In a previous dissertation I argued that conceptions of citizenship and civil society have changed in three significant ways. Firstly, from being moral agents, citizens are now primarily rational agents. In other words, citizens now act in civil society when it best serves their own rational self-interest as opposed to recognising what I term the intrinsic moral worth of the public sphere. Secondly, the motivation for action by citizens used to be duty but is now instrumental: that is, citizens rarely act out of a duty to their country or their fellow citizen but instead act in order to achieve a certain end. Thirdly, while citizens used to act as a group, they now act individually, no longer pursuing a common good but each seeking their own individual good. In this dissertation, I move from the primarily theoretical nature of my honours dissertation to an empirical analysis of South Africa, establishing the validity of my theory while offering a more thorough analysis of South African citizenship and civil society. By looking at the empirical examples of the civil service in terms of Education, Bureaucracy, and the SANDF, this dissertation analyses both the state of South African civil society, and the underlying reasons for this state. Once it is clear how citizenship and civil society have changed and why this change is problematic, it then becomes important to establish why they have changed and who is responsible for the change. The attitudes of both citizens and the government are analysed as well as the influence they have on each other. I argue that the attitude of citizens is deeply influenced by governmental behaviour and thus if we want to alter the direction of citizenship and civil society, we need to change attitudes at the governmental level. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Since its inception, the internet ‒ and in particular Web 2.0 ‒ have been valorized as potentially revolutionary democratic spaces. Despite the emergence of concerns over the progressively neoliberal orientation and narcissistic effects of the internet, evidence of the radical democratic potential of this media has received considerable attention. This thesis is orientated around both an exploration of such evidence, and a consideration of its relevance for South Africa. In this regard, the thesis commences with an exploration of the neoliberal underpinnings of the internet and the growing translation of dominant neoliberal discourses into the online practices of mainstream liberal democratic politics. Focus then shifts toward the mounting influence of alternative radical democratic positions online, through an investigation of the virtual manifestations of deliberative, autonomous, and agonistic approaches to radical democracy. And following an examination of the online political practices of selected recent global social movements, the primacy of agonism in online expressions of radical democracy is advanced. In turn, resonances and dissonances between the online activity and practices of such global social movements, and the use of the internet and social media by well-known South African new social movements, are explored. Finally, this thesis concludes by recommending a fourfold new media approach through which the agonistic radical democratic potential of the internet can be realized more fully by the new social movements of South Africa.

M.A. (Sociology) / Prior to 2012, ward committees (WCs) were elected informally and with very little regulation. Ward Councillors were instructed to convene public meetings during which community members were nominated and voting was done by a raise of hands – this dissertation refers to these as “first generation” WCs. Over the last decade this process became problematic as politically motivated ward councillors, were found to manipulate the WC election for their own benefit. In 2011 public revolt ensued on a national level, and as a result it was decided that all municipalities had the option of utilising the IEC to ensure the 2012 election process would be more transparent – these will be referred to here as “second generation” WCs. Two municipalities in Gauteng province opted for this alternative; one of them was the City of Johannesburg (COJ). This dissertation looks at the relationship between a “second generation” WC and a social movement organisation (SMO) in the COJ. Since the late 1990s the South African state has placed a large emphasis on the restructuring of local government, and the creation of WCs was one outcome of this process. Simultaneously there has been a rise in social movements which serve to represent the needs of the poor and marginalised, who have seemingly been ignored by the state’s neoliberal policies. This dissertation focuses on the WC of Ward 8 and the Thembelihle Crisis Committee (TCC) as a SMO, within the context of the Thembelihle informal settlement. The former is an “invited participatory space” which has been created by the state to invite residents to participate. The latter is an “invented participatory space” created from below by the grassroots, through which residents assert their agency as active community members. Many scholars have conceptualised these participatory spaces as separate and distinct. Faranak Miraftab (2004) applied this analysis to understand the South African context, which proved valuable at the time. Subsequently, “invited spaces” were labelled as pseudo-democratic, state controlled, and hence there was the suggestion that they should be abandoned, while “invented spaces” were perceived as more accurately reflecting the views and needs of the poor in South Africa (SA). More recently, scholars such as Luke Sinwell (2012) and Claire Bénit-Gbaffou (forthcoming) have begun to argue that the binary of invited and invented is too simplistic. They have urged that we need to look more closely at the relationship between these two spaces as opposed to setting them apart. Bénit-Gbaffou claims that “invited spaces” remain important and should not be abandoned. However, scholars have not sufficiently investigated the interface of the “invited” and “invented”. By drawing on various sources, including in-depth interviews, non-participant observation, surveys, literature and informal communication, this dissertation attempts to fill this gap in the literature by presenting a concept which I refer to as “contesting space”. The concept will be used to extend beyond the invited/invented binary, and hence more accurately analyse what is taking place at the interface of the two. By analysing where the WC and TCC meet, we begin to see what happens when a powerful SMO inserts itself onto the invited space of a “second generation” WC.

A dissertation submitted to the Global Labour University in conformity with the requirements of a MA in Labour Policy and Globalisation, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, March 2017 / The relationship between trade unions and their members has been a perennial subject of social inquiry and political debate since the establishment of formal trade unions by skilled artisans in the nineteenth century. This study examines the aspects of union democracy (participatory and representative) in trade unions within the broader concept of social movement unionism. The case study for this research is the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) focusing in three locals in the region of Jack Charles Bezuidenhout (J.C Bez) namely: Johannesburg North, Kempton Park, and Tembisa. The main objective of the study is to examine the extent to which NUMSA conformed to principles of social movement unionism against the Michel’s (1915) theory of “the Iron Law of Oligarchy” during the period 2012-2014, when it embarked on a process to withdraw its political alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). In 2014, NUMSA was expelled from COSATU after it took its decision to move out from the Tripartite Alliance in 2013. Social movement unionism is characterised by three features which are participatory democracy, forging of alliances (both with civic groups and political parties) while retaining union autonomy, and the broadening of its scope of action beyond workplace politics. While examining the research’s main question, the study also looks at the extent to which union locals participated democratically during this decision-making process, which led to its expulsion from COSATU in 2014, and the focus of NUMSA as an independent union in post-2014 period. Methodological tools, which were used to collect data, include in-depth interviews and desktop research. The theoretical framework utilised in this study stems from Michels’ (1915) concept of the “iron law of oligarchy.” However, it should be noted that, this study tests the claim of the discourse (what Michels’ (1915) postulates in relation to oligarchy in organisations) and the practice on ground in NUMSA. Key findings in this study indicate that NUMSA locals participated democratically in the decision making process that led to their ground breaking political moment in December 2013 when the union broke its alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). The union has both characteristics of oligarchy and internal democracy (participatory and representative). In relation to aspects of political unionism and social movement unionism, the study found that NUMSA’s decision to pull out from its political alliance with the ANC and SACP, its call for the establishment for the movement for socialism, and the establishment of a worker’s party, could be indications of the union returning to principles of social movement unionism. However, there are other indicators that the union might be losing the opportunity it had of revitalising its leftist traditions at its 2016 congress in Cape Town. This is evidenced by its non-pursuance of issues relating to eco-socialism and its call to implement the MarxistLeninist style of union governance. / XL2018

Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The economic policy of the South African government referred to as the Growth Employment and Redistribution Strategy (GEAR) has had a crippling impact on millions of poor and lowincome families in South Africa since its adoption in 1996. The benefits to the minority have not compensated for the increased inequality, uncertainty and poverty that others have experienced (McDonald & Pape, 2002:24). South Africa became the first African state to develop and implement a structural adjustment programme by voluntarily seeking the assistance of the World Bank and the IMF (Bond, 2000a:35). The government’s own statistics reveal that unemployment, which was already high, reached catastrophic levels since 1996 and the poor became significantly poorer (Beuchler, 2002:04). Together with their community leadership, poor people increasingly managed to articulate the link between the increased poverty and hardships they experience and the state’s macro-economic policies. More than a decade into democracy, Mandela Park finds itself under armed assault by the State. Several community members have sacrificed their lives while fighting revolutionary struggles to ensure access to basic services and to remain in the places apartheid confined them. None of them ever thought that the hopes and dreams they harboured while fighting for democracy would be so brutally suppressed by the very government for which they sacrificed their lives. Community organizations such as the Mandela Park Anti-Eviction Campaign (MPAEC) make significant contributions to community empowerment by mobilizing and articulating the voices of the poor and the vulnerable groups in the society to resist the State’s hegemony with regards to service cut-offs and household evictions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die ekonomiese beleid van die Suid Afrikaanse regering wat bekend staan as GEAR het n kreupelende uitwerking op miljoene arme en lae-inkomste gesinne in Suid Afrika gehad veral sedert die program in 1996 deur die regering aanvaar is. Die voordele aan ‘n enkele minderheid het nie vergoed vir die toenemde ongelykhede, onsekerhede en armoede wat andere ondervind het nie (McDonald & Pape, 2002:24). Suid Afrika het die eerste Afrika staat geword om n strukturele aanpassingsprogram te ontwikkel en te implementeer deur vrywilliglik die hulp van die Wêreld Bank en die Internasionale Monitêre Fonds te soek (Bond, 2000a:35). Soos die regering se eie statistieke aandui, het werkloosheid wat alreeds hoog is, katastrofiese vlakke bereik terwyl die land se armes merkwaardig armer geword het (Beuchler, 2002:04).Arm mense het tesame met hul gemeenskapleiers toenemend daarin geslaag om die verband tussen hul groeinde armoede en swaarhede, en die regering se makro-ekonomiese beleid te identifiseer. Nou, na meer as ‘n dekade in demokrasie, bevind Mandela Park inwoners hulself onder gewapende aanval deur die staat. Gemeenskapslede het revolusionêre gevegte gestry en hul lewens op die spel geplaas om toegang tot basiese dienste te verseker en te bly in die plekke waar apartheid hulle gevestig het. Niemand het ooit kon dink dat die hoop en drome wat hulle gekoester het terwyl hulle teen apartheid geveg het, so wreed onderdruk sou word deur dieselde regering waarvoor hulle hul lewens opgeoffer het nie. Gemeenskapsorganisasies soos die MPAEC in Mandela Park het ‘n betekenisvolle bydrae gemaak tot die bemagtiging van daardie gemeenskap deur die mobilisasie en artikulasie van die stemme van die arm en kwesbare groepe in die samelewing om weerstand te bied teen die Staat se hegemonie ten opsigte van die beeindiging van dienste en die uitsetting van gesinne uit hul huise.

M.A. / The following study investigates the Landless People’s Movement (LPM) which is a grassroots movement in South Africa. While there have been many movements to emerge, the LPM was formed in 2001 in response to increasing housing evictions and insecure land tenure. The formation of the movement was met in some cases by minor state concessions but also by state brutality. This study focuses on the experiences of the urban landless and argues that the manner in which the movement frames its demands, together with the political opportunity structure, have an impact upon the extent to which the LPM has effectively mobilised around land issues, as well as upon the cycles that the movement has undergone. In order to unpack the experiences of the landless, two theoretical concepts were used to frame the discussion, namely, political opportunity structure and the cycles of protest. Analysing the changing political opportunity structure proved useful in demonstrating some of the constraints and opportunities faced by movements in their attempts to attain land, while the notion of cycles of protest was useful in showing the phases undergone by the movement from its inception in 2001 until 2010. In order to understand the experiences of the urban landless regarding the manner in which they frame their demands and mobilise around land issues, a qualitative research design was employed by making use of a case study method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with both leaders and supporters of the movement. In addition, focus groups, meeting attendance and informal discussions helped to enrich the data included in this case study on the experiences of the urban landless.

A PhD Thesis to the Anthropology Department, Faculty of Humanities: University of the Witwatersrand. / This study will argue that; (i) that the evolution of hip-hop arises out of the need by young people to give expression and meaning to their day-to-day socio-political and economic struggles and the harsh realities of urban life, and (ii) that hip-hop has become the audible and dominant voice of reason and a platform that allows youth to address their plight, as active citizens, and (iii) that, as a music expression, the hip-hop narrative can be used as an unsolicited yet resourceful civic perception survey to gauge the temperature and the mood of society at a point in time. My research question is premised on the argument that the youth looks at society and their immediate surroundings through the lens of rap music and the hip-hop culture. It presupposes that it is this hip-hop lens that has become the projector through which the youth views and analyses society and then invites the world to peep through, to confirm and be witnesses to what they see. It is not the purpose of this research to argue how much influence hip-hop has on young people, but instead to look at how youth is using hip-hop to express their discontent and what the various sites are where their relentless desire for a better life is being crafted and articulated. In my investigation, I have argued that it is at these social sites that open or discreet creative expressions are produced/created by the hip-hop generation as the subordinate group and directed to those perceived to be the gatekeepers to their aspirations and their rites of passage. In my investigation I have explored how, out of indignation and desire, the hip-hop generation has employed creative ways to highlight and vent their frustration at a system that seems to derail their aspirations. This is the story of hip-hop where Watkins (2005) argues that the youth have crafted "a vision of their world that is insightful, optimistic and tenaciously critical of the institutions and circumstances that restrict their ability to impact on the world around them" (p. 81) With regard to hip-hop in South Africa critical questions and a central thesis to this paper begin to emerge as to whether hip-hop, as an artistic expression and a seemingly dominant youth culture, has found long-hidden voices through which young people now engage with this art form to address and reflect on their socio-economic and political conditions as active citizens in search of a meaningful social contract. By investigating the triangular relationship between commerce, politics and hip-hop, this study looks at how creative, adaptive people with unrealised potential, who find themselves trapped by illusion and exploitation (realistic or perceived), always try to find a meaning to make sense of their worlds. / AC2018

A research report submitted to the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Development Studies March, 2016 / The emphasis in making government more accessible to the people has produced dismal effects, this has led to the emergence of civil society organizations claiming to give the voiceless a voice and facilitating participation of the marginalized towards how they are governed. This research, through a case study of the Landless People’s Movement in Thembelihle (LPM – Thembelihle) focuses on the internal dynamics of a community’s participation in social movements. The study questions social movements’ efforts in nurturing participation within them and whether the assumed claims of representation are reflective to the participants needs. The report argues that social movements do not necessarily nurture democratic principles such as participation within them. The reasons for this are: 1) social movements have been engineered to focus on the state as the adversary thus their efforts are outward looking 2) the nature of the issues they tackle are highly politicized and thus attract a large following regardless. Analyzing data from interviews and various documents, first and foremost the study aimed to investigate the level of participation by the community in LPM - Thembelihle using the concept and typologies of participation as stipulated in the ladder of participation. Secondly, the aim was to connect the level of participation to the representation of the participating community in an attempt to find if at all there is a correlation. The findings revealed that in spite of community control of the LPM –Thembelihle branch, a deep degree of participation was not achieved but that did not deter LPM’s representation of the Thembelihle community. As this may be a contradiction regarding the empowering aspects of participation, the study concludes by suggesting that community participation should also be used to enrich social movement organizations considering their structured nature and role as intermediaries / MT2017

My aim in this dissertation is to explore the manner in which protest leaders in the post-apartheid context understand themselves and their actions against the backdrop of the socio-historical, political and economic conditions within which protests take place. The aim is to contribute to the debate around the nature of the challenge posed by protest action to the post-apartheid neoliberal order. The study uses an actor-oriented ethnographic methodology to examine at close range the nature of the protest movement in working class South African townships focusing on the so-called service delivery protests. In the quest to understand the action, forms of organisation and ideologies characteristic of the protests, and their significance for post-apartheid society, I use concepts and insights from the literature on social movements, discourse theory and, in particular, Gramsci's ideas on hegemony. The latter helps me to define and assess the threat posed by the protests to the dominant order which I characterise as neoliberalism or neoliberal capitalism. The conclusion that I come to is that the protests are best understood in the context of the transition from apartheid to democracy: its dynamics and its unmet expectations. They represent a fragmented and inchoate challenge to the post apartheid neoliberal order. Their weakness, I argue, partly derives from the effects of the demobilisation of the working class movement during the transition to democracy. It will take broader societal developments, including the emergence of a particular kind of leadership and organisation, for the protests to pose a serious challenge to the present order. The experience of the struggle against apartheid suggests the necessity of a vision of alternatives to inspire, shape and cohere struggles around everyday issues and concerns into struggles for radical society-wide alternatives. Protest action was linked to imagination of a different way of doing things and organising society. Without this link, it is likely that the protest movement will be increasingly isolated and contained with some of its energy used negatively, for example, in populist chauvinism, xenophobic attacks, mob justice, and other forms of anti-social behavior that are becoming a worrisome feature of post-apartheid society. Nonetheless, it provides hope and the foundation for a different future. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

This thesis is about the relationship between local government, grassroots organisations and the organisation of power resulting from the interaction of the two. Exploring this relationship this thesis investigates whether the actions of grassroots movements can bring local government in line with their developmental role as accorded to them by the Constitution. The assumption embedded in this question is that the current balance of power at the local level exists outside of the service of the historically disadvantaged. Following on from that, the thesis explores, through different modes of analysis, theoretical and historical, the policy and constitutional framework for local government, and then it unravels the context set by the political economy of South Africa. The aim is to make a significant attempt at understanding the possible implications of the interventions grassroots movements make in the public space. The thesis does this also by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the strategies of the UDF to makes an assessment of the possible endurance of post-apartheid grassroots movements. Since civil society ‘suffers’ from nationalist politics, with its own corporatist institutions, the thesis searches deep within or arguably 'outside of civil society', subjecting AbM and UPM to academic critique, to see how movements embedded among the poor and carrying the political instrument of anger and marginalisation, can dislodge the power of capital. More importantly, the thesis situates the post-apartheid moment within postcolonial politics; navigating through the legacy of Colonialism of a Special Type (CSP), the thesis explores the limits and opportunities at the disposal of grassroots movements. From a different perspective, the thesis is an examination of the organisation and movement of power and the spaces within which power and ideas are contested. Drawing on the political and economic engagements, dubbed the Dar Es Salaam debates, in the 1970’s and 1980’s spurred on by Issa Shivji, the late Prof Dani Wadada Nabudere and Mahmood Mandani, the conclusions of this thesis develops these engagements, essentially making a case for the continued centrality of the post-apartheid state. However, the thesis also asserts the indubitable role that both grassroots movements and civil society need to play, not necessarily in the democratisation of the state, though that goes without saying, but in taking the post-colonial state on its own terms. Consequently, the thesis puts forward the idea that issue-based mobilisation does exactly this, and in the manner that acknowledges the state’s centrality and makes paramount the self-organisation (popular assemblies) of ordinary people in public affairs. The thesis categorically concludes that the centrality of the post-apartheid state and its progressive outlook (constitutional values) is contingent on organs of popular assemblies which need to take the state on its (progressive) terms.