20 Years of South African Democracy: So Where to now?

20 Years of South African Democracy: So Where to now? PDF Author: MISTRA MISTRA
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1928509096
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 173

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Book Description
This publication is the outcome of a conference marking the beginning of South Africas third decade of democracy hosted in November 2014 by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) and the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute (TMALI) at the University of South Africa (Unisa). The conference was entitled 20 Years of South African Democracy: So Where to Now? The main focus of the conference was projective reflections into the next two decades of democracy. It aimed to deal with the theoretical perspectives underpinning the state of South Africa in two decades of democracy and, most importantly, prospects for the future.

20 Years of South African Democracy: So Where to now?

20 Years of South African Democracy: So Where to now? PDF Author: MISTRA MISTRA
Publisher: African Books Collective
ISBN: 1928509096
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 173

Get Book Here

Book Description
This publication is the outcome of a conference marking the beginning of South Africas third decade of democracy hosted in November 2014 by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) and the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute (TMALI) at the University of South Africa (Unisa). The conference was entitled 20 Years of South African Democracy: So Where to Now? The main focus of the conference was projective reflections into the next two decades of democracy. It aimed to deal with the theoretical perspectives underpinning the state of South Africa in two decades of democracy and, most importantly, prospects for the future.

A Rumour of Spring

A Rumour of Spring PDF Author: Max du Preez
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
ISBN: 1770225447
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Democracy in South Africa turns twenty on 27 April 2014. In A Rumour of Spring, Max du Preez investigates and analyses the progress and lack of progress the country has made during these twenty years. A Rumour of Spring looks at the legacies of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki in an attempt to understand how we got here, and examines Jacob Zuma’s presidency to better understand where we are. In the context of blatant corruption, populism and tragedies such as the Marikana massacre, the book considers the current state of the ruling party and the opposition, and dissects the big issues currently afflicting our society, including the state of education, land reform, crime and policing, the judiciary, nationality and race. And then, with images of the Arab Spring fresh in our collective memory, it dares to look to the future and what it may hold. An honest and balanced account, A Rumour of Spring tackles the questions asked by ordinary South Africans every day: How are we really doing? What is really going on in our country? How should we understand what is happening here? And will it get any better?

We, the People

We, the People PDF Author: Albie Sachs
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1776140001
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
A stirring collection of public talks and essays by an activist and former judge offers an intimate insider’s view of South Africa’s Constitution. This stirring collection of essays and talks by activist and former judge Albie Sachs is the culmination of more than 25 years of thought about constitution-making and non-racialism. Following the Constitutional Court's landmark Nkandla ruling in March 2016, it serves as a powerful reminder of the tenets of the Constitution, the rule of law and the continuous struggle to uphold democratic rights and freedoms. We, the People offers an intimate insider's view of South Africa's Constitution by a writer who has been deeply entrenched in its historical journey from the depths of apartheid right up to the politically contested present. As a second-year law student at the University of Cape Town, Sachs took part in the Defiance Campaign and went on to attend the Congress of the People in Kliptown, where the Freedom Charter was adopted in 1955. Three decades later, shortly after the bomb attack in Maputo that cost him his arm and the sight in one eye, he was called on by the Constitutional Committee of the African National Congress to co-draft (with Kader Asmal) the first outline of a Bill of Rights for a new democratic South Africa. In 1994, he was appointed by Nelson Mandela to the Constitutional Court, where he served as a judge until 2009. We, the People contains some of Sachs' most memorable public talks and writings, in which he takes us back to the broad-based popular foundations of the Constitution in the Freedom Charter. He picks up on Oliver Tambo's original vision of a non-racial future for South Africa, rather than one based on institutionalised power-sharing between the races. He explores the tension between perfectability and corruptibility, hope and mistrust, which lies at the centre of all constitutions. Sachs discusses the enforcement of social and economic rights, and contemplates the building of the Constitutional Court in the heart of the Old Fort Prison as a mechanism for reconciling the past and the future. Subjective experience and objective analysis interact powerfully in a personalised narrative that reasserts the value of constitutionality not just for South Africans, but for people striving to advance human dignity, equality and freedom across the world today.

In The Shadow of Mandela

In The Shadow of Mandela PDF Author: Alexander Johnston
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 178831770X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
This outstanding and original work goes to the heart of South Africa's political problems - doubts as to the sustainability of the post-apartheid settlement, beset with divisions in the ruling ANC, factionalism, corruption and the widening of fault-lines in state and society. The 'leadership issue' has become key and this will be the first specific examination of leadership in the light of Mandela's legacy and its effect on his successor as potential and actual leaders - all in 'the shadow of Mandela' as the architect of the transition from apartheid to democracy, and with overarching moral authority and international reputation. Alexander Johnston shows how his successors are judged against Mandela's achievements, including the potentially impressive 'lost' leaders and concentrating on his immediate successors, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. The book concludes with an in-depth assessment of new president Cyril Ramaphosa's potential to be a leader for a 'new dawn'. This is an objective and critical work by a close observer who acknowledges the achievement of South African leadership but is acutely aware of the doubts as to the sustainability of South Africa's hard won democratic settlement. An essential read for all readers interested in leadership and in the traumatic history and future of Africa's leading state, as the continent rises to global importance.

A Life for Freedom

A Life for Freedom PDF Author: Denis Goldberg
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813166853
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
From June 1963 to October 1964, ten antiapartheid activists were tried at South Africa's Pretoria Supreme Court. Standing among the accused with Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, and Walter Sisulu was Denis Goldberg. Charged under the Sabotage and Suppression of Communism Acts for "campaigning to overthrow the government by violent revolution," Goldberg was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The only white man convicted during the infamous Rivonia trial, he played a historic role in the struggle for justice in South Africa. In this remarkable autobiography, Goldberg discusses growing up acutely aware of the injustice permeating his homeland. He joined the South African Communist Party and helped found the Congress of Democrats. It was his role as an officer in the armed underground wing of the African National Congress (ANC), however, that led to his life sentence -- the outcome of which was a staggering twenty-two years behind bars. While he was incarcerated, the racist dogma of apartheid imposed complete separation from his black comrades and colleagues, a segregation that denied him both the companionship and the counsel of his fellow accused. Recounted with humor and humility, Goldberg's story not only provides a sweeping overview of life in South Africa both during and after apartheid, but also illuminates the experiences of the activists and oppressors whose fates were bound together.

The Road to Democracy in South Africa

The Road to Democracy in South Africa PDF Author: South African Democracy Education Trust
Publisher: Unisa Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 800

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Book Description
The third volume in the series examines the role of anti-apartheid movements around the world and their success in both creating awareness of the liberation struggle in South Africa, and in contributing to the downfall of the apartheid government. This volume, in two parts, brings together analysis written by activist scholars with deep roots in the movements and organisations they are writing about. This first part focuses on International Solidarity with the liberation struggle. It covers the contribution of various international organisations, governments and their peoples, and solidarity organisations, to the liberation struggle in South Africa. In particular, the roles of nine western European countries are discussed: West Germany; Belgium; Austria; France; The Netherlands; Portugal; Spain; Greece and Switzerland. The second part focuses on African solidarity, with an emphasis on the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and its Liberation Committee; various countries in the southern African region, including the role that Tanzania and Zambia played; as well as countries in west, east and North Africa. This is a major resource for historians, scholars and anyone interested in the history of South Africa, and will be valued by future generations for its sensitive collection of highly significant historical material.

Democratization in Africa

Democratization in Africa PDF Author: Larry Jay Diamond
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 9780801862731
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 570

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Book Description
"The country-specific chapters serve to underline the differences between African democracy and liberal democracy, yet some authors are at pains to emphasize that whatever their limitations, African democracies are an advance over what had gone before." -- African Studies Review

Women's Organizations and Democracy in South Africa

Women's Organizations and Democracy in South Africa PDF Author: Shireen Hassim
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 0299213838
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
The transition to democracy in South Africa was one of the defining events in twentieth-century political history. The South African women’s movement is one of the most celebrated on the African continent. Shireen Hassim examines interactions between the two as she explores the gendered nature of liberation and regime change. Her work reveals how women’s political organizations both shaped and were shaped by the broader democratic movement. Alternately asserting their political independence and giving precedence to the democratic movement as a whole, women activists proved flexible and remarkably successful in influencing policy. At the same time, their feminism was profoundly shaped by the context of democratic and nationalist ideologies. In reading the last twenty-five years of South African history through a feminist framework, Hassim offers fresh insights into the interactions between civil society, political parties, and the state. Hassim boldly confronts sensitive issues such as the tensions between autonomy and political dependency in feminists’ engagement with the African National Congress (ANC) and other democratic movements, and black-white relations within women’s organizations. She offers a historically informed discussion of the challenges facing feminist activists during a time of nationalist struggle and democratization. Winner, Victoria Schuck Award for best book on women and politics, American Political Science Association “An exceptional study, based on extensive research. . . . Highly recommended.”—Choice “A rich history of women’s organizations in South African . . . . [Hassim] had observed at first hand, and often participated in, much of what she described. She had access to the informants and private archives that so enliven the narrative and enrich the analysis. She provides a finely balanced assessment.”—Gretchen Bauer, African Studies Review

Government and Politics in South Africa

Government and Politics in South Africa PDF Author: Albert Venter
Publisher: Van Schaik Publishers
ISBN: 9780627028175
Category : South Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
As the end of the second decade of democracy in South Africa approaches, deep political and social scars remain, and negativity continues to co-exist with hope and optimism.

On the Subject of Citizenship

On the Subject of Citizenship PDF Author: Suren Pillay
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350228966
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
This volume brings together reflections on citizenship, political violence, race, ethnicity and gender, by some of the most critical voices of our times. Detailed and wide-ranging individual reflections, take the writings of prominent Ugandan political theorist Mahmood Mamdani as a touchstone for thinking about the world from Africa. Contributors apply this theory to argue that we cannot make sense of the political contentions of difference, identity and citizenship today without understanding the legacies of colonial rule on our world. Chapters examine the persistence of the past, and how we must reckon with its tragedies, its injustices, and its utopias in order to chart a new politics; the politics of possible futures that are more inclusive and more egalitarian, and that can think of difference in more equitable ways. In a time when the call to decolonize knowledge, and politics rings loud and clear, this is both a timely and a crucial intervention.