South Africa: Prophetic Christianity and the Liberation Movement

1991 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Walshe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
The State ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
Church Affiliation ◽  
Biblical Values

The struggle against racial discrimination in South Africa, as many have argued, is theological as well as political. This is so, in the words of Ben Marais, because ‘Apartheid erodes the very basis of humanity’. It is also because the great majority of South Africans have some Christian identity and church affiliation, yet their faith commitments are heavily conditioned by class interests and particular ideologies. Consequently, prophetic Christianity, in relating biblical values to the analysis of society and the search for justice, has divided Christian communities by confronting the established churches as well as the state.

The Prophetic Voice of the Church in a Democratic South Africa – A Theological Reflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufuluvhi Maria Mudimeli
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black Liberation Theology ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church

This article is a reflection on the role and contribution of the church in a democratic South Africa. The involvement of the church in the struggle against apartheid is revisited briefly. The church has played a pivotal and prominent role in bringing about democracy by being a prophetic voice that could not be silenced even in the face of death. It is in this time of democracy when real transformation is needed to take its course in a realistic way, where the presence of the church has probably been latent and where it has assumed an observer status. A look is taken at the dilemmas facing the church. The church should not be bound and taken captive by any form of loyalty to any political organisation at the expense of the poor and the voiceless. A need for cooperation and partnership between the church and the state is crucial at this time. This paper strives to address the role of the church as a prophetic voice in a democratic South Africa. Radical economic transformation, inequality, corruption, and moral decadence—all these challenges hold the potential to thwart our young democracy and its ideals. Black liberation theology concepts are employed to explore how the church can become prophetically relevant in democracy. Suggestions are made about how the church and the state can best form partnerships. In avoiding taking only a critical stance, the church could fulfil its mandate “in season and out of season” and continue to be a prophetic voice on behalf of ordinary South Africans.

Determinants of skills demand in a state- intervening labour market

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khotso Tsotsotso ◽  
Elizabeth Montshiwa ◽  
Precious Tirivanhu ◽  
Tebogo Fish ◽  
Siyabonga Sibiya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
South African ◽  
The State ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Wage Rates ◽  
The Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the drivers and determinants of skills demand in South Africa, given the country’s history and its current design as a developmental state. Design/methodology/approach In this study, a mixed methods approach is used. The study draws information from in-depth interviews with transport sector stakeholders including employers, professional bodies, sector regulatory bodies and training providers. Complementary to the interviews, the study also analyses employer-reported workplace skills plans from 1,094 transport sector firms updated annually. A Heckman correction model is applied. Findings The study finds that changes in competition, technology, ageing employees, market conditions and government regulations are among the most frequently stated determinants reported through interviews. Using a Heckman regression model, the study identifies eight determining factors, which include location of firm, size of a firm, occupation type, racial and generational transformation, subsector of the firm, skills alignment to National Qualification Framework, reason for skills scarcity and level of skills scarcity reported. The South African transport sector skills demand is therefore mainly driven by the country’s history and consequently its current socio-economic policies as applied by the state itself. Research limitations/implications Wage rates are explored during stakeholder interviews and the study suggests that wage rates are an insignificant determinant of skills demand in the South African transport sector. However, due to poor reporting by firms, wage rates did not form a part of the quantitative analysis of the study. This serves as a limitation of the study. Practical implications Through this research, it is now clear that the state has more determining power (influence) in the transport sector than it was perceived. The state can use its power to be a more effective enabler towards increasing employer participation in skills development of the sector. Social implications With increased understanding and awareness of state’s influence in the sector, the country’s mission to redress the social ills of the former state on black South Africans stands a better chance of success. Private sector resources can be effectively mobilized to improve the social state of previously disadvantaged South Africans. However, given the economic dominance of the private sector and its former role in the apartheid era in South Africa; too much state influence in a supposedly free market can result in corporate resistance and consequently, market failure which can be seen as result of political interference. Originality/value South Africa has had an unprecedented social and economic trajectory to date. This said, its economic and social policies are unlike what we have observed before. Thus, identification of determinants and understanding of mechanisms of influence, on skills demand in the sector in which an African state plays such a close and active role, is in itself a unique contribution to knowledge and compels us to revisit our traditional assumptions about market behaviour. This study is one of the very few of its kind in the labour market research with a South African context.

The Photographic Presentation of South Africa, 1874 and 1923

Itinerario ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 25 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 143-153
Author(s):  
Robert Ross
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Single Person ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The One ◽  
White Minority

What is, and was, South Africa? This is clearly not a question which has a single answer, nor has it ever had one. On the one hand, there is a constitutional answer. In these terms, South Africa did not exist before the creation of the Union in 1910 and since then has been the state created then, transformed into the Republic of South Africa in 1961 and transformed once again with the ending of white minority rule in 1994. On the other hand, there are innumerable answers, effectively those to be found in the minds of all South Africans, and indeed all those foreigners who have an opinion about the country. Nevertheless, these opinions are not random. Clearly, there are regularities to be found within them, such that it is possible, in principle, to describe at the very least the range of answers to this question which were held within particular groups of the population, either within the country or outside it, and also to use specific sources, emanating from a single person, or group of individuals, as exemplary of the visions held by a far wider group.

The conditional legitimacy of claims made by mothers and other kin in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-621
Author(s):  
Jeremy Seekings
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
Private Support ◽  
Do So

Because redistribution concerns ‘who gets what and from whom’, redistributive conflicts revolve around ‘who should get what and from whom’. Individuals as well as states distinguish between deserving and undeserving claimants. People may favour people they know over strangers, kin over non-kin, or some kin over other kin. This paper uses data from survey experiments to show that young South Africans distinguish between deserving and undeserving claimants on both the state and kin. The hierarchy of desert with respect to public welfare is clear and intuitive, with people who cannot look after themselves being considered more deserving than those who can. Deservingness with respect to different categories of kin – i.e. the ‘radius’ of responsibility for kin – varies less markedly, but with some variation between racial or cultural groups. Deservingness with respect to both public and private support is affected dramatically by the attitude and reciprocity of the claimant, with the important exceptions of mothers who should be supported unconditionally. Public and private support appear to be complements not substitutes for each other, in that people who believe that the state should support people in need are also more likely to believe that kin should do so also.

CASE NOTE

2001 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. Osode
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
New South ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Case Note ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Divided Society ◽  
Hiv Aids

DEFINING THE LIMITS OF PERMISSIBLE EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS IN SOUTH AFRICA: HOFFMAN V. SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS [2000] 12 BLLR 1365.Perhaps the most positive and exciting aftermath of the apartheid era is the construction of the new South Africa upon the foundation of a Constitution and other legal instruments that are unanimous and unambiguous in two respects. The first is in their proscription of unfair discrimination and the second is in their permission of statutory and other measures aimed at eliminating the effects of past discrimination on those groups of persons who were at the receiving end of same. The provisions of these instruments as well as their tenor and spirit reveal an unmistakable national resolve to break from a culture of racial discrimination to a constitutionally protected culture of human rights for South Africans of all ages, classes and colours. Without doubt, the most important of those provisions is the equality clause of the Bill of Rights contained in the second chapter of the Constitution. This probably follows from a realization of the fact that equality is fundamental to “the maintenance and propagation of human rights in a democratic body politic, particularly in an acutely divided society” such as South Africa.

Anatomy of State Capture

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
The State ◽  
The Public ◽  
South Africans ◽  
State Capture

Following the release of the Public Protector’s State of Capture Report in November 2016, South Africans have been witness to an explosion of almost daily revelations of corruption, mismanagement and abuses by those entrusted to lead the nation. The extent of this betrayal is overwhelming and it is often difficult to distil what actually happened during the Zuma administration. This book draws on the insights and expertise of 19 contributors from various sectors and disciplines to provide an account of what transpired at strategic sites of the state capture project. The ongoing threat of state capture demands a response that probes beyond what happened to understanding how it was allowed to happen. The stubborn culture of corruption and misgovernance continue to manifest unabated and the predatory practices which enable state capture have not yet been disrupted. It is our hope that the various case studies and analyses presented in this book will contribute to confronting these shortcomings in current discourse, and open avenues for progressive deliberation on how to collectively reclaim the prospects of a just and prosperous South Africa for all.

The Anatomy of Japan's South African Policy

1984 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Morikawa
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
South African ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
South Africans ◽  
African People ◽  
Japanese Firms ◽  
The Government

What is Japan's basic policy towards South Africa? According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo:Japan, which firmly supports the self-determination of the African people and strongly opposes racial discrimination, has earnestly desired a solution to the problems in southern Africa.Japan strongly condemns the continuation of racial discrimination in South Africa and has demanded that the Government of South Africa abolish such discrimination. From this standpoint, Japan maintains no diplomatic relations with South Africa and has prohibited such direct investment as the establishment of joint ventures by Japanese firms in that country. Furthermore it has imposed restrictions on cultural, educational and sport exchanges between Japanese and South Africans, respecting the relevant United Nations resolutions.

scholarly journals Regina Mundi: Serving the liberation movement in South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem Oliver ◽  
Erna Oliver
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Other ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Liberation Movement ◽  
National Congress

The struggle for ‘non-white’ South Africans to eventually become liberated in this country was a very tough and bloody one. In the struggle the South African Native National Congress – later renamed to African National Congress – as a liberation movement played a decisive role from the beginning of the 20th century, as the mainstream churches failed in the previous three centuries to really contribute to the liberation process. However, the Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto serves as a good example of a church that did not look the other way during the struggle. This church assisted the liberation movement in promoting freedom for everyone,serving as the platform for many a politician and even, at least once, as a shelter against the raining bullets of the police.

Reframing Xenophobia in South Africa as Colour-Blind: The Limits of the Afro Phobia Thesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-444
Author(s):  
Amanuel Isak Tewolde
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Black African ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Online Newspaper ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Realistic Conflict Theory

Many scholars and South African politicians characterize the widespread anti-foreigner sentiment and violence in South Africa as dislike against migrants and refugees of African origin which they named ‘Afro-phobia’. Drawing on online newspaper reports and academic sources, this paper rejects the Afro-phobia thesis and argues that other non-African migrants such as Asians (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Chinese) are also on the receiving end of xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa. I contend that any ‘outsider’ (White, Asian or Black African) who lives and trades in South African townships and informal settlements is scapegoated and attacked. I term this phenomenon ‘colour-blind xenophobia’. By proposing this analytical framework and integrating two theoretical perspectives — proximity-based ‘Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT)’ and Neocosmos’ exclusivist citizenship model — I contend that xenophobia in South Africa targets those who are in close proximity to disadvantaged Black South Africans and who are deemed outsiders (e.g., Asian, African even White residents and traders) and reject arguments that describe xenophobia in South Africa as targeting Black African refugees and migrants.

Is Xenophobic Violence and Criminality Systemic in Post-Apartheid South Africa? A Critical Analysis of Growing Denialism to 2015 Incidents

Politeia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mbekezeli Comfort Mkhize ◽  
Kongko Louis Makau
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Hate Crime ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Foreign Nationals ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
The Government

This article argues that the 2015 xenophobic violence was allowed to spread due to persistent inaction by state officials. While the utterances of King Goodwill Zwelithini have in part fuelled the attacks, officials tend to perceive acts of xenophobia as ordinary crimes. This perception has resulted in ill-advised responses from the authorities, allowing this kind of hate crime against foreign nationals to engulf the whole country. In comparison with similar attacks in 2008, the violent spree in 2015 is characterised by a stronger surge in criminal activities. The militancy showcased fed a sense of insecurity amongst foreigners, creating a situation inconsistent with the country’s vaunted respect for human rights and the rule of law. Investors lost confidence in the country’s outlook, owing in part to determined denialism in government circles regarding the targeting of foreigners. While drawing from existing debates, the article’s principal objective is to critically examine the structural problems that enable xenophobia to proliferate and the (in)effectiveness of responses to the militancy involved in the 2015 attacks. Of particular interest are the suggested responses that could be effective in curbing future violence. The article concludes that xenophobia is systemic in post-apartheid South Africa. Strong cooperation between the government, national and international organisations could provide the basis for successful anti-xenophobia measures. The article further argues that the country is obliged to find a sustainable solution to the predicament for humanitarian reasons firstly, and in recognition of the support South Africans received from its African counterparts during the liberation struggle.

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