South African Economy: No Easy Life Ahead

2015 ◽  
pp. 104-116
Author(s):  
P. Mozias
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
South African ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
National Development ◽  
Capital Inflows ◽  
The Other ◽  
The One

South African rand depreciated in 2013–2014 under the influence of a number of factors. Internationally, its weakness was associated with the capital outflow from all emerging markets as a result of QE’s tapering in the US. Domestically, rand plummeted because of the deterioration of the macroeconomic stance of South Africa itself: economic growth stalled and current account deficit widened again. Consumer spending was restrained with the high household indebtedness, investment climate worsened with the wave of bloody strikes, and net export was still prone to J-curve effect despite the degree of the devaluation happened. But, in its turn, those problems are a mere reflection of the deep institutional misbalances inherent to the very model of the national economy. Saving rate is too low in South Africa. This leads not only to an insufficient investment, but also to trade deficits and overdependence on speculative capital inflows. Extremely high unemployment means that the country’s economic potential is substantially underutilized. Joblessness is generated, first and foremost, by the dualistic structure of the national entrepreneurship. Basic wages are being formed by way of a bargaining between big public and semi state companies, on the one hand, and trade unions associated with the ruling party, on the other. Such a system is biased towards protection of vested interests of those who earn money in capital-intensive industries. At the same time, these rates of wages are prohibitively high for a small business; so far private companies tend to avoid job creation. A new impulse to economic development is likely to emerge only through the government’s efforts to mitigate disproportions and to pursue an active industrial policy. National Development Plan adopted in 2012 is a practical step in that direction. But the growth of public investment is constrained by a necessity of fiscal austerity; as a result, the budget deficit remained too large in recent years. South African Reserve Bank will have to choose between a stimulation of economic growth with low interest rates, on the one hand, and a support of rand by tightening of monetary policy, on the other. This dilemma will greatly influence prices of securities and yields at South African financial markets.

Stability and Governability the Benign Effects of Party Dominance in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-75
Author(s):  
Ainara Mancebo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
African Countries ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Independence Era ◽  
Party Dominance

A tripartite alliance formed by the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions has been ruling the country with wide parliamentarian majorities. The country remains more consensual and politically inclusive than any of the other African countries in the post-independence era. This article examines three performance’s aspects of the party dominance systems: legitimacy, stability and violence. As we are living in a period in which an unprecedented number of countries have completed democratic transitions, it is politically and conceptually important that we understand the specific tasks of crafting democratic consolidation.

scholarly journals “Pulled Apart, Pushed Together”

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 769-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Brookes ◽  
Timothy Hinks ◽  
Geoffrey Wood ◽  
Pauline Dibben ◽  
Ian Roper
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
Nationwide Survey ◽  
The Other ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Vertical Linkages ◽  
Racial Lines ◽  
The One

This is a study of horizontal and vertical solidarity within a national labour movement, based on a nationwide survey of members of affiliated unions of the Congress of South African Trade Unions. On the one hand, the survey reveals relatively high levels of vertical and horizontal solidarity, despite the persistence of some cleavages on gender and racial lines. On the other hand, the maintenance and deepening of existing horizontal and vertical linkages in a rapidly changing socio-economic context, represents one of many challenges facing organized labour in an industrializing economy. COSATU’s strength is contingent not only on an effective organizational capacity, and a supportive network linking key actors and interest groupings, but also on the ability to meet the concerns of existing constituencies and those assigned to highly marginalized categories of labour.

scholarly journals I am/am I an African? A relational reading of Diaspora and Identity in South African Fiction by J.U. Jacobs

Literator ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miki Flockemann
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
The Other ◽  
Important Addition ◽  
Recent Trends ◽  
The One ◽  
New Generation ◽  
Globalising World ◽  
Comprehensive Study

The publication of Diaspora and Identity in South African Fiction (2016) by J.U. Jacobs is a timely intervention, in that it is the first comprehensive study of South African fiction to sustain the argument that South African writing is always already diasporic. Although Jacobs’ diasporic framework undoubtedly serves as an important addition to the recent trends identified by literary scholars, his focus on 12 well-established writers (including Coetzee, Wicomb, Mda, Gordimer and Ndebele), highlights some of the gaps that need to be filled in a study of this kind. For instance, what about the younger generation of writers, including those from elsewhere in Africa who are writing about living in South Africa? How do they deal with what has been termed the new diaspora, with debates around Afropolitanism and the experiences of internal, inter-continental and trans-continental migrancy in an increasingly globalising world? Despite these shortcomings, Jacobs’ premise about the inevitably diasporic identifications that are narrativised in the 20 novels analysed here can provide a useful foundation for further scholarship on how the diasporic condition informs and is mediated in other texts. These, as I will show, range from works by a new generation of emerging writers on the one hand to the performing arts on the other hand.

The Effects of Intergenerational Poverty and Unemployment on South African Township Youth

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Young People ◽  
South African ◽  
Third World ◽  
The Other ◽  
Daily Experiences ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
South African Township

Young people throughout the world are an afterthought of policy and program interventions. In Africa, and particularly in third world nations, the irony of sloganizing youth as the cream or the future of the nation exists alongside tendencies and behaviors that impede their development towards being responsible and full citizens which rather aggravates youth underdevelopment and marginalization. It is an undisputed fact that young people have been the vanguard of liberatory struggles that resulted in dismantling colonialism and apartheid. On one hand, the chapter examines strategies adopted to overcome intergenerational poverty by using narratives (daily experiences of youth) of post-apartheid South Africa. On the other hand, the chapter highlights the uncertainties and frustrations of living in a democratic South Africa, with its failure to open up opportunities for their socio-economic growth, the apartheid discriminatory system, and survival.

Understanding one’s rights when arrested and detained: An assessment of language barriers that affect comprehension

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Terrence R Carney
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The Other ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Judicial Process ◽  
South Africans ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
South African Police ◽  
The One ◽  
Readability Level

Difficult text formulations, on the one hand, as well as poor linguistic skills and comprehension on the other, can severely hamper the communication effort of basic human rights during the judicial process. The rights entrenched in s 35 of the Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), as they apply to individuals who are arrested, detained and accused, and read out by a member of the local South African Police Service (SAPS), are written in a legal register that can be too difficult for additional language speakers to understand. This begs the question of whether arrested, detained and accused individuals are fully aware of their rights and whether they can exercise these rights if they do not understand the language that expresses them. This article appraises the potential comprehensibility of the notice of rights (SAPS 14A), as provided to arrested, detained and accused individuals by the SAPS. The researcher’s assessments indicate that the text is pitched at an English readability level suited to university graduates and could be too difficult for South Africans with limited schooling and linguistic abilities to comprehend. A revision of SAPS 14A is offered as an illustration of a possible improvement to increase readability and, subsequently, better access to the mentioned rights.

scholarly journals INTRODUCING DECONSTRUCTIVE INTERSECTIONALITY: THE GENERAL JURISPRUDENTIAL RAGE AGAINST RAINBOW THEORY

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamryn Gorman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The Other ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
Constant Tension ◽  
Formal Equality ◽  
The One ◽  
Constitutional Adjudication

Despite South Africa’s post-modern constitutional dispensation which, at first glance, seems to celebrate and entrench substantive equality — various judgements have been passed by the Constitutional Court where the Constitution was interpreted through a formal equalitarian lens. On the one hand, substantive equality recognises and celebrates our diversity and differences whereas formal equality, on the other hand, obsesses with the idea of sameness. This constant tension between substantive and formal equality is aptly portrayed by the term ‘rainbow jurisprudence’. This term was coined by Alfred Cockrell to explain a quasi-theory depicted by the newly born South African constitutional adjudication which was lacking in substantive reasoning (which I equate to substantive equality) and the absence of a rigorous jurisprudence. He goes so far as to assimilate the finding of genuine substantive reasoning within these judgements to the possibility of touching a rainbow — a mythical task which, although alluring, seems impossible. Thus, I have identified the problem that South Africa is still submerged in rainbow jurisprudence. This can be seen through various court cases that will be discussed below, ranging from cases that were clearly decided from a formal equalitarian perspective to those which depict a wolf in sheep’s clothing seemingly substantive judgements disguising the formal equality lurking beneath.

‘We are saving the township’: Pentecostalism, faith-based organisations, and development in South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Burchardt
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
The Other ◽  
Development Work ◽  
African City ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
The One ◽  
Organisational Dynamics

ABSTRACTIn this article, I trace the emergence of Pentecostal FBOs in the South African city of Cape Town. By focusing on their involvements in HIV/AIDS programmes, including practices such as health education, counselling and material support, I analyse the organisational dynamics and consequences ensuing from their activities. Pentecostal involvements in development work engender complex connections between two distinct processes: On the one hand, they offer Pentecostal communities new social spaces for promoting their faith and moral agendas. On the other hand, development work urges Pentecostal communities to recast their activities in the logic of formal organisation and accountability (proposals–grants–projects). On the ground, these logics are constantly subverted as beneficiaries construe FBOs aspatronsand deploy Pentecostal identities for mediating access to FBOs and the resources they command. My argument is that Pentecostal faith works to mediate the entire set of social relationships, expectations, imageries and practices that structure FBO work on the ground. More than belief and ritual, it isPentecostal belongingthat links organisations, people, opportunities and resources.

The Crucified Reflected in Africa's Cross-Bearers

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinyiko Sam Maluleke
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The Other ◽  
International Congress ◽  
Keynote Address ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
Conference Theme ◽  
Grass Root ◽  
The One

AbstractIn this article, given as a keynote address at the Tenth International Congress of IAMS in Hammaskraal, South Africa, South African theologian Tinyiko Maluleke attempts to paint a rough picture of popular African Christology in the light of the Conference theme: "Reflecting Jesus Christ: Crucified and Living in a Broken World." He first notes that grass-root African Christianity harbors a dialectic of identification and non-identification with the suffering and experiences of Christ. On the one hand he is recognizable to Africans in his suffering and yet on the other hand it is recognized that he is like no one. Secondly, Maluleke reflects upon the challenge of reconciliation in Africa and in the light of the crucified and broken body of Christ. He explores the notions of forgiveness and truth and their relation to power. Thirdly, he considers the need and scarcity of hope in Africa. Hopelessness is in a sense one of the greatest indicators of Africa's brokenness. Fourth, Maluleke notes and briefly explores some possible implications of the shift of Christian gravity and the place of Africa in it. Fifth, he notes some contradictions to the massive Christian presence on the continent. Our theological approaches, he says, must acknowledge and own up to the brokenness of the continent. Only thus can African Christians come to appreciate the reality and worth of Jesus' brokenness for themselves. Perhaps in this way African Christians may be able to reflect (on) something of both the death and the resurrection of Christ.

scholarly journals Challenges and Prospects for Traditional Leadership in Africa: Towards Innovative Ideas to Enhance African Values among the Youth in South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 260-281
Author(s):  
Philip Iya
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Central Question ◽  
African Society ◽  
The South ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Traditional Leadership ◽  
The One

The highly contested public law issue of the recognition of African values in South Africa with emphasis on the youth is addressed in this article. The arguments mooted revolve around the hypothesis that the youth in Africa ngenerally, but particularly in South Africa, are seldom involved in debates relating to African values, with the instance of African traditional leadership as a case in point. In expanding on this hypothesis two different approaches/schools of thought relating to the recognition of traditional leadership are highlighted. On the one end we find the ‘traditionalists’ with their emphasis on the ‘continued existence of traditional leaders’ for various reasons. On the other end, we find the ‘modernists’ who campaign for the total abolition of the institution of traditional leadership. However, the adoption of a more pragmatic middle course (an ‘inter-entrenched’ goalpost) is advocated. Nevertheless, the central question remains ‘how the South African society should move between the two goalposts (between traditionalism and modernism)?’ The answer to this question is the challenge.

scholarly journals The 2004 senior Harmony South African Mathematics Olympiad: An analysis of the results of the senio group, second round

2004 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 52-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Maree ◽  
E. C. Olivier ◽  
A. C. Swanepoel
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Other ◽  
Important Conclusion ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Learning Facilitation ◽  
Achievement In Mathematics ◽  
The One ◽  
Insight Into

South African learners’ insufficient achievement in mathematics is of concern to everyone involved in learning facilitation i mathematics. Interested parties constantly seek ways in which learners’ insight into and achievement in mathematics can be improve in order to equip them to attain a successful life. In this regard mathematics olympiads worldwide are regarded as excellent mechanism to, on the one hand, identify talented learners and improve their problem solving skills in mathematics, and on the other hand, to prepare learners for future study in the field of mathematics in general. This article analyses several aspects of the 2004 Sout African Mathematics Olympiad and offers several suggestions. An important conclusion is that although the Harmony South Africa Mathematics Olympiad accomplishes its goal, it still does not reach as many learners and educators as one would hope. The idea of the Harmony South African Mathematics Olympiad will probably only be realised if all schools are provided with proper facilitie and if the standard of mathematics education is simultaneously improved on a national level. It is therefore vital that all intereste parties discuss and reassess this matter promptly and incisively.

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