scholarly journals Migration and Urbanization in Post-Apartheid South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 509-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan David Bakker ◽  
Christopher Parsons ◽  
Ferdinand Rauch
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Migration Cost ◽  
Process Of Urbanization ◽  
Positive Population

Abstract Although Africa has experienced rapid urbanization in recent decades, little is known about the process of urbanization across the continent. This paper exploits a natural experiment, the abolition of South African pass laws, to explore how exogenous population shocks affect the spatial distribution of economic activity. Under apartheid, black South Africans were severely restricted in their choice of location, and many were forced to live in homelands. Following the abolition of apartheid they were free to migrate. Given a migration cost in distance, a town nearer to the homelands will receive a larger inflow of people than a more distant town following the removal of mobility restrictions. Drawing upon this exogenous variation, this study examines the effect of migration on urbanization in South Africa. While it is found that on average there is no endogenous adjustment of population location to a positive population shock, there is heterogeneity in the results. Cities that start off larger do grow endogenously in the wake of a migration shock, while rural areas that start off small do not respond in the same way. This heterogeneity indicates that population shocks lead to an increase in urban relative to rural populations. Overall, the evidence suggests that exogenous migration shocks can foster urbanization in the medium run.

scholarly journals Tribalism: Thorny issue towards reconciliation in South Africa – A practical theological appraisal

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah M. Baloyi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
South African ◽  
African Government ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
The Government ◽  
Apartheid Regime ◽  
Practical Theological

The apartheid regime used various strategies to ensure that South Africans formed a divided nation. It was through the differences between ethnic groups and tribes, among other things, that the government of the time managed to manipulate and entrench hatred and a lack of trust among most black South Africans. Tribalism, which existed even before apartheid, became instrumental in inflicting those divisions as perpetuated by the formation of homelands. The various ethnic groups had been turned against one other, and it had become a norm. Nepotism, which is part and parcel of the South African government, is just an extension of tribalism. It is the objective of this article to uncover how tribalism is still rearing its ugly head. From a practical theological perspective, it is important to deal with tribalism as a tool that plays a part in delaying tribal reconciliation, which was orchestrated by apartheid policies in South Africa.

scholarly journals MARIKANA, A PAST NEVER TRULY ESCAPED: A CRITIQUE ON THE COMMODIFICATION OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND THE LAW AS AN INSTRUMENT OF JUSTICE IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaughn Rajah
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
African Society ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
History Of

This article demonstrates that the Marikana tragedy was not a departure from the norm, but a continuation of state and corporate behaviour that has oppressed black South Africans for hundreds of years. This will be done through an analysis of the historically discriminatory socio-economic patterns of South African society, and how they subjugate the poor by limiting their access to legal and physical protection. These trends portray a history of commodification of the legal system. I discuss a notable documentary on the massacre, Miners Shot Down, and examine its depiction of the causes and effects of the events. The film provides no mention of the historical context of the killings, nor does it comment on many of the factors contributing to the massacre. Despite this, it succeeded in bringing the events to the attention of the broader public. I analyse the notions of justice, the rule of law and their application in South Africa as well as norms in the nation’s legal culture. Additionally, I examine the Farlam Commission, and how its procedures and conclusions hindered the course of justice in the context of our democracy. Ultimately, I demonstrate how the Marikana massacre was not a change in dynamic, but a reminder of a past we have never truly escaped.

Poverty and Inequality in South Africa: A History

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Bundy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Job Reservation

Contemporary South Africa exhibits widespread and persistent poverty and an extraordinarily high level of inequality. Historically, poverty and inequality were forged by forms of racial subordination and discrimination shaped successively by slavery, by colonial settlement and conquest, and by a mining-based industrial revolution in the last quarter of the 19th century. The explosive growth of capitalism and urbanization in a colonial context shaped a set of institutions and social relations—the “native reserves,” migrant labor, pass laws, job reservation, urban segregation, and the like—which reached their most stringent form under apartheid legislation, from 1948 on. The political, social, and economic system of apartheid entrenched white wealth and privilege and intensified the poverty of black South Africans, particularly in rural areas. By the 1970s, the apartheid project began to flounder and the National Party government launched a series of concessions intended to stimulate the economy and to win the support of black South Africans. A historic transition during the late apartheid years saw a shift from labor shortages to a labor surplus, generating structural unemployment on a massive scale. This was a problem that the African National Congress (ANC), in power since 1994, has been unable to solve and which has been a major factor in the levels of poverty and inequality during the democratic era. The ANC has made some advances in combating poverty, especially through the rapid expansion of welfare in the form of pensions and social grants. This has reduced ultra-poverty or destitution. In addition, the provision of housing, water, sanitation, and electricity to black townships has seen significant growth in assets and services to the poor. Yet since 1994, inequality has increased. South Africa has become a more unequal society and not a more equal one. Two factors have caused inequality to deepen: increasingly concentrated income and wealth, and a sharp rise of inequality within the African population. The ANC continues to commit itself to “pro-poor” policies; yet its ability to reduce poverty, and especially to achieve greater equality, appears to be substantially compromised by its failure to reverse or reform the structure, characteristics, and growth path of the economy.

scholarly journals The emergence of cardiovascular disease during urbanisation of Africans

2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (1a) ◽  
pp. 239-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
HH Vorster
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
South African ◽  
African Population ◽  
Published Data ◽  
South African Population ◽  
Population Groups ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans

AbstractObjective:To review the available data on risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), the influence of urbanisation of Africans on these risk factors, and to examine why stroke emerges as a higher risk than ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in the health transition of black South Africans.Design:A review of published data on mortality from and risk factors of CVD in South Africans.Setting:South Africa.Subjects:South African population groups and communities.Methods:The available data on the contribution of stroke and IHD to CVD mortality in South Africa are briefly reviewed, followed by a comparison of published data on the prevalence and/or levels of CVD risk factors in the different South African population groups. The impact of urbanisation of black South Africans on these risk factors is assessed by comparing rural and urban Africans who participated in the Transition and Health during Urbanisation of South Africans (THUSA) study.Results and conclusions: The mortality rates from CVD confirmed that stroke is a major public health problem amongst black South Africans, possibly because of an increase in hypertension, obesity, smoking habit and hyperfibrinogenaemia during various stages of urbanisation. The available data further suggest that black South Africans may be protected against IHD because of favourable serum lipid profiles (low cholesterol and high ratios of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and low homocysteine values. However, increases in total fat and animal protein intake of affluent black South Africans, who can afford Western diets, are associated with increases in body mass indices of men and women and in total serum cholesterol. These exposures may increase IHD risk in the future.

The Long Road Home: Athol Fugard and His Collaborators

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilary Burns
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
New South ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Regional Theatre ◽  
The Relationship

Fugard's identity as a playwright was firmly rooted in the struggle against apartheid. What happened to this identity when the post-apartheid ‘New’ South Africa emerged? Black South Africans have followed Nelson Mandela's lead in accomplishing their ‘Long Walk to Freedom’. Why is it so difficult for Fugard to find a role in this new country and put an end to his inner exile? Hilary Burns explores this question in the light of the development of Fugard's whole opus, and the relationship between form and content in plays where the content has tended to overshadow the form. Burns is a professional actor with a career-long commitment to theatre that seeks to challenge or develop issues relevant to today's society. She has worked extensively in small-scale touring theatre, the London fringe, and regional theatre, and has also made appearances in TV and film. In November 2000, she spent a month with the Market Theatre of Johannesburg which inspired her book, The Cultural Precinct, about South African theatre, in particular how the theatres born in the protest era have responded to the challenges of the new society. Her study of the Market Theatre yesterday and today will follow in NTQ72.

CONTEXTUAL EMBEDDEDNESS AS A FRAMEWORK: THE CASE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (03) ◽  
pp. 1950018 ◽  
Author(s):  
ETHNÉ M. SWARTZ ◽  
FRANCES M. AMATUCCI ◽  
JONATHAN T. MARKS
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Transitional Economies ◽  
Nascent Entrepreneurship ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Global Entrepreneurship ◽  
Path Dependent ◽  
Economic Transitions

Why does South Africa underperform on benchmarks for nascent entrepreneurship? We use a contextualization framework to evaluate articles on entrepreneurship in South Africa, which appear in seven leading global entrepreneurship journals for the period 1986–2017. The literature is then discussed using a six-dimension contextualization framework. The historical and institutional dimensions of the contextualization framework unveil the path-dependent nature of entrepreneurial choice for Black South Africans. Understanding entrepreneurship in South Africa requires research designs that focus on where and when entrepreneurship developed in the country to render meaningful the why of entrepreneurial choices made by Black South Africans. This study illustrates the idiosyncratic nature of South Africa and its social, political and economic transitions, and how these have affected entrepreneurship development, particularly among previously disadvantaged Black South Africans. The nature of the South African case has broader impact and importance for developing and transitional economies.

scholarly journals Saving for Tomorrow: Does the Level of Financial Literacy in the South African Working Class Matter?

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matwale Reon Matemane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Working Class ◽  
South African ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
The South ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Apartheid Regime

Financial literacy has been identified in previous studies as an area that has not been researched extensively in South Africa. This is particularly true for the working class of black South Africans, who have been previously disadvantaged and were excluded from the mainstream economy and financial services under the apartheid regime. Lower savings and over-indebtedness in this group can be attributed to lower levels of financial literacy. The aim of this study is to examine financial literacy of black South Africans with a commerce tertiary qualification working in Pretoria and Johannesburg, based on descriptive research and structured questionnaires. In total, 171 participants who work in different sectors of the economy and who live in Gauteng were surveyed. The study found that although people with a commerce tertiary qualification are more financially literate than those with non-commerce tertiary qualification, black South Africans nevertheless are less financially literate than their coloured, Indian and white counterparts. Additionally, financial literacy is a significant predictor of individuals’ saving habits.

scholarly journals The poor in the Psalms and in Tsepo Tshola’s song Indlala: African liberationist remarks

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Ndikhokele N. Mtshiselwa
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
African Context

This article sets out to investigate how an African liberationist paradigm could be used in South Africa as a theoretical framework that shapes an inquiry into the issue of poverty in the Book of Psalms. The poor in the Davidic collections of psalms (cf. Ps 10; 23, 72; 109) will therefore be examined within the South African context in order to probe the liberating possibilities that the psalms could offer to poor black South Africans, and most importantly when the text is read in dialogue with Tsepo Tshola’s liberationist song Indlala [Starvation]. Firstly, this article discusses an African liberationist paradigm with the view to anchor the reading of psalms within a theoretical framework. Secondly, within that framework, this article uses the song Indlala as a hermeneutical tool to unlock the reality of poverty in South Africa. Thirdly, guided by an African liberationist framework the article teases out th ecategories and voices of the poor in the psalms. In the end, this article argues that the reading of poor in the Psalms, particularly with an African liberationist lens could have liberating implications for poor black South Africans.

South African War, Union, Segregation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goolam Vahed
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
South Africans ◽  
South African War ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Black Resistance ◽  
Late Nineteenth

This chapter examines the politics of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century South Africa. It considers the South African War and itsrole in shaping modern South Africa through the postwar program of reconstruction under the watch of Milner’s kindergarten, in the context of the British imperial project. Factors that led to the war are outlined, including the role of Randlords, followed by a discussion of the reconciliation between the British and the Boers at the expense of black South Africans, the standoff between Smuts and Gandhi, reconstruction, segregation, the marginalization of black South Africans, and the genesis of organized black resistance to white minority rule under which union was forged.

Black South Africans Must "Schedule Their Suffering"

Worldview ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
Benjamin Pogrund
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Population Group ◽  
The South ◽  
Single Population ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Direct Descendant ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Political Actions

Chief Gatsha Buthelezi is a dazzling, and controversial, figure on the South African scene. Of royal blood—a direct descendant of the great Zulu warrior kings of the last century—he draws the natural respect of many of the country's nearly five million Zulus. They form the biggest single population group, outstripping the ruling whites in number. Buthelezi is as conscious of his hereditary role as are his followersThrough his political actions of unceasing attack against racial apartheid, Buthelezi, aged fifty, also earns the support of many other blacks. He is a vocal and articulate proponent of a united and nonracial South Africa, which brings him white liberal support.

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