the security forces, that was largely responsible for the killings. Ever
since at least 1948, the state had been a gross perpetrator of human rights
violations in South Africa, and it continued to be so during de Klerk's pres-
248