South African Democracy Research Articles

What a mess: Rethinking municipal waste management 30 years into South African democracy

What a mess: Rethinking municipal waste management 30 years into South African democracy

The Impact of Public Participation Through Invited and Invented Spaces on Water Supply in Urban Informal Settlements

Though public participation forms part of the foundation of the South African democracy, insufficient consideration has been paid to the processes of public participation at local government, particularly in the provision of water supply in informal settlement communities. Informal settlements and their leadership structures are continuously excluded and overlooked in decisions and plans around water supply for their designated communities by invited public participation platforms such as ward committees and ward councillors. As a result, this has negative implications on the settlements’ access to water supply. It is within this context that this article demonstrates how the exclusion of informal settlement communities and their leadership structures in water supply decision making processes at local government exacerbate and enforce water struggles in informal settlements. This paper uses a qualitative research approach. The data was collected using field observations, photographic images, in-depth household interviews, in-depth interviews with community leaders and key informants.

Decolonisation and South African Psychology research 30 years after democracy

On the occasion of 30 years of South African democracy, we reflect on the current state of Psychology research in South Africa. We conducted a situational analysis of all papers appearing in the South African Journal of Psychology ( SAJP) and abstracts in PsycINFO with the keyword ‘South Africa’ over the last 5 years and compared the results with a previous review that used the same methodology. Findings show an increase in papers using ‘hard’ science approaches and a decrease in systems-oriented theories. Assessment remains a major topic. While COVID-19 and climate change featured, there remains a lack of or low focus on several key psycho-social issues experienced by South Africans. People living in poorer provinces and young and older people are under-represented in knowledge production. Collaborations or comparisons with other African or South American countries have decreased. Positively, production is being spearheaded by South African scholars or people affiliated with South African institutions. Using a decolonising lens that foregrounds epistemic justice, we conclude that substantial work remains to be done for knowledge production in South African Psychology to fulfil the decolonising imperative of distributive epistemic justice.

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.

“One Does Not Do That to a Human Being”: Reading A Man of Good Hope (2015) as a Testimonio of Human Rights

Human rights are central to South Africa’s nationalist struggle and imaginings of a democratic dispensation. Amongst other institutions, the Human Rights Commission, the South African Constitution, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Freedom Charter have historically been tasked with enshrining human rights in processes, relationships and moralities defining South African democracy. However, over the years, conceptions of who is entitled to human rights and protection have continued to shift, especially in the wake of increasing numbers of migrants seeking different forms of refuge in South Africa. This article turns to literature as a site to encounter contemporary discourse on migrant human rights in the country. Using Jonny Steinberg’s biography A Man of Good Hope (2015), the article explores how the biography’s styling as a testimonio allows it to critically engage the question of human rights and (in)justice in relation to migrants. Focusing on the protagonist’s witnessing of migrants’ violated lives and themes of victimhood, suffering and dehumanisation, the article examines the ethics of human rights and justice in A Man of Good Hope.

Plurality and Constitutionalism

In the establishment of the new South African democracy, modernisation through constitutionalism, globalisation and economic freedom resulted in a pluralist space with pluralist ideas and pluralist politics. Living in plurality means living in a world of difference and living cooperatively with other religions, and this is also inextricably entangled with the history, economics, politics and culture of societies and individuals. Religion remains a key player in society, and, though the State is seen as secular, the Constitution does recognise and support religions and protects the religious rights of the citizenry. But navigating religious differences in a liberal democracy can create tensions when the application of rights is blind to how citizens differ. This article reveals how constitutional interpretations in public education can be perceived by religions as unequal treatment underscoring the limits of plurality.

COMMENTARY – THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA APPROACHING 30 YEARS OF POST‐APARTHEID DEMOCRACY

As South Africa approaches 30 years of democracy, it is important to pause to reflect and analyze the trajectory of human rights since the fall of the apartheid regime and the advent of multiracial democracy. Although there was a large global movement against apartheid, this movement's vigilance for human rights in South Africa quickly declined and dissolved with the advent of South African democracy. There is little critical engagement with South Africa's contemporary human rights record and policies by global human rights activists, nongovernmental organizations, and civil society and still less active campaigning in defense of the human rights of South Africans, especially South Africa's most vulnerable and disadvantaged black majority. The energy that was summoned to protest apartheid and to boycott it never returned since the advent of democracy. This commentary explores the current state of human rights in South Africa, their prospects, and challenges to their respect, protection, and fulfillment.

Service delivery inaccessibility as a predictor of teenage pregnancy in South Africa.

With the onset of the South African democracy in 1994 it was hoped that many social inequalities would be addressed urgently. However, studies have shown that service delivery inaccessibility remains a challenge and investigating the social implications of such injustices remains important. This study determined to establish the association between service delivery inaccessibility and adolescent pregnancy in South Africa. Using data from 2019 and 2021 general household surveys, 7 737 teenage females were included. The study applied descriptive statistics, chi-squared testing as well as multilevel binary logistic regression. Random-intercept multilevel binary logistic regression revealed that the risk of adolescent pregnancy independently increased as the level of service inaccessibility increased at household level (no services: OR=1.73, 1 service: OR=1.40, 2 services: OR=1.28) and community level (medium: OR=1.22, high: OR=1.38) at a P-value of 0.05. Findings highlight the need to guarantee universal service delivery urgently not only for development, but also to prevent adolescent pregnancy. Furthermore, the findings present evidence of structural factors driving adolescent pregnancy in South Africa, which renders continued cycles of poverty, injustice and early pregnancy amongst the majority of Blacks.

What Went Right? South African Democracy and the Study of Political Science

Abstract South Africa has been an important case in both scholarship and the public eye for decades. The anti-apartheid struggle saw mass international participation, and there was significant international optimism about the South African transition to multiracial democracy in 1994. Yet in the years since the advent of the new democratic dispensation in South Africa, a kind of pessimism has set in about the prospects for the country and for its democracy. Into this conversation Evan Lieberman's book, Until We Have Won Our Liberty, inserts a new perspective, arguing that South African democracy has been remarkably successful. Relying on a largely descriptive analysis of progress in infrastructure, rights guarantees, and dignified development, Lieberman argues that democratic performance in the country, especially given the starting point for democracy, has exceeded reasonable expectations. Lieberman's focus on what has gone right in South African democracy bucks many disciplinary and scholarly norms but presents a compelling argument for introspection on the part of the field.

Populism as African Fascism? Examining the Economic Freedom Fighters in Postapartheid South Africa

The twenty-first-century global resurgence in populism has raised academic contention over whether populism undermines or deepens democracy. This question is particularly relevant in postcolonial contexts such as South Africa. Populism can be of both the left and right. Fascism, one permutation of it, has been confined by leftist academics to right-radical nationalism. Contemporary South African populism in the form of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the country's third-largest political party, confounds neat categorization. An academic and political debate has ensued about whether the EFF presents a fascist threat to South African democracy. This article extends the scrutiny of the EFF beyond what has been undertaken thus far, to situate and analyze it in relation to economic, political, and social features of fascism, contextual and ideological conditions, and the use of rhetoric and violence.

Negotiating Offence of Fallist Proportion

The removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town in 2015, prompted by the student Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) campaign, represents a window into how questions of race, art and inequality intertwined as they played out some twenty-five years into South African democracy. Since RMF then turned to the artwork exhibited at University of Cape Town, finding in it a collectively degraded vision of blackness − even though much of it was created in support of the anti-Apartheid struggle − this interpretive mismatch then became central to the university’s conflict. The sense of offense felt by RMF over these artworks could, in all probability, not have been negotiated at the time, leading to the abstract question of how such offense might ideally be negotiated. About this, I introduce a dialogical notion, one involving reflection on the part of both parties: the offender and the offended.

Emotional political advertising

The real possibility exists that the overemphasis of a party’s image in advertisementscould lead to the neglect of important political information for voters. Emotional andnegative advertisements could therefore be detrimental to any young democracy.Against this background this article investigates the use of emotional persuasive appealsand negative messages in political newspaper advertisements in the North-West Provinceduring South Africa's general elections in 1999.The results indicate that although all the parties in the study used emotional appeals,they mostly connected them to a policy issue. However, these policy issues were notelaborated on. The opposition parties mostly used appeals of uncertainty, fear and rage.The ruling party in the province (the ANC) concentrated on appeals of hope andachievement.The ANC virtually abstained from using negative messages, while the DP, the NNP andthe FF "attacked" one another in order to emphasise their differences. They did not harmthe sustainability of the South African democracy as such, but they also did very littleto promote it actively through their media advertisements.

Review of Prisoners of the Past: South African Democracy and the Legacy of Minority Rule

Review of Prisoners of the Past: South African Democracy and the Legacy of Minority Rule

8 - Transformative Autonomy: Mixed Notes from Teachers to Higher Education

Transformative autonomy is ‘the form of autonomy in which school role players, such as teachers, have the urge to be involved with fellow role players in education development initiatives towards social transformation which contributes to democracy’ (Nel 2014: 790). This theoretical construct was formulated to narrow the gap between teaching practice and societal concerns since it recognizes that teachers do have a certain degree of au- tonomy over their professional practice but also a responsibility towards the evolving South African democracy. In an effort to test the veracity of transformative autonomy as a theoretical construct data was gathered from three sets of participants: twenty-six postgraduate students, thirteen rural primary school teachers and thirty-one conference delegates. Some key findings are that participants generally acknowledged their control over curriculum aspects and some degree of control over matters of discipline. A curious finding is the appearance of discipline as an aspect over which some participants felt they have control and other participants felt they had no control. These findings, and others, are discussed in the context of transformative autonomy. One of the main conclusions is that these par- ticipants display an intuitive understanding of their autonomy as teachers but that they still do not have a clear idea of how to link their expertise to societal transformation. It is lastly concluded that the issue of autonomy has epistemological implications insofar as the condition of knowledge production, reproduction and dissemination is concerned, all of which impact on teachers’ intellectual integrity. Higher education, therefore, is alerted to its responsibility in teacher training.

South African Amnesty 2.0: Incomprehensible?

The South African democracy faces a crisis of legitimacy and identity that locks it into a state of inertia. The state is proving unable to critically advance the constitutional ends of transformative democracy. It lacks the strategic concepts and arguments to do so and has subsequently become embroiled in an existential battle for the soul of the country. As a critical contribution, this essay evokes the need for politically expedient approaches and arguments. It reflects on the past, on the methodologies employed to bring about the unitary, democratic state, and on the need to look at purposeful, albeit incomprehensible, strategies that will allow transcendence beyond the current impasse. By and large, South Africa sets an example. It is a laboratory for democracy, and for that very reason, much like Athens, it will long remain an oddity, not only in Africa (as the Afro pessimists’ simplistic litany would like to have us believe) but also in global politics. South Africa is a test case for global democracy; it is a test case for rhetoric; and it is a test case for the relevance of rhetoric studies in a postmodern democracy.

Building peace one school at a time: a case study for Catholic schools in South Africa

South African democracy was born in 1994 after years of oppression and dehumanisation. Through the implementation of Child Safeguarding Policies from 2012, deep unhappiness in schools was uncovered and the use of corporal punishment which was abolished in 1996 became apparent. Teachers were adamant that corporal punishment was the only means of discipline that worked and most school discipline processes were punitive, leading to a breakdown in relationships. Faced with this challenge, the Catholic Institute of Education developed a programme based on Restorative Justice to strengthen relationships and manage conflict and tensions. The Building Peaceful Schools programme began in 2013 using an iterative process which involved three workshops: Peacebuilding, Conflict Management and Restorative Justice. In order to measure change impacts, a school climate survey for pupils was added in 2016. Results suggest slow but steady improvement.

Political Engagement and Opinions of Youth in Post-apartheid South Africa: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT Since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, a new generation of ‘Born Frees’ have been able to vote. With a worldwide decrease in formal political engagement and a rise in alternative forms of political participation among the youth, this qualitative study investigates political engagement among youth from the Pretoria area. Six focus groups were conducted from 2014 to 2018. The results indicate that post-apartheid youth are not a monolithic group. Some youth were enthusiastic and regarded voting as a rite of passage to adulthood. Voting was, furthermore, perceived as a valued right, an obligation due to those who struggled against apartheid, and a way to influence society. However, some black participants voiced apathy and/or disillusionment with the current (older) political leadership and parties. Not voting was perceived as a conscious act of political opposition. Conclusions are drawn about the implications for the South African democracy.

THE SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTION OF 2014: RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT

1. Introduction The outcome of the 7 May 2014 general elections in South Africa would seem to indicate, at first glance, that the business of democracy is continuing as usual. As Table 1 suggests, the African National Congress (ANC) may have obtained its lowest ever share of the vote, yet it obtained a result that was in many ways remarkable given its 20 years in power. Indeed, far from choosing to turn the rascals out, the electorate returned them with a resounding 62 per cent of the poll, only marginally less than in 1994. Further, it re-elected the ANC in eight out of the nine provinces (it having always previously won outright in seven or more). Correspondingly, the Democratic Alliance (DA) continued its steady rise in the polls, defying oft-made predictions that it in 2009 it was approaching its 'racial ceiling' (that is, that while able to aggregate the votes of racial minorities, it is unable to attract the votes of black Africans). Thirdly, while much hype has accompanied the birth of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the latter's securing of over six per cent of the votes--while highly creditable for a party formed only months before the election--may define it as a new 'third' party along the lines of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) in 1999 and the Congress of the People (Cope) in 2009. As with the EFF, both of these were essentially breakaways from the ANC, and both proved unable to maintain their share of the vote after a reasonable first showing. This points to a fourth dimension of election 2014--the continuing squeeze of the smaller parties, and the seeming drift towards a de facto two-party system, within the context of ANC party dominance (Southall 2014). ANC intellectual Pallo Jordan (2014) has compared the result of the 2014 election with that of 1994, and concluded that South Africa is coming to resemble a 'normal' democracy, with the DA having taken the place of the New National Party--NNP (and drawing its votes from the same electoral basis). Such a 'normal' democracy does not, self-evidently, exclude the representation of parties other than the big two, yet it manages to severely constrain their electoral territory. This and other tendencies are illustrated by Table 1: There is much to be said for the 'business as usual' perspective on the 2014 elections. Nonetheless, it is arguable that if we dig beneath the surface, then the outcome also points to undercurrents that are likely to challenge the character of South African democracy. In what follows below, I suggest: --first, that while continuing to remain solid overall, the foundations of the ANC's vote are beginning to crumble; --second, that the DA gives every indication that it will continue to rise in the polls; --third, that even if the EFF proves no more able than the UDM and Cope to sustain a significant political presence, its appearance suggests a new dimension to 'third' party politics. 2. The ANC: Defying expectations--but for how long? The ANC entered the election against the background of opinion polls that suggested that it might be hauled back to just over 50 per cent of the vote. Widespread labour disputes, highlighted by the tragedy of Marikana (when police killed 44 striking mineworkers) and the long running strike on the platinum mines, combined with other depressing news to contribute to declining confidence in the economy. The death of Nelson Mandela in December 2013 symbolised for many the end of an era, reinforcing narratives that the ANC had lost its idealism, and had become the vehicle of a political class out of touch with its historic constituency amongst, notably, the poor. Indeed, a continuing high level of popular protests among communities around the country highlighted deep-seated discontent with government performance on the ground. Meanwhile, the coalition which had elevated Jacob Zuma to the presidency had begun to dissolve, and the President himself, a major asset in the elections of 2009, had become a major electoral liability, with numerous allegations that he had used state office to benefit his family and those around him at public expense. …

IN THIS ISSUE

In the first of two Research Articles, diaspora in a sub-regional context is the focus of the micro-study by Saint José Inaka. His analysis of the political clashes between militant and non-militant oriented. Congolese factions in Pretoria draws attention to a hitherto largely unknown phenomenon. The fights between grassroots activists relating to differences in political support in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have since the 2000s expanded into the local arena of the South African capital. Until then mainly a domain of middle classes and elites operating transnationally, the dividing line is less between those for or against the Kabila government than those for or against the use of violence. According to Inaka, Pretoria's leniency towards the militant combattants allows them to limit the activities of those preferring peaceful means in support of change at home. Interestingly, the author submits that being exposed to the South African democracy has the impact of setting an example and reference point for how Congolese would like to be governed in their home country.

Substantiewe beleidsimplementering en die erosie van kiesersvertroue as faktore in die konsolidering van die Suid-Afrikaanse demokrasie

As vertrekpunt vir hierdie artikel word Suid-Afrika beskryf as 'n ontwikkelingstaat, tans onderworpe aan 'n proses van demokratiese konsolidasie. Hierdie onafgehandelde proses word direk verbind aan die oorgang vanaf 'n ou (apartheids-) na 'n nuwe (demokratiese) bedeling. In hierdie opsig word Suid-Afrika dan ook ingesluit onder die definisie van 'n transformasionele staat. Die term "transformasionele demokrasie" verwys vervolgens na 'n demokrasie wat tot stand gekom het as gevolg van 'n bevrydingstryd, en getransformeer het vanaf 'n outokratiese of koloniale regime na 'n konstitusionele staatsorde. Daar word geargumenteer dat daar in vele opsigte voldoen is aan die vereistes van prosedurele transformasie ná 1994, met die aanvaarding van die grondwet in 1996 en die instelling van konstitusioneel-demokratiese strukture en instansies, en veral die hervorming van die regstelsel en die instelling van vrye en regverdige verkiesings. In terme van substantiewe transformasie bly die proses egter nog onafgehandel. Dit is juis hierdie gebrek aan substantiewe transformasie wat gelei het tot 'n afname in kiesersdeelname en kiesersvertroue. Teen hierdie agtergrond is die oogmerk van die artikel om die effek van die erosie van kiesersvertroue op die politieke landskap en die uiteindelike proses van sowel historiese as huidige demokratiese konsolidasie in Suid-Afrika te bepaal. Ten einde hierdie doel te bereik word daar eerstens, op 'n holistiese wyse, gefokus op die rol van die staat in moderne ontwikkelende demokrasieë. Tweedens word die artikel vernou tot die aard van kiesersvertroue in gevestigde en trans-formasionele demokrasieë. Teen hierdie kontekstuele agtergrond word derdens gefokus op die Suid-Afrikaanse situasie. Hier word spesifiek verwys na die stygende trajek van onder-steuning vir die ANC in nasionale en plaaslike verkiesings tussen 1994 en 2004, met daarteenoor die moontlike oorsake vir die afname in ondersteuning vir die ANC-regering ná 2004. Terselfdertyd word die afname in stemopkoms reeds sedert die verkiesing in 1999 in teenstelling tot die groeiende stemouderdompopulasie (SOP) tot en met die nasionale verkiesing in 2019 onder die soeklig geplaas. Met die oog op die projeksie van 'n toekoms-scenario rakende politieke konsolidasie word die daling in stemopkoms en die onderliggende erosie van kiesersvertroue in die Suid-Afrikaanse politieke landskap, ter afsluiting, in verband gebring met mislukkings in die bereiking van veral substantiewe ontwikkelingsdoelwitte en -uitkomste.