scholarly journals SECRECY, PUBLICITY AND POWER: STRATEGIES OF OCCULT PRACTITIONERS AND UNIVERSITY MANAGERS

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
F Wood
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Power Strategies ◽  
Market Driven ◽  
And Control ◽  
Magical Beliefs

Various mystical, magical beliefs and practices, including some of those in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape, are bound up with secrecy and mystery, exerting part of their influence by this means. This has certain metaphorical parallels with the way in which various managerial systems in market-driven, corporatised universities in South Africa and elsewhere tend to employ obscurity and mystification as a form of power and control. However, there are possible ways of transcending confinement within the verbal-ideological control mechanisms of corporate managerialism, with their shadowy, opaque qualities that sow confusion and bring about disempowerment, and the study of folklore can play a significant role in this regard. 

Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC): Towards Regional Integration of Southern Africa for Liberation

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-384
Author(s):  
Layi Abegunrin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
The South ◽  
African Development ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Ultimate Objective ◽  
Minority Regime ◽  
And Control ◽  
Coordination Conference

Southern Africa has become a battleground between two ideologically and fundamentally opposed constellation of states, Pretoria and Lusaka constellations. The conflict between the two basically concerns the domestic racial policies and the future of South Africa. The Pretoria constellation was launched on July 22, 1980, and is led by P. W. Botha, the South Africa's Prime Minister. The Botha's axis is a designed strategy which essentially aims at using South Africa's economic power and wealth to manipulate its neighboring nine black ruled states; and to exert subtle pressure to ensure that they cohere with the white minority regime of South Africa. This ambition of the Pretoria constellation is a vital part of the total strategy of survival of the Botha government. This particularly involves the use of the economy as an instrument of maintaining ultimate political power and control based on the maintenance of the basic structures of apartheid. This has in turn motivated South Africa's opposition to the policies of economic and political liberation of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) states. The second, the Lusaka constellation and also known as the “Southern Nine” was launched on April 1, 1980. It consists of the nine Southern African States of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The declared aim of the Southern Nine is to form an alliance which would pursue an economic strategy that would reduce or eliminate their economic dependence on South Africa. To this end, the Southern Nine and the South African-occupied territory of Namibia unanimously adopted a Programme of Action aimed at stimulating inter-state trade with the ultimate objective of economic independence from South Africa.

Whistle-blowing by external auditors in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 834-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warren Maroun ◽  
Jill Atkins
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Audit Quality ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Whistle Blowing ◽  
External Auditors ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
And Control ◽  
African Setting

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how notions of disciplinary power manifest themselves in audit regulatory developments. When it comes to research on the relationship between audit quality and regulation, much of the prior scholarly work has kept to the positivist tradition of quantitative analysis under the guise of “economic rationality”. In contrast, this research takes an interpretive approach to provide an alternate and unique perspective, using motifs of Foucauldian power and control to illuminate the operation of external regulation in a South African setting. The paper examines what may be loosely described as a mandatory whistle-blowing duty imposed on external auditors. Design/methodology/approach – Detailed interviews with some of South Africa's leading corporate governance experts are used to highlight the disciplinary effect of an auditor's duty to bring reportable irregularities to the attention of an independent regulator. Findings – Blowing the whistle on irregularities contributes, not only to increasing the information made available to stakeholders, but to creating a valid expectation of auditors serving the public interest by enhancing a sense of transparency and accountability. Elements of resistance to panoptic-like control are, however, also present suggesting that, in part, the regulation may simply be creating the illusion of active reporting. Research limitations/implications – The research relies on a relatively small sample of subject experts and does not provide a complete account of regulatory developments taking place in South Africa and abroad. Additional research on the role of whistle-blowing in an external audit setting is needed focusing particularly on similarities and variations in interpretations of reporting by auditors from the perspective of more diverse stakeholder groups. Practical/implications – Mandatory reporting of irregularities by auditors can provided additional useful information for stakeholders and may contribute to demands for more effective reporting by auditors. Social implications – Arms-length regulation of the audit profession should not be seen only as a means of improving audit quality and the utility of audit reports. Powerful social forces are also. This research demonstrates how laws and regulations have a potential disciplinary effect on the audit profession that contributes to a restoration of confidence in the audit process after it is best by scandals, even if motifs of power and control are somewhat illusionary. Originality/value – This research addresses the need for more detailed analysis of precisely how mechanisms of accountability and transparency operate in the broader corporate governance arena. The paper also contributes to the calls for more detailed, context-specific studies of audit. Finally, this paper is one of the first to employ a critical theoretical perspective on audit in an African setting, responding to the need for contextual, methodological and theoretical eclecticism in the area of corporate governance research.

scholarly journals Healthcare beliefs and practices of kin caregivers in South Africa: implications for child survival

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khuthala Mabetha ◽  
Nicole C. De Wet-Billings ◽  
Clifford O. Odimegwu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Child Survival ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Health Seeking ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Thematic Content Analysis ◽  
Kwazulu Natal

Abstract Background Appropriate health-seeking practices may have a positive influence on child survival, particularly when practiced by kin caregivers of children who are below the age of 5 years. While literature has shown that children who are raised in kinship care often present with poor health outcomes and often have unmet healthcare needs, the health-seeking behaviours and practices of the children’s kin caregivers that ultimately influence these health outcomes remain largely unknown. In this paper, we explored the healthcare beliefs and practices of kin caregivers in South Africa on child survival. Methods Overall, 12 structured interviews were conducted with all the participants. Six [6] interviews were conducted in the Eastern Cape province and 6 were conducted in the KwaZulu-Natal province. The sample of participants was obtained by seeking permission from the child welfare authorities in the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Department of Social Development (DSD) to assist in identifying a sample of the kin-caregivers who have provided primary care to children below the age of 5. The structured interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic content analysis. After thematic content analysis was carried out, transcripts were given case numbers and then imported into NViVo version 11 for analysis and interpretation of the findings. Results The healthcare seeking behaviours and poor use of healthcare services of the caregivers were largely influenced by their notions and perceptions of health and illness. The notions and perceptions that the caregivers hold about the health statuses of the children placed under their care and illness were found to be largely culturally determined and largely influenced by preconceptions and certain healthcare beliefs. Increased reliance on traditional herbs, Notion of witchcraft and Faith healing emerged as key factors that influence health-seeking practices and beliefs of kin caregivers, thus influencing under-five mortality. Conclusion Kin caregivers should be equipped with the necessary guidance, resources and training that facilitate the successful fulfilment of the caregiving role, given the number of unmet needs and challenges that they face. This will in turn translate into positive child health outcomes.

Contested Space and Citizenship in Grahamstown, South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
Paddy O’Halloran
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Contested Space ◽  
Space Race ◽  
History Of ◽  
South African Politics ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Mass Protest ◽  
And Control

This paper discusses two distinct political mobilisations of October 2015 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Student protests against racial, class-based, and gender-based oppression coincided with xenophobic violence in the city. These events demonstrated both challenges to and continuity with the long history of politics in Grahamstown, a history marked by the contestation and control of space, race, and citizenship. The paper argues for the continued relevance of these themes to thinking about contemporary South African politics. By considering together the two events of October 2015, we can interrogate aspects of colonial political continuities in post-1994 South Africa which variously influence mass protest action for democratic opening, anti-democratic violence, and state responses to both.

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