scholarly journals The Critical Role of Selected Swiyila (Taboos) in Rural Democratic South Africa: A Theological Perspective

Phronimon ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magezi E Baloyi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Past ◽  
African People ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Rapid Pace ◽  
High Esteem

In South Africa and other countries, there has for many years been a plea for moral regeneration. Moral decay is fast taking over, while sickness, poverty, crime, violence and other calamities are rapidly engulfing our beautiful nation. In an effort to reintroduce morality into the lives of South Africans, this research represents an investigation into whether African taboos—which in the past governed and directed the lives of African people—may perhaps provide a solution. As society and lifestyles have changed, taboos have come to be ignored. If we look back into our history, when taboos were still held in high esteem, we see that moral decay did not occur at the rapid pace at which it is taking place today. This leads one to consider whether it is through having abandoned those taboos that we find ourselves in the present untenable situation. The intention of the study was, therefore, to explore whether taboos are and could still be vital for morality in African society.

Unmasking the enduring legacies of apartheid in South Africa through Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Malesela Edward Montle
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The Past ◽  
Racial Tension ◽  
Apartheid Regime

Prior to the dispensation of democracy in South Africa, the country was presided by a system of apartheid that perpetuated colonial policies that discriminated against non-white (South) Africans. Nevertheless, the democratic jurisdiction dethroned and succeeded the apartheid regime in 1994. This galvanised South Africa to undergo a political transition from segregation (autocracy) to peace, equality and unity (democracy). The political emancipation engineered a shift of identity and also made a clarion call for South Africans to subscribe to a democratic identity branded by oneness and harmony. However, as South Africa sought to redress herself, it unearthed appalling remnants of the apartheid past. Twenty-seven years since democracy took reigns in South Africa, the country is still haunted by the horrors of the past. It is the apartheid government that has bred hegemonic delinquencies that encumber the South African society from extricating herself from discriminatory identities such as racial tension, division, inequality and socio-economic crises. This qualitative study sought to scrutinise the vestiges of apartheid in South Africa. It has hinged on the literary appreciation of Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow, which reflects on the menace that the enduring legacies of apartheid pose to livelihoods in the democratic period. Mpe’s post-apartheid novel is chosen for this study by virtue of its exposure and protest against apartheid influence in the newly reconstructed democratic South African society. Scholarly attention has been satisfactorily paid to the implementation of socio-economic transformation in the country, however, there seems to be an inadequate scholarship to explore the pretexts or the genesis of socio-economic transformation setbacks, which this study aims to unmask.

The Prophetic Voice of the Church in a Democratic South Africa – A Theological Reflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufuluvhi Maria Mudimeli
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black Liberation Theology ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church

This article is a reflection on the role and contribution of the church in a democratic South Africa. The involvement of the church in the struggle against apartheid is revisited briefly. The church has played a pivotal and prominent role in bringing about democracy by being a prophetic voice that could not be silenced even in the face of death. It is in this time of democracy when real transformation is needed to take its course in a realistic way, where the presence of the church has probably been latent and where it has assumed an observer status. A look is taken at the dilemmas facing the church. The church should not be bound and taken captive by any form of loyalty to any political organisation at the expense of the poor and the voiceless. A need for cooperation and partnership between the church and the state is crucial at this time. This paper strives to address the role of the church as a prophetic voice in a democratic South Africa. Radical economic transformation, inequality, corruption, and moral decadence—all these challenges hold the potential to thwart our young democracy and its ideals. Black liberation theology concepts are employed to explore how the church can become prophetically relevant in democracy. Suggestions are made about how the church and the state can best form partnerships. In avoiding taking only a critical stance, the church could fulfil its mandate “in season and out of season” and continue to be a prophetic voice on behalf of ordinary South Africans.

South Africa at a Turning Point?

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Zuern
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
State Collapse ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Nelson Mandela ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Electricity Provision

South Africa is at a crossroads. The state has not adequately addressed dire human development needs, often failing to provide the services it constitutionally guarantees. As a result, citizens are expressing their frustrations in a variety of ways, at times including violence. These serious challenges are most readily apparent in poverty, inequality and unemployment statistics, but also in electricity provision, billing and affordability as well as a recent spate of racially motivated attacks which highlight the tension both among South Africans and between South Africans and darker skinned foreigners. The country has, however, been on the brink before and avoided the worst-case scenario of full-scale civil war and state collapse. Far too often South Africa's past successes have been attributed to the role of one man, Nelson Mandela. While Mandela was indeed an extraordinary human being who rightly deserved the international awards and accolades as well as the deep admiration of so many, South Africa's triumphs as a society and a state are the product of both cooperative and conflicting contributions by a wide range of actors. A central question at the present juncture is how well equipped domestic actors and institutions are to address the crisis. The following pages seek to provide some insights and through the perspectives of three authors to consider causes and possible responses.

The Africa Bureau, London

1964 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-294
Author(s):  
Peter Calvocoressi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
West Africa ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Physical Size ◽  
Informal Group ◽  
The Past ◽  
African People ◽  
South West ◽  
South West Africa

It is not easy to describe the objects, still less the activities, of the Africa Bureau in a few words. It is one of those organisations whose ambitions and influence are much greater than its physical size.If you look at the dominating purpose behind the activities of the past 12 years, you will find it in the Bureau's sympathy with and determination to promote African independence. It was established in 1952 to provide accurate information particularly on the aims and hopes of African nationalism, to oppose unfair discrimination, and to encourage development in Africa. The need for such an organisation in Britain had been recognised primarily by Rev. Michael Scott, who on returning from South Africa sought help from people in Britain for the African people of South West Africa. An informal group advising on the intricate political and constitutional issues involved in bringing South West Africa's plight before the United Nations provided the nucleus from which the Africa Bureau grew, and since 1948, Michael Scott, honorary director of the Bureau, has attended the U.N. and given evidence as personal representative of Chief Hosea Kutako of the Hereros.

scholarly journals CUL4A ubiquitin ligase: a promising drug target for cancer and other human diseases

Open Biology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 130217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Puneet Sharma ◽  
Alo Nag
Keyword(s):  
Ubiquitin Ligase ◽  
Drug Target ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Cellular Transformation ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Molecular Architecture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cullin 4A ◽  
Broad Overview

The ability of cullin 4A (CUL4A), a scaffold protein, to recruit a repertoire of substrate adaptors allows it to assemble into distinct E3 ligase complexes to mediate turnover of key regulatory proteins. In the past decade, a considerable wealth of information has been generated regarding its biology, regulation, assembly, molecular architecture and novel functions. Importantly, unravelling of its association with multiple tumours and modulation by viral proteins establishes it as one of the key proteins that may play an important role in cellular transformation. Considering the role of its substrate in regulating the cell cycle and maintenance of genomic stability, understanding the detailed aspects of these processes will have significant consequences for the treatment of cancer and related diseases. This review is an effort to provide a broad overview of this multifaceted ubiquitin ligase and addresses its critical role in regulation of important biological processes. More importantly, its tremendous potential to be exploited for therapeutic purposes has been discussed.

South Africa and Scotland in the First World War

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Hyslop
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
British Empire ◽  
The South ◽  
Political Identities ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Battle Of The Somme ◽  
First World

This chapter discusses the powerful and long-lasting impact Scottish military symbolism on the formation of military culture in South Africa. Drawing on the work of John MacKenzie and Jonathan Hyslop’s notion of ‘military Scottishness’, this chapter analyses how Scottish identity both interacted with the formation of political identities in South Africa, and ‘looped back’ to connect with changing forms of national identity in Scotland itself. In particular, it addresses how the South Africans’ heroic role at Delville Wood, during the Battle of the Somme, became a putative symbol of this racialised ‘South Africanism’. The South African Brigade included a battalion of so-called ‘South African Scottish’ which reflected the phenomenon of military Scottishness. Overall, the chapter looks at the way in which the representations of the role of the South African troops involved an interplay between British empire loyalism, white South African political identities, and Scottishness.

“Hustling is when you try to make a good life”

2020 ◽  
pp. 110-138
Author(s):  
Christine Jeske
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Young People ◽  
Good Life ◽  
African Society ◽  
South Africans ◽  
New Generation

This chapter introduces a narrative of “hustling” that motivates young people to perform their future hopes and never give up, despite full awareness of the disproportionate challenges they face in society. It defines a hustler as someone who tries, and talks about what entrepreneurship is like in South Africa. It discusses the difficulties that aspiring African entrepreneurs encounter as they try to become successful in their business. It talks about the lack of pride the new generation of South Africans have and how this has affects their attitude towards work and how this impacts African society. It talks about survivalist improvisation, how Africans put up an image of dignity in the midst of struggle, and their feelings of being trapped in that situation.

scholarly journals History, memory and reconciliation: Njabulo Ndebele’s The cry of Winnie Mandela and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s A human being died that night

Literator ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
R. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Human Being ◽  
African History ◽  
African Society ◽  
South African Society ◽  
The Past ◽  
Public Figures ◽  
Ethical Complexity ◽  
Narrative Techniques

This article deals with two texts written during the process of transition in South Africa, using them to explore the cultural and ethical complexity of that process. Both Njabulo Ndebele’s “The cry of Winnie Mandela” and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s “A human being died that night” deal with controversial public figures, Winnie Mandela and Eugene de Kock respectively, whose role in South African history has made them part of the national iconography. Ndebele and Gobodo-Madikizela employ narrative techniques that expose and exploit faultlines in the popular representations of these figures. The two texts offer radical ways of understanding the communal and individual suffering caused by apartheid, challenging readers to respond to the past in ways that will promote healing rather than perpetuate a spirit of revenge. The part played by official histories is implicitly questioned and the role of individual stories is shown to be crucial. Forgiveness and reconciliation are seen as dependent on an awareness of the complex circumstances and the humanity of those who are labelled as offenders. This requirement applies especially to the case of “A human being died that night”, a text that insists that the overt acknowledgement of the humanity of people like Eugene de Kock is an important way of healing South African society.

scholarly journals Industrial strategy and local economic development: The case of the foundry industry in Ekurhuleni Metro

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 448-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Phele ◽  
S Roberts ◽  
I Steuart
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Foundry Industry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Concrete Action

This  article explores the challenges for the development of manufacturing through a case study of the foundry industry in Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. Ekurhuleni Metro covers the largest concentration in South Africa, but the industry’s performance has been poor over the past decade.  The findings reported here highlight the need to understand firm decisions around investment, technology and skills, and the role of local economic linkages in this regard.  The differing performance of foundries strongly supports the need to develop concrete action plans and effective institutions at local level to support the development of local agglomerations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document