Open and Closed

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colette Gordon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Cultural Authority ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
The Status

The force of ‘Shakespeare’ as a source of cultural authority in South Africa has been extensively discussed. This chapter looks at a phenomenon that is less often acknowledged: the persistence of directorial power in post-apartheid Shakespearean performance. Renewed ties with British theatre after apartheid brought actors and directors trained in a more actor-centred approach into dialogue with local theatre practitioners, but this did little to shift South African Shakespeare away from dependence on spectacle and on directors as inheritors of institutional power. Focusing on South African performances in 2011 and 2012 across the different institutional spaces in which Shakespeare is made to work (theatres, schools, and prisons), in productions that promise to create democratic, liberating, ‘open’ Shakespeare, one finds both defiance and a striking restatement of the status quo. While connections with British theatre give authority and legitimacy to post-apartheid performances, the potential for ‘open Shakespeare’ has been squelched.

scholarly journals Fledgling South African Anglicanism and the Roots of Ritualism

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew-John Bethke
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
South African ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Early Generation ◽  
The Status ◽  
High Church

The early years of Anglican ministry in South Africa were primarily among English settlers. Their worship patterns, for the most part, reflected the general trends of English Anglicanism at the time, which itself was influenced theologically and materially by a moderate form of Calvinism. This article examines the ethos of the early generation of Anglicans, and highlights some of the possible reasons why a moderate Calvinistic stance seemed to suit the ordinary settler classes. However, the status quo was challenged by the arrival of Bishop Robert Gray in 1848. Thus, the article continues by exploring some of the reasons why Gray aroused such strong feelings in certain congregations. Among the most important reasons for the opposition against Gray were his Tractarian sympathies. While many historians have agreed that Gray was a high church cleric, most stop short of labelling him a Tractarian. This article critically examines Gray’s sympathies and posits that while he started out firmly within the high church party of Anglicanism, he slowly moved closer and closer to Tractarianism. Finally, the article considers aspects of Gray’s leadership which encouraged a gradual move from moderate Calvinism towards a more definite Tractarian and ritualist stance as the nineteenth century drew to a close.

Traditional-bank customers' digital-only bank resistance: evidence from South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Nel ◽  
Christo Boshoff
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Essential Factor ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Status ◽  
African Context ◽  
New Research

PurposeDigital-only banks are emerging as challenger banks to the traditional-bank business model in South Africa. However, traditional-bank customers could resist the use of digital-only banks, theoretically due to their satisfaction with the status quo. Consequently, inertia arising from bias to traditional banks based on status quo satisfaction could engender their resistance to become customers of digital-only banks. The objective of the study, therefore, is to investigate how traditional-bank customers' inertia influences digital-only bank resistance.Design/methodology/approachBased on a literature review, digital-only bank adoption barriers and cognitive-based initial distrusting beliefs were identified as mediators of the influence of inertia on digital-only bank resistance. To test the mediation model empirically, data was collected from 610 traditional-bank-only customers.FindingsThe five adoption barriers fully mediate the influence of inertia on cognitive-based initial distrusting beliefs. The five barriers in serial with cognitive-based initial distrusting beliefs partially mediate the influence of traditional-bank customers' inertia on digital-only bank resistance. Cognitive-based initial distrusting belief is an essential factor in the mechanism underlying the influence of traditional-bank customers' inertia on digital-only bank resistance.Originality/valueDigital-only banks are relatively new. Research is therefore lacking in consumer behavior explaining the use of digital-only banks by traditional-bank customers in the South African context. A further novelty of the study is the empirical assessment of mechanisms that explain the influence of inertia on cognitive-based initial distrusting beliefs, and the influence of inertia on resistance behavior.

scholarly journals Integrating eHealth in HIV/AIDS intervention programmes in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Babasile D. Osunyomi ◽  
Sara S. Grobbelaar
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The South ◽  
The Status ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Hiv Aids

Background:With an estimated 12.2% of its population infected in 2012, South Africa has the highest percentage of people living with the human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in the world. Although the mortality rate of the epidemic is decreasing, it has adverse impacts on the socio-economic development status and human capital of South Africa.Objective: The key aim of this article is to explore the status quo of the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in selected intervention programmes in the South African HIV/AIDS care delivery value chain. The contribution of this article is the mapping of key intervention activities along an HIV care value chain and to suggest a roadmap towards the integration of ICTs in service delivery programmes.Method: 20 managers of HIV/AIDS intervention programmes were surveyed, followed by semi-structured in-depth interviews with these respondents. A further five in-depth interviews were conducted with experts in the ICT area for exploring the uses of and barriers to integrating ICTs in the HIV/AIDS care delivery value chain.Results: The researchers mapped the barriers to implementation and ICT tools utilised within the HIV/AIDS care delivery value chain, which proves to be a useful tool to explore the status quo of technology in such service delivery programmes. The researchers then considered the wider policy environment and provided a roadmap based on the analysis and the South Africa eHealth strategy for driving development in this sector.Conclusion: The authors found that South Africa’s eHealth environment is still nascent and that the South African eHealth strategy does not place enough emphasis on systems integration and stakeholder engagement or the planning and process of uptake of ICTs by target audiences.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF BANKS IN THE PROVISION OF LOW‐INCOME HOUSING FINANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA: CAN THEY PLAY A DIFFERENT ROLE?

2006 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kahilu Kajimo-Shakantu ◽  
Kathy Evans
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Income Group ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Housing Finance ◽  
Doing Business ◽  
Cost Minimisation ◽  
The Status

Currently, South African banks exclude most low‐income households from access to formal housing loan finance with which to resolve housing problems. The research reported here examined the banks’ resilience to change the status quo so as to become more flexible and all‐inclusive. Using naturalistic enquiry, the research gathered evidence from five banks and a leading housing organisation. The main findings include that while there is potential for banks to expand their role in this area of housing finance; factors such as risk and cost minimisation as well as lack of research constrain this potential. The research concluded that the low‐income group requires a different business model that is suited to their needs and which calls for new ways of thinking and doing business.

scholarly journals Drivers of community xenophobic attacks in South Africa: poverty and unemployment

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Malemela Mamabolo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
South African ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Foreign Nationals ◽  
Business Support ◽  
The Status ◽  
Formal Business

This paper argues that attacks of foreign nationals in most local communities were sparked by desperation precipitated by high rates of poverty and unemployment in South Africa. Additionally, there is citizens’ frustrations with the perceived competition for access to the available resources, especially among poor people who are unemployed with no formal business support from government. In South Africa’s twenty years of democracy, poverty and unemployment still remain critical concerns particularly among the poor in most townships and rural communities. Despite the country’s initiative to identify policies and strategies that could be adopted to address the status quo, the majority has continued to live in abject poverty and demeaning unemployment. Lack of economic opportunities in South Africa continues to create hatred between foreign nationals and locals, sparking xenophobic attacks. South African citizens accused foreigners of stealing their jobs and other opportunities. The article recommends that South Africa should create a harmonious business environment for both locals and foreign nationals running businesses.

Integrative taxonomic methods reveal an incorrect synonymisation of the South African Pseudonereis podocirra (Schmarda) as the widespread Pseudonereis variegata (Grube) from Chile

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyothi Kara ◽  
Angus H. H. Macdonald ◽  
Carol A. Simon
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Species Delimitation ◽  
Haplotype Network ◽  
The Body ◽  
General Description ◽  
The South ◽  
Morphological Examination ◽  
Genetic Structuring ◽  
The Status

The nereidid Pseudonereis variegata (Grube, 1866) described from Chile includes 14 synonymised species from 10 type localities with a discontinuous distribution, but no taxonomic or molecular studies have investigated the status of this species outside Chile. Two synonymised species, Mastigonereis podocirra Schmarda, 1861 and Nereis (Nereilepas) stimpsonis Grube, 1866, were described from South Africa and investigated here using morphological examination. MtCOI species delimitation analyses and morphology were used to determine the status of P. variegata in South Africa. Morphological examination revealed that museum and freshly collected specimens from South Africa that conform to the general description of P. variegata are similar to M. podocirra and N. stimpsonis with respect to the consistent absence of homogomph spinigers in the inferior neuropodial fascicle, expanded notopodial ligules and the subterminal attachment of dorsal cirri in posterior parapodia. The synonymy of M. podocirra and N. stimpsonis as P. variegata are rejected and P. podocirra, comb. nov. is reinstated. Morphologically, Pseudonereis podocirra differed from specimens from Chile with regard to the numbers of paragnaths, the absence of homogomph spinigers and changes in parapodial morphology along the body. Independence of these species was further supported by genetic distances, automatic barcode gap discovery and multi-rate Poisson tree process species delimitation analyses of 77 mtCOI sequences. Haplotype network revealed no genetic structuring within the South African populations. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F0B1A5AF-9CE9-4A43-ACCF-17117E1C2F21

scholarly journals Policy-making for real: Politics and progress in South African health care

Curationis ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fourie ◽  
H. C. J. Van Rensburg
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
South African ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
African Health ◽  
The Status ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
South African Health

Problems have been accumulating in South African health care for well over three centuries yet when it comes to resolving the crisis by means of appropriate policy measures, one becomes aware of the powers at play and the interests at stake in maintaining the status quo, thus obstructing much initiative in the process of reform.

scholarly journals The status of rhinoceroses in South African National Parks

Koedoe ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam M. Ferreira ◽  
Charlene Bissett ◽  
Carly R. Cowell ◽  
Angela Gaylard ◽  
Cathy Greaver ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
National Parks ◽  
National Park ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
The South ◽  
South Central ◽  
The Status ◽  
Annual Population ◽  
Block Based

African rhinoceroses (rhinos) experienced a poaching onslaught since 2008 with the epicentre in South Africa where most of the world’s rhinos occur. South African national parks, under the management of South African National Parks (SANParks), are custodian to 49% of South Africa’s white and 31% of the country’s black rhinos. We collated information on rhino population sizes in seven national parks from 2011 to 2015. We include and report on rhino surveys in Kruger National Park during 2014 and 2015. Southwestern black rhinos increased over the study period, which allows SANParks to achieve its contribution to South Africa’s 2020 target of 260 individuals. South-central black rhinos declined over the study period because of poaching in the Kruger National Park, making it difficult for SANParks to realise a 9% increase per annum for its expected contribution to the South African target of 2800 individuals. For southern white rhinos, SANParks requires 5% annual growth for its contribution to the South African target of 20 400 individuals. To continue to evaluate the achievement of these targets, SANParks needs annual population estimates relying on total counts, mark-recapture techniques and block-based sample counts to track trends in rhino populations. SANParks’ primary challenge in achieving its contribution to South Africa’s rhino conservation targets is associated with curbing poaching in Kruger National Park.Conservation implications: The status and trends of rhino species in SANParks highlight key challenges associated with achieving the national targets of South Africa. Conservation managers will need to improve the protection of southern white rhino, while the Department of Environmental Affairs need to be made aware of the challenges specifically associated with not achieving targets for south-central black rhino. Outcomes for south-western black rhino have already realised and the good conservation efforts should continue.

Formalities of Poverty: Thinking about Social Assistance in Neoliberal South Africa

2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Preliminary Analysis ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Formal Sector ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
New Development

Abstract:In Marginal Gains (2004), Jane Guyer traces the logic of African socioeconomic practices that have long confounded attempts by modern states to impose what she terms “formalization.” Nowhere is the tension between pragmatically “informal” economic life and putatively “formal” state structures more evident than in the domain of poverty interventions, which typically aim to bring state institutional power to bear precisely on those who are most excluded from the “formal sector.” This article offers a preliminary analysis of some new rationalities of poverty alleviation observable in recent South African political and policy discourse. I will argue that new sorts of programmatic thinking about poverty represent a new development within (and not simply against) neoliberalism, and that they seek, by abandoning the regulatory and normalizing functions usually associated with social assistance, to bring the formal and the informal into a new sort of relation.

scholarly journals The "Double-edged Sword" of Institutional Power: COSATU, Neo-liberalisation and the Right to Strike

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carin Runciman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The South ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Institutional Power ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
The Right

On 1 January 2019 amendments to the Labour Relations Act came into force that significantly altered and curtailed the right to protected strike action in South Africa. Internationally, the right to strike has been eroded in recent years with many countries adopting legal provisions that violate the International Labour Organization’s principles. Comparatively, the rights of South African workers to go on protected strikes remain better than many other places in the world, a reflection of the militant history of the South African labour movement. But the erosion of these rights, with the active support of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, should be a cause for concern for activists and labour scholars in South Africa and beyond. This article develops the Power Resources Approach to consider how union institutional power has entrenched neo-liberalism in South Africa. Grounding the analysis of institutional power within the analytical framework of corporatism allows this article to develop an analysis of institutional power that is attentive to class forces. This provides an avenue for understanding the “double-edged sword” of institutional power in the South African context in order to comprehend when and under what circumstances trade unions advance and defend the interests of the working class and when they defend those of capital.  KEY WORDS: labour; neo-liberalism; institutional power; corporatism; South Africa

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