The right to broadcast: towards a broadcasting charter for South Africa

SUMMARY

In this article Michael Markovitz, chairman of the Broadcasting Commission of the Film and Allied Workers Organisation (FAWO) argues:

• that present broadcasting statutes restrict access to the technological means of communication in South African society which prevails now;

• that broadcasting is an issue of national and constitutional importance;

• that the deregulation of broadcasting, with protection or non-profit broadcast services, could benefit the negotiation process;

• that private sector domination of both the broadcasting and print media sectors would be incompatible with the extension of freedom of expression in South Africa;

• that prevailing broadcasting legislation effectively prohibits community broadcasting; and

• that the right to broadcast and broadcast freedom should be entrenched in a Bill of Rights.

     

Paradigms in South African cinema research: Modernity,the New Africa Movement and beyond

Abstract

The history of theoretical approaches about South African cinema is discussed from the turn of the twentieth century period of the New Africa Movement, through various other theoretical moments, up to the early 1990s. These include conservative cultural theory, liberal humanism, workerist, Althusserian and Gramscian Marxisms. The discussion examines theoretical interventions either promoting or opposing modernity in the work of Thelma Gutsche, Hans Rompel, John Grierson and various Afrikaner cultural organisations during the first half of the twentieth century. Post-1970s cinema theory is critically examined in relation to discursive contestation occurring within both academia and the industry.     

The new security in democratic South Africa: a cautionary tale

The broadened and deepened notion of security has been evolving in two dimensions, one primarily intellectual and the other concerned more with political practice and policy. This paper briefly describes these dimensions, and then critically examines the acceptance of the new notion of security in the form a security-is-development thesis in South African security policy. This case shows how the security-is-development thesis affects the functions of security agencies and legitimates their anti-democratic behaviour. The case serves as a cautionary tale about how an intellectual construct, movement and school, originally intended to be a critique of state behaviour, can become a tool of state power at the expense of democracy.     

Towards a new aid paradigm: South Africa as African development partner

As the largest African economy and the leading African aid-provider, with plans to establish an aid agency, South Africa is often ranked among the developing world's ‘emerging donors’. However, the country's development cooperation commitments are smaller in scope, scale and ambition than the aid regimes of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) or Gulf state donors. Given its limited resources and domestic socioeconomic challenges, South Africa prefers the role of ‘development partner’. In this role, South Africa's development cooperation in Africa has ranged from peacekeeping, electoral reform and post-conflict reconstruction to support for strengthening regional and continental institutions, implementing the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and improving bilateral political and economic relations through dialogue and cooperation. This article seeks to determine whether Pretoria's development cooperation offers an alternative perspective to the aid policies and practices of the traditional and large rising donors. We conclude that South Africa does not fit neatly the ‘donor’ category of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) and neither is Pretoria's aid-spending typically ‘ODA’ (official development assistance). Instead, with its new aid agency, South Africa occupies a unique space in Africa's development cooperation landscape. With fewer aid resources, but a ‘comparative advantage’ in understanding Africa's security/governance/development nexus, South Africa can play an instrumental role in facilitating trilateral partnerships, especially in Southern Africa.     

Integrating gender into index-based agricultural insurance: a focus on South Africa

Index insurance is an agricultural risk management tool that can provide a safety net for smallholder farmers experiencing climate risk. While uptake and scale-out of index insurance may be slow among smallholders, we can learn from experiences that demonstrate where crop insurance can protect smallholders’ livelihoods from climate risk. Integrating gender into climate risk management is necessary to ensure that the benefits of index insurance are experienced by both men and women. A dedicated intention to integrate gender may be required. Taking South Africa as a case study, the potential for gender-sensitive index insurance scale-out among smallholders is investigated.     

Protest in South Africa: motives and meanings

South Africa is experiencing record levels of protest. Interpretations of protest fall into two groups. First, there is the argument that protests represent only limited rebellion and that though unruly, they are a mechanism for political re-engagement. A second understanding links “new social movements” that address general grievances to wider hegemonic challenges. This article addresses the issue of whether these upsurges in militant mobilization threaten or complement democratic procedures. The article draws from a study of two protest “hotspots” in Durban.     

South Africa: The politics of racial terminology

Survey of racial terminology employed in southern Africa since 1652 is discussed     

South Africa: The Order of Good Hope

Past South African governments already felt the need for honours as instruments of diplomacy in the 1930s, but only instituted the Order of Good Hope in 1973. Inherited British attitudes to honours, the cessation in 1925 of the award of honours bearing titles, and long periods in which civilian honours were not awarded contributed to its frugal use. Wishing to recognize foreign assistance to the liberation movements, from 1994 President Mandela frequently put the Order to use, freely awarding leaders of foreign governments. However, restraint returned after the initial surge. Since instituting new orders in 2003, President Mbeki has emphasised substantial merit as the key to admission.

“Yes, I should have given more praise.” The Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon, became Commander-in-Chief and later Prime Minister of Great Britain, when asked whether there was anything in his life that he could have done better.

     

Empowerment for development: Taking participatory appraisal further in rural South Africa

This paper examines the potential for Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques to contribute to community development and empowerment in a deprived rural community in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. A series of participatory workshops was undertaken in which various new techniques were used to identify people-environment relationships and, in particular, the community perception of the value and problems relating to the river and riparian zone. The workshops led to the community taking positive action to address the problems identified. The study indicates the value and role of participatory research among disempowered communities in rural Africa.     

增进了解加强交流--西亚非洲研究所代表团访问南非纪行

应南非“非洲社会高级研究中心”(The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society,CASAS)和“人文科学研究院”(Human Sciences Research Council,HSRC)的邀请,以贺文萍研究员为团长,李智彪研究员、安春英副研究员、张永蓬副研究员为成员的中国社会科学院西亚非洲研究所代表团一行4人,于2005年11月21日~12月2日在南非进行了学术访问和交流。此次活动分为两个阶段,一是参加由“非洲社会高级研究中心”与西亚非洲研究所联合主办的“中非关系:过去、现在与未来”国际学术研讨会;二是赴“人文科学研究院”总部及其两个分部、威茨…     

South Africa: The Order of Good Hope 1

Past South African governments already felt the need for honours as instruments of diplomacy in the 1930s, but only instituted the Order of Good Hope in 1973. Inherited British attitudes to honours, the cessation in 1925 of the award of honours bearing titles, and long periods in which civilian honours were not awarded contributed to its frugal use. Wishing to recognize foreign assistance to the liberation movements, from 1994 President Mandela frequently put the Order to use, freely awarding leaders of foreign governments. However, restraint returned after the initial surge. Since instituting new orders in 2003, President Mbeki has emphasised substantial merit as the key to admission.

“Yes, I should have given more praise.” The Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon, became Commander-in-Chief and later Prime Minister of Great Britain, when asked whether there was anything in his life that he could have done better.     

Indicators for economic vulnerability to drought in South Africa

This article identifies and estimates economic drought vulnerability indicators among communal farmers in South Africa, using an economic vulnerability index based on a household survey of 121 communal farmers. The results show that lack of resources, unemployment, price sensitivity, market access, the level of farm debt, output, on- and off-farm diversification, management, and financial safety nets were the main economic vulnerability variables. Farm debt and financial safety provide the bulk of the vulnerability index. The study’s findings suggest that government should reconsider priorities in the implementation of appropriate policy measures in response to drought.     

南非经济--放眼非洲谋发展

作为非洲的经济强国,南非在成功实现政治变革的同时,保持了宏观经济的稳定,对旧制度造成的种族间经济不平等和二元经济结构进行了改革与调整,经济社会呈现良好的发展势头。南非的发展离不开非洲。与白人种族主义政权时期自命是西方文明一部分的理念不同,南非新政府的发展理念和战略是以非洲为依托。过去十年非洲成为南非最大的出口市场,南非成为非洲最大的投资来源。南非与非洲其他国家间的经济互动,有助于改变殖民主义统治遗留的畸形经济结构、推动区域基础设施的发展、整合地区金融与服务业市场、推动非洲的一体化进程和提高应对全球化挑战的能力。     

考验宪政体制的南非第四次民主大选

2009年4月,南非废除种族隔离制度后的第四次大选,是对南非运行15年新宪政体制的考验.由于执政党(非国大)内部权力斗争导致的分裂,及全球性金融危机对南非经济的影响,使这次大选的不确定性因素增多,选民对南非未来政治、经济发展的关注程度上升.大选的过程和结果显示,南非民主宪政制度有稳定的基础.竞选过程中进行的全国范围、多种形式的政策辩论,是对南非发展道路的集体反思和探讨,使南非未来发展的方向更加清晰.祖马新一届政府面临兑现承诺的巨大压力,同时面临反对党更具挑战性的监督和制衡,保持宪政制度正常运行的前景看好.     

Negotiating a democratic order in South Africa: Learning from mediation and industrial relations

Labor law reform in South Africa unintentionally precipitated the rapid growth of a powerful black trade union movement and institutionalized collective bargaining in the 1980s. Despite the political crisis, the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa helped to disseminate the culture and practice of negotiated order, developed in industrial relations, to the broader society and national politics. As a result of the negotiated transition, the new democratic order is characterized by inclusive, consensus-building policy-making processes.He is also a doctoral degree candidate in industrial relations at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. 02139.