This thesis aims to make sense of Left politics in South Africa within the Tri-partite Alliance between the ANC, SACP and COSATU. The thesis focuses on developments in the Eastern Cape, between 2000 and 2008. The thesis describes the prevalent forms of Left politics in the Eastern Cape and the tendencies in the Alliance that organise this Left. The thesis also examines the historical, social and political conditions and that shape the form and content of Left politics in the province. Based on a survey of literature on what is considered the core manifestations of Left politics globally in the 20th Century Left politics is defined as the elements of the political spectrum that are concerned with the progressive resolution of involuntary disadvantage and with a goal of abolishing class society and capitalism. Although the Alliance as a whole should be seen to be on the Left on an international political spectrum, this thesis argues that the Left/Right dichotomy is useful for understanding the politics of the Alliance, as long as the second part of this definition is taken into consideration. The Alliance Left is understood as those leaders and activists within the Alliance that have the SACP and Cosatu as their operating base. It will be argued that this Left is, in its practice, largely concerned with what insiders refer to as politics of „influence‟, rather than with politics of „structural transformation‟. It is the ANC that is the leader of the Alliance and the party in government and thus it is on the terrain of ANC strategy, policy and positions that contestation in the Alliance plays itself out. Thus, for the Left, there is strength in the idea of the Alliance. However, there are significant theoretical and political weaknesses in the Left that undermine the possibility of making good use of various corporatist platforms to pursue the agenda of the Left in the Eastern Cape. There is also increased contestation within the Alliance Left itself about the continued usefulness of this strategy.

This Dissertation, written at the Department of Political Studies in the School of Social Sciences, is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D), to the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, September 2017 / The purpose of this study is to examine the causes of ideological moderation in the South African party system in the post-1994 period. Previous research stresses the non-left-right feature of politics and when it recognises the centrist feature of major parties and moderation of the party system, the causes of the latter are unexplained. The deficiency in previous research is that moderation and limited left-right disagreements as fundamental causes of broader political dynamics are overlooked — moderate systems foster political consensus and democratic stability. In this study I critically examine three theoretical causal variables that account for moderation: the electoral system, the electorate, and the dominant party. This study relies on a measurement of party system fragmentation, and voter and party system polarisation, as well as an intensive qualitative assessment of the ANC. The evidence is based on a number of nationally representative surveys that measure public opinion; interviews with political party leaders and representatives, and officials from labour and business; and document analysis. The finding is that the ANC as the dominant party is the main driver of moderation in the party system. Coupled with electoral dominance, the centripetal, non-dogmatic, pragmatic and flexible tendencies that characterise the ANC permit the party to induce and stabilise party system moderation. This study: develops a causal framework for understanding moderation; builds on previous research about the centrism of major parties and the moderation of the party system (both quantitatively and qualitatively); departs from the argument about the fragmented and rightist nature of the opposition bloc and the race-based approach to the electorate; and extends the debate about the ANC by arguing that left-right movement occurs within centrist terrain, and that the party is not an amorphous or client entity but a clearly defined one. I also add to: the growing body of knowledge that finds no necessary connection between proportionalism, extremist party positioning and polarisation; the idea that party system polarisation is less reflective of voter polarisation; and concur with previous research that argues that the role of a pivotal centre party is critical for the party system. / XL2018

This thesis provides a survey and an analysis of South Africa's relations with the British Commonwealth (Commonwealth of Nations) between the years 1945 and 1961. It outlines and explains the deterioration of this relationship in the context of the crisis in South Africa's foreign relations after World War II. Documentary evidence is produced to throw more light on the relationship with Britain and, to a lesser extent, other Commonwealth countries. This relationship is analysed in the context of political, economic and strategic imperatives which made it necessary for Britain to continue to seek South Africa's co-operation within the Commonwealth. This thesis also describes how the African and Asian influence began to be felt within the Commonwealth on racial issues. This influence was to become particularly important during the crucial period after the Sharpeville incident. The attitudes of Britain and other Commonwealth countries at the two crucial conferences of 1960 and 1961 are re-examined. The attitude of extra-parliamentary organisations in South Africa towards the Commonwealth connection is an important theme of this thesis in addition to the other themes mentioned above. It is demonstrated how Indian and African opinions became increasingly hostile towards what was seen as British and "white" Commonwealth "appeasement" of South Africa. These attitudes are surveyed in the context of an increasing radicalisation of black politics in South Africa. The movement by English and Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans toward a consensus on racial and foreign policy is also examined. Finally, the epilogue to this thesis discusses the return of South Africa to the Commonwealth in 1994. It includes a brief survey of developments in the Commonwealth attitude to South Africa since 1961. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

This thesis provides a survey and an analysis of South Africa's relations with the British Commonwealth (Commonwealth of Nations) between the years 1945 and 1961. It outlines and explains the deterioration of this relationship in the context of the crisis in South Africa's foreign relations after World War II. Documentary evidence is produced to throw more light on the relationship with Britain and, to a lesser extent, other Commonwealth countries. This relationship is analysed in the context of political, economic and strategic imperatives which made it necessary for Britain to continue to seek South Africa's co-operation within the Commonwealth. This thesis also describes how the African and Asian influence began to be felt within the Commonwealth on racial issues. This influence was to become particularly important during the crucial period after the Sharpeville incident. The attitudes of Britain and other Commonwealth countries at the two crucial conferences of 1960 and 1961 are re-examined. The attitude of extra-parliamentary organisations in South Africa towards the Commonwealth connection is an important theme of this thesis in addition to the other themes mentioned above. It is demonstrated how Indian and African opinions became increasingly hostile towards what was seen as British and "white" Commonwealth "appeasement" of South Africa. These attitudes are surveyed in the context of an increasing radicalisation of black politics in South Africa. The movement by English and Afrikaans-speaking white South Africans toward a consensus on racial and foreign policy is also examined. Finally, the epilogue to this thesis discusses the return of South Africa to the Commonwealth in 1994. It includes a brief survey of developments in the Commonwealth attitude to South Africa since 1961. / History / D. Litt. et Phil. (History)

Since the 1950s modernization theory predicted within the Third World a trajectory for social evolution and development mirroring perceived social and developmental evolution in Western societies since the 17th Century. Despite this theory being much discredited in both Western societies and the developing world; this theory still forms the basis for much analysis and policy formulation within post-1990 South Africa. This thesis looks at various aspects of urban black South Africans' existence and concludes that African tradition has found a place within an urban existence due to it's flexibility in dealing with peoples' daily challenges. An urban existence can thus no-longer be thought of as supplanting tradition in favour of western influences, but rather as bringing about a mixture of western and traditional influences - with positive and negative theoretical and practical developmental consequences / Development Studies / M.A.

Thesis MA (Political Science. International Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Liberation movements came into being across the entire African continent as a political response to colonisation. However, Africa has in this field, as in so many others, been largely understudied, in comparison to revolutionary movements in South America and South East Asia. While many case studies on specific liberation movements exist, very few are comparative in nature. This study will do precisely that using the framework of Thomas H. Greene. The resistance movements in South Africa and Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, consisted of several organisations, but the ones that emerged as the most powerful and significant in the two countries were the ANC and ZANU respectively. Although their situations were similar in many ways, there were other factors that necessarily led to two very different liberation struggles. This study looks closer at these factors, why they were so, and what this meant for the two movements. It focuses on the different characteristics of the movements, dividing these into leadership, support base, ideology, organisation, strategies and external support. All revolutionary movements rely on these factors to varying degrees, depending on the conditions they are operating under. The ANC and ZANU both had to fight under very difficult and different circumstances, with oppressive minority regimes severely restricting their actions. This meant that the non-violent protests that initially were a great influence for the leadership of both movements – especially with the successes of Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa and India, inevitably had to give way to the more effective strategies of sabotage and armed struggle. Like other African resistance movements, nationalism was used as the main mobilising tool within the populations. In South Africa the struggle against apartheid was more complex and multidimensional than in Zimbabwe. Ultimately successful in their efforts, the ANC and ZANU both became the political parties that assumed power after liberation. This study does not extend to post-liberation problems.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is a postcolonial analysis of Third World foreign policy, looking at an atypical case of state relations with national liberation movements. It is also an empirical contribution to an area of recent South African history through interrogating Cuba’s foreign policy towards South Africa’s liberation movements from 1959 until 1994. My starting point has been that meagre scholarship exists within the field of International Relations on this important area of South African history and on Cuban foreign policy. Mainstream scholars have largely overlooked relations between the Cuban state and civil society and liberation movements such as the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and Umkhonto we Sizwe. By interrogating an ignored area of Third World foreign policy, this thesis furthermore aims to probe into the field of International Relations and analyses of foreign policy. Applying the methodology of a postcolonial theoretical critique, I highlight the ontological assumptions within the field that make theorising foreign policy from states and societies in the Third World peripheral within IR, as well as render states and civil society in the Third World as objects rather than subjects of the theoretical endeavour. The conceptualisation of the Cold War as a mere Superpower affair, with states in the Third World as mere sites of conflict between the Superpowers and divorced from the causal dynamics of the conflict, exemplifies the ontological assumptions that exist within the field of International Relations theory. I use the case study of Cuba’s foreign policy towards South African liberation movements in carrying out a qualitative analysis of the available literature and well as conducting interviews with senior participants of South Africa’s various liberation movements. A broad reconstruction of relations between 1959 and 1994, as well as post-1994, reveals extensive relations between Cuba and South African liberation movements involving the Cuban state and civil society. The findings of my research include an overview of relations between Cuba and various liberation movements at the political and military level, as well as the role of Cuban civil society in areas such as education and strengthening the role of women in the liberation struggle. Respondents reveal that relations between the two spheres are not uni-directional, but in fact reveal a complex interaction in which the agency of South Africa’s liberation movements in determining the content of relations is central. In conceptualising foreign policy using a postcolonial theoretical framework, I look not only at the Cuban state but also at the role of civil society in Cuba in constructing and carrying out foreign policy towards South African liberation movements. This theoretical framework rejects a strict dichotomy between the foreign and the domestic by looking at social forces within the state as well as the role of ideology in the making foreign policy domestically. Lastly, the extensive relations between Cuba and South African liberation movements that my research reveals points to possibilities for further theoretical investigations within the field of International Relations from a postcolonial theoretical critique. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is ‘n post-koloniale analise van Derde Wêreld buitelandse beleid, dit kyk na die atipiese geval van staats verhoudinge met nasionale vryheidsbewegings. Dit is ook ‘n empiriese bydrae tot ‘n area in onlangse Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis deurdat dit Kuba se buitelandse beleid teenoor Suid- Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings tussen 1959 tot 1994 ondervra. My beginpunt is dat daar skamele vakkundigheid tans bestaan binne die studieveld Internasionale Betrekkinge met betrekking tot hierdie belangrike area van Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis en Kubaanse buitelandse beleid. Hoofstroom deskundiges hanteer tot ‘n groot mate die verhoudinge tussen staat en burgerlike samelewing van Kuba met vryheidsbewegings soos die African National Congress, die Suid-Afrikaanse Kommunistiese Party, die Congress of South African Trade Unions en Umkhonto we Sizwe met min aandag. Deur hierdie geïgnoreerde area binne Derde Wêreld buitelandse beleid te ondervra, is dit ook ‘n verdere oogmerk van hierdie tesis om die vakgebied van Internasionale Betrekkinge en die gepaardgaande analises van buitelandse beleid te ondersoek. Deur die toepassing van die metodologie van post-koloniale kritiek, beklemtoon ek die ontologiese aannames binne die vakgebied van Internasionale Betrekkinge wat die teoretisering van buitelandse beleid van state en samelewings in die Derde Wêreld marginaliseer, asook om hierdie state en burgerlike samelewings in die Derde Wêreld tot objekte in plaas van subjekte van ‘n teoretiese onderneming te reduseer. Die konseptualiseering van die Koue Oorlog as bloot ‘n supermag aangeleentheid, met state in die Derde Wêreld as blote ligging vir konflikte tussen die supermagte asook terselfdertyd vervreemd van die oorsaaklike dynamiek van die konflik, beliggaam die ontologiese aannames wat binne die vakgebied van Internasionale Betrekkinge bestaan. Ek maak gebruik van Kuba se buitelandse beleid teenoor Suid-Afrkaanse vryheidsbewegings as gevallestudie om ‘n kwalitatiewe analise te maak op die bestaande literatuur asook om onderhoude te hê met senior deelnemers in Suid Afrika se verskeie vryheidsbewegings. ‘n Uitgebreide rekonstruksie van verhoudinge tussen 1959 en 1994, sowel as post-1994, openbaar diepgaande verhoudinge tussen Kuba en Suid-Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings wat die Kubaanse staat en burgerlike samelewing behels. Die bevindinge in my navorsing sluit in ‘n oorsig van verhoudinge tussen Kuba en verskeie vryheidsbewegings op politiekeen militêre vlak asook die rol van Kubaanse burgerlike samelewing in areas soos opvoeding en die verstewiging van die rol van vroue in die vryheidstryd. Respondente openbaar dat verhoudinge tussen die twee sfere nie in een rigting geloop het nie, maar dat dit eintlik ‘n komplekse interaksie openbaar in wie die agentskap van die Suid-Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings om die inhoud van die verhoudinge te bepaal ‘n sentrale deel speel. Deur buitelandse beleid te konseptualiseer deur gebruik te maak van ‘n v post-koloniale raamwerk kyk ek nie net bloot na die Kubaanse staat nie, maar ook na die rol van die Kubaanse burgerlike samelewing in die konstruksie en uitvoering van buitelandse beleid teenoor Suid- Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings. Hierdie teoretiese raamwerk verwerp ‘n eng tweeledigheid tussen die buitelandse en binnelandse deur te kyk na die sosiale magte binne die staat sowel as die rol van ideologie in die binnelandse skepping van buitelandse beleid. Ten slote, die diepgaande verhoudinge tussen Kuba en Suid-Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings wat my navorsing openbaar dui in die rigting van moontlike verdere teoretiese ondersoeke binne die vakgebied van Internasionale Betrekkinge vanaf ‘n perspektief van post-koloniale kritiek.

<p>The study outlines five areas of intervention in the development of women&rsquo / s studies and politics on the continent. Firstly, it examines the problematic construction and the inclusion of women in the narratives of the liberation struggle in South Africa. Secondly, the study identifies the sphere of intellectual debates as one of the crucial sites in the production of historical knowledge about the legacies of liberation struggles on the continent. Thirdly, it traces the intellectual trajectory of Charlotte Maxeke as an embodiment of the intellectual contributions of women in the struggle for liberation in South Africa. In this regard, the study traces Charlotte Maxeke as she deliberated and engaged on matters pertaining to the welfare of the Africans alongside the prominent intellectuals of the twentieth century. Fourthly, the study inaugurates a theoretical departure from the documentary trends that define contemporary studies on women and liberation movements on the continent. Fifthly, the study examines the incorporation of Maxeke&rsquo / s legacy of active intellectual engagement as an integral part of gender politics in the activities of the Women&rsquo / s Section of the African National Congress. In the areas identified, the study engages with the significance of the intellectual inputs of Charlotte Maxeke in South African history.</p>

<p>The study outlines five areas of intervention in the development of women&rsquo / s studies and politics on the continent. Firstly, it examines the problematic construction and the inclusion of women in the narratives of the liberation struggle in South Africa. Secondly, the study identifies the sphere of intellectual debates as one of the crucial sites in the production of historical knowledge about the legacies of liberation struggles on the continent. Thirdly, it traces the intellectual trajectory of Charlotte Maxeke as an embodiment of the intellectual contributions of women in the struggle for liberation in South Africa. In this regard, the study traces Charlotte Maxeke as she deliberated and engaged on matters pertaining to the welfare of the Africans alongside the prominent intellectuals of the twentieth century. Fourthly, the study inaugurates a theoretical departure from the documentary trends that define contemporary studies on women and liberation movements on the continent. Fifthly, the study examines the incorporation of Maxeke&rsquo / s legacy of active intellectual engagement as an integral part of gender politics in the activities of the Women&rsquo / s Section of the African National Congress. In the areas identified, the study engages with the significance of the intellectual inputs of Charlotte Maxeke in South African history.</p>

The 2014 national general elections were characterised by a cloud of scandal hanging over the ANC, and the ANC president Jacob Zuma. The biggest and darkest cloud was the Nkandla scandal. Owing to a reported R246 million spent by the state to refurbish his private home, the president stood accused of wasteful expenditure and financial irregularity. In a country reeling from the continued effects of apartheid, which include high unemployment and poverty, the scandal was a bombshell. According to a vocal and often adversarial mainstream media sphere, the ANC went into those elections with an albatross around its neck. The dominant thought was that the ruling party would suffer a heavy loss of votes. This outcome did not materialise. The ANC lost a marginal share of its previous vote. Mainstream media and civil society were confounded. What had happened? Why had poor black South Africans continued to vote for a party that was obviously in breach of the constitutional order? Against the mismatch between what was predicted or purported and the outcome, this study investigates how young people in the township of Joza, Grahamstown, interpreted one of the biggest political scandals in South Africa’s fledgling democracy. Using a combination of subaltern studies, counter public sphere and audience study, the research looks into the interpretation of a mainstream media scandal that was supposed to diminish the chances of the ANC retaining power, but, instead, barely dented its majority. Through a combination of interviews and participant observation, the study found that young people in the township of Joza demonstrated that they chose to ignore the messages about the corruption of the ANC. The data suggests that they did so, not because of overt racial solidarity, but due to the fact that in a context of high inequality, and continued limitations on economic emancipation, the party shone brightly as a vehicle for economic development. Overall, the study argues that the seemingly dubious undertaking to continue with the ANC is a calculated decision that makes sense when viewed within a given socio-economic context.