South Africa Today Research Articles

After the mines: the changing social and economic landscape of Malawi–South Africa migration

ABSTRACTBy the early 1970s, Malawi was the most significant supplier of mine labour to South Africa. Since then, for a variety of reasons, mine migrancy has dwindled. Nevertheless, migration to South Africa today looms large in the popular imagination, and is pursued by substantial numbers of Malawians, particularly men. By comparison with earlier migrants, however, their trajectories are less certain, their strategies more piecemeal. This paper will focus on contemporary migration to South Africa by young men from a particular village in Chiradzulu District, southern Malawi. Emphasising perspectives from their home village, it will offer insight into the impact of their migration upon family and gender relations, the social and economic situations of the wives and matrilineal kin whom they leave behind, and the tangible and intangible impacts of aspirations to South African migration.

After the mines: the changing social and economic landscape of Malawi–South Africa migration

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Franics via https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2016.1273826

Urban social movements in South Africa today: Its meaning for theological education and the church

In the past decade, significant social movements emerged in South Africa, in response to specific urban challenges of injustice or exclusion. This article will interrogate the meaning of such urban social movements for theological education and the church. Departing from a firm conviction that such movements are irruptions of the poor, in the way described by Gustavo Gutierrez and others, and that movements of liberation residing with, or in a commitment to, the poor, should be the locus of our theological reflection, this article suggests that there is much to be gained from the praxis of urban social movements, in disrupting, informing and shaping the praxis of both theological education and the church. I will give special consideration to Ndifuna Ukwazi and the Reclaim the City campaign in Cape Town, the Social Justice Coalition in Cape Town, and Abahlali baseMjondolo based in Durban, considering these as some of the most important and exciting examples of liberatory praxes in South Africa today. I argue that theological education and educators, and a church committed to the Jesus who came ‘to liberate the oppressed’, ignore these irruptions of the Spirit at our own peril.

Mediation, the Political Task

Two paradigms of communication confront each other in South Africa today. One posits an ideal public sphere that recognizes the task of mediation but also requires its effacement. The other, frustrated by deferral, seeks to bypass mediation through apparently immediate forms of speech that range from visual slogans to messianic utterances that can be heard even by the dead. When viewed ethnographically, these competing conceptions and aspirations cannot be linked to particular technologies. On the contrary, the social scene is technologically heterogeneous. Epochal and ontological schemata of mediatic displacement must thus be rethought. In this paper I pursue such a rethinking on the basis of long-term ethnography in the gold-mining region of South Africa following the infamously violent assault on striking miners at Marikana.

‘Past History Has Not Been Forgotten’: The ANC/ZAPU Alliance – the Second Phase, 1978–1980

The apparent camaraderie displayed by Presidents Jacob Zuma and Robert Mugabe, and President Thabo Mbeki’s ‘tilt’ towards Mugabe in electoral controversies in Zimbabwe, have created the impression among many in South Africa that the African National Congress (ANC) and Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) were allies in the struggle against apartheid. The history of the ANC/Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) alliance has been neglected. This article focuses on the almost unknown second phase of the alliance in 1978–80 and its consequences. The history of ZAPU, which lost the struggle for power in Zimbabwe in 1980, has been largely erased, while the ANC has no reason to celebrate an alliance which bedevilled its relationship with independent Zimbabwe for many years. This article reconstructs the story of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) participation with the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) in Zimbabwe in the year or so before the Lancaster House talks in 1979. It then examines the consequences of the alliance for the relationship with ZANU during the 1980s. The second half of the article looks, largely from an ANC perspective, at what was seen by participants as the negative influence of ZIPRA training methods, as transmitted to MK members in ZIPRA camps in Zambia, and by MK veterans of the Zimbabwe war in the Angolan camps, on the political culture of MK. It discusses the allegedly apolitical and anti-intellectual impact of the toyi-toyi, and of songs or chants, such as ‘kill the Boer, kill the farmer’, which were seen as in conflict with the non-racial ethos of the ANC. The article looks finally at the continuing relevance of this anti-intellectual culture, and of Zimbabwean models, in South Africa today.

The unmet need for worker centres in South Africa: results of community advice office survey

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the assistance that is offered to workers on labour-related problems by South African community advice offices. A telephone survey of 129 community advice offices was conducted under the supervision of the author by two interns of the Chris Hani Institute (CHI), followed by five more detailed follow-up interviews with offices where more than 90% of the cases were labour-related. The article presents the findings of the telephone survey on questions, such as: most common workplace-related issues that offices deal with; other types of work beyond offering legal advice (other types of services, advocacy, organising); building workers' power through more long-term engagement; and relationship with trade unions. The literature review, combined with the survey findings, led the author to conclude that today South Africa's community advice offices are only at the beginning stages of realising the need for assisting workers, with a focus primarily on offering advice, thus neglecting the advocacy and organising components, that is widespread in worker advice centres in North America and that was common in South Africa's past.

“AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED”? KARL BARTH AND THE STUDY OF PROPHETIC PREACHING IN SOUTH AFRICA TODAY

This article explores the significance of Karl Barth’s (homiletical) theology for the current study of prophetic preaching in South Africa today. In the first section, I explore and probe the significance in questioning the current study of prophetic preaching in South Africa, and whether one could relate that to the call of reading Barth’s theology anew in the South African context. Thereafter, I explore both these focuses in more detail in their own right – the state of discourse and scholarship in our study of prophetic preaching, and the significance of revisiting and exploring the meaning in Barth’s famous words to do (in the midst of crises) theology “as if nothing had happened”. In the last section, I will spell out some of these insights of Barth for the study and practice of prophetic preaching in South Africa today

Following the Man on the Slippery Slide: Christ in 1 Peter

Man up and take the punch for what is right! Such phrases illustrate the fundamental impact that the construction of Christ, as the central figure of the Christian religion, has had in the violent history of humanity. The manly Christ has been depicted as the ultimate model for every human being, and even more specifically, every man. The image of Christ is often seen as the so-called model of an ideal masculine image. Such essentialist and normative interpretations of Christ's image have had severe consequences for the lived realities of men. Although the emphasis is shifting from having the ultimate answer to posing frequent questions about Christ the Man, Christ is still used as a life-threatening weapon on grass-roots level in the context of gender-based violence in South Africa. This contribution acknowledges that the gendered construction of Christ matters in a violent South African society. Investigating the Christ-image as it is presented in 1 Peter 2:19–25 might shed some light on the problematic notion of men following the example of the noble, suffering Christ (2:19, 21, 23), the Shepherd and Guardian (2:25), while they are being beaten for it (2:20), especially amidst the very real actuality of gender-based violence in South Africa today.

Towards an MIT-Conscious Biblical Studies in South Africa? Glimpsing the Stories of Absent Husbands and Waiting Wives

Professor I.J.J. Spangenberg has invested much of his teaching time at universities in the subject of Biblical Studies among others. He is thus aware of the “glorious” days of the subject as well as of the events which led to its downfall. It is thus fitting that in an article that seeks to honour his scholarship, also aware of his commitment to offerings that would impact on the daily lives of the people, an article that examines a possible new way of offering Biblical Studies in our African contexts, be dedicated to him. When considering the place of Biblical Studies as a school subject in South African history, one cannot but be reminded of the (predictable) fate of the proverbial eagle. Says one African proverb: o se bone go akalala ga bonong, go wa fase ke ga yona: do not puzzled by the (pride) of an eagle which soars so high, its fall is certain. Considering the present (slippery) place of (traditional) Biblical Studies as offered in South African institutions of higher learning, the subject’s future appears to be gloomy. In the era of the MIT’s (Multi, Inter, Transdisciplinarities), (biblical) scholars should be persuaded to move away from their discipline-specific silos to engage with other disciplines in order for the subject to enrich other disciplines and vice versa. If disciplines such (African) History and Folklore Studies are made to interact with the subject of Biblical Studies, which contribution may such a “merger” bring to the study of African Biblical Hermeneutics in (South) Africa today?

Treatment Outcomes and Costs of Providing Antiretroviral Therapy at a Primary Health Clinic versus a Hospital-Based HIV Clinic in South Africa.

BackgroundIn 2010 South Africa revised its HIV treatment guidelines to allow the initiation and management of patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) by nurses, rather than solely doctors, under a program called NIMART (Nurse Initiated and Managed Antiretroviral Therapy). We compared the outcomes and costs of NIMART between the two major public sector HIV treatment delivery models in use in South Africa today, primary health clinics and hospital-based HIV clinics.Methods and findingsThe study was conducted at one hospital-based outpatient HIV clinic and one primary health clinic (PHC) in Gauteng Province. A retrospective cohort of adult patients initiated on ART at the PHC was propensity-score matched to patients initiated at the hospital outpatient clinic. Each patient was assigned a 12-month outcome of alive and in care or died/lost to follow up. Costs were estimated from the provider perspective for the 12 months after ART initiation. The proportion of patients alive and in care at 12 months did not differ between the PHC (76.5%) and the hospital-based site (74.2%). The average annual cost per patient alive and in care at 12 months after ART initiation was significantly lower at the PHC (US$238) than at the hospital outpatient clinic (US$428).ConclusionsInitiating and managing ART patients at PHCs under NIMART is producing equally good outcomes as hospital-based HIV clinic care at much lower cost. Evolution of hospital-based clinics into referral facilities that serve complicated patients, while investing most program expansion resources into PHCs, may be a preferred strategy for achieving treatment coverage targets.

On reading some of Karl Barth's early sermons in South Africa today?

The work of Karl Barth has been quite influential in South Africa, but what about the value of his sermons and their influence on Barth’s reading and mainline preaching in South Africa nowadays? After a short introduction, I discern, in four sections, the value and worth of reading Barth’s early sermons in South Africa at present. I first hear anew the value of reading Barth in South Africa nowadays. Thereafter, I discern the current state of homiletics. Against this background, I pay attention critically to some of Barth’s early sermons (1917-1920) while he was still a minister in Safenwil. Finally, I discern some of the value this project may currently have for theology and preaching in South Africa.

Remembering the Heidelberg Catechism in South Africa today? Some remarks on the commemoration of a 16<sup>th</sup> century reformed confession

With the 450 th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism of 2013 in mind, this article offers some remarks on the question what it means to remember and commemorate this 16 th century Reformed confession in South Africa today. The first part of the article argues that commemorations invite us to be conscious of the close link between memory and identity, as well as to the fact that our memories of the past are often highly contested memories. The second part of the paper comments on the status of the Heidelberg Catechism as a historical document, while the third part of the paper extends the discussion with a focus on the reception of the Heidelberg Catechism in South Africa. By highlighting a few episodes from its reception history, the article affirms the view of the Heidelberg Catechism as an important identity marker amidst contestation.

Re-considering intercultural actor training in South Africa today: ‘borrowing on our own terms’

This article focuses on intercultural actor training at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 2005/2006; it argues for a studio curriculum theory and praxis as one of ‘Borrowing on our own terms’. To achieve this, the following areas are explored: (a) the context of the city (noting the apartheid and colonial past); (b) South African Township political theatre as informing a core approach to acting pedagogy; (c) the focus on a concept-driven curriculum which aims to interact with an intercultural ethos. This notion locates itself in dialogue with historical and global approaches, which enables ideas from the world to be incorporated. Thus, the intention is on a re-considering of actor training where the focus is on the city (Johannesburg) and various global ideas being incorporated on our terms (i.e. resisting the ethics of appropriation by past hegemonic and pedagogical practice). Informed by these notions, training, de facto, implies a resistance to centuries of appropriation by the colonial and apartheid project. Our ethos was: ‘we have our traditions, our uniqueness; now what do we wish to incorporate from the world; in this way we might reconfigure the ethical debates of interculturalism and borrow what we want’.

How can a Conquered People Sing Praises of their History and Culture? Africanization as the Integration of Inculturation and Liberation

It has become fashionable to hear the term “Africanization” used increasingly in public discourse in South Africa today. It would seem that such talk realizes that the embodiment of Africanization implies that change is inevitable in theological curricula. For proper Africanization to be realized, however, a history of dislocation must be evoked. This article is an attempt to highlight the view that Africanization as a form of public discourse must engage with a number of substantive issues related to Africa, if this is to be taken seriously. This article laments a culture of conquest, which, inter alia, had accelerated the dismissal of African worldviews and knowledge systems, as irrelevant and unnecessary, for the true salvation of the African subject.

Framing the problem of rape in South Africa: Gender, race, class and state histories

With rates of rape in South Africa among the highest in the world, the significance of context has surfaced repeatedly in South African scholarship on rape. Most commonly, rape is understood as a symptom of deep and pervasive gender inequality, historical, social and economic legacies of apartheid as well as post-apartheid state discourses that have normalized rape and enabled it to be tolerated. In addition, the role of masculinities has received significant attention, linked to social and economic histories and contemporary political narratives. This article considers how scholarly discussions on rape in South Africa are evolving. Applying a critical sociological lens of enquiry to the ways in which the problem of rape is constructed, it outlines the significance of state histories in understandings of rape in South Africa today, the explicit and implicit ways in which research and writing on rape is racialized and classed, and considers the implications of this.

A Reformed perspective on the concept of the ‘common good’ and its relevance for social action in South Africa today

This article investigates the idea of the ‘common good’ from a Classic Reformed perspective and the possibilities raised by a fresh approach to the concept for social action by civil society in South Africa today. The central theoretical argument of this article is that the new interest in the concept of natural law, as became evident in modern-day moral reflection in the Classic Reformed moral teaching, can indeed contribute to a new positive assessment of the concept common good and can provide a valuable framework for the foundation of reformed social action in cooperation with civil society in South Africa today. Firstly, the concept is discussed within the framework of the reformed idea of ‘natural law’ and the argument concludes with the finding that the concept can be accommodated in Reformed Theology. Secondly, a case is made for the cooperation between churches, other religious institutions and the broader civil society to cooperate on the basis of the common good and global ethics to address three areas of serious concern in the South African society. These are the promotion of the idea of human dignity within the social sphere with special reference to racism, xenophobia and sexism as well as the development of family life and family values, and the advancement of the idea of neighbourliness as a core ingredient of social healing and reconciliation.

Reading ‘blackface’: A (narrative) introduction to Richard Kearney’s notion of carnal hermeneutics

Prominent Irish philosopher Richard Kearney’s notion of ‘carnal hermeneutics’ is introduced by applying it to a case study of a recent event that took place at one of South Africa’s university campuses. The narrative assists in illuminating some of the core principles of carnal hermeneutics and illustrates the applicability of carnal hermeneutics as a ‘diagnostic caring for lived existence’. In the process, an analysis is also given of the event in question, which is connected to what has widely been labelled as ‘blackface’. In conclusion, the contextual, philosophical, ethical, and theological implications of carnal hermeneutics are explored with an eye on theological praxes in South Africa today. Keywords: Carnal Hermeneutics; Hermeneutics; Flesh; Body; Richard Kearney; Merleau-Ponty; Ricoeur; Blackface

The languages of xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa: Reviewing migrancy, foreignness, and solidarity

abstractThis open forum argues that the language and discourse of xenophobia is a shared experience among people who are seen and constructed as being from ‘elsewhere’ in four different provinces in South Africa. It suggests that use of xenophobic discourse and language, the precarious nature of living conditions, labour conditions and restricted access to citizenship rights from the State, are experienced by all people who are categorised as ‘migrants’ internally, and those described as ‘foreigners’ or ‘refugees’ by Government officials.What this open forum will also show is that the Pan-Africanism and collective ideas of freedom, struggle and resistance or ‘bonds of solidarity’ among migrant labourers, both from other countries as well as the former Bantustans during the struggles against apartheid, should not be confined to a nostalgic past, but seen as very much present in South Africa today. This solidarity is perhaps not so much about a shared history of struggle against colonialism and apartheid, although this too may be extant, but is rather informed by a shared present where some are seen as citizens with freedom of movement and access to services from the State, while others are excluded. The notion of citizenship, then, becomes refracted, not merely through the making of the new categories of ‘foreigners’ through labour migration, but also through deeply raced and classed discourses which inform who is viewed as a migrant and who is not.

Complexities and contradictions of doctoral education in South Africa

I read this lucidly written and empirically rich book with much interest as someone who both researches higher education and grapples with many of the supervision challenges discussed. The experienced authors of Doctoral Education in South Africa have provided a valuable overview of the central issues and topics relevant to doctoral education internationally and then applied more specifically to the African and South African contexts. The central thesis of the book is carefully mapped out in the first chapter. The thesis is that 'Four imperatives intersect in current debates on the production of PhDs in South Africa. These four discourses concern global and national competition (the imperative for growth), efficiency, transformation and equality' (p.20). The analytical framework that is constructed on the basis of these four imperatives 'capture[s] the ecology (the external demand and accountability environment) of doctoral education and training in South Africa today' (p.23). Particularly useful is the manner in which the framework takes account of the external factors as well as the dynamics between students and supervisors within universities. These four imperatives, or discourses, are then used as the basis for organising the empirical chapters of the book.

The Decline of African Nationalism and the State of South Africa

This article explores the electoral performance of the African National Congress (ANC) to argue that there is evidence of a two-fold movement. On the one hand the ANC is weakening as a national organization, and on the other the ANC is strengthening as a regional party based in KwaZulu-Natal. This article explores the significance of these developments for democracy in South Africa today and, more importantly, for the integrity of the South African nation. The article argues that the ANC has historically been the main mover of an inclusive (‘cosmopolitan’) vision of South Africa. As it weakens and metamorphoses, what will happen to its commitment to this brand of African nationalism? Furthermore, are the conditions of a South African nation sufficiently in place that the future of the country as a national community is secure, even as the ANC’s commitment to such a vision weakens?