Accountable to Themselves: Predominance in Southern Africa

1997 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 547-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
KENNETH GOOD
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Party System ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Steep Decline

While public attention has focused on the stature of Nelson Mandela, there has been at a deeper level in South Africa since 1990 a steep decline in state capacity, and a marked deterioration in democratic practice. The participatory democracy which had so characterised the decade of the 1980s was brought to a sharp end after the return of the nationalist leaders, and the workings of even a liberal, representative democracy have also suffered under the rise since 1994 of a predominant party system and élitism. The latter features are present too in Namibia, with similar consequences. Democracy which is understood merely as electoralism, as Botswana earlier had shown, has few defences against predominance. The voters' brief electoral act is wide open to manipulation and containment. Power is shared by élites, while popular participation is rendered moribund, and concern for justice and equality ceases.

scholarly journals The Turn to Sabotage by The Congress Movement in South Africa*

2019 ◽  
Vol 245 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-255
Author(s):  
Simon Stevens
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
The Other ◽  
Guerrilla Warfare ◽  
Extended Phase ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
The Social ◽  
Violent Action

Abstract Why did leaders of the Congress movement in South Africa abandon their exclusive reliance on non-violent means in the struggle against apartheid, form an armed unit (Umkhonto we Sizwe), and launch a campaign of spectacular sabotage bombings of symbols of apartheid in 1961? None of the earlier violent struggles from which Congress leaders drew inspiration, and none of the contemporaneous insurgencies against white minority rule elsewhere in southern Africa, involved a similar distinct, preliminary and extended phase of non-lethal symbolic sabotage. Following the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, Congress leaders feared the social and political consequences of increased popular enthusiasm for using violence. Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, and the other founders of Umkhonto we Sizwe did not launch their sabotage campaign because they believed it would prompt a change of heart among white South Africans, nor because they believed urban sabotage bombings were a necessary prelude to the launch of rural guerrilla warfare. Rather, the sabotage campaign was a spectacular placeholder, a stopgap intended to advertise the Congress movement's abandonment of exclusive non-violence and thus to discourage opponents of apartheid, both inside and outside South Africa, from supporting rival groups or initiating ‘uncontrolled violent action themselves.

The mass movement and public policy: discourses of participatory democracy in post-1994 South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Brooks
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Mass Movement ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Intellectual Traditions ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Sector Performance ◽  
Participatory Model

ABSTRACTDespite policy commitments and legislated mechanisms, the system of participatory democracy in post-1994 South Africa is largely considered to have failed. In order to understand how underlying ideas can help to explain weaknesses in practice, this article examines how participatory democracy is understood by the ruling African National Congress (ANC). It shows that the multiple intellectual traditions shaping the participatory model have led to a set of policy initiatives that are not without internal tension. In part, the technocratic creep associated with improving public sector performance has stymied participatory efforts by placing efficiency and delivery over democracy and empowerment. Alongside this, however, the ANC's own conception of ‘democracy’ remains interwoven with its mass movement history – linking the role of popular participation to the extension of its own hegemony. The intent of policy to deepen democracy through structures of participatory governance is thus undermined by a teleological framing of participation as an intra-movement activity.

Shakespeare’s Tragedies in Southern Africa

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colette Gordon ◽  
Daniel Roux ◽  
David Schalkwyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Titus Andronicus ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Shakespearean Tragedy ◽  
Thabo Mbeki ◽  
Robben Island

This chapter discusses the place of Shakespeare’s tragedies in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa. It begins with the imposition of apartheid in 1948 and Afrikaans Shakespeare; it goes on to look at Sol Plaatje’s Setswana translations of Shakespeare; and then considers rhetorical and allegorical treatments of Shakespearean tragedy in relation to Robben Island, Nelson Mandela, and Thabo Mbeki. This is followed by an account of the reception, in South Africa and abroad, of three landmark South African productions in the twentieth century: Janet Suzman’s Othello, Gregory Doran’s Titus Andronicus, and Welcome Msomi’s Umabatha. It concludes with a brief discussion of the representation of Africa in the Globe-to-Globe 2012 festival at Shakespeare’s Globe in London.

Region of Birth and Child Mortality among Black Migrants to South Africa: Is there a foreign-born advantage?

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany L Green ◽  
Amos C Peters
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Child Mortality ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Black Immigrants ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Child Deaths

Much of the existing evidence for the healthy immigrant advantage comes from developed countries. We investigate whether an immigrant health advantage exists in South Africa, an important emerging economy.  Using the 2001 South African Census, this study examines differences in child mortality between native-born South African and immigrant blacks.  We find that accounting for region of origin is critical: immigrants from southern Africa are more likely to experience higher lifetime child mortality compared to the native-born population.  Further, immigrants from outside of southern Africa are less likely than both groups to experience child deaths.  Finally, in contrast to patterns observed in developed countries, we detect a strong relationship between schooling and child mortality among black immigrants.

The Final ‘Thank You’

Derrida Today ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Grant Farred
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Political Transition ◽  
The Other ◽  
World Cup ◽  
The Core ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Black President ◽  
The Moment

‘The Final “Thank You”’ uses the work of Jacques Derrida and Friedrich Nietzsche to think the occasion of the 1995 rugby World Cup, hosted by the newly democratic South Africa. This paper deploys Nietzsche's Zarathustra to critique how a figure such as Nelson Mandela is understood as a ‘Superman’ or an ‘Overhuman’ in the moment of political transition. The philosophical focus of the paper, however, turns on the ‘thank yous’ exchanged by the white South African rugby captain, François Pienaar, and the black president at the event of the Springbok victory. It is the value, and the proximity and negation, of the ‘thank yous’ – the relation of one to the other – that constitutes the core of the article. 1

Religion, Gender Norms and Campus Rape Culture: Building Resistance from Below

Politeia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Selina Palm
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Gender Norms ◽  
Rape Culture ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
Gendered Violence ◽  
Agents Of Change ◽  
Religious Formation ◽  
Legal Forms ◽  
South African Higher Education

In recent years, protests against campus rape culture at South African higher education institutions have attracted public attention. Despite strong constitutional provisions, a culture of sexual and gendered violence remains endemic in South Africa. In the light of the gap between legal forms and social norms, this article argues for building socio-political resistance from below that starts with exploring the lived experiences of young women. It therefore introduces the voice of one ordinary student who inhabits these spaces. She highlights the need for attention to be paid to the gendered social norms that underpin this culture of sexual violence, the possibilities of engaging men as allies and the important but ambiguous role of the Christian religion. Research suggests that bystanders like her can become important agents of change. The article concludes that the connections between hierarchical gender norms, religious formation and rape culture need further empirical engagement in South Africa if their power-laden roots are to be disrupted and reimagined.

Reverend Doctor Sox Leleki and His Role in the Black Methodist Consultation

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonwabile Mancotywa
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Individual Member ◽  
Methodist Church ◽  
Role Players

The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) is one of the mainline Christian denominations with a very good history. However, it was not immune from the larger political influence of South Africa that was polarised by apartheid. This article is intended to look at the formation known as the Black Methodist Consultation (BMC), which at that time had an individual member who played an important role in its development and activities. Sox Leleki was one of the key role players of this movement inside the Methodist Church

Ores Sources, Smelters and Archaeometallurgy: Exploring Iron Age Metal Production in the Southern Waterberg, South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Foreman Bandama ◽  
Shadreck Chirikure ◽  
Simon Hall
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Metal Working ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Metal Production ◽  
European Colonization ◽  
Sem Analyses

The Southern Waterberg in Limpopo Province is archaeologically rich, especially when it comes to evidence of pre-colonial mining and metal working. Geologically, the area hosts important mineral resources such as copper, tin and iron which were smelted by agriculturalists in the precolonial period. In this region however, tin seems to be the major attraction given that Rooiberg is still the only source of cassiterite in southern Africa to have provided evidence of mining before European colonization. This paper reports the results of archaeological and archaeometallurgical work which was carried out in order to reconstruct the technology of metalworking as well as the cultural interaction in the study area and beyond. The ceramic evidence shows that from the Eiland Phase (1000–1300 AD) onwards there was cross borrowing of characteristic decorative traits amongst extant groups that later on culminated in the creation of a new ceramic group known as Rooiberg. In terms of mining and metal working, XRF and SEM analyses, when coupled with optical microscopy, indicate the use of indigenous bloomery techniques that are widespread in pre-colonial southern Africa. Tin and bronze production was also represented and their production remains also pin down this metallurgy to particular sites and excludes the possibility of importing of finished tin and bronze objects into this area.

Participatory catchment management — an opportunity for Southern Africa

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 145-151
Author(s):  
D. B. Versfeld
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Participatory Rural Appraisal ◽  
Catchment Management ◽  
Management Process ◽  
Participatory Methods ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Rural Appraisal

South Africa has hundreds of thousands of hectares of heavily populated and badly degraded landscapes. Past attempts at land management have been either through avoidance or the top-down imposition of “betterment” schemes. Participatory methods offer a new opportunity for communities living within these catchments to share their knowledge and to become involved in planning and implementing the management process. This paper discusses the use of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in a catchment rehabilitation programme in rural KwaZulu/Natal, the lessons learnt and the prospects for wider application.

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