The Ambiguities of Reconciliation and Responsibility in South Africa

This paper traces the ways in which the language of reconciliation promotes and detracts from responsibility. What it means to be responsible and to take responsibility is explored through a reading of J. M. Coetzee's novel, Disgrace . Coetzee provokes a nuanced examination of the nature of reconciliation and responsibility in post-apartheid South Africa, particularly how deep a moral transformation is needed and of whom it should be expected. The tensions between pro forma acknowledgement and deep moral transformation are examined with respect to the competing narratives of reconciliation and responsibility that took place during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and afterwards in South African civil society. The paper concludes with a warning about the delicate balance between responsibility and vilification, reconciliation and denial.     

Fiscal Federalism in South Africa

The constitutional change in South Africa in the 1990s broughtabout the decentralization of substantial budgetary responsibilityto newly created provincial governments. This study capturesthe new assignment of functions and resources to the differentspheres of government in South Africa and provides an assessmenton the basis of a framework derived from fiscal federalism principles.It concludes that there is a substantial congruence betweenwhat can be viewed as theoretically desirable and what is outlinedin the South African Constitution of 1996, but observes significantdivergences between the Constitution and actual practice.     

Institution-building issues in South Africa

This article discusses structural and labour-market factors associated with institution building in South Africa. It pays particular attention to the role of management development in institution building in the public sector. Two case studies that address the question of organizational restructuring following moves towards commercialization of some public sector organizations are discussed.     

South Africa after Zuma

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa appears committed to purging the corruption of his predecessor Jacob Zuma, and to rebuilding governmental capacity and improving policy execution. But it will take more than a change in the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) to restore South Africa's standing as a model of African democracy and continental leadership.     

Governance Under Surveillance in South Africa

Good governance and legitimacy are becoming more and more important in South African society. Increasingly there are tendencies and trends of corruption, poor service delivery, crime, violence, and xenophobia in South Africa. The lack of accountability, responsiveness, and transparency reflects negatively on governance principles. It is becoming more evident that governance in South Africa must be investigated. Government is finding it difficult to tend to public participation, maintain law and order, provide for the basic needs of citizens, and combat unemployment and strikes. There is a direct link between governance and legitimacy because good governance is one of the essential elements and a prerequisite for legitimacy. Legitimacy depends on the government＇s performance and the support of citizens for the ruling party.     

COVID-19 in Nigeria and South Africa

COVID-19 is likely to affect Nigeria’s and South Africa’s economies adversely, amplifying preexisting macroeconomic weaknesses. Support for necessary public health measures remains flimsy in light of their harsh socio-economic impact, and will likely erode further should reported case numbers remain relatively low.     

Local government in the new South Africa

On 1 November 1995 the final piece in South Africa's democratic jigsaw was slotted into place when elections were held to create 686 new local authorities throughout the country. The new councils are confronted with a daunting task, as they have been championed by the national Government of National Unity (GNU) as the main delivery mechanism for social and economic redistribution as well as the vehicle for the achievement of the aims and objectives of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). This article argues that the legislative framework developed for local government has an urban bias that has operated to the detriment of a manageable solution to the problems of rural local government in South Africa. The article examines the new structures of local democracy and argues that the need to secure local representation may have been achieved at the expense of functional efficiency. The lack of human and financial resources in some of the less developed councils makes service delivery problematic. If service delivery is not improved it could undermine the new local democracy as peoples' expectations remain unfulfilled. The article also examines the efforts to accommodate the political and economic demands of South Africa's traditional societies and the commercial farmers. The article argues that the efforts to incorporate these powerful elements into the new dispensation have largely failed, creating a potential for future disruption. The article concludes that the creation of a constitutional framework for local government must be seen as the first step in the development of autonomous local government, and that the main task now facing all three tiers of South Africa's government is the development of sufficient financial and human resources to ensure improvements in the standards of living of poor South Africans.     

South Africa: capital accumulation and violence

This article analyses the conditions of capital accumulation in South Africa, and seeks to explain the authoritarian and racially discriminatory features of the South African social structure in terms of (a) the specific historical processes of change (mercantile colonial conquest, primitive accumulation in mining and farming) and (b) the specific features of contemporary capitalism, notably the capital-intensive structure of industry. The authoritarianism embodied, for example, in the extra-economic coercion of black labour is seen as reflecting the circumstances of the struggle between capital and labour under conditions where capital-labour contradictions exist alongside the contradiction between South African capitalism and the ‘dependent’ societies it has preserved/recreated. The implications of this situation for strategies of socialist change are briefly evaluated.