scholarly journals Elusive Pursuit of Reconciliation and Development in Post-Apartheid South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Inclusive Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Slow Pace ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Freedom Fighters ◽  
National Congress

Debates on whether reconciliation is taking place and particularly the issue of inclusive development continue in South Africa. Reconciliation is understood as a process whereby different population groups in South Africa peacefully coexist and restore amicable relations which were fractured by colonialism and apartheid. Inclusive development has to do with the socio-economic transformation that involves, or rather benefits all the peoples of a country. Socio-economic transformation is considered slow since the dawn of democracy, with nation-building, development, freedom, and related objectives having suffered in post-apartheid South Africa. The notions of justice and inclusivity require comprehensive analysis, especially many years after the formal end of apartheid in 1994. The paper examines development and reconciliation, in seeking an explanation for what appears to be a changing political landscape in South Africa, epitomised by the decline in the number of votes that the governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), is receiving since 2009 while the Economic Freedom Fighters, a relatively new party, is gaining traction. It is argued that the slow pace of inclusive development and weak reconciliation are compromising the ANC, resulting in the evolution of the political landscape in South Africa. Essentially, the inability to improve reconciliation has resulted in weak inclusive development and makes it difficult for South Africa to become a nation.

Albert Luthuli and the African National Congress: A Bio-Bibliography

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 345-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy C. Woodson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
White Men ◽  
Nobel Prize Winner ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Seventh Day Adventist ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Family ◽  
National Congress

Seek ye the political kingdom and all shall be yours.No minority tyranny in history ever survived the opposition of the majority. Nor will it survive in South Africa. The end of white tyranny is near.In their Portraits of Nobel Laureates in Peace, Wintterle and Cramer wrote that “the odds against the baby born at the Seventh-Day Adventist Mission near Bulawayo in Rhodesia in 1898 becoming a Nobel Prize winner were so astronomical as to defy calculation. He was the son of a proud people, the descendant of Zulu chieftains and warriors. But pride of birth is no substitute for status rendered inferior by force of circumstance, and in Luthuli's early years, the native African was definitely considered inferior by the white man. If his skin was black, that could be considered conclusive proof that he would never achieve anything; white men would see to that. However, in Luthuli's case they made a profound mistake--they allowed him to have an education.”If there is an extra-royal gentry in Zulu society, then it was into this class that Albert John Luthuli was born. Among the Zulus, chieftainship is hereditary only for the Paramount Chief; all regional chiefs are elected. The Luthuli family though, at least through the 1950s, monopolized the chieftainship of the Abasemakholweni (literally “converts”) tribe for nearly a century. Luthuli's grandfather Ntaba, was the first in the family to head the tribe and around 1900, his uncle Martin Luthuli took over.

scholarly journals Totstandkoming van de Grondwettelijke Krachtlijnen Voor Een Democratisch Zuid-Afrika

Afrika Focus ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 79-90
Author(s):  
Ted Pekane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
External Factors ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Translation ◽  
Extensive Introduction ◽  
National Congress ◽  
External Forces

The Realization of the Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa Africa Focus publishes a Dutch translation of the “constitutional guidelines for a democratic South Africa”, adopted in March 1988 at Lusaka, by the African National congress (ANC), together with a preface (by F. Reyntjens) and an extensive introduction written by Ted Pekane, member of the constitutional committee of the ANC, about the drafting ofthis important text. In the preface is referred to the political signification of a constitutional text in Africa today and to the more pragmatic content of the guidelines, compared to the Freedom Charter of 1955. T. Pekane explains the external factors that contributed to the drafting of the guidelines. He also points out the dangers of the “ acceptable” models of constitution for the post-Apartheid period advanced by internal and external forces: a lot of those models are discreet options for a status-quo.

scholarly journals The Realization of the Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa

Afrika Focus ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Pekane ◽  
Filip Reyntjens
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
External Factors ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Translation ◽  
Extensive Introduction ◽  
National Congress ◽  
External Forces

Africa Focus publishes a Dutch translation of the "constitutional guidelines for a democratic South Africa", adopted in March 1988 at Lusaka, by the African National congress (ANC), together with a preface (by F.Reyntjens) and an extensive introduction written by Ted Pekane, member of the constitutional committee of the ANC, about the drafting of this important text. In the preface is referred to the political signification of a constitutional text in Africa today and to the more pragmatic content of the guidelines, compared to the Freedom Charter of 1955. T. Pekane explains the external factors that contributed to the drafting of the guidelines. He also points out the dangers of the "acceptable" models of constitution for the post-Apartheid period advanced by internal and external forces : a lot of those models are discreet options for a status-quo. KEYWORDS : African National Congress, constitution, politics, South Africa 

The Withering Away of Politically Salient Territorial Cleavages in South Africa and the Emergence of Watermark Ethnic Federalism

2019 ◽  
pp. 219-236
Author(s):  
Nico Steytler
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
National Party ◽  
Ethnic Federalism ◽  
Territorial Politics ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The Right

This chapter examines how a stable, legitimate, and highly regarded constitutional dispensation has successfully withered away the political salience of territorial cleavages in South Africa and paved the way for a stronger form of ethnic federalism. It first explains the context that led to South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy before discussing the period of constitutional engagement in 1990–96, focusing on the deal between the National Party (NP) and the African National Congress (ANC) that resulted in the adoption of an interim Constitution in December 1993. It also explores the constitutional provisions that sought to address the demands of the right-wing Afrikaners and the Zulu nationalists, along with the ratification of the final Constitution in 1996. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the outcome of the South African constitutional settlement and the important lessons that can be drawn from the unmaking of territorial politics in the country.

The Congress Party Model: South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) and India's Indian National Congress (INC) as Dominant Parties

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiven Reddy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Party System ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nationalist Movements ◽  
Dominant Party ◽  
Congress Party ◽  
Dominant Parties ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Indian National Congress

Abstract The paper argues that the model developed to analyze the dominance of the Indian National Congress of the political party system during the first two decades of independence helps in our understanding of the unfolding party system in South Africa. A comparison of the Congress Party and the African National Congress suggests many similarities. The paper is divided into three broad sections. The first part focuses on the dominant party system in India. In the second part, I apply the model of the Congress System to South Africa. I argue that the three features of the Congress System – a dominant party with mass based legitimacy, constituted by many factions and operating on the idiom of consensus-seeking internal politics, and sources of opposition who cooperate with factions in the dominant party to influence the political agenda – prevails in South Africa. In the third part, I draw on the comparison between the ANC and Congress Party to account for why certain nationalist movements become dominant parties. I emphasize that broad nationalist movements displaying high degrees of legitimacy and embracing democratic practices are adaptive to changing contexts and develop organizational mechanisms to manage internal party conflict. They contribute to the consolidation of democracy rather than undermine it.

Challenges to the single party dominance of the African National Congress: lessons from Kwazakhele

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-74
Author(s):  
Janet Cherry ◽  
Gary Prevost
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Port Elizabeth ◽  
Freedom Fighters ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Party Dominance ◽  
Foregone Conclusion

This article explores the challenges to the African National Congress (ANC) in its traditional stronghold of the Port Elizabeth working­class township of Kwazakhele. The authors argue that this area has been the embodiment of single­party dominance for decades. Using exit polling and a post­election survey, the article details the challenges to the ANC from both reduced voter turnout and rising support for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). The article concludes that the end of the ANC dominance in Kwazakhele in coming elections is possible but is not a foregone conclusion.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Structural Transformation

2021 ◽  
pp. 312-336
Author(s):  
Pamela Mondliwa ◽  
Simon Roberts
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Structural Transformation ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Enforcement ◽  
Industrial Policies ◽  
The Core ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Political Settlement

This chapter examines the evolution of the political settlement in South Africa, which is critical for understanding its structural transformation path as well as for the reconfiguration of industrial policy. The success or failure of countries to drive structural change is understood in terms of the extent to which the political settlement, or governing coalition of interests, supports the growth of diversified industrial activities with higher levels of productivity. The chapter analyses why and how, despite the developmental agenda of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), South Africa has failed to achieve its production transformation. The chapter finds that the political settlement forged around South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy created the conditions for a corporate restructuring of the economy characterized by high profitability, despite low investments. This has involved power entrenchment in large incumbent organizations and coalitions of rentieristic interests, which have undermined necessary industrial policy enforcement. Persistent high unemployment and inequality have fuelled dissatisfaction and contestation over the core objectives of a more developmentalist state. Industrial policies have also been undermined by the fragmentation of the state, leading to misaligned policies.

Politics of Transition in South Africa and the Post-1994 Democratic State

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mashupye H Maserumule
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Developmental State ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Liberation Movements

The historicity of the liberation movements in South Africa is a subject of contestation. This is because their contributions to the post-1994 democratic state is interpreted and understood differently. Often this is influenced by the side of the political stratum of a historian. This article adds to such contestation, but not on political grounds. It is framed on scholarly terms. This article examines the politics of transition in South Africa and determines whether the much bandied about concept of a ‘developmental state’ has any linkages to it. The reason for this is that the concept is used lately as a defining character of South Africa’s post-1994 democratic state. The driving puzzle in the discourse is systematically addressed in the context of the theory of the politics of transition and the evolution and application of the concept of a ‘developmental state’ in the political thinking of the African National Congress (ANC). The article argues that the concept is unrelated to the politics of transitions which, instead, were more focused on building a democratic state rather than a ‘developmental state’ in South Africa. It concludes that it is inappropriate to characterize South Africa’s post-1994 democratic state as a developmental state because it is a long way from that.

Election 1999: Prospects for the Consolidation of Democracy in South Africa

1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 2-8
Author(s):  
Khehla Shubane ◽  
Louise Stack
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Party System ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Dominant Party ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Election Results

The African National Congress (ANC) emerged from South Africa’s 1999 election in a greatly strengthened position. Now, not only is the constitutionally obligatory five-year period of a government of national unity over—which means that the ANC as the majority party is entitled to rule the country on its own—but the ANC increased its already strong majority in Parliament to just short of two-thirds.In this article, we first discuss the context of the political debate in which the election took place, as well as the outcome of the election. We then examine the prospects for the consolidation of democracy in South Africa in light of the election results and in relation to the issues surrounding electoral procedure, a dominant party system, and opposition politics within the context of a still very much racially divided society.

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