Apartheid Research Articles

Basotho and the Bantustans: Long-Term Impacts of Historical Borders on Borderlands Communities in QwaQwa and Lesotho

ABSTRACT Drawing on archival work conducted in South Africa, the UK and Lesotho, and on oral histories collected in 2021–2023, this article historicises the experiences of Basotho living along the Lesotho–South Africa border. It focuses primarily on the part of eastern Free State designated during the apartheid era as the Basotho ‘Homeland’ of QwaQwa and the adjacent Lesotho district of Butha Buthe. Rugged and mountainous, official border markings and crossings are few, but border crossing has been a feature of this region as long as borders have existed. Governments on both sides have long resisted rationalising these crossings, instead showing remarkable continuity over almost 150 years of securitising the border and relying on the rhetoric and logics of nationality to police the crossing of these borders by local residents. Governments have resisted working with local communities, approaching them only when their testimonials might enhance the geopolitical position of the national governments. While today most borderlands residents claim Basotho ethnicity, the realities of the border have strained long-standing ties across the border in the name of national sovereignty and governments have weaponised nationality to claim the loyalty of borderlands residents without reciprocating the relationship by facilitating easier border crossings.

Revolutionary Enclosures (Until the Apricots)

Jasbir K. Puar and Dima Srouji build upon their respective work in architecture, visual art and decolonial theory to produce a collaborative examination of colonial pathologies for Sharjah Art Biennial 15, 2023. Srouji’s architecture and art practice encompass a variety of mediums that allow her to explore notions of heritage and public space in Palestine and the region. Puar is a writer and scholar whose current work focuses on settler colonial violence, disability and debility in Palestine. Their collaborative installations integrate understandings of space and planning with the contemporary politics of resistance in the context of Palestine and the surrounding region. At Sharjah Art Biennial 15, Puar and Srouji present ‘Revolutionary Enclosures (Until the Apricots)’ (2023), a series of household items that respond to the material conditions of lockdown, interweaving the artists’ experiences of COVID-19 quarantine in Palestine and their memories of the Second Intifada (2000–2005), a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. The project reframes everyday objects emblematic of the trauma of enclosure for Palestinians as transformative matter and reservoirs of affective practices of resilience, community and caregiving: hoarded cans of tuna form the constituent parts of a radiator signifying warmth; resin apricots evoke the exchange of sustenance among neighbours; shrapnel becomes decorative wallpaper motifs; a stairwell used as shelter from air raids transforms into a communal reading space. Exploring the collective rhythms and materialities of these conditions, Srouji and Puar conjure the everyday making and remaking of the commons through and against the constraints of siege and containment. The conversation published here took place between March and September 2023, and thus predates the latest phase in the catastrophic violence that has historically defined Israel’s relationship to Palestine and the Palestinians. Triggered by an unprecedented and shocking attack by Hamas on 7 October, Israel’s genocidal military campaign in Gaza is not an anomaly, but in line with and part and parcel of the systematic ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and the Apartheid system that the settler colonial state of Israel has relied on for its sustenance since 1948. The questions asked here by Maasri and Toukan, as well as the artworks discussed by Jasbir and Srouji, probe aspects of this very condition that has brought us to the unabashed genocidal violence we are now all witness to today.

Minimizing falsified financial reports

The study criticizes the way South Africa collects taxes from different segments of the population, primarily pensioners and workers with two sources of income. It also condemns the ineffective manner in which it administers some tax payouts, especially in the unfairness that has shown bias to some groups. Primarily, taxing of the pensioners is condemned, as well as the taxing of second earnings of employees, mainly where there were victims of the apartheid policies. The paper recommends taxing people with caution, in order not to perpetuate apartheid-initiated poverty of the South African masses of people, and in cases where earners who are being taxed could be having extra financial responsibilities. In order to resolve these problems, taxpayers and tax preparers should make sure that tax laws are applied correctly, that they are aware of the consequences of breaking the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and that they routinely review and update their tax return positions in response to modifications to accounting standards and tax legislation.

Memories and testimonies of passbooks, permits and platkeps in apartheid-era Batho, Mangaung

he memories and testimonies of black people who were on the receiving end of racial discrimination provide important evidence of their lived experiences during the apartheid era (1948–1994). They ‘revisit’ apartheid South Africa because of recurring memories of traumatic experiences. Sadly, they relive the painful incidents emotionally when such memories are triggered. The National Museum in Bloemfontein has interviewed more than 150 Batho residents about their experiences of Batho’s apartheid past, specifically their experiences of racist municipal laws and regulations. Although discriminatory municipal policies are rooted in the racial sentiments of Bloemfontein’s colonial (1846–1910) and segregationist (1910–1948) periods, they are also based on national legislation, notably the Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923. Direct quotes from interviews allow interviewees to speak for themselves. The interviewees’ testimonies of their experiences have generated information about, among others, the carrying of passbooks; visits to the pass office; maltreatment by municipal police (platkeps); being arrested for not having a passbook; spending time in police cells for committing loaferskap (idleness) or for housing an overnight guest without a lodger’s permit; being victims of violent house raids; and being harassed by the night curfew siren. Because most interviewees’ parents and grandparents were subjected to similar discriminatory laws and regulations, traumatic experiences are a multi-generational phenomenon.Contribution: The oral history methodology was used to reconstruct aspects of Batho’s apartheid history. By tapping into people’s memories and testimonies, this article aims to present a history from ‘below’ of Mangaung’s oldest existing township and, thereby, contribute to local historiography.

The Digitalisation of Elitism and Sifting? Observations on the Online Registration of First-Year University Students in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This paper argues that the digitalisation of university registration processes has given rise to concealed elitism. The phenomenon became apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, as elite students accessed advanced medical care and education degrees while individuals from indigent families and rural communities bore the brunt of the pandemic. Drawing from the perspectives of critical emancipatory research (CER), the observational study described in this paper sought to explain students' experiences during the transition to digitalised registration processes and to identify practical solutions for the deficiencies in the new system, ensuring inclusivity for all students in the future. This observational study did not have a specific sample size but observed the groups of incoming first-year students gathered outside many university gates during the registration period in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study consequently concluded that many universities in KwaZulu-Natal are not prepared for digitalisation of student applications for several reasons: (i) the use of technology conceals elitism, a lingering aspect of the apartheid era that disenfranchises students from indigent and rural communities; (ii) universities lack reliable infrastructure, as they were not initially designed for contemporary communication and teaching methods; and (iii) the rise of technological innovation destabilises the intentions of our South African democracy and the massification agenda. This paper proposes a dual method of communication (virtual and walk-in inquiries) that would accommodate democracy and recognise people's right to education. This approach would ensure that students from different socio-economic backgrounds are accommodated in higher education institutions. The paper recommends technological innovations that do not remind black and poor students that they were once marginalised from accessing tertiary education due to systems that were not favourable to them.

Decolonising archaeology in South Africa: two decades after the National Heritage Resources Act of 1999

Twenty-four years ago, the National Heritage Resources Act, No. 25 of 1999 (NHRA) was enacted in South Africa. This was a moment of change, when the heritage of those marginalised during the colonial and Apartheid eras would finally be given its rightful place on the national heritage list. There was a sense of optimism amongst politicians that the African past was finally to be recognised in an inclusive and representative future. This was echoed in archaeology, given its central role in uncovering and telling the story of precolonial South Africa. The discipline slowly opened its doors to academics of all ethnic groups and new perspectives were identified. But an examination of the practical consequences and impact of this progressive legislation for transforming officially declared heritage in the past 24 years shows surprisingly little change in the overall body of recognized, listed heritage. Recent studies of transformation in South African archaeology have focussed on institutional transformation; possible transformation of the types and frequency of sites declared as national and provincial heritage sites has not yet been examined. It is this issue which our paper addresses. The paper presents analysis that relies on the South African Heritage Resources Information System (SAHRIS) database covering the period 1936 to mid-2022. Whilst sites associated with European colonialism still predominate, there has been a change in the frequency of types of heritage declared since 1999, with an increase in sites associated with the Black liberation struggle. Yet the list remains very unbalanced, with only a single heritage site connected to the precolonial past of Black South Africans having been declared as a national heritage site since 1999. We discuss and classify the types of heritage declared since 1999 and suggest reasons for the distortion.

Rebel Governance Structures and Violence in Apartheid South Africa

ABSTRACT What role do rebel governance structures play in deterring rebel-on-rebel violence? I argue that variation in rebel governance is an important factor. In 1990s South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) and its armed wing, the MK, employed different governance strategies over pro-ANC militias. In the Sharpeville township, the MK imposed a hierarchical governance structure, which contributed to inter-factional ANC violence. In the Thokoza township, the ANC formed a cooperative governance structure between the ANC and the militias. As a result, Thokoza experienced less internecine conflict. Evidence for my argument comes from archival research and interviews with former pro-ANC militants.

Procurement hurdles: unveiling challenges in the subsidized commuter bus sector of Gauteng, South Africa

In South Africa, like many developing countries, procurement is seen and used as a strategic tool to promote socioeconomic development, including the promotion of competition, among other objectives. The South African commuter bus industry is structured to procure – through competitive tendering – SMMEs within the industry’s mainstream. These contracts are subsidized by the government – their origins date back to the 1940s – to ease the financial burden on black African communities. However, since its establishment, some challenges are hindering the effective procurement of these services, thus affecting the provision of these services. This paper highlights the challenges faced by Gauteng Province in the procurement of subsidised commuter services. The paper employs a mixed-methods research approach, and the research instrument was a face-to-face semi-structured interview questionnaire. Based on the findings of the study, Gauteng commuter bus industry operations are challenged with poor policy implementation, a lack of funds to support the industry’s operational needs, and a deficiency in administrative skills, among other challenges. The paper recommends that the Gauteng government revisit the guiding policies for the establishment of the industry and employ the best procurement practice(s) for this industry, considering the complex nature of South Africa (being influenced by the apartheid era and the government is faced with maintaining a balance between the blacks and the whites among citizens).

Black Chartered Accountants in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Global Implications for the Profession

SYNOPSIS Although South Africa’s Apartheid system legally ended with the advent of democracy in 1994, by 2021 only 15 percent of chartered accountants were Black. This is despite the fact that 80 percent of the South African population is Black. We examine this underrepresentation through interviews with 22 Black South Africans who earned their chartered accountancy certification in the second decade of the 21st century. This study reveals the similarities and differences between the experiences of those we interviewed and those who initially broke into the profession in the 20th century (see Hammond, Clayton, and Arnold 2009). In both eras, entry to the field was constricted by professional closure. While the officially mandated educational and employment barriers that previous generations faced have been dismantled, Black aspirants continue to face immense barriers to entering the profession. Their experiences suggest ways forward in making the worldwide profession more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

The Politics and Aesthetics of Liberation: Revolution and Its Aftermath in Contemporary Artistic Practice from and about Lusophone Africa

Abstract This essay explores the ways in which artistic practices have revisited histories and memories of anti-colonial struggle, socialist revolution, and decolonization in Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and Portugal, while also addressing apartheid South Africa and the global Cold War. The cartography drawn here follows the histories and geographies of anti-colonial and anti-apartheid friendship without losing sight of several forms of imperialism, old and new. This essay examines the archival and historiographical potential of contemporary art in remembering histories of revolution and decolonization, notably those pertaining to cultural production and especially film, in the globalized, neoliberal present. My case studies are distinct but related works by Ângela Ferreira (Mozambique, 1958), Filipa César (Portugal, 1975), and Kiluanji Kia Henda (Angola, 1979), which include installation, video, photography, and performance for the camera. What sort of insights do the archival imaginations of pasts, presents and futures at play in these works offer? And how far can the ethics and politics of their aesthetics go?

Under the Southern Cross: Helen Keller, disability politics, and apartheid South Africa

ABSTRACT In 1951, deaf/blind activist Helen Keller, then seventy years old, made a 10-week tour of South Africa. She visited nearly thirty schools and institutions for the deaf and blind and attended nearly fifty meetings. Keller is well known in disability history, women’s history, and progressivism. Less well known is her host, Arthur Blaxall, an Anglican priest in South Africa who was an advocate for the deaf and blind and an opponent of apartheid. Keller’s South African trip was the culmination of an epistolary friendship between the two disability activists that spanned some thirty years, from 1931 to the 1960s. This visit is documented in correspondence between Blaxall and Keller, as well as in a published commemorative volume that includes writings from Blaxall and Keller, Helen Keller at the Southern Cross (1952). This article argues that the two activists opposed apartheid through their understanding of the plight of the non-seeing and non-hearing. The associations they forged addressing disability provided venues and frameworks for a developing critique of racial inequities. While we identify Keller’s radical vision, we also point to her limits, showing the ways in which her own hopes and dreams for her visit to Africa grew out of colonial cultural repertoires.

An Experiential & Informal Pedagogy for Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy: Lessons from South Africa for a Troubled Muslim World

In an age where hyperconnectivity and misunderstanding coexist, thus begetting multiple crises, the need for a language bridging difference is palpable. Cross-cultural religious literacy (CCRL) has proof of concept in apartheid South Africa where, from danger, a multi-faith praxis navigated the anti-apartheid struggle and infused post-apartheid society with inclusion and dignity. In a Muslim world beset by its own demons—from within and without—can the equivalent emerge to rediscover Islam’s soft power? It will start necessarily as an informal and experiential pedagogy in a global cauldron requiring Muslims to be in covenantal pluralism—true to themselves, at peace with others.

The other radicals: Zionist-socialist youth in apartheid South Africa, 1948–1970*

The other radicals: Zionist-socialist youth in apartheid South Africa, 1948–1970*

The Narrative Construction of National Identity in Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People

At a time when Gordimer was writing her short stories and novels which stretched over four decades beginning from the 1940s to the 1990s, several historical and political events were taking place in South Africa. Gordimer’s entire oeuvre of fiction was her way of responding to those historical and political events that unfolded in the country. Many writers and critics believed that the history of the Nationalist Government from 1948 onwards has been faithfully recorded by the novels of Nadine Gordimer and they “will provide the future historian with all the evidence required to evaluate the price that has been paid by the people”. (Green, 563) She published her first collection of short stories in 1949, a year after the first Nationalist Government was elected to power. Her body of work from 1949 to 2000 covers the entire period of apartheid in South Africa. Therefore, she was a writer with serious intent and meant to convey through her novels her rigid stand against apartheid. The term ‘apartheid’ means ‘apartness’, a policy meant to segregate people on the foundation of their race and colour. In The Essential Gesture: Writing, Politics and Places (1988), Gordimer noted that it was not the “problems” of her country that set her to writing; rather, it was learning to write that sent her “falling, falling through the surface of the South African way of life”. (Gordimer 1988, p. 272) This paper shall attempt to study how Gordimer constructs identity in her novel July’s People (1981). The paper posits that the most important theme in Gordimer’s novels has been identity, an issue that she has been dealing with since her childhood, due to her situation as the daughter of immigrant parents, and living and writing in South Africa at a time when her country was divided based on colour.

The Quest for Decolonization: Reimagining Politics, Nation State and Identity in India

Was the liberation movement really for liberation? Did the nationalist movements betray the multitudes, the common of the society? Was the liberation of South Asia only a shift of minorities (from native to national minority) and unequal dynamics of power (‘Strongmen’ ruling the weak)? Almost every nation state shares the same attributes. The Empire's colonists and native are the nation state’s national majority and national minority, Mamdani (2020) argued. The study uses Mamdani's theoretical framework of nation state to understand the plight of India’s national minorities. Minorities of the nation state are struggling to belong and find a space of identity in the land of their ancestors. Mamdani, through the example of Apartheid South Africa, proposes that nation state’s violence can be curbed through decolonizing the governing apparatus of state narratives that shapes the identity of the people for its own benefits. The people should not buy into the state narratives based on differences that spread violence for its own strategic and political purposes. But they should reassemble and redefine their subjective truths to reshape their identity, to regain the power of inclusion not exclusion, and to contribute to the land of their ancestors. As Amartya Sen argued, freedom is also the primary objective of development. The struggle to freedom must be fought on all fronts.

The Consequences Of Getting Unequal Systems, Bad Treatments, And Violence Triggering The Blacks To End Apartheid System In South Africa In Slovo’s Film Catch A Fire

This analysis is aimed to make the readers aware of being able to respect for the value of independence and all effort to struggle it during the Apartheid era which is long and painful. There are some problems which become the focus of this study, First is unequal systems, bad treatments, and violence done by the White to the Blacks, and their effects. Second the Black’s survival and struggle to achieve their independence during apartheid system. The writer chooses Post Colonialism approach to analyze this film because it has the nearest and strongest relationship with the message inside the film, The writer also focuses on the White’s colonialism to the Blacks and Blacks’ effort to abolish Apartheid system as one of colonialism discourse applied on their land.

Differing priorities: International research collaboration trends of South African universities, 2012-2021

This study analyses international research collaboration (IRC) trends of South African public universities during the 2012-2021 period. While previous studies have explored IRC trends between South Africa and the rest of the world, there is a gap in literature when it comes to the analysis of institutional IRC trends. Using bibliometric data from Scopus, we analyse the internationally coauthored scholarly output of 24 public universities. Our focus is on the annual and overall institutional IRC trends; a comparison of IRC trends between different institutional types; and an analysis of institutional IRC trends broken down by world regions. Our findings show that the inequalities rooted in colonial and apartheid policies continue to be evident in South African higher education, and that most of the scholarly output through IRC is produced by historically white institutions (HWIs). The findings highlight that HWIs prioritise IRC with the Global North while neglecting research collaboration with the African continent and Global South. On the other hand, even though research output at historically black institutions (HBIs) is low, these institutions prioritise intra-Africa and South-South IRC. Our findings highlight the need for the government to move beyond the policy rhetoric and implement programmes that would enable HBIs to develop capacity to produce scholarly output through national and international collaboration. The government also needs to develop incentives for universities which are contributing to the expansion and strengthening of IRC within the African continent and Global South, in line with the national higher education and research priorities.

The metaphorical aspect in J. M. Coetzee‘s Age of Iron (1990)

The present study aims at examining the metaphorical aspect in J. M. Coetzee’s Age of Iron. To make the investigation a purposeful one, the Psychoanalytic approach is employed taken Displacement as a means of coexistence and adaptation. The study also seeks to underscore how J. M. Coetzee employs the Psychoanalytic approach in portraying the character of Elizabeth Curren –the protagonist- to convey his contempt toward the oppressive practices of the ruling system of Apartheid in South Africa. In the present novel, Coetzee presents a model of a female white character who is not in line with the practices of the system. Mrs. Curren finds a means of revealing her suppressed feelings in writing a confessional letter to her daughter because of her inability to openly express her adverse attitude toward the ruling system in her community. In a word, the main objective of the study lies in exploring J. M. Coetzee’s vision of the dilemma of both the oppressed and the oppressor South Africans through Metaphor of the body of both the protagonist and the system to convey the theme of his novel.

Antagonistic Integration in the Private Sector-Driven Housing Developments in South Africa

Cities in apartheid South Africa did not exhibit inclusivity traits and city developments thereafter have not differed significantly. Neoliberal urbanism asserts that the city is envisaged as a playing field for the elites, and growing socio-economic inequalities are managed by creating privatised, customised, and networked spaces for consumption by the urban elites. This ideology seeks to enlarge the role of market forces in the housing sector, to increase the role of elites in shaping urban landscapes. This paper, anchored on the theory of neoliberal urbanism, showcases the difficulties of integration and inclusivity in a socio-economically mixed neighbourhoods in post-apartheid SA, using Shaka’s Head in the Ballito area of the KwaDukuza Municipality as the case study. The study engages literature on the production of space to demonstrate how the economically dominant urban classes have maintained hegemony over urban governance and suppressed the efforts of local governments to shape urban neighbourhoods and the interests of the previously disadvantaged groups. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews with role-players in physical planning and human settlements developments and supplemented with household interviews with residents of Shaka’s Head. Research results showed that the type of integration observed in the area can best be described as ‘antagonistic integration’. The paper recommends an increased role of the government in land ownership, physical development, and regulation of private developments. Keywords: Housing, Private developments, Urban communities, Integration, Antagonism

Exploring the Historical Consciousness in Selected Fiction of Nadine Gordimer

The novels of Nadine Gordimer run parallel with the era of apartheid. They are a record of the realities of the period during the apartheid and also the interregnum period in South Africa in a chronological manner. In South Africa, Gordimer belonged to a minority within the minority. But contained within that small white world is another group of whites who are opposed to the system of racial discrimination known as apartheid and stand with the country's majority. Nadine Gordimer examines the nature of apartheid which according to her, changes depending on who was looking at the issue. Different people react differently to what apartheid meant to them. As a writer she took her commitment to the community at large quite seriously and this is amply reflected in her work and the interviews that were recorded. Gordimer vociferously denounced the discrimination and violence that followed in her fiction as in real life. The research paper shall focus on the idea of the construction of identity in the selected novels whose plots are a reflection of events and situations that were taking place in South Africa as well as the historical consciousness of Gordimer.