Opposition in South Africa

1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Spence
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Michael Oakeshott ◽  
Democratic Election ◽  
The Government ◽  
Winner Take All

A STRIKING FEATURE OF THE EMERGENCE OF THE ‘NEW’ SOUTH Africa following the first democratic election in April 1994 was the widespread expectation that both the mechanism of transition and the electoral outcome in coalition government (the Government of National Unity: GNU) might serve as a model to other African regimes similarly placed. This may well be true with respect, for example, to the relevance of power-sharing arrangements of the kind that were built into South Africa's interim constitution in 1993, but as I shall explain, South Africa's experience of constitutional change and its outcome is best understood as sui generis. I am inclined to be sceptical about this assumption on the grounds that ‘models’ imported from elsewhere have not served Africa well; that the establishment of Westminster-style democratic structures in newly independent states in the 1950s and 1960s based on winner-take-all electoral systems failed to take into account historical and cultural differences — in particular the absence of anything resembling a Western-style tradition of democratic participation. Whether it could have served as a model, given the constraints of the time — loss of imperial will, insistent claims of indigenous nationalist elites etc. — is another matter. As Michael Oakeshott remarks: ‘[democracy] has been homegrown in Western society and to seek to transfer its beliefs and habits to an exotic soil will always be difficult.’

Post-Apartheid South Africa and Its Neighbours: a Maritime Transport Perspective

1996 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Okechukwu C. Iheduru
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Maritime Transport ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

The official dismantling of apartheid, the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years imprisonment in Febuary 1990, and especially the first multi-racial elections in April 1994 followed by the inauguration of the Government of National Unity (GNU), have marked this decade as the most fascinating in the history of South Africa.

‘Everybody has Won, So All Must Have Prizes’: Reflections on the South African General Election

1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-444 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Spence
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
General Election ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Past Injustice ◽  
External Pressures ◽  
The Government ◽  
Annus Mirabilis

For South Africa 1994 was an Annus Mirabilis. Despite pre-election predictions of violent disruption, the country's first democratic general election took place in an atmosphere of reconciliation and hope for a future in which past injustice would be rectified and the ‘new South Africa’ welcomed back into the international community. For a brief moment — and, of course, it might not last as the inevitable constraints imposed by scarce resources, rising expectations and external pressures complicate decision making — South Africa appeared to have taken a major step towards Nelson Mandela's goal of a ‘nation united in diversity’. Certainly, one striking feature of the four-year transition was the willingness of the elites engaged in the negotiating process to accommodate each other as they sought to reach agreement on a new constitution in a spirit of ‘consensus and compromise’. And the same spirit is meant to inspire the day-to-day working of the Government of National Unity and Reconstruction (GNU) which, in effect, is a grand coalition of all the major talents.

scholarly journals Educational reforms and curriculum transformation in post-apartheid South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-76
Author(s):  
Vusi Gumede ◽  
Mduduzi Biyase
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Educational Reforms ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
Curriculum Transformation ◽  
The Government

Educational reforms and curriculum transformation have been a priority in South Africa since the establishment of the Government of National Unity in 1994. Education is critical in redressing the injustices of apartheid colonialism which created an inequitable and fragmented education system. Factors such as school access, governance, curriculum, teacher deployment and financial resources have also gone through the education policy mill. While relatively impressive progress is observed regarding legislative interventions, policy development, curriculum reform and the implementation of new ways of delivering education, many challenges remain. Key among the challenges relates to the quality of education, twenty two years since the dawn of democracy. To contribute to the debate on educational reforms and pertaining to the quality of education, the paper discusses the various curriculum reforms of South Africa’s education sector and provides a brief evaluation of the trends in policies affecting equity and quality in the South African education environment. The paper finds that the quality of education is critical for many reasons

scholarly journals A CRITICAL ANALYSIS ON THE LAW’S ABILITY TO ERADICATE RACISM IN (POST) APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhona Boloko
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Critical Race Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Race Theory ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
The Government

It has been over two decades since apartheid, which was declared a crime against humanity, ended. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (hereafter TRC) was established in 1995 with the hopes of, amongst other things, promoting national unity and reconciliation.1 Whilst the TRC received many criticisms, it was also praised for promoting national unity and reconciliation. However recent social media posts which were seen as racist have shattered the picture of a reconciled nation free from racism.2 The government’s response to these manifestations of racism is of particular interest in this article. The government wants to enact legislation to criminalise racism as a way to not only deter, but to eradicate racism.3 In this article I will be critically analysing the law’s ability to eradicate racism and ultimately argue that while legislation may address individual discriminatory acts, it fails to address racism as a structural power system. I will do this by firstly determining the success of the TRC in achieving national unity and reconciliation. Secondly, I will briefly analyse post-apartheid South Africa through Antjie Krog’s book ‘A change of tongue’. Lastly, I will critically discuss the need to utilise a Critical Race Theory and African Jurisprudence in post-apartheid South Africa.

The politics of continuity and collusion in Zanzibar: political reconciliation and the establishment of the Government of National Unity

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sterling Roop ◽  
Kjetil Tronvoll ◽  
Nicodemus Minde
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Change ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Political Reconciliation ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
The Government ◽  
Reconciliation Process

AbstractThe popularity of unity governments to settle both internal political divisions and outright conflict has grown in the last 20 years. However, more often than not unity governments fail to mitigate the political dynamics baked into the political economies and suffer from being insufficiently anchored in local society. The Government of National Unity (GNU) in Zanzibar, formed in 2010 as the culmination of the ‘maridhiano’ political reconciliation process and following numerous attempts at reconciliation led to initial successes, is a case in point. Zanzibar's GNU turned out to be ‘position’ rather than ‘power’ sharing, constitutionalised through a hybrid format of the politics of continuity and collusion. As such the position sharing system broke down when voters in the 2015 election sought neither continuity nor collusion, but transformational change of governance. This was in turn blocked by veto actors in favour of continuity, resulting in the collapse and discontinuation of the GNU in Zanzibar.

South Africa in Remission: the Foreign Policy of an Altered State

1996 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Evans
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Interest ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Strategic Culture ◽  
Altered State ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The Government

This article examines the extent to which the foreign policy of South Africa has altered since the inauguration of the Government of National Unity (GNU), following the historic, non-racial multi-party elections in May 1994. Has the African National Congress (ANC)-led regime succeeded in its stated aims of ‘normalising’ relations with the outside world while simultaneously forsaking traditional assumptions and perspectives about the national interest, and how best to define, defend, and promote it? Or has the understandable preoccupation with, and demands of, internal reconstruction led to a situation where foreign policy is ‘on hold’, in the sense that little attention has so far been directed at substantive questions concerning the norms, values, and conventions implicit in the strategic culture and policy inclinations of the ‘ancien régime’? In other words, what are the elements of continuity and change?

South African Film Since Apartheid

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara Moyer-Duncan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Film Industry ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Human Right ◽  
African Film ◽  
The Government ◽  
Structural Inequities

Following South Africa’s historical multiracial elections in 1994, a Black majority government came to power, which almost immediately identified the film industry as an important part of their effort to transform one of the most racially and economically unequal countries in the world. The government considered access to culture a basic human right and saw cinema as one way to strengthen the new democracy, by promoting national unity and contributing to economic development. In 1999, through parliamentary legislation, it created the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency responsible for promoting the development of a national cinema. This signaled the possible start of a dynamic, socially engaged, and financially viable film industry that could enliven filmmaking within South Africa and across the African continent. With the end of apartheid-era sanctions, South Africa re-entered the global market and the government embraced neoliberal policies. Consequently, the NFVF increasingly focused on the commercial possibilities of film. While government investments in the film industry have produced some positive results, deeply entrenched structural inequities remain an obstacle to Black filmmakers seeking access to the means of production, distribution, and exhibition. Moreover, in a country of about 55 million people in 2013, cinema was only accessible to about 10 percent of the overall population due to the cost and location of movie theatres. Despite these limitations, in the first two decades of democracy, there were notable developments in independent, popular, and documentary films. Although these categories are not fixed or static, they are a useful way of framing recent trends that offer insight into the South African film industry and the way its films represent the nation. There have also been significant changes in the realm of distribution and exhibition that have the potential to upend the traditional model of cinemagoing.

scholarly journals The Case For Tax Relief On Private Security Expenditures In South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 419
Author(s):  
Liza (ESM) Coetzee ◽  
Hanneke Du Preez ◽  
Aideen Maher
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Private Security ◽  
The South ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
South Africans ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
Tax Relief ◽  
Democratic Election ◽  
The Government

Like other countries in transitional democracies, South Africa is experiencing high levels of crime since its first democratic election in 1994. About 83 percent of South Africans believe that the South African Police Service is corrupt and citizens are losing faith in the government to protect them as promised in the Constitution. As a result citizens are paying a large portion of their disposable income on security expenses to protect themselves and their property. Currently no tax relief is available for non-trade related security expenditure, as stated by the South African Revenue Services in 2008 after a public outcry to allow private security expenses as a deduction. This paper urges government to revisit its decision made in 2008. Private security expenses have become a necessity in the daily lives of South Africans. This was demonstrated by surveying four of the largest private security companies in an area of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (previously called Pretoria), South Africa. The paper ends by proposing three possible ways of providing tax relief for private security expenses.

scholarly journals Does Economic Growth Lead Employment in South Africa?

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 336-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Temitope L. A.
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Null Hypothesis ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Quarterly Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Democratic Election ◽  
The Government ◽  
Keynes General Theory

This paper adopts the Toda-Yamamoto technique of causality in order to examine the direction of causality between employment and economic growth. This is to investigate whether the increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) translates into increased employment or not and vice versa, in South Africa, using quarterly data from 2000Q1 to 2012Q3. South Africa has been experiencing high and increased growth for the past decade, yet the rate of employment is not significantly high. Meanwhile, the objective of the government, since the first democratic election in 1994, was to increase economic growth along with a reduction in the unemployment rate (BMR, 2011). Although the economy has been experiencing significant success of increased economic growth, it performed poorly in the area of increased employment (BMR, 2011). This study thus seeks to answer the following questions: (1) does it mean that the increase in growth does not translate to the creation of more jobs and (2) is increased economic growth not as a result of increase in employment in South Africa? The results obtained shows that causality does not run from employment to economic growth in South Africa, as the null hypothesis was not rejected at all significant levels. However, Keynes General Theory holds for South Africa, where the empirical result showed that economic growth leads employment. These results support the criticism of ‘jobless growth’ against South Africa (Kumo, 2012). The paper suggests some policy recommendations for the improvement of employment.

scholarly journals A comparative analysis of consumer awareness in South Africa during 1992 and 1994: Implications for the reconstruction and development programme (r.d.p.)

1996 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. G. Rousseau ◽  
D. J. L. Venter
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Consumer Awareness ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
The Government ◽  
Different Levels

This article describes the measurement and comparison of different levels of consumer awareness in an empirical study carried out in South Africa during 1994. The study investigates the role of various demographic variables on the construct, compares the results with those of a previous study and analyses the implications of the findings for the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), launched by the Government of National Unity. Findings confirm the reliability of the instrument to measure the five factors of consumer awareness identified in previous studies. Different levels of consumer awareness emerged from the sample. These differences can be attributed to demographic variables such as household size, income, education and area. Findings further suggest that levels of consumer awareness have changed by area since 1992. These changes imply a need for consumer education to be incorporated into the RDP, should the government wish to enhance levels of consumer awareness in the country. Opsomming Hierdie artikel beskryf die meting en vergelyking van verskillende vlakke van verbruikersbewustheid in 'n empiriese studie uitgevoer in Suid-Afrika gedurende 1994. Die rol van verskeie demografiese faktore op die konstruk word ondersoek, die resultate vergelyk met die van 'n vorige studie en die implikasies daarvan ontleed in terme van die Heropbou en Ontwikkelingsprogam (HOP) deur die Regering van Nasionale Eenheid ingestel. Bevindinge bevestig die betroubaarheid van die instrument om die vyf faktore van verbruikersbewustheid soos geidentifiseer in vorige studies, te meet. Verskeie vlakke van verbruikersbewustheid het na vore getree uit die steekproef. Hierdie verskille kan toegeskryf word aan demografiese faktore soos huishouding grootte, inkome, opvoedingspeil en woongebied. Bevindinge suggereer verder dat vlakke van verbruikersbewustheid verander het sedert 1992, volgens gebied. Hierdie veranderinge impliseer 'n behoefte om verbruikersopvoeding in die HOP in te sluit, sou die regering vlakke van verbruikersbewustheid in die land wil verhoog.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document