Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies have been a central pillar of attempts to overcome the economic legacy of apartheid. Yet, more than two decades into democracy, economic exclusion in South ...Africa still largely re?ects the fault-lines of the apartheid era. Current discourse often con?ates BEE with the so-called �tenderpreneurship� referred to in the title, namely the reliance of some emergent black capitalists on state patronage. Authors go beyond this notion to understand BEE�s role from a unique perspective. They trace the history of black entrepreneurship and how deliberate policies under colonialism and its apartheid variant sought to suppress this impulse. In the context of modern South Africa, authors interrogate the complex dynamics of class formation, economic empowerment and redress against the backdrop of broader macroeconomic policies. They examine questions relating to whether B-BBEE policies are informed by strategies to change the structure of the economy. These issues are explored against the backdrop of the experiences of other developing countries and their journeys of industrialisation. The relevant black empowerment experiences of countries such as the United States are also discussed. The authors identify policy and programmatic interventions to forge the non-racial future that the constitution enjoins South Africans to build.
Post-1994, South Africa's traditional leaders have fought for recognition, and positioned themselves as major players in the South African political landscape. Yet their role in a democracy is ...contested, with leaders often accused of abusing power, disregarding human rights, expropriating resources and promoting tribalism. Some argue that democracy and traditional leadership are irredeemably opposed and cannot co-exist. Meanwhile, shifts in the political economy of the former bantustans - the introduction of platinum mining in particular - have attracted new interests and conflicts to these areas, with chiefs often designated as custodians of community interests. This edited volume explores how chieftancy is practised, experienced and contested in contemporary South Africa. It includes case studies of how those living under the authority of chiefs, in a modern democracy, negotiate or resist this authority in their respective areas. Chapters in this book are organised around three major sites of contest: leadership, land and law.
Patronage Politics Divides Us: A Study of Poverty, Patronage and Inequality in South Africa explores the relationship between patronage, poverty, and inequality with a particular focus on its impact ...on the conduct of local politics. The overall aim of the study was to explore the possibility of constituting public institutions in a manner that enables them to become legitimate arbiters between the various interests, rather than as instruments that are captured by contending interest groups for their own accumulation. Most importantly, this study was necessitated by the realisation that post-apartheid patronage politics has not received sufficient scholarly attention. This research study aims to help fill that gap, especially by contributing empirical research to the subject. The report goes beyond answering the primary questions of the study: it is a profile of socio economic life in South Africa’s various communities as experienced not only by locals, but also by foreign-born residents. The findings provide a window on relationships between councillors, business interests, and local party organisations.
The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape is one of the profound treasures of southern Africa's social and archaeological history, appropriately declared a World Heritage (Unesco) in 2003. Contained within ...this landscape is indispensable information on precolonial state formation, social hierarchies, architecture of stone-walled towns, mineral processing and intercontinental trade.And yet, the Mapungubwe state rose, towered over its environs, and then declined – long before European colonial incursions. What exactly were the social dynamics in this polity? What technologies did it utilise? How did it relate to neighbouring unable to sustain itself? In this combined edition of two MISTRA publications, now jointly titled Mapungubwe Reconsidered: A Living Legacy, MISTRA seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge about Mapungubwe, straddling such issues as the relationships between humans and the environment, management of mineral endowments and the form and impact of southern Africa's global intercourse in this historical period.
"Epidemics and the Health of African Nations, explores Africa’s vulnerability to disease, and demonstrates that this disease occurs commonly because of political and economic influences. These ...factors also determine the way epidemics are managed and controlled. News footage of epidemics and disease in Africa is a familiar sight. Yet these outbreaks are often presented without reference to the preceding events and conditions that have triggered them. Authors extract lessons from case studies in different parts of Africa; challenge conventional frameworks about disease to argue for a multi-faceted ‘syndemics’ approach that takes account of the interrelationship between disease and political and socioeconomic contexts; examine the factors affecting the efficacy of frontline healthcare workers and point to the diseases and health challenges of Africa’s future. A key argument is that a well-functioning health system is at the core of a country’s capacity to provide quality healthcare to counter an epidemic. Authors argue that it would be more productive to mobilise resources to build strong health systems across Africa than to mobilise international resources in a panicked response to an outbreak. Alongside this, a case is made for the equally important need to address the structural drivers of vulnerability to diseases. It is futile to treat patients who will return home to poor nutrition and inadequate water services that will expose them again to disease. This volume brings African experts together to probe possible solutions to the continent’s heavy burden of disease. The recurring themes in this book and the insights extracted from individual case studies will be helpful in devising policy for the control of disease and the combatting of epidemics in Africa."
Nation Formation and Social Cohesion is the publication of a MISTRA research project that set out to examine different interpretations and meanings that diverse social actors attach to the calls and ...prospects for nation formation and social cohesion. The publication links theories of nation formation and social cohesion to actual practices, both focused on the attainment of a just society founded on the irreducible equality of all its members on the one hand, and the factors militating against achieving this, on the other. Ethnographic research in four provinces provides the substance or practice to the theoretical framing of the discourse. The study proceeds by interrogating the theoretical suppositions of nation formation and social cohesion and this serves as a starting point for a thorough reflection on these two processes. Thus a synthesis, and not a conceptual position is arrived at, where the interdependence of nation formation and social cohesion, specifically for postcolonial societies, (and South Africa in particular) can be interrogated effectively and critically. This publication, with contributors Andries Oliphant, Yacoob Abba Omar, Joel Netshitenzhe, Leslie Dikeni, Shepi Mati, Vincent Williams, Robert Gallagher and Feizel Mamdoo, is intended to add to the debate and stimulate new thinking around the diffcult processes that are being sought to build a nation in the 21st century.
If we are to talk about a 'new' intellectual movement, the question is begged: what happened to the 'old' intellectual movement? What happened to the thinkers who inspired and led our struggle ...against colonialism, apartheid and exploitation? What has happened to the thinkers who gave substance and guidance and, in many cases, practical leadership to our attempts to undo the past and forge a new future? In pursuit of answers to these questions, the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA), in partnership with the Liliesleaf Trust, hosted a roundtable in March 2015 with the theme 'The Role of Intellectuals in the State-Society Nexus'. Inputs were provided by a range of thinkers, including Ibbo Mandaza, Ben Turok, Ari Sitas, Ayanda Ntsaluba, Xolela Mangcu, Joel Netshitenzhe, Tshilidzi Marwala and Nomboniso Gasa, as well as provocative and piercing contributions from the attendees. This publication aims to put the inputs and debates at the roundtable further into the public domain, and simply records the contributions of the main speakers, the respondents, as well as the discussion from the floor. The rigorous debate at the roundtable spilled out of the boundaries of the event itself and encouraged a number of thinkers to provide additional material for this publication: Z. Pallo Jordan, David Moore (with Tshilidzi Marwala) and Desiree Lewis.
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