scholarly journals A Critical Investigation of the Relevance and Potential of IDPS as a Local Governance Instrument for Pursuing Social Justice in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 220
Author(s):  
Oliver Njuh Fuo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Local Government ◽  
South African ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Integrated Development ◽  
The Poor

Unlike the situation in the past, when local government’s role was limited to service delivery, local government is now constitutionally mandated to play an expanded developmental role. As a “co-responsible” sphere of government, local government is obliged to contribute towards realising the transformative constitutional mandate aimed at social justice. South African scholars and jurists share the view that social justice is primarily concerned with the eradication of poverty and extreme inequalities in access to basic services, and aims to ensure that poor people command sufficient material resources to facilitate their equal participation in socio-political life. In order to enable municipalities to fulfil their broad constitutional mandate, the system of integrated development planning (IDPs) came into effect in South Africa in 2000. Each municipality is obliged to design, adopt and implement an integrated development plan in order to achieve its expanded constitutional mandate. The IDP is considered to be the chief legally prescribed governance instrument for South African municipalities. The purpose of this article is to explore and critically investigate the relevance and potential of IDPs in contributing towards the achievement of social justice in South Africa. This article argues inter alia that the multitude of sectors that converge in an IDP makes it directly relevant and gives it enormous potential to contribute towards social justice because, depending on the context, municipalities could include and implement strategies that specifically respond to diverse areas of human need. In this regard, the legal and policy frameworks for IDPs provide a structured scheme that could be used by municipalities to prioritise and meet the basic needs of especially the poor. Despite its potential, it is argued that the ability of IDPs to respond to the basic needs of the poor is largely constrained by a series of implementation challenges partly attributed to the underlying legal and policy framework.

scholarly journals Senior manager competency profiling: The case of local government sector in the emerging country

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
Gerrit van der Waldt ◽  
David J. Fourie ◽  
Gerda van Dijk
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
South African ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Integrated Development ◽  
Government Sector ◽  
Competency Models ◽  
Management Competency ◽  
Integrated Development Planning

Local, district, and metropolitan municipalities as spheres of government should deploy a highly competent and professional management corps to address complex integrated development planning demands, local service delivery issues, and various governance-related dynamics (Polo & Kantola, 2019). However, official oversight, performance reports, and media scrutiny regularly reveal that the current South African situation fails to meet these requirements. Corruption, maladministration, political factionalism, and managerial incompetence have led to violent public protests (SACN, 2016). This paper assesses the current competency profile of senior managers in the South African local government sector, focusing on their integrated development planning responsibilities. The methodology followed a qualitative design involving an intensive literature review on international management competency models, document analyses to assess official statutory and regulatory prescriptions for senior managers, and semi-structured interviews with senior managers in sampled municipalities. The study established that most challenges faced by municipalities stem from a lack of senior management competency. Recommendations are made to address the current competency deficit.

The dilemma between the pro-market and the pro-poor local economic development approaches in the democratic South Africa: Theoretical perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 877-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Themba Lukhele ◽  
Thanyani Madzivhandila
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Development Approach

Since the advent of the democratic government in 1994, there has been a serious contestation over the meaning and implications of local economic development in South Africa. Central to the debates has been on whether local economic development initiatives should take pro-market or pro-poor approach in the local government. To this end, the critical divide has been between those who believe that the local government should provide a direct solution by supporting projects for job creation and those who advocate for an indirect solution in terms of creating an enabling environment for local economic development. The article therefore argues that the pro-market local economic development approach often limit the local control of economic activities and resources, instead it is seen to perpetuate an exclusive economy. Against this background, the article applies the Economic Base and the Location Theories to explain, from a theoretical perspective, why the pro-market approach for local economic development planning in the democratic South Africa is preferable in the expense of the pro-poor approach. The article concludes that the pro-market local economic development approach is incapable of creating the inclusive local economies and lacks the determination for the realisation of real potential and competitive advantages for addressing local needs of the poor people.

‘TATA MA CHANCE’: ON CONTINGENCY AND THE LOTTERY IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

Africa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Responsible Gambling ◽  
Consumer Product ◽  
Poor People ◽  
The South ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The Poor ◽  
New Consumer

ABSTRACTSince its inception in March 2000, the South African National Lottery has been treated as both a developmental boon and a dangerously exploitative new consumer product. In both discourses the poor feature prominently: as recipients of Lotto largesse and as its most frequent victims. Both academics and the National Responsible Gambling Programme have traced the poor's participation in the Lottery to their financial illiteracy and to their extraordinary millennial hopes. Based on twenty months of ethnographic fieldwork in Cape Town's townships in 2008–10, this article puts paid to such interpretations by looking at the economic realities and lottery participation of ‘the poor’. I contend that poor people in these areas have adapted enormously flexible ways of dealing with the multiple contingencies that mark their lives. This flexibility often translates into very modest investments in the Lottery, both financially and in terms of hope. As such, playing the Lottery is just one of a range of ways in which people ‘make a plan’ and ‘tata ma chance’ (take a chance).

Social justice for the poor: The framing of socioeconomic rights in selected South African newspapers

Journalism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 959-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah H Chiumbu ◽  
Vasu Reddy ◽  
Narnia Bohler-Muller ◽  
Ntombizonke A Gumede ◽  
Amanda Mtshengu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
Socioeconomic Rights ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Social Polarization ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
And Gender

Apartheid South Africa created a society of deep-seated inequalities divided along race, class, and gender lines. The promotion of socioeconomic rights and redistributive justice is thus an important element in the country’s on-going transformation. This article analyzes the framing of stories on socioeconomic rights by three South African national newspapers. Using a combination of framing analysis and critical political economy insights, we show that although the newspapers foreground the importance of socioeconomic rights and recognize voices of the marginalized, the majority of the stories contain gaps and silences on critical issues concerning the structural causes of inequality and socioeconomic injustices in South Africa. The argument concludes by motivating a rethinking of the country’s normative media frameworks for the development of a journalism practice that would resonate in a country characterized by social polarization and material inequalities.

scholarly journals Critical agency in the post-apartheid education system

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazir Carrim
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
South African ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Education System ◽  
The South ◽  
African Education ◽  
South African Education

This paper looks at critical agency in the South African education system. There has been a consistent linking of critical thinking with critical agency under apartheid, and that this was constructed by a ‘critical struggle’ (Touraine, 1985) against apartheid domination. However, this changed significantly in the post-apartheid moment, where compliance with the newly elected government is emphasised, and could be viewed in terms of ‘positive struggles’ (Touraine, 1986). These, however, limit critical agency in the post-apartheid formation. There is, nonetheless, evidence of critical agency being enacted in the post-apartheid education system. The importance of highlighting those forms of critical agency is crucial in order to enhance social justice in the post-apartheid educational system and society. This paper also links critical agency in the post-apartheid situation with the postcolonial and postmodern conditions because such conditions affect the possibilities of critical agency not only in South Africa but more generally.

scholarly journals Race, class and violent crime in South Africa: Dispelling the ‘Huntley thesis’

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Silber ◽  
Nathan Geffen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Violent Crime ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The Social ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
New Community ◽  
Basic Infrastructure

Brandon Huntley was granted asylum in Canada earlier this year based on the argument that whites are disproportionately affected by crime in South Africa. The decision was generally condemned, but it did receive support from various groups and individuals including Afriforum, the Freedom Front and James Myburgh (editor of Politicsweb). In this article we show the flaws in Huntley's argument by presenting evidence from several sources that demonstrate that black and poor people are disproportionately the victims of violent crime in South Africa. We are concerned that painting whites as the primary victims of South Africa's social ills is unproductive, ungenerous and potentially hampers the appropriate distribution of resources to alleviate crime. Furthermore, in order to move the debate on crime in South Africa into a more productive direction, we also describe the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) – a relatively new community based organisation that aims to mobilise communities around improving safety and security for all in South Africa, regardless of race or income. Campaigning for novel pragmatic and coordinated community and government responses to the broader lack of safety and security in the country, the SJC focuses on the introduction and development of basic infrastructure and services as a means of reducing crime.

scholarly journals Levinas, Social Vulnerability, and the Logic of South African Racism

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-101
Author(s):  
Robert Bernasconi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Vulnerability ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Poor Whites ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Poor White ◽  
The Way

The philosopher Emmanuel Levinas was at the forefront of the promotion of the idea of vulnerability in philosophy. For Levinas, my primary vulnerability concerns not my pain, but my pain at the other’s pain. Vulnerablity also has an ambiguous character in so far as it is not easily separated from my self-absorption in enjoyment. In this paper I show how Levinas’s account can illuminate the way that the idea of vulnerability sometimes operates within racist societies to maintain existing divisions. In particular I focus on the Carnegie Commission’s 1932 study The Poor White Problem in South Africa where concern for the vulnerability of poor whites concealed a tendency to naturalize the vulnerability of South African Blacks. Keywords: Carnegie commission, poor whites, racism, vulnerability, Emmanuel Levinas,South Africa

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