A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology, Johannesburg, February 2018 / The common narrative of social movements and protest action in recent years, indicates that young eole globally are doinating suh oveents n outh fria, students’ ontinued engageent in protests around politics and public issues at the local level, as well as their low levels of participation in formal democratic processes such as elections, calls for an assessment on whether students are knowledgeable and understand the role of local government, as well as local governance. This study looks at young outh frian students’ (1-24 years) knowledge and understanding of local government, and local governance in the Johannesburg Metropolitan. For the purpose of this qualitative research study, 56 young students in two universities and two TVET colleges in the Johannesburg metropolitan were interviewed through 35 semi-structured in-depth, one-on-one interviews, and three focus group discussions. This study confirms that students present a very narrow knowledge and understanding of democratic governance and the political system at the local level. This, it is argued, is a key reason behind their lack of engagement and participation at the local level, as well as their identification of protests as the only effective form of political activism. This study also indicates that, desite students’ awareness of traditional olitial latfors suh as eletions and taking art in community meetings, their perceptions of poor local leadership, eroding trust in traditional democratic institutions, patronage party politics and general disillusionment with the political future of the country, are hindering these students’ artiiation in loal governane / XL2019

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in 25% fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management( in the field of Public and Development Management) / Political parties are prominent in the development of democracy in South Africa. Therefore, it is critical to expand knowledge about the governance of the major parties in the country in order to reflect on the future of democracy. The framework based on key functions - membership recruitment, policy formulation and organisational complexity performed by political parties facilitate an incisive assessment of adherence to governance principles - participation, accountability and transparency. Various sources, which include constitutions, interviews and focus group discussions of political parties, were central in the assessment of the governance principles of parties. The study revealed that the visions, missions, regularity of meetings, quorums requirements for meetings, diverse representation and structures are instructive in assessing and understanding the prevalence of governance principles within the operations of political parties. These areas are revealed in the study and they also provide insights in a future perspective of South African democracy. / GR2018

Bibliography: leaves 74-78. / With the ending of the apartheid regime and the transition to power of a government of national unity, South Africa is now a legitimate member of the international community. It has joined the Organisation of African Unity, the British Commonwealth, and the Southern African Development Community, and it is busily fostering trade links with Europe, North America, the Far East, and Latin America. Its diplomats have worked to mediate conflicts in Angola and Mozambique, and its president is widely seen as an international statesman and a moral leader of almost unprecedented repute. Yet the new· government continues to operate within South Africa's traditional international paradigm and has not yet developed a unique global role that reflects the country's internal "negotiated revolution". As a result, substantial challenges face efforts to forge a new south African approach to the world. From outside the country, forces unleashed by the fall of communism and the rise of a truly global marketplace mark a volatile and uncertain transition in world history. From the inside, political transition has sparked a redefinition of what it means to be South African, but this has not been reflected in new policies. The Foreign Ministry is widely recognised as a bastion of old-guard stalwarts; the ANC and NP have done little to reconcile their past international experiences; and. the information flow on international political and economic trends has barely improved since April 1994, leaving interest groups and private citizens in the new democracy generally uninformed and therefore unable to help pressure policy. The result is a foreign policy over the past year that has had little vision and few cohesive threads, and has left a score of unresolved issues. The 'new' South Africa's relations with Cuba and China, its policies on illegal immigration, and regional development plans are all issues that require visionary, decisive leadership but for which none has yet been provided. What energy or vision, for example, has South Africa brought to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) since it joined last August? In the global peacekeeping debate, and again with Cuba and China, South Africa has made little effort to recognise more pro-active roles for which it is well equipped. Why is it not asserting itself? Who actually is in charge of its foreign policy? Few thus would deny that a paralysis has settled in on South African foreign policy. A recent analysis in the Weekly Mail lamented, "We are not consistent. We have not formulated clear principles. The formulators of our foreign policy do not consult with the people. The new appointments to our foreign ministry complain of being sidelined. There is no clear break with the past". At the core of this inaction is the fact that policy makers have failed to reconceptualise the way international issues are seen and policy is made. The world has changed and South Africa has changed, both dramatically; yet Cold War debates still divide the policy framework, old style security thinking still dominates higher ranks, and most importantly, the growing inter linkages between domestic and foreign policies in a post-Cold War world have gone largely unheeded. It is thus appropriate to sound a note of urgency: change and uncertainty in the world and dramatic transformation at home combine to make this an inopportune, even dangerous, time to have a directionless foreign policy. The broad purpose· of this paper is to identify the salient external and internal factors that will drive a new South African approach to the world. The first chapter presents a synthesis of dominant global trends, and sets them against the backdrop of major structural changes in international relations. The second chapter discusses change in South Africa in relation to world changes, new state objectives and shifting interest groups, and considers these implications for three major foreign policy areas. The third chapter looks at the policy framework and the ability of policy makers to conceptualise these dual changes and to formulate effective policies. The final chapter offers a 'road map' of policy options towards a true postapartheid, post-Cold War foreign policy.

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Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The period prior to the 1990's marked the ANC as a liberation movement, perceived by many as being in favour of nationalization and a state controlled economy. The advent of democracy and the ANC's assumption of political power have, however, seen a change in the ANC elites' policy rhetoric, practice and approach to policy formulation. This essay examines the extent to which elite views and attitudes have shifted from nationalization to privatization. It notes that while the ANC government has been persuing and implementing Gear and its privatization component, its elite seems to be less supportive and to some extent ambivalent on the question. In addition, continued implementation of Gear and its privatization elements, in spite of reservations by the majority of the elites supporting the ANC, reveals a technocratie nature in approach to policy-making on the part of the ANC-led government. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Voor 1990 was die ANC oor die algemeen beskou as 'n bevrydingsorganisasie, ten gunste van nasionalisering en 'n staatsbeheerde ekonomie. Met die totstandkoming van demokrasie en die ANC se aanname van politieke mag, het daar 'n verandering plaasgevind onder ANC elite ten opsigte van beleidsretoriek, praktyk en hulle benadering betreffende beleidsformulering. Hierdie studie ondersoek tot hoe 'n mate die elite se sieninge en houdings verskuif het vanaf nasionalisering na privatisering. Terwyl die ANC regering GEAR implementeer met sy privatiseringkomponent, is die ANC elite al minder ondersteunend t.o.v die privatiseringskwessie; om die waarheid te sê, hul standpunt hieroor is tot 'n mate dubbelsinnig. Verder toon die implementering van GEAR, en sy privatiseringselement, ten spyte van bedenkinge onder die meerderheid van die elite wat die ANC ondersteun, 'n toenemende tegnokratiese benadering tot beleidsmaking aan die kant van die ANC regering.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Unemployment has been recognized as one of the most important social problems worldwide as most countries suffer from some unemployment. South Africa’s high unemployment rate has led to an abundance of research on the topic. A vast majority of the research available on unemployment in South Africa is positivist in nature. This study instead uses an interpretivist approach to analyse the problem of unemployment in South Africa. The study uses Carol Bacchi’s approach to provide a different way of analysing the problem of unemployment in South Africa. Bacchi’s approach allows the analyst to focus on problem representations and how these representations shape what is discussed and what is not discussed about the topic. This study demonstrates the application of Bacchi’s approach and focuses on the problem representations of the significant actors involved with unemployment, namely the South African government, business, COSATU and the SACP. The study focuses on the effects of the problem representations of unemployment, in particular the discursive and political effects. This study argues that Bacchi’s approach is a useful tool for the analysis of unemployment. It is also argued in this study that the approach provides insights into the problem of unemployment by highlighting what is not discussed in the problem representations of the significant actors. By sensitizing individuals to what is excluded in the problem representations, it is argued that solutions which negate the negative effects of such representations can be found. Bacchi’s approach highlighted a number of problem representations of unemployment. The study found that some problem representations were shared by one or more actors and that divergence exist between the representations of other actors. The shared and divergent representations focused on the tripartite alliance due to the significance of the alliance in South African politics. The shared and divergence representations were demonstrated to either help to towards improving the relationships between actors or, in the case of divergence, increase the tensions in the actor’s relationship with one another. The study also found that the non-government actors’ problem representations of unemployment direct attention to government’s responsibility for dealing with unemployment while minimising their role and contribution to unemployment. The study also demonstrated that the interests of different actors can be identified in the dominant problem representations. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Werkloosheid is ‘n belangrike probleem wat meeste lande raak. Baie navorsing is al in Suid-Afrika gedoen weens sy besonderse hoë werkloosheidyfer. Die meerderheid hiervan is positivisties in benadering. Hierdie navorsing gebruik egter ‘n interpretiewe benadering. Carrol Bacchi se benadering word gebruik as ‘n alternatiewe raamwerk om Suid-Afrika se werkloosheidsprobleem te analiseer. Bacchi se benadering laat die navorser toe om te fokus op hoe die probleem beskou word en hoe hierdie beskouing die keuse van wat ingesluit is en wat nie is nie, beïnvloed. Hierdie navorsing fokus op die sleutelfigure in die werkloosheidsprobleem, naamlik die Suid-Afrikaanse regering, die SACP en COSATU. Die studie benadruk die diskursiewe en politiese effek van die probleembeskouing van werkloosheid. Die studie argumenteer dat Bacchi se benadering waardevolle insigte kan lewer, spesifiek deur onbespreekte kwessies rakende die sleutelfigure uit te lig. Dit word aangevoer dat deur waardering te kweek vir hierdie kwessies, oplossings vir hierdie probleembeskouings gevind kan word. Bacchi se benadering het ‘n paar probleembeskouings uitgelig. Die studie het gevind dat daar ooreenstemming is by sommige figure, terwyl ander s’n uiteenlopend is. Hierdie sienings het gelei tot samegorigheid in die eersgenoemde geval, maar tot verhoogde vlakke van wantroue en spanning in die laasgenoemde geval. Die fokus van hierdie sienings is die drieparty-alliansie, weens sy belangrikheid in SA-politiek. Die studie vind ook dat nieregeringsorganisasies se probleembeskouings die rol van die regering benadruk en hul eie verantwoordelikheid onderspeel.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (History) February 2013 / This study examines the gendered histories of two black women who both narrated their personal testimonies in self-authored narrations for public consumption, and who both testified at the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). It situates the politics of subjectivity, memory and historical consciousness within the social constructivist and hermeneutical theoretical frameworks of Butler and Ricoeur respectively; and through a generative process, working with their TRC testimonies and subsequent oral interviews, it examines self-narrativity, subject formation and the formation of female selfhood in the formation of gendered historical consciousness

The Ward Committee System was introduced in South Africa in 2001 as a tool to bring government closer to the people and to enhance participatory democracy. The Makana Municipality adopted the system in 2002. Previous research on local government indicates that these structures have not been effective due to the lack of resources to sustain them. This study was interested in furthering such research, using the Makana Municipality as a case study during which unstructured, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with Ward Councillors, Ward Committee Members and Grade 12 learners. The aim of the research was to investigate whether the ward committees did indeed promote the notion of participatory democracy and to what extent grass roots development has been enhanced by this structure of local government. The findings from both the respondents and the observations indicate that, in addition to the lack of resources, the underutilization of the Ward Committee System is a result of the effect of opposing political affiliations within the ward committee system, affiliations that undermine the goal of collaborative decision-making. Whereas the ward committee system is a positive idea, the findings suggest that the government is not supporting these structures by failing to equip the ward committee members with necessary capacities and skills. Therefore, if municipalities are committed to bridging the gap between local government and the community, and are keen to enhance participatory democracy, then capacity building of the ward committees and respect for their role during the decision-making process need to be taken seriously. At present, ward committee members are not influential and active in the decision-making process. In addition, the youth as prospective future ward committee members seemed disillusioned with the notion of participatory democracy, and instead have adopted the mentality that nepotism and corruption, as displayed by those in power, is the only way of governance. This research suggests that the ward committee system, intended to bring government closer to the people, may in fact not only alienate government from the people, but also the people from each other.

The thesis starts by providing a brief overview of South African ''Coloured" politics from the passing of Ordinance 50 in 1828 to the removal of the Cape Coloured people from the common voter's roll in 1956. It then goes on to discuss in detail the structures instituted by successive Nationalist Governments to serve as an alternative to parliamentary representation for the coloured people, the role of the various coloured political parties within such structures and the latter's gradual adaptation and development, culminating in the inauguration of the Tricameral Parliament in early 1985. The thesis is, on the one hand, a detailed record of coloured political activity following the loss of common roll voting rights in the Cape, focusing on specifically coloured political parties rather than on broader, non-ethnic resistance movements in which many coloured people took part during the same period. This covers the rise and rapid decline of a conservative grouping within the coloured community which sought to foster an exclusively coloured nationalism operating within the Government's policy of parallel development, and attempted to use the Coloured Persons' Representative Council as a means towards achieving the economic, social and political upliftment of the coloured people. It also deals with the important role of the Labour Party after 1966, showing how a moderate resistance movement carne to use the Council as a platform from which to confront the Government's apartheid policies and to render the institutions of parallel development unworkable through noncooperation and boycotting. The second important preoccupation of the thesis concerns the ambiguous and often contradictory attitudes towards the "coloured question" within the National Party itself. This ambivalence, it is argued, not only had much to do with the eventual failure of the Coloured Persons' Representative Council to become a viable substitute for Parliamentary representation acceptable to the majority of coloured people, but was also a primary cause of the National Party split in 1982. It shows too how the collapse of Grand Apartheid had its origins in the failure to incorporate the coloured population within its framework. The thesis is concerned primarily with coloured political developments. When relevant, however, the establishment and development of representative institutions for the Indian people is also dealt with, in so far as this overlaps with issues and events concerning the coloured Council. Finally, the five year period following the dissolution of the Coloured Persons' Representative Council in 1980 and the inauguration of the Tricameral Parliament in 1985 is briefly dealt with in a concluding chapter. This mainly concerns the gradual accommodation reached between the Government and the Labour Party when the latter eventually agreed, conditionally, to take part in the new constitution.

One of the most critical moments during any transition is when the executive power of the old regime is transferred to a new government in waiting. This is often characterised by instability and conflict. Hence the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) was established in South Africa to facilitate its gradual and peaceful transition in 1994. The TEC can be seen as a negotiated, temporary and transitional institution that managed and prevented conflict in South Africa prior to the April 1994 general election. Although it existed only for four months, from December 1993 to April 1994, it played a significant role in South Africa's democratic transition. The TEC contributed to levelling the political playing field and creating a climate favourable for free and fair elections. The TEC's seven sub-councils further contributed to the smooth transition and creation of the Government of National Unity. In this study special attention has been given to the Sub-council on Foreign Affairs and its role in integrating South Africa into the international community. The Foreign Affairs sub-council played a pivotal role in laying the foundation for South Africa's membership of the various organizations like the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the Commonwealth. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the TEC, several theoretical frameworks are applied to analyse the different perspectives namely: transition theory, conflict resolution, power-sharing and constitutional negotiations. / POLITICAL SCIENCE / MA (INTERNAT POLITICS)