The Freedom Charter and Ethnicity— towards a Communitarian South African Society

1989 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-115
Author(s):  
A. J. G. M. Sanders
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
International Level ◽  
African Society ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Society ◽  
National Congress ◽  
People’S Organisation

At national as well as international level the South African Freedom Charter has become a symbol of the long-standing struggle against apartheid. In this essay the emphasis will be on the charter's provisions relating to ethnicity. The question of ethnicity is a crucial one, for on its solution depends the outcome of the economic and other social problems which trouble South African society.The 1955 Freedom Charter, which was the outcome of a joint venture of the African National Congress (A.N.C.), the South African Indian Congress, the South African Coloured People's Organisation and the predominantly European South African Congress of Democrats, suggests a unitary, participatory welfare state, which will acccord equal rights to all “national groups and races”.For the A.N.C., the senior partner in the “Congress Alliance”, the reference in the charter to “national groups and races” soon became a major headache. Could it be said that the charter lent support to the creation of “four nations”? A number of people within the A.N.C. feared that much. Prominent among them were the “Africanists” who in April 1959 broke away from the A.N.C, and formed the Pan-Africanist Congress (P.A.C.) “Charterists” and “Africanists” are still at loggerheads, but the A.N.C.'s “Revolutionary Programme” of 1969 and its “Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic

scholarly journals A Giant Steering the Ship: The Leadership Style of Oliver Tambo and the Lessons that can be Drawn

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren C. Marx
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Leadership Style ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Leadership Traits ◽  
African Society ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
South African Society ◽  
National Congress

Oliver Tambo dedicated most of his life to the liberation of South Africa from apartheid dominion, whereby he garnered international respect from his peers and contemporaries. He rose to prominence within the African National Congress (ANC) during a harrowing time in South Africa’s history by consistently demonstrating leadership and guidance. Tambo’s innate leadership skills originated through his unique mix of personality qualities that he steadfastly believed in his entire life. This tenacity and conviction allowed him to govern the leadership of the ANC—despite being in exile—in an efficient and systematic manner. The objective of this paper is to examine the different leadership traits Tambo possessed, which allowed him to steer his political party’s ship through the most turbulent of seas. Secondly, this paper examines the current political climate in South Africa with the aim of addressing leadership models required to mould and sculpt South African society into the Tambos of today. These two objectives will largely be pursued through oral testimonies of those who worked and interacted with Tambo closely over the years, as well as anecdotal stories which demonstrate the level of leadership Tambo always provided.

Knotted memories of a betrayed sacrifice: Rethinking trauma and hope in South Africa

2022 ◽  
pp. 175069802110665
Author(s):  
Kim Wale
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Shared Memory ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
African Society ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
South African Society ◽  
National Congress

Different groups within South African society express disillusionment with the present through a discourse of betrayal in relation to the liberation movement-cum-governing-party of the African National Congress. This article focuses on a particular articulation of this discourse within two memory communities in the Western Cape (Bonteheuwel and Crossroads) who were embroiled in violence and political struggle during apartheid and continue to suffer conditions of structural violence in the post-apartheid era. It analyses the shared memory narrative of a ‘betrayed sacrifice’ to demonstrate a proposed theoretical concept of ‘knotted memories’ which describes the way in which past and present memories of suffering knot together to produce a lived affective condition of despair. It further considers what these everyday experiences of ‘knotted memories’ mean for re-thinking the nature of trauma and hope in relation to post-apartheid despair.

scholarly journals Facilitation and Mediation in South Africa: Three Case Studies

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik Van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
South African ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The South ◽  
National Congress

In this paper I discuss three case studies of facilitation and mediation in South Africa: 1) facilitation between the South African apartheid establishment and the African National Congress in exile from 1963 to 1989; 2) facilitation that eventually led to mediation between Inkatha and the United Democratic Front in Natal over 10 months from 1985 to 1986; and 3)mediation between the African National Congress and the Afrikaner Freedom Foundation (Afrikaner Vryheidstigting, also known as Avstig) over 18 months from 1991 to 1993.

"The Struggle Made Me a Nonracialist": Why There was so Little Terrorism in the Antiapartheid Struggle

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Goodwin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The South ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
White Allies ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Congress

Most theories of terrorism would lead one to have expected high levels of antiwhite terrorism in apartheid South Africa. Yet the African National Congress, the country's most important and influential antiapartheid political organization, never sanctioned terrorism against the dominant white minority. I argue that the ANC eschewed terrorism because of its commitment to "nonracial internationalism." From the ANC's perspective, to have carried out a campaign of indiscriminate or "categorical" terrorism against whites would have alienated actual and potential white allies both inside and outside the country. The ANC's ideological commitment to nonracialism had a specific social basis: It grew out of a long history of collaboration between the ANC and white leftists inside and outside the country, especially those in the South African Communist Party.

scholarly journals The relationship between prophetic preaching and performing the gift of prophecy in South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben J. De Klerk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Short Description ◽  
African Society ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Prophetic Preaching ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Relationship

The goal of this article is to investigate the relationship between the liturgy of the worship service, where prophetic preaching is delivered, and the liturgy of life, where the gift of prophecy must be put into practice. In what way could the ‘prophets’ be equipped to become practitioners of the gift of prophecy? A short description is given of what is understood by prophetic preaching and the gift of prophecy in an effort to determine the relationship between these concepts. In a brief summary, burning questions in church life and in the South African society are addressed: in church life, the questions of extreme conservatism and extreme liberalism are scrutinised and in the South African society, corruption and inequality are investigated. In conclusion, a few guidelines are given for putting the gift of prophecy into practice in the liturgy of life.

scholarly journals Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness: Sharpening the ethical dimension of prophetic preaching in a context of corruption

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz W. De Wet ◽  
Ferdi P. Kruger
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Ethical Dimension ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
African Society ◽  
The South ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Prophetic Preaching ◽  
The Impact

The prevalence of corruption has enormous negative consequences for the ideal of an orderly and peaceful society. Corruption does not only have a destructive impact on socio-economic life, but also on human relationships, value systems and vision for life. With this research the authors described the role of the ethical dimension of prophetic preaching in addressing the apparent lack of righteousness as it manifests in a context of corruption in the South African society. The problem field was explored with the focus on an apparent lack of vision and willingness to hunger and thirst for righteousness in the current manifestation of corruption in the South African society. Normative perspectives from Scripture (attempting to voice the impact of Jesus� words in the Beatitudes, with the focus on Matthew 5�6) were discussed. It is reasoned that Jesus� words pneumatologically proved to be essential in developing a sharpened and action-inducing vision of the righteousness of the kingdom of God breaking through in the praxis of a society struggling with the effects of corruption. The research culminated in the formulation of preliminary homiletic theory with a view to a vision for a kind of prophetic preaching that will be able to activate the consciousness of hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of God�s kingdom and lead the believer in a life culminating in blessed nourishment. The ethical dimension of prophetic preaching is anchored in the eschatological sphere, aimed at making the perceiver conscious of the distinct presence of the King, calling his people to a blessed presence in this world and empowering them with his promise of restoration of an abundant life for all.

Alternative Theatre: Reflecting a Multi-racial South African Society?

1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Coleen Angove
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Racial Segregation ◽  
African Society ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Alternative Theatre

When Barney Simon's play Cincinatti was presented at the Market Theatre in 1979, it epitomized a watershed event in the development of theatre in South Africa, anticipating a new tend towards a tradition of a multi-racial theatre. In 1965 legislation had forced racial segregation in the theatre. Pleas for the official desegregation of races in the theatre had finally been successful in 1977 and Cincinatti, sporting one of the first multi-racial casts, was symbolic of a reaching-out amongst different racial, cultural and lingual groups in a highly polarized South African society. Cincinatti was chosen by Hauptfleisch and Steadman to represent Alternative theatre in their anthology (South African Theatre, Four Plays and an Introduction, 1984), thereby acknowledging a new theatrical tradition on the South African theatre scene.

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