Politics In South Africa Research Articles

The Mass Action Campaign of 1992: The Ciskei Crisis and the African National Congress in Transition

ABSTRACT The politics of South Africa’s transition to democracy played out beyond the negotiating rooms. In the Eastern Cape’s Border region, where democratic mobilisation faced violent repression by the Ciskei bantustan regime throughout South Africa’s years of transition (1990–1994), a confrontation escalated, which cast national politics into stark relief. By 1992, this developing crisis came to expose the uneasy compromises being made at the negotiation table; the complex politics of homeland reincorporation; and the disconnection between national negotiations and social realities on the ground. The dramatic and fatal march on Ciskei’s capital Bhisho on 7 September 1992, often understood as a pivotal moment of the transition, marked the culmination of a long local campaign to oust Ciskei’s repressive military ruler. This struggle was belatedly supported by the national leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), to clarify its own mass action campaign and to evidence the organisation’s mandate to negotiate. The politics surrounding the crisis in Ciskei and the ANC national leadership’s efforts first to rein in and then to harness the local campaign reveal the tensions at play as leaders sought to transform the organisation from its disparate strands into a party prepared for multiparty elections.

Julius Malema, from Masupatsela to the Formation of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): Historical Narrative

Julius Malema was born in 1982 during the apartheid era in South Africa and began his political journey at an early age. As he rose in the political space, he became prominent, playing a critical role in reviving the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). He was exposed to formal politics from the age of nine when he joined Masupatsela (Trailblazers), the youth brigade of the African National Congress (ANC) at the time. He rose to positions of power through joining the ranks of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), the ANCYL, and post his expulsion from the ANCYL, established his own organisation, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), of which he is the current president, also known as the commander in chief (CiC). The article interrogates Malema's role in South African politics, and how he contributed to growing factionalism in the ANC. First, the article discusses Malema's early stages of joining politics, and his gradual growth, until he became the president of the ANCYL in 2008. Second, the article discusses his role in the politics of the mother body, the ANC, that is, in policies. Third, the article scrutinise why Malema was expelled from the ANCYL and, last, the emergence of the EFF in 2013 and its radical stance in the politics of South Africa.

A decisive clash?: A short history of black protest politics in South Africa 1875-1976

A decisive clash?: A short history of black protest politics in South Africa 1875-1976

Diversionary Post-Coal Politics in South Africa: A Chinese Solar-Powered Industrial Zone Controversy

In September 2021 at a United Nations climate summit in New York, Xi Jinping announced that there would be no further Chinese coal-fired power plants along the Belt and Road Initiative, which stretches as far as South Africa. Instead, the Chinese operator of South Africa’s single largest Special Economic Zone proposal – in rural Makhado – and his local allies suggested that solar power could supply energy for the $10 billion project, including high-emissions industrial projects. This raised the question of whether firms engaged in mining, smelting, processing and other carbon-intensive activities would pick ‘low-hanging fruits’ within the renewable energy sector (instead of that power going into the grid for broader consumption). Their incentive is to do so, in order to safeguard the so-called Minerals-Energy Complex from Western climate sanctions – threatened, on grounds of high CO2-inputs to export products including steel, aluminium and petrochemicals. In spite of a 2022 United Nations Development Programme endorsement of the project, social and environmental resistance has intensified, but the introduction of solar power for high-emissions metal manufacturing presents a special challenge. Two techniques associated with ecological modernisation – natural capital accounting and the Social Cost of Carbon – may prove relevant to civil society critics of ‘extractivism’, in shifting the narrative further across space, time and scale.

A socio-political history of South Africa’s National Health Insurance

BackgroundSpurred by the WHO’s endorsement of universal health coverage as a goal of all health systems, many countries are undertaking health financing reforms. The nature of these reforms, and the policy processes by which they are achieved, will depend on context-specific factors, including the history of reform efforts and the political imperatives driving reforms. South Africa’s pursuit of universal health coverage through a National Health Insurance is the latest in a nearly 100-year history of health system reform efforts shaped by social and political realities.MethodsWe conducted an interdisciplinary, retrospective literature review to explore how these reform efforts have unfolded, and been shaped by the contextual realities of the moment. We began the review by identifying peer-reviewed literature on health system reform in South Africa, and iteratively expanded the search through author tracking, citation tracking and purposeful searches for material on particular events or processes referenced in the initial body of evidence. Data was extracted and organised chronologically into nine periods.ResultsThe analysis suggests that in South Africa politics; the power of the private sector; competing policy priorities and budgetary constraints; and ideas, values and ideologies have been particularly important in constraining, and sometimes spurring, health system reform efforts. Political transitions and pressures - including the introduction of apartheid in 1948, anti-apartheid opposition, the transition to democracy, and corruption and governance failures - have alternately created political imperatives for reform, and constrained reform efforts. In addition, the country’s political history has given rise to dominant ideas, values and ideologies that imbue health system reform with a particular social meaning. While these ideas and values increase opposition and complicate reform efforts, they also help to expose the inequities of the current system as problematic and re-emphasise the need for reform.ConclusionUltimately, this analysis demonstrates the context-specific nature of health system reform processes and the influence of history on what sorts of reforms are politically feasible and socially acceptable, even in the context of a global push for universal health coverage.

Scholarship and Politics in South Africa’s Higher Education system

Scholarship and Politics in South Africa’s Higher Education system

LATENT POLITICS IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE FALL OF APARTHEID AND THE PERSONALITY FACTOR

This paper explores the phenomenon of latent politics in South Africa during the apartheid era. The term ‘latent policy/politics’ was introduced into scientific use by Gabriel Almond. In the field of political science latent policy/politics refers to a hidden, completely or partially unobserved sphere of politics underpinned by personality factors. The political process in South Africa shows many examples of latent politics. For example, the Soweto uprisings and the wave of unrest in mid-1976 marked the beginning of the final stage of the struggle against apartheid. Furthermore, in the fall of apartheid, hidden personality factors are also apparent, and here the role of the liberation movements was of decisive importance. Organizations such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and other historical movements of the masses like the worker movements and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) are also studied in this context. An exploration of latent politics allows inclusive disclosure of various aspects of the political process.

Kontribusi Muslim Minoritas dalam Menggulingkan Rezim Apartheid Di Afrika Selatan (1948-1994)

This thesis aims to describe and analyze: (1) The history of the emergence of apartheid politics in South Africa, and (2) The contribution of Muslims in opposing the apartheid regime in South Africa with the period 1948-1994. This type of research focuses on library reseach. Some of the steps used in researching the object of study are heuristics, verification, interpretation, and historiography or what is often referred to as historical research methodology. The results of this study show that: First, apartheid politics officially lasted for forty-two years (1948-1990). This is against the backdrop of a white group that feels that it is superior to the black group that is seen as slaves, servants. Apartheid, which means separation, was formed with the aim of maintaining the purity of his race, so that to realize it Malan who won the 1948 elections made a kind of political policy strategy that later developed into discrimination against blacks. Second, The policy of implementing apartheid politics that oppresses many blacks, including Muslims, triggers resistance and resistance to the political policies implemented. This movement was realized by a series of Muslim organizations, such as CMYM, CMYA, Al-Qibla and The Call of Islam that strongly opposed the practice of oppression of apartheid regimes. The foundation of thinking used in this study refers to Max Weber's theory of social action.

Migration policy implementation and its politics in South Africa

Globally, migration is to a certain degree an important and highly debated political topic among scholars because of its peculiarity to human movement and relationship between states. Migration is fundamental to liberal democracies and a function of the international system of states. Following the demise of the apartheid system and the adoption of inclusive governance in South Africa in 1994, the country has continued to witness an influx of migrants. However, the call for the deportation and rejection of migrants amongst South Africans has continued to increase with black foreign nationals at the receiving end, sometimes openly or clandestinely done by government officials. Using a qualitative research method, underpinned by the following questions (i) Is South Africa playing politics with its migration policies, while surreptitiously legalizing xenophobism? (ii) Can well-managed migration policies allay the fears of foreign nationals, particularly the blacks in South Africa? (iii) What effects would anti-immigrants’ laws and attitudes have on South Africa’s relations with other [African] countries? The paper argued that South Africa’s preoccupation with restrictionism policies, driven by xenophobism and political interest, seems to have compromised inroads for immigrants that are very important to its economic growth, concluding that unless the rhetoric of a perceived socio-economic threat, posed by migrants, is countered effectively, South Africa’s economies stand to lose out substantially from the implementation of anti-immigration policies.

The Prospects for Socialist Politics in South Africa

Our article endeavours to critically examine the prospects for socialist parties and socialist policy reform in South Africa. Firstly, we seek to provide an appraisal of modern socialist politics and policies globally. Secondly, we attempt to diagnose why South Africa has been as yet unable to fashion a suitable socialist workers’ party during the democratic epoch. In this, the article discusses the prospects of socialist parties and policy reform in South Africa after examining the failure of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party (SRWP) to make an impact at the 2019 polls. Using a combination of comparative methodology and critical inquiry, our study presents not only that socialist politics and policies are valuable to democratic systems, but also that socialist politics should have a more viable vehicle in South Africa. The prospects for deepened ideological development, particularly the formation of a successful socialist or workers’ party, remains quite weak in South Africa but there is considerable evidence to suggest that civil society both requires and desires a more vibrant relationship with modern socialism.

Afro-Communitarianism and the Duties of Animal Advocates within Racialized Societies: The Case of Racial Politics in South Africa.

Animal advocates world-wide have been accused of campaigns immured in racism. Some authors have argued that for animal advocates to avoid this accusation they should simultaneously engage with racial discrimination issues when advocating for animal welfare/rights. This prescription has been mostly explored in the context of the Global North and by looking at Western normative theory. In this article I address this issue but by looking at the context of South Africa and analysing the prescriptions from an Afro-communitarian ethic. I conclude that this ethic prescribes that there is a positive duty to engage in racial discrimination issues and, if one does not do so, a violation of some negative duties occurs.

Book Review : Scholarship and Politics in South Africa’s Higher Education System, Kgothatso B. Shai

Book Review : Scholarship and Politics in South Africa’s Higher Education System, Kgothatso B. Shai

Political Activism in Pentecostal Charismatic Evangelical Churches and the 2019 Elections in South Africa

Abstract This article examines the public messages of the leaders of six Pentecostal Charismatic Evangelical Churches (PCE) in South Africa during the six months leading up to the 2019 presidential elections in that country. All six leaders presented themselves as knowledgeable about politics and as having solutions to ‘fix’ the political corruption and the failing economy that plagued South Africa in 2019. In this analysis it becomes apparent that the leaders had different attitudes to and understanding of politics and political activism. Some strongly advocated political activism among their members, others merely encouraged their members to vote on election day, while a third group did not directly mention politics or voting and did not endorse any form of political activism among the members of their churches. Four reasons explain these differences: (a) the theology of the different churches and their respective understandings of the relationship between faith/spirituality and politics, (b) the PCE leader’s personal perceptions of politics in South Africa, (c) the leaders’ own status as a South African citizen or foreign national, and (d) the socioeconomic situation of the different churches and their members.

PRACTICE OF RACISM IN SOUTH AFRICA POST-APARTHEID

This paper aims to describe: First, the background of the rise of apartheid politics in South Africa. Second, the implementation of apartheid politics in South Africa in 2016-2019. Third, the reaction to the implementation of apartheid politics in South Africa in 2016-2019 and fourth, South Africa after the apartheid period. These four descriptions are to answer the main problem of the occurrence of racist practices in post-apartheid South Africa. The research method uses qualitative with international relations science approach. This research is a descriptive-analytic study, a research that uses a pattern of describing the state of empirical facts with descriptive arguments that are relevant. Then, the results of the description are followed by analysis to draw analytic conclusions. To identify and discuss this problem, the author uses the concept of national identity and racist theory and ethnicity theory. The results of this study indicate that: First, the emergence of apartheid politics in South Africa, was motivated by three things namely historical background, racial background of white supremacy and economic background. Second, the implementation of apartheid politics in South Africa in 2016-2019 was systematically institutionalized and contained in discriminatory laws and applied in various aspects of life, especially in the social, political and economic fields. Third, the reaction to the implementation of apartheid politics in South Africa in 2016-2019 came from within the country and abroad. Fourth, the situation in South Africa after apartheid is the emergence of Xenophobia and its impact on the economic, social and political fields. The practice of racism in South Africa still exists where they still consider racial and skin differences to be very strong and whites still feel they are superior to blacks. This has caused South Africa to be underdeveloped in the economic, political and social fields.

Regulatory Politics in South Africa 25 Years After Apartheid

This paper explores debates and politics over the place of regulatory democracy in contemporary South African constitutionalism. Twenty-five years after the formal legal transition from apartheid, regulatory institutions – by and large not the focus of negotiations in the early 1990s – have increasingly assumed prominence within the South African state. Such organisations and their functions do not fit easily within one ‘branch’ of the classic legal theory of the separation of powers into three parts, namely the judiciary, the legislature, and the executive. A typology of regulatory institutions in the South African polity includes at least four distinct types. The work of these regulatory organisations in formulating and implementing law in post-apartheid South Africa has become significant in politics, especially over the past decade. While the existence and operation of regulatory institutions does not itself comprise the whole of regulatory politics, such organisations do constitute a crucial component of and locus for such politics.

Albert Hertzog’s “Calvinist Speech” and the Verlig-Verkrampstryd: the Origins of the Right-Wing Movement in South Africa

This article analyses the role Dr Albert Hertzog, an ultra-conservative Afrikaner Nationalist, played in the formation of South Africa’s right-wing movement. It focuses on his “Calvinist speech” of 1969 due to its historical significance for the unity of the National Party (NP) and as a broad summary of Hertzog’s personal opinion on the politics of South Africa. The speech contrasted liberal English with Calvinistic Afrikaners and concluded that only an Afrikaner true to Calvinistic principles could succeed in leading the nation through the perilous times they were facing. This opinion was considered offensive to the English population as well as to “enlightened” Nationalists like the Prime Minister, John Vorster. The article will examine how the controversy surrounding the speech precipitated a split in the NP; those expelled formed a right-wing party that failed to gain considerable support. When apartheid was being dismantled in the early 1990s, the movement did not pose a serious threat to the ruling party despite vows that Afrikaners would never surrender their power but rather fight to the bitter end. The failure of these ultra-conservatives originated in the verlig-verkrampstryd of the 1960s, in which Hertzog played a significant role.

Towardsan Indecent Queer Activism: Interrogating the Relationship between Christianity, Civilised Whiteness and Queer Politics in South Africa

Towardsan Indecent Queer Activism: Interrogating the Relationship between Christianity, Civilised Whiteness and Queer Politics in South Africa

The judicialisation of politics in South Africa: A critique of the emerging trend

In apartheid South Africa, the judiciary was relegated to obscurity by a combination of executive dominance and legislative supremacy. The courts of law had a very narrow function, which was to search for, and implement, the ‘intention of Parliament’. This paradigm shifted with the end of apartheid. In the new dispensation, the courts have consistently held that their role has changed markedly. They are now ‘stronger’ than they were under apartheid’s constitutional edifice. This ‘stronger’ position of the judiciary is indisputably in keeping with the transformative nature of the new constitutional dispensation. However, the excessive power of the judiciary also has the potential to distort the desired balance between the three key branches of government; thereby judicialising the functions of the other two political branches. The untrammelled power of the judiciary is as dangerous as a parliament that operates in terms of the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy. The purpose of this article is to critique this arguably emergent pattern of judicialisation of politics in South Africa.

Esoteric decision-making: Judicial responses to the judicialisation of politics, the Constitutional Court and EFF II

Esoteric decision-making refers to the express reliance on apolitical, technical and legal justifications to substantiate a judicial outcome that is preferred for political reasons, which remain unexpressed. Historically, the Constitutional Court has, in the face of highly political cases, relied on a number of esoteric decision-making techniques. These include prevailing on narrow or apolitical sources of law; using technical, formalist modes of reasoning; and exploiting the indeterminism of the separation of powers. Esoteric decision-making may be a necessary and justified judicial response to instances of the judicialisation of politics in order to protect the institutional security, independence and legitimacy of courts. However, when used ineptly, it risks inviting the institutional vulnerability that its use seeks to avoid. To illustrate this point, this paper discusses the majority judgment in EFF II and contrasts it to previous instances in which the Court has applied esoteric decision-making more successfully. Given the prevalence of the judicialisation of politics in South Africa, the Constitutional Court’s continued institutional legitimacy will depend on the careful and strategic application of esoteric decision-making in future cases.

A Pariah Among Parvenus: Anne Fischer and the Politics of South Africa's New Realism(s)

While scholars have begun to explore the complex afterlives of “new realism” in Europe and the Americas following the collapse of Weimar democracy, its reception on the African continent has received far less attention. Looking to the unheralded documentary work that Anne Fischer, a German- Jewish refugee to Cape Town, produced in the early years of the Second World War, this essay examines how she and South African contemporary Constance Stuart Larrabee variously employed German modernist photographic aesthetics to both critique and uphold public fictions of race in the decade leading up to the advent of apartheid. In considering these women's work, the text sheds light on how issues of race, class, and gender inflected Fischer's experience of exile and, in turn, how she mobilized her lens in her new colonial context as a young pariah among parvenus