The (r)evolution of South African urban music and the (ongoing) struggle for radical socio-economic transformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 183-206
Author(s):  
Njabulo Zwane ◽  
Thabo Lehlongwa ◽  
Ntsoaki Gwaelane
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Urban Music

IN THIS ISSUE

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henning Melber
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Strategic Issues ◽  
Finance Minister ◽  
Multiple Challenges

South African Finance Ministers (notably in the plural, given the events since December 2015) face multiple challenges. They deal not only with an economy in stagnation through an austerity policy as recently presented by Pravin Gordhan in his Medium Term Budget in late  October, but also with the sobering results of the limited socio-economic transformation since the end of apartheid. The contradictions prevailing since then are reflected not least in the devastating crisis sweeping across South Africa  universities. As if that is not enough, a Finance Minister concerned about good governance is also waging an uphill battle to reduce damage by trying to protect the state and its assets from further capture by predatory elites. Considering all of this, it is not surprising that a critical analysis of what is termed economic freedom, an interpretation of the meaning and its consequences, is a fitting contribution to the Strategic Review. Joleen Steyn Kotze presents such an examination in the first article of this issue. Her reflections compare and juxtapose the different notions and ideologies of economic freedom and the effects these may have if turned into policy. This invites further debate regarding the transformation of South African society, which inherited one of the most grossly unequal societies in our world, a condition yet to be markedly reduced. Debates are also required about other aspects that are relevant for a journal focused on regional strategic issues. These include not least the notion of human security and the role of the military. Thuso Benton Mongwaketse relates directly with his contribution, to a subject raised in recent issues.1) By concluding that "security and human security in particular, is fundamentally about responsiveness, accountability, and transparency in governance", he more than indirectly links the discourse on the role of a national defence force to the socio-economic dimensions dealt with in the first article.

Parastatals and economic transformation in South Africa: The political economy of the Eskom crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 119 (476) ◽  
pp. 395-431
Author(s):  
Andrew Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
South African ◽  
Developmental State ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Business Elite ◽  
High Profile ◽  
State Capture ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Strategic Procurement

ABSTRACT This article analyses the causes, outcomes, and political significance of the inter-connected operational, financial, and governance crises afflicting Eskom, South Africa’s electricity parastatal. These crises emerged in the context of African National Congress initiatives to turn Eskom and other key parastatals into instruments of an envisaged South African developmental state, through increased investment and strategic procurement to support economic transformation goals. Instead, Eskom’s spiralling costs, procurement irregularities and inability to translate increased investment into functional new infrastructure meant it impeded these goals. Its indebtedness became a severe macro-economic risk, making Eskom a precarious nexus for the circulation of public funds, while the cost and unreliability of electricity has undermined South Africa’s energy-intensive industrial core. Intertwined with this were multiple high-profile corruption scandals associated with the ‘state-capture’ controversies of the latter stages of Jacob Zuma’s presidency. The article argues that Eskom’s extreme dysfunctionality results from long-running, and as yet unresolved, contestation of the parastatal and electricity policy more broadly by various interest groups, in a context of an increasingly fragmented political and business elite. This created a range of incoherent distributional pressures and institutional constraints. Rather than a straightforward outcome of corruption and ‘state capture’, this reflects deeper tensions in the post-apartheid political economy.

scholarly journals Carbon Risk Analysis Of The South African Banks’ Lending To The JSE100 CDP Companies

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 123-137
Author(s):  
Alfred Bimha
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Carbon Intensity

There is a pertinent concern over the continued lending to companies that are still pursuing projects that increase the amount of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. South Africa has most of its energy generation being done through coal thermal powered turbines. More so there are a number of new power stations being built in South Africa that are coal powered. Coal on the other hand is deemed as having the highest amount of carbon that contributes to the greenhouse effect which in turn affects the climate leading to climate change consequences. There is also a growing concern on the uptake of renewable energy initiatives by companies that are deemed carbon intensive. Banks are being castigated for not using their economic transformation role to champion the agenda of combating climate change caused by carbon emissions. In this study, the extent of lending in the short and long term to carbon intensive companies by South African banks is examined. Using a sample of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange top 100 companies that participate in Carbon Disclosure Project, an analysis is done through four carbon metrics –carbon intensity, carbon dependency, carbon exposure, carbon risk. The analysis used public information from the banks’ websites, South African Reserve Bank reports and other public databases that contain sustainability information of the JSE100 companies. The analysis was done by comparing the carbon metrics of the recognized seven (7) sectorial industry catergories (SIC) on the JSE, mainly Energy & Materials, Industrials, Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary, Financials, IT & Telecoms and Health Care. The major finding of the research is that there is a high carbon risk in short term loans compared to long term loans across the JSE100 companies that are analysed. More so, the Energy & Materials sector seem to have the highest carbon risk compared to the other sectors.

South Africa's 'Radical Economic Transformation'

2018 ◽  
pp. 11-23
Author(s):  
Lekgantshi Console Tleane
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
African Society ◽  
The South ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
South African Society

The South African political class appears to have finally recognized the depth of the crisis into which the country's capitalist system has sunk. Can the government's new Radical Economic Transformation program begin to address the profound inequalities that remain at the heart of South African society?

scholarly journals Economic evaluation of public programmes: lessons from the Expanded Public Works Programmes in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Noluthando Matsiliza
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Evaluation ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Great Expectations

This review aims at assessing the economic evaluation of public programmes such as the expanded public works programmes (EPWP) in South Africa. The South African government earmarked the EPWP for departments and municipalities to implement projects that are meaningful for economic transformation and inclusive growth. This study argues that economic evaluation of public programmes must consider the interplay of complex decisions making on resource allocations and take into account consequences thereafter in a systematic way. This review paper adopted a qualitative document analysis, where data is drawn from research reports on programme evaluation, policy documents, EPWP evaluation reports, books and articles drawn from accredited journals. Key findings from this study draw attention to unfulfilled great expectations to sustain job creation in an emerging economy in South Africa. Results also revealed that although the M&E design was suitable for the evaluation, it was not compared to any other alternative cost-effective measurement strategy to assess the economic value of the EPWP in South African public service. Based on the lessons from EPWP, this study recommends an integrative approach to evaluate job creation programmes in order to settle on the economic value of EPWP.

South African mining rules will mar investment climate

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Investment Climate ◽  
Mining Company ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Third ◽  
Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Significance Zwane released the third review of the 2004 Mining Charter on June 15. After the release, mining company shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange lost 50.69 billion rand (3.93 billion dollars) in value. The Chamber of Mines, the industry's representative body, has signalled that it will seek a court interdict, citing insufficient consultation on the revised Charter's contents. Impacts Zwane’s handling of the Charter will further worsen poor relations between business and government. New Minister of Finance Malusi Gigaba will struggle to reassure investors and ratings agencies of policy continuity. The Charter could exacerbate divisions between ANC factions over proposals to pursue ‘radical economic transformation’.

scholarly journals Diversity: Negotiating difference in Christian communities

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Naidoo ◽  
Stephan De Beer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The Status ◽  
Fault Lines ◽  
Critical Diversity

This article seeks to present challenges of negotiating difference and diversity in Christiancommunities in South Africa today. It reflects the intersectional nature of racial, gender, ethnicand economic difference, and ways in which land, capital and other power constructs continueto underpin and deepen exclusion. It then considers the status of diversity in Christiancommunities highlighting ways in which the fault lines in society are running throughChristian communities, and how such communities almost spontaneously engage in ‘othering’more naturally than in ‘embracing’. The article proposes the re-conceptualisation of diversitywithin the bigger South African project of socio-economic transformation, and that theconversation about difference and diversity in Christian communities should be brought intodialogue with critical diversity theory, which considers diversity in relation to equity, humanrights and social justice. Finally, the article provides an overview of the contributions that formpart of this collection of articles, tracing how a number of Christian communities seek tonegotiate diversity and difference ecclesially and theologically.

A New Christianity for a New South Africa: Charismatic Christians and the Post-Apartheid Order

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Czeglédy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
New South ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Social Perspectives ◽  
International Growth ◽  
Liberal Capitalism ◽  
Youth Music

AbstractThe international growth of Pentecostalism has seen a rush of congregations in Africa, many of which have tapped into a range of both local and global trends ranging from neo-liberal capitalism to tele-evangelism to youth music. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this discussion focuses on the main Johannesburg congregation of a grouping of churches that have successfully engaged with aspects of socio-economic transformation in post-apartheid South Africa. Such engagement has involved conspicuous alignment with aspects of contemporary South African society, including an acceptance of broader policy projects of the nation state. I argue that the use of a variety of symbolic and thematic elements of a secular nature in the Sunday services of this church reminds and inspires congregants to consider wider social perspectives without challenging the sacred realm of faith.

scholarly journals Rethinking the erosional effect of indirect taxes on individual income

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 383-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fulufhelo G Netswera ◽  
Collins C. Ngwakwe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
South African ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Indirect Taxation ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Indirect Taxes ◽  
Effective Reduction ◽  
The Government

This paper examines the erosional effect of indirect taxes on individual incomes of South African citizens. A focus on taxation and the pervasion of indirect taxation in particular has become important given growing income inequality, unemployment and poverty amongst South Africans. The methodological approach utilised in this paper is rooted in reviews and use of hypothetical salaries to assess the erosional effect of indirect taxation on such salaries. The paper finds that although richer individuals may pay greater indirect taxes than poorer individuals; as a proportion of income however, poorer individuals spend higher proportion of their income on indirect taxes than richer individuals. This connotes therefore the lack of desired progressivity that should be implicit in South African indirect tax system. South Africa is among countries with the highest income inequality in the world. The implication of this research finding is that indirect taxes may exacerbate income inequality and work against the government vision of “better life for all” and in particular worsen the state of the poor class. The paper concludes that achieving effective reduction of income inequality and economic transformation in South Africa would require exempting individuals below certain threshold of income from paying some indirect taxes.

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