ABSTRACT This study compared selected commercial bank advertisements published in 1994 with those published in 2004.Its purpose was to establish whether advertising discourses found in these texts reflect the socio-political changes that occurred in South Africa between 1994 and 2004.It further sought to identify the features of the advertisements that appeared during these periods in order to determine if there have been any shifts in discourses during this time. This qualitative research relied heavily on Fairclough’s theory and method of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for both its theoretical framework and data analysis. In the data analysis section, a need arose to employ some of the tools of semiotic analysis as provided by Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (1996) ‘grammar of visual analysis’ as well as a limited form of Thematic Content Analysis. Data analysis began with a thematic content analysis of all 36 advertisements collected for this study in order to gain a broader perspective of the range of themes covered by these advertisements. This was followed by a comparative detailed Critical Discourse Analysis of two representative pairs of advertisements from 1994 and 2004 to illustrate the behaviour of advertising discourses at these two distinctly different historical junctures. While the research has found some reproductions of discourses from the 1994 period in the 2004 advertisements, it has also revealed that there have been shifts in the discourses between 1994 and 2004.There is also evidence to suggest that in some instances the shifts have more to do with the ways in which the discourses are communicated rather than clear changes in the discourses as such. In the main, the study found that advertising discourses, because of their hybridism and social embeddedness, tend to mirror the sociopolitical context in which they are produced and distributed. As a result, they can be said to reflect the changes and challenges faced by society at the time of their production.

This thesis reflects on how to develop an African leadership that can contribute to the effective transformation of the African continent. After analysing the concept of leadership and categorising it for better understanding, the mission of the church as a developer of leaders par excellence has been examined and its potentials and limits assessed. Then, the thesis studied the specific extent of poor African leadership and its dire socio-political consequences in a sub-Saharan African country; so, the context of DR Congo was analysed. After that the contribution of the notion of African Renaissance to the whole debate of leadership development in Africa was assessed and the social, economic and political climate of the continent analysed. The poor and deficient African leadership has been identified as the main cause of rampant conflicts and wars, a slow economic development and lack of transformation in the continent. Given that church leadership seemed so poor and inefficient, the thesis has recommended that the African church needed primarily to transform its own leadership to be able to effectively develop transformational political leadership. The analysis of African institutions already involved in the development of an African leadership for socio-political transformation has shown that Christianising African leadership and socio-political institutions alone was not enough. So, the thesis has proposed a comprehensive socio-political discipleship for the transformation of both individuals and their communities. In a nutshell, the discipleship includes a socio-political intercession1, a four-dimensional discipleship, a socio-political psychotherapy and a church involvement project for socio-political transformation. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology, with specialisation in Urban Ministry)

This thesis reflects on how to develop an African leadership that can contribute to the effective transformation of the African continent. After analysing the concept of leadership and categorising it for better understanding, the mission of the church as a developer of leaders par excellence has been examined and its potentials and limits assessed. Then, the thesis studied the specific extent of poor African leadership and its dire socio-political consequences in a sub-Saharan African country; so, the context of DR Congo was analysed. After that the contribution of the notion of African Renaissance to the whole debate of leadership development in Africa was assessed and the social, economic and political climate of the continent analysed. The poor and deficient African leadership has been identified as the main cause of rampant conflicts and wars, a slow economic development and lack of transformation in the continent. Given that church leadership seemed so poor and inefficient, the thesis has recommended that the African church needed primarily to transform its own leadership to be able to effectively develop transformational political leadership. The analysis of African institutions already involved in the development of an African leadership for socio-political transformation has shown that Christianising African leadership and socio-political institutions alone was not enough. So, the thesis has proposed a comprehensive socio-political discipleship for the transformation of both individuals and their communities. In a nutshell, the discipleship includes a socio-political intercession1, a four-dimensional discipleship, a socio-political psychotherapy and a church involvement project for socio-political transformation. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology, with specialisation in Urban Ministry)