Shifting geographies of social inclusion and exclusion: Secondary education in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

The urgency of South Africa's political transformation providessocial scientists with an opportunity to monitor an encounterbetween idealism and reality in post-apartheid policy-making.Education policy appears to derive from political symbolismdivorced from the material realities of macroeconomic policy.The extent and nature of desegregation and redistribution onthe ground are investigated in 18 secondary schools in Pietermaritzburg,supplemented by interviews in the Provincial Education Departmentand the Pietermaritzburg Regional Office. Considerable desegregationhas occurred, especially in the state sector, but only at theupper end of the traditional racial hierarchy. Provincial resourcesallow minimal capital spending and limited non-salary expenditure,whilst differential fees in state schools preserve apartheidinequalities of provision. Parents of all races keenly seekthe best education they can afford for their children. Radicalchange requires changes in macroeconomic policy towards a moredevelopmental state, but measures are proposed to encouragelimited progress towards greater equity within current macroeconomicconstraints.     

South Africa

A look at the historical development of the Commonwealth and the effect the Zimbabwe issue, most recently, but also the issue of South Africa under apartheid, had on it.     

South Africa Revisited

This article represents the second half of the well-known historian'saddress on the 30th March. Professor Macmillan visited Eastand South Africa in the summer of 1949, for the first time fornearly 20 years. In the interval he had visited and lived inWest Africa.     

Race and international relations: Brazil and South Africa

The study examines the perennial effort by African leaders and their people to attain a union government of Africa and eventually, a United States of Africa. Amidst a history of actual work and pragmatic choices by Pan-Africanists in the past who demonstrated better commitment and industry to this vision, the project cannot be dismissed as frivolous. Details of the recent Accra Declaration that concluded the African Union Summit in July 2007 reveal inherently difficult choices that African leaders have to make. These include tackling issues of sovereignty, territoriality, national laws versus sub-regional and African Union protocols that pervade constitutional arrangements across the continent. Issues of finance, engaging the African people, the political will and commitment of political elites are vital ingredients for the integration effort. The study reflects on the demand for a radical approach in attaining outcomes but opts for moderation backed with pragmatic choices. Even then, the regional economic communities (RECs), considered pillars of the integration process, must be well structured and given pronounced visibility and viability in order to achieve results.     

South Africa and Japan: maintaining a difficult friendship

Japan's economic and political relationship with South Africa has been characterised historically by ambiguity. Throughout the twentieth century, economic ties were underpinned by mercantilist and strategic considerations. During apartheid, this placed Japan in an uneasy position as it sought to balance a relationship of expediency with wider foreign policy objectives in the rest of Africa and beyond. The demise of apartheid created the space for new forms of engagement centred on the pursuit of cognate goals. This has seen the intensification and deepening of economic ties in particular. Yet relations, especially at the political and diplomatic levels, have also been more complex than anticipated, and in recent years, the rise in Africa of other players from Asia and the Global South has had a bearing on South Africa–Japan ties. In this paper, it is argued that two related dynamics pivoting on policy elites’ changing conceptions (or self-view) of the nature of the state they are running and its place in the wider world order help explain the post-apartheid evolution of the South Africa–Japan relationship. First, there has been an apparent shift in South African foreign policy elites’ self-view, mediated by a changing systemic context. The development and manifestation over time of a stronger Global South self-conception in South African foreign policy, fashioned in juxtaposition to what have been considered in the past key Global North relationships, had direct consequences for South Africa–Japan ties. Second, meso- and micro-level dynamics – the role of the general operations in the diplomatic (i.e. bureaucratic) arena, and the personalities and shifting political preferences of individual executive leaders – had major impacts on how South Africa engaged with Japan in the past two decades.     

New South Africa Speak: race talk in an undergraduate debate on racialisation in post-apartheid South Africa

Working with a set of theoretical concepts from critical race theory, this article examines perspectives on the impact of micro-aggressions and systemic inequality, as elicited during on online debate among undergraduate students. The debate centred on the degree to which white South Africans may legitimately identify as Africans. This topic served as a means of stimulating talk about the effects of racialisation in post-apartheid South Africa. During the analysis, the arguments that emerged from the online debate were analysed within a framework of white talk, referred to as New South Africa Speak. All contributions to the debate were measured against the discursive forms and functions that characterise New South Africa Speak. The findings are reported in terms of: During the conclusion the potential relevance of these findings to ongoing protest movements at South African universities is considered.     

A critique of South Africa: The solution

South Africa: The Solution by LEON LOUVV and FRANCES KENDALL Amagi Publications, Bisho (Ciskei), 1986. xvi plus 237 pages including maps, figures, diagrams, illustrations, notes, appendices and bibliography. R14,95 paperback.     

Shifting Interests: Whitlam,Britain and French Nuclear Tests in the South Pacific

This article focuses on the interaction between the Australian and British governments during the early 1970s over French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. It examines the considerations behind the Australian government's approach to Britain, and Britain's response to initiatives from Australia. Through the presentation of a case study demonstrating how Australia's Pacific interests and Britain's European concerns inevitably led to different perspectives, I argue that the policies of both countries were primarily determined by their consideration of regional geopolitical interests, rather than the lingering links of Empire.     

A critique of South Africa: The solution

South Africa: The Solution by Leon Louw and Frances Kendall Amagi Publications, Bisho (Ciskei), 1986. xvi plus 237 pages including maps, figures, diagrams, illustrations, notes, appendices and bibliography. R14,95 paperback.     

Between transitional justice and politics: Reparations in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Reparations are a major component of transitional justice in the aftermath of widespread abuse. However, the implementation of reparations programmes often follows the logic of transitional politics, where short-term political interests trump victims’ rights. Using the South African case as a cautionary tale, this article shows that reparations are susceptible to political instrumentalisation and evaluates the role of international redress norms in safeguarding victims’ rights. Civil society groups have used the right to reparations as a basis for political contestation of inadequate reparations programmes and focused primarily on the broadening of redress norms. However, the existing international legislation fails to protect victims’ rights to reparations from political manoeuvring. In conclusion, the article highlights the need for international redress norms to be consolidated and made more concrete in order to more effectively circumscribe the scope states have to avoid meeting their reparations obligations.     

South Africa and Myanmar: Beware the politics of perfidy

The article examines the repressive actions of the government of Myanmar, focusing on its continuing incarceration of a Nobel Peace Prize Winner, and questions the diplomatic route South Africa has chosen in terms of its relations with the country.