Apartheid State Research Articles

The relationship between social welfare policy and multidimensional well-being: An analysis using the South African Child Support Grant

Socio-historical context and ideology are often overlooked in analyses of how social welfare policy is used to promote well-being. This paper uses the South African Child Support Grant (CSG) to illuminate how a policy may enhance or hinder well-being, not only for individuals but also for a society. Forged through a combination of the inherited apartheid state's architecture, the redistributive ideology of the ruling African National Congress, social development theory and the constraints of economic globalisation, the CSG has produced paradoxically positive material well-being outcomes for many poor South Africans and possibly reproduced problematic subjective and relational forms of well-being nationally. Analysing how the grant, as a social policy, is historically and ideologically situated illuminates some of the constraints imposed upon a twenty-first century democratic developmental state as it tries to find its way in a global market, redistribute wealth, satisfy different constituencies and promote individual and collective well-being. Grants are a necessary but insufficient strategy for a twenty-first century democratic developmental state like South Africa.

“The Famous and the Obscure Were There, Waiting for Freedom”: Jeeva Rajgopaul's Photographs of South African Exiles in New York, 1991

ABSTRACT In photographing South African exiles living in New York City in 1991, Jeevenundhan (Jeeva) Rajgopaul intended to counter the apartheid state's propaganda maligning exiles as “terrorists”. Today, his photographs—as records of subsumed, intersecting socio-political experiences—are also an unintentional project in corrective history, invaluable to audiences within and outside South Africa. In documenting exiles who were regarded as those who played “lesser” roles in South Africa's heroic story of liberation, Rajgopaul's intimate portraits form powerful presences that help counter a long history of erasures in South Africa. Rajgopaul repurposed traditional mandates of social documentary photography in South Africa, which were, in the decade leading up to the 1990s, focused on using the visual language of “spectacular violence” in order to depict the everyday brutalities of living under apartheid. His depictions of the ordinary and the day-to-day in exiles’ lives provide rare insights into the ways in which individual experiences of exile were influenced by race, class, educational levels, social support systems in the new location, and level of affiliation to political parties-in-exile. Together, Rajgopaul's photographs and the narratives that exiles shared with him evidence the ways in which heroic national memory—and the nation-state's reliance on creating singular (often patriarchal) heroic figures—is dependent on the erasure of contributions from those who are less convenient, and the “other” histories their experiences evidence. By focusing attention on those whose stories and experiences remain largely uncelebrated, Rajgopaul's photographs trouble and enrich existing image and narrative repertoires about South African exiles’ experiences, and complicate the uplifting, redemptive arc of the popular version of the liberation narrative.

Memory, Multiplicity, and Participatory Curation at the District Six Museum, Cape Town

ABSTRACT The South African apartheid state declared District Six a “whites only” area in 1966, under the Group Areas Act of 1950. Forced removal of residents commenced in the 1970s and 1980s, followed by the demolition of residential buildings. By the late 1980s, the physical infrastructure of District Six had been largely destroyed. The District Six Museum, established in 1994, has dedicated its existence to the memory of District Six through honouring the stories and experiences of its residents. The author discusses the District Six Museum’s participatory culture as central to its curatorial methodology, with emphasis on the use and adaptation of artistic practices in the curatorial process. The pursuit of the recovery of memory, through the mediation of artistic practices, is the primary concern of this article; through this lens, the generative possibilities of “participatory curation” are addressed. Looking at collaborative creative projects undertaken by the District Six Museum, such as the District Six Huis Kombuis: Food & Memory Cookbook (edited by Tina Smith, 2017. Cape Town: Quivertree Publications) and the exhibitions Streets: Retracing District Six (1994) and Digging Deeper (2000), the author explores the complexity of presenting a myriad of stories and perspectives and the museum’s commitment to memory in “making the intangible tangible” (Interview with Tina Smith by Amie Soudien. March 23, 2018. Homecoming Centre, Cape Town).

Academic freedom, the boycott of Israel, and what psychologists can do: against the politics of normalization

This article uses the Recognition, Reparation and Reconciliation Conference held at Stellenbosch University in December 2018 as a lens to argue for an academic boycott of Israel while maintaining the principle of academic freedom, specifically as it pertains to the discipline of psychology. I argue that Israel is an apartheid state, that there is a need to isolate Israel politically, economically, culturally, and academically, and that the objection to the academic boycott of Israel is a selective application of the concept of academic freedom and is therefore a spurious argument. Rather than infringing on academic freedom, the boycott may increase the likelihood of academic freedom in Israel–Palestine. I provide possible suggestions about how the international community, including psychologists, might engage with the Israeli academy in the interests of furthering a human rights agenda.

Decolonisation as a Spatial Question: The Student Accommodation Crisis and Higher Education Transformation

ABSTRACTDebates on epistemological decolonisation have focused on curriculum issues. There has not been sufficient analysis of how questions of decolonisation are shaped by other factors, such as the very spatial location of universities. This article argues that the colonial nature of the university in South Africa is directly linked spatially to the historic land question of dispossession in South Africa. Historically, South African universities came to be fixed as physical and cultural elements of towns and cities based on the broader trajectory of settler-colonialism and apartheid urban development, segregation and the Group Areas logic of the apartheid state. We therefore argue that in order to grapple with transforming the tertiary sector as a whole, we must conceptualise universities not only as spaces of learning but also as spatial entities in themselves that are directly related to the demography and economies of towns and cities. This paper critically explores the spatial locatedness of the university through the crisis of student accommodation encountered by working-class students in the system. We propose that inasmuch as the university is an “epistemic entity” entangled within colonial and imperial circuits of knowledge-making and power, it is also a “spatial entity” located in social geographies of inequality that were produced through racialised spatial relations of colonisation and apartheid.

William Kentridge: Process as Metaphor & Other Doubtful Enterprises

William Kentridge: Process as Metaphor & Other Doubtful Enterprises

Nadine Gordimer’s Strangely Uncanny Realistic Stories: The Chaos and the Mystery of It All

This paper purports to study and develop an aspect of Gordimer’s fiction which has often been overlooked. Uncanny elements may be identified all along her career constituting a kind of return of the repressed. Insects, animals, landscapes, unidentified threats and fears loom large in the background and constitute a menace for the white population most of the time. The black population is confronted with even more direct brutal problems. Thus in an indirect way, an allegorical one in the sense of the etymological “speaking other,” “the situation” under the state of Apartheid is addressed and denounced. Gordimer’s so-called realistic short stories turn out to contain eerie uncanny features. The geography and the history of this African country are called upon to testify to a violent past inscribed on the landscape by mapmakers.

‘Now Is the Time!’ The Importance of International Spaces for Women’s Activism within the ANC, 1960–1976

This article charts ANC women’s feminist struggles in the early exile era, 1960–1976, and how the experience of exile reoriented their approach to anti-apartheid struggles and feminism. It discusses the political events and hierarchies that affected the position of ANC women within the organisation, and how international spaces helped shape their activism. I argue that although women in the ANC made progress under the influence of strong leaders in exile, the situation in South Africa and the ANC’s rigid patriarchal culture meant that women’s fight for political equality was far from successful in this period, both within the apartheid state and the liberation movement itself. Using the experiences of ANC women based in Sweden alongside better-known stories from the ANC headquarters in Dar es Salaam and Lusaka, the article shows that the international connections that women in exile made at this time – throughout Africa, across continents and on the international diplomatic scene – and their exposure to second-wave feminism and black pride had a direct impact on their mobilisation and ability to organise, allowing them to build strength for the late apartheid era.

A Critical View of the Scholarly Discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian Problem

The scholarly discourse about Israel has at least two defects. First, although it is a colonial-settler state that has occupied the entirety of the former British Mandate of Palestine, it is still by and large treated as a “normal” state in the literature; and secondly, even the progressive scholars – who are very critical of Israel for is subjugation of Palestinian rights and massive breaches of human rights – have mostly confined their critique to the Palestinian territories occupied during the 1967 War. Therefore, the progressive scholarship ought to adopt a wider view of Israel’s irregular practices by extending its focus to the entirety of territories corresponding to the former Mandate of Palestine and the entirety of the history of the state of Israel in the context of its occupations, colonial policies, ethnic cleansing, population transfers, systematic racism and massive human rights violations against the Palestinian people. This “new” approach also requires, at least in the context of critical academics, an advocacy for multiple sanctions by international institutions, first and foremost, by the United Nations (UN), to be imposed against Israel as was the case with the Apartheid state of South Africa during the Cold War.

‘Arming Black Consciousness’: The Formation of the Bokwe Group/Azanian Peoples’ Liberation Front, April 1972–September 1976

The Azanian Peoples’ Liberation Front (APLF) was a little-known Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) organisation that formed in the mid 1970s as a complement to the rising tide of non-violent internal activism against apartheid oppression in South Africa. Unlike other Black Consciousness (BC) organisations at the time, the APLF embraced armed struggle and acquired training in exile. This turn to armed struggle was motivated by the inability of the banned nationalist movements, the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), to achieve their stated objectives of bringing down apartheid through force of arms. While the APLF disbanded in July/August 1976 without having fully established itself as an armed wing of the BCM, and having conducting no armed operations as far as we know, this article argues that it succeeded as a political project in two ways. Firstly, the attempt to form an armed wing in exile expanded the ways the growing BCM could mobilise against the repression of the apartheid state. With the older liberation movements beleaguered, the APLF temporarily provided an alternative for activists seeking ways to overthrow apartheid beyond non-violent protest and consciousness-raising projects. Secondly, the process of building global support for the APLF enhanced the radical internationalist politics and presence of BC outside South Africa’s borders. Unearthing this hidden topography of struggle demonstrates the dogged determination of black South Africans to fight for freedom independent of the leadership of the ANC/Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) or PAC/Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA). Indeed, for a brief time, the APLF offered a viable alternative for how the struggle against apartheid would or should be fought and who would or should lead it.

From a developmental to a regulatory state? Sasol and the conundrum of continued state support

ABSTRACT Sasol was established and supported by the apartheid state in South Africa for its strategic position as a liquid fuel and chemical producer. The evolving government treatment of Sasol through various policy measures, and Sasol’s changing corporate strategy under a liberalised economy, represents a key part of South Africa’s transition under democracy from 1994. The article takes Sasol as a case study of industrial policy, regulation and business strategy. We analyse the terms on which the post-apartheid government continued to support Sasol along with the decisions to release Sasol from obligations to repay subsidies it had received and not to impose a tax on windfall gains. We then evaluate the regulatory regime for fuel and gases, the advantages that it bestowed on Sasol, and the ability of competition authorities as regulators of last resort to address Sasol’s entrenched market position. Sasol’s impact on downstream diversified industrial sectors, which rely on it for inputs, is assessed as part of the bigger questions about the failure of South Africa to develop diversified manufacturing capabilities over the last 25 years. The article draws conclusions relating to the political economy of industrial policy, regulation and competition law in addressing Sasol’s entrenched position.

Brothers in Arms: The Role of Broederbond Rectors in the Exercise of Hegemony at the University of Fort Hare, 1960–1981

As members of the secret Afrikaner organisation, the Broederbond, two of the apartheid-era rectors at the University of Fort Hare were responsible for leading an institution that was supposed to spearhead the modernisation of ethnically defined homelands and their transition to independent states, whilst disseminating apartheid values among the black students. Based on unsorted and unarchived documents located in the personal files of the apartheid-era rectors, which included secret correspondence and memoranda of clandestine meetings, this paper illustrates the attempted exercise of hegemony by the apartheid state through its linked network with the university administration during the period 1960 to 1990. This is achieved by demonstrating the interaction between the state, Broederbond rectors and the black students at Fort Hare, who were subjected to persuasion and coercion as dictated by the state’s apartheid vision of a racially defined and separated society.

“The Walls Are So Silent”: Spaces of Confinement and Gendered Meanings of Incarceration in South African Commemorative Art

This paper explores artistic and activist work that has arisen in response to episodes of violence committed by the apartheid state against anti-apartheid activists. More specifically, it considers representations of suffering in South Africa’s public sphere through a comparison of two post-apartheid commemorative spaces: the Johannesburg Central Police Station (formerly John Vorster Square) and a memorial by artist Kagiso Pat Mautloa that is positioned there, and the Johannesburg Women’s Jail at constitution Hill. Mautloa’s memorial is part of the important Sunday Times Heritage Project, and it commemorates the torture and imprisonment of political detainees. The transformation of the Women’s Jail into an activist and artistic space was curated by Churchill Madikida, Lauren Segal and Clive van den Berg. Through an analysis of these two spaces, I consider some of the tensions that arise in representing trauma and suffering in the public sphere and issues that arise from such tensions. How do artistic commemorations of trauma put viewers in the position of bearing witness to and upholding the memory of traumatic pasts? What is the most effective, or respectful, way to memorialise suffering? To what extent can visual culture help promote healing, recovery, and social change?

Critical Nostalgias in Democratic South Africa

ABSTRACTEvidence suggests that some black residents in South Africa experience nostalgia for the racist and authoritarian apartheid regime. What dynamics generate apartheid nostalgia, and what work does it do? This article draws on in-depth interviews with black residents of impoverished urban townships and informal settlements. I argue that by eliminating formal racial discrimination and redirecting popular aspirations towards the state, South Africa’s democratic transition encouraged apartheid nostalgia, which residents deployed to criticize the post-apartheid state and imagine alternative possibilities. Far from uniform, nostalgic expressions focused on four objects: social protection, migrant exclusion, bureaucratic integrity, and white governance. Each object represented an aspect of the apartheid state that residents sought to resurrect. The analysis calls for a shift from a politics of regret, focused on shame for past atrocities, to a politics of nostalgia, which understands idealized projections of past objects as a terrain of struggle.

The Importance of Process and Substance

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 endeavours to reverse the legacy of apartheid. In the process, the judgments of the Constitutional Court have restored and extended many of the fundamentals of fairness and due process that had been trampled on by the apartheid state. This article highlights the important role that Justice Ngcobo’s judgments have played (and continue to play) in our developing jurisprudence on procedural fairness. As it will be demonstrated, the Constitutional Court has begun to work out a home-grown account of due process that not only marks a stark break with our apartheid past, but which also highlights the contextual challenges and features of our new democratic order—and stresses the sometimes—difficult balancing exercise required by our courts in protecting rights while respecting separation of powers. This article, therefore, pays tribute to Justice Ngcobo’s careful thinking around due process, and his insistence through various important judgments on recognising three cardinal features of fairness, which have now come to resonate in the Constitutional Court’s jurisprudence.

“The island is not a story in itself”: apartheid’s world literature

This paper makes two related claims: first I argue that the trope of the island works as a hieroglyph of the apartheid state’s disavowal of Robben Island and all that it represented; and secondly, I illustrate how the texts under analysis also configure the apartheid state as the disavowed of the international community. To do this, I discuss Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona’s The Island (1973) and J.M. Coetzee’s Foe (1986), both of which thematize South African economic and moral isolation through the trope of the island. Both these texts dramatize the moral conditions of life under apartheid within a distinctly transnational frame. As such, I argue, they de-territorialize apartheid and read it as folded-in to its global moment.

Editorial

Can we justify scholarship in apocalyptic times? “Across the world, genocidalstates are attacking Muslims,” reads the title of an opinion piece bysociologist Arjun Appadurai, “Is Islam really their target?”1 “As Israel incarceratesPalestinians and Myanmar drives out its Rohingyas, a reflectionon the predicament of ethnic and racial biominorities,” reads the by-line.Welcome to the club, I thought. For decades, this has been the questionMuslims have asked themselves. The piece ends with little great insight,but it is the banality of the observation, one made by an Indian-Americansociologist, not an al-Qaeda operative ready to blow things up in revenge,that caught my attention. The banality of Muslim blood, that is.Palestine is being shot and bled to death by a fanatic ethno-religious,nationalist, colonizing, apartheid state. We are Palestine. The Rohingya arebeing burned, raped, and annihilated by another ethno-religious, nationaliststate. Rohingyan mothers are birthing en masse the children of theirMyanmar rapists. We are Rohingya. The Kashmiris and millions of IndianMuslims are being deprived daily of their dignity, humanity, and life by yetanother religiously-inspired ethnic nationalism. We are Kashmiris. In China,Uighur Muslim men are being exterminated, held in torture and brainwashingcamps, while their women are forced to cohabitate with Chinesemen.2 In all four cases, an ancient religion has been conscripted to provideidentity, unity, passion, and even the narrative to justify the carnage, somebordering on genocide. A secular, enlightened Europe is pulverizing itsMuslim minorities, minorities that are there only because their lands wereinvaded, exploited, divided, and left to rot under ruined institutions andpuppet regimes propped up by the very same Europeans who cannot tolerateMuslims in their midst. And now, China, the emerging superpower,surpasses them all in its systematic extermination of its Muslim populationor identity. We Muslims (ought to) know better than to blame all Jews, ...

Eventuality of an Apartheid State of Things

Notwithstanding the potential of IoT to revolutionise our personal and social lives, the absence of a solid framework of ethics may lead to situations where smart devices are used in ways uncongenial to the moral fabric of a society. In this work, the authors seek to provide a conceptual framework toward incorporating ethics in IoT. They employ the concept of object for each smart device in order to represent ethics relevant to its context. Moreover, the authors propose dedicating a separate ethics layer in the protocol stack of smart devices to account for socio-cultural ethical aspects of a society. The ethics layer enables us to account for ethical responsibilities of smart devices vis-a-vis society so that inadvertent physical, emotional or psychological harm to human beings is avoided. Such mechanism ensures that devices operate ethically not only at individual level but also at D2D level to give rise to high order ethical structures e.g. ethical home, ethical office, ethical university, ethical city, etc.

‘Mary and Annie resist’: gender and resistance in South Africa 1900s–1950s

ABSTRACTThis paper maps women’s political resistance in South Africa during the first half of the twentieth century. Its primary focus is on African and Indian women and how their differing social and economic realities shaped their political consciousness and shaped their activism against the colonial apartheid state. African women, both urban and rural, were confined to the reserves and subjected to pass laws. Indian women who arrived as indentured and free immigrants were exposed to labour tax and immigration controls. Whilst African and Indian women formed part of the oppressed majority, their resistance up until the 1950s was largely organised along racial lines. This paper highlights the complexity of gendered resistance and the dynamics of Indo-African race relations in South Africa’s road to democracy, via archival sources and oral histories.

Whipping boys: South Africa’s limited reform of judicial corporal punishment in the 1960s and 1970s

ABSTRACTIn 1995, South Africa’s Constitutional Court banned judicial corporal punishment of juveniles and soon thereafter legislation ended it for adults as well, marking an end to a practice that had been widespread since colonial times. During the apartheid period there was first a sharp rise in the use of judicial corporal punishment, contra the recommendations of the 1947 Landsdown Commission, and then a gradual decline after 1965, when legislation restored judicial discretion in cases where whipping had been mandatory since the early 1950s. The 1976 Viljoen Commission recommended a number of reforms, partially implemented in subsequent legislation, but continued to endorse the practice for young males. Using court cases, parliamentary debates and the commission reports, this article explores the motivations for redirecting and somewhat restraining apartheid’s whip hand at the height of the system of white supremacy, in the 1960s, and following the 1976 reappearance of a widespread popular challenge spearheaded by youth. Official discussions indicate a tension between aspiring to meet the standards of what South African elites called ‘civilised’ countries and recognition of the state’s need to enforce masculine discipline in what they termed South Africa’s ‘special’ situation of white rule over a black majority termed ‘primitive’. This article will explore the ambivalent reformist tendencies of the apartheid state at its height, while also analysing the gendered and generational hierarchies and tensions inherent in the application of this form of punishment exclusively to boys and young men.