Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
by Amy on May 15th, 2013
Anthony Butler has written about the political figures and parties who have publicly spoken against the Gupta family, after they landed a private jet at the Waterkloof Air Force Base, which is a National Key Point.
Butler looks back to the ANC’s national conference at Mangaung and asks whether “the Gupta uproar could be a flexing of muscles by a diverse but loosely co-ordinated coalition that supported Zuma at Mangaung for tactical reasons only”:
The Gupta family has been subjected to unprecedented criticism during the Waterkloof scandal. But the conventional account — of decent men and women in the African National Congress (ANC) who have finally “had enough” — is not deeply persuasive.
The uproar could easily have been contained by a now familiar formula: bluster from ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu; the invocation of the National Key Points Act; and the claim that “security” justifies both a controversial event and a secretive investigation. Race was also open to exploitation. In March, after all, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe described attacks on the Guptas as motivated by the fact that family members “do not look white enough”.
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by Amy on May 3rd, 2013
Sam Marshall interviewed author Barry Gilder on his SABC2 show Morning Live about his book on the ANC, from liberation movement to government, titled Songs and Secrets.
During the interview, Gilder says that he didn’t really write Songs and Secrets as a memoir, but rather tried to tell the story of the liberation struggle.
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by Amy on Apr 26th, 2013
Colin Bundy taught a UCT Summer School course on “Govan Mbeki and the place of ideas in the National Liberation Struggle” earlier this year.
The lunchtime talk explored Mbeki’s career as an activist and intellectual. Bundy considered how Mbeki was distinctive in the ANC leadership “for his belief that the movement should engage with rural people and their struggles and for his writings, produced over fifty years, which sought to link theory with practice, ideas with actions.” Bundy’s book, Govan Mbeki: A Jacana Pocket Biography, was recommended as reading material for the lecture.
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by Amy on Apr 24th, 2013
Protecting the Inheritance: Governance and Public Accountability in Democratic South Africa focuses mainly on public accountability and the state, institutional design and measures of public accountability, decentralised governance, leadership and management of public and private economies and industries, democratic accountability and political parties and participation, civil society and voice.
The basic assumption of the book is that without comprehensive, integrated and functional democratic accountability measures in place, the constitutional democratic state will collapse.
About the editor
Daniel Plaatjies has a PhD in the study of Governance, Public policy and Public Finance from the University the Witswatersrand. He is a visiting professor at the University of Free State and is currently Head of performance monitoring and Evaluation within the Office of the Premier, Free State Provincial Government. He is also serving on secondment as an adviser to the Minister of Public service and Administration. Plaatjies is the editor of Future Inheritace: Building State Capacity in Democratic South Africa.
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by Amy on Apr 16th, 2013
Jacana presents From Protest to Challenge, revised and updated by Gail M Gerhart:
From Protest to Challenge is a multi-volume chronicle of the struggle to achieve democracy and end racial discrimination in South Africa. Beginning in 1882 during the heyday of European imperialism, these volumes document the history of race conflict, protest, and political mobilisation by South Africa’s black majority.
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From Protest to Challenge Volume 3: Challenge and Violence 1953 – 1964
With South Africa’s liberation struggle being a prominent part of what shapes today’s society, it is important to recall the most dramatic stories of our time. From Protest to Challenge is a multivolume chronicle of the struggle to achieve democracy and end racial discrimination in South Africa. Beginning in 1882 during the heyday of European imperialism, these volumes document the history of race conflict, protest, and political mobilisation by South Africa’s black majority.
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From Protest to Challenge Volume 5: Nadir and Resurgence, 1964 – 1979
“Nadir and Resurgence” continues the indispensable study of the struggle for freedom and justice in South Africa. In addition to extensive background essays, it includes formal documents, underground and ephemeral materials, and statements written in exile or in Robben Island prison that have not previously been published.
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From Protest to Challenge Volume 6: Challenge and Victory 1980 – 1990
“Challenge and Victory” takes up the story in 1980 and examines the crucial decade that preceded the collapse of the apartheid system. As with earlier volumes in the series, it combines narrative with a wealth of primary source materials that record the words of the men and women who shaped South Africa’s complex history.
About the authors
Thomas G Karis is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the City College, City University of New York.
Gail M Gerhart is the author of Black Power in South Africa: Evolution of an Ideology, the co-author of volumes 3, 5 and 6 of From Protest to Challenge, and the editor of the second edition of the series.
Clive L Glaser is author of Bo-Tsotsi: The Youth Gangs of Soweto, 1935–1976 and The ANC Youth League: a Jacana Pocket History. He has been editor of the journal African Studies since 2001.
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by Amy on Apr 10th, 2013
Jacana is pleased to announce the release of a revised edition of Anthony Butler’s biography, Cyril Ramaphosa, updated with a new postscript:
The 53rd ANC National Conference held in Maungang saw the return of Cyril Ramaphosa to the centre stage of national politics. To the great surprise of almost all South Africans, Ramaphosa was elected Deputy President of the ANC. One can’t deny that Ramaphosa is one of the most popular political figures in South Africa. He is widely credited with playing a major role in the negotiations that led to the democratic settlement in South Africa and devising South Africa’s Constitution.
“Cyril,” says Anthony Butler, “is the Forrest Gump of South African political history.” By this Butler means that Ramaphosa has been present in the foreground of virtually every important moment in the modern history of his country.
This commanding and fully updated and revised edition features a new chapter from the author covering the most recent and significant developments in the mogul’s life including his candidacy for Deputy President, his role in Mangaung, and the controvercial events surrounding Lonmin and the Marikana mines. Based on rich interviews with many of the subject’s friends and contemporaries, it marries the historical context and the individual life in a way that brings Ramaphosa fully to life.
About the author
Anthony Butler is Professor of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town. He has previously been a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge; Director of the Politics and Administration Programme at Birkbeck College, University of London; and Chair in Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. Butler is the author of four books and he writes a weekly column for Johannesburg’s Business Day newspaper.
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by Amy on Apr 5th, 2013
Anthony Butler, author of The Idea of the ANC, has written an article for Business Day looking at South Africa’s inclusion in the BRICS group. He says that it was never made clear why South Africa was included ahead of other emerging powers and questions whether the BRICS Development Bank will possibly be used to finance South Africa’s nuclear programme.
As the Durban summit of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) grouping of countries draws closer, citizens will reflect once again on the question posed in 2011 by Jim O’Neill, the Goldman Sachs banker who coined the Bric acronym. O’Neill observed that South Africa has a small population and a sluggish economy. How, then, can it merit inclusion in an emerging giants’ club?
O’Neill’s inquiry was met in South Africa by a petulant wave of patriotic indignation, but it has not yet been satisfactorily answered. One place to start is from a recognition that the current Brics, or “Bric5″, will soon expand. Economically dynamic and populous states such as Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey are jostling for admission. “Bric5″ will become Bric7 then Bric10 in order to represent the collective interests of all emerging powers.
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by Amy on Mar 25th, 2013
In a column for Business Day, Anthony Butler, author of The Idea of the ANC, looked at the aftermath of the ANC’s Mangaung conference and tries to gage what will come of those left out in the cold politically.
Butler suggests that a cabinet reshuffle is needed and asks “will Zuma try to destroy, or to embrace, Mashatile, Mbalula, and the many other bright young things in the Gauteng ANC?”
THE resolutions of the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) national conference in Mangaung in December have finally been released after weeks of editorial tinkering. The 80 pages do not offer any clear sense of political direction and provide few clues about policy changes that may lie ahead.
A high degree of continuity was inevitable as detailed proposals were prepared by national executive committee subcommittees before the conference and were mostly adopted by delegates. Many resolutions echo decisions taken at previous conferences that have not yet been implemented.
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by Amy on Mar 19th, 2013
The Centre for Conflict Resolution recently held a public dialogue on Ebrahim Harvey’s Kgalema Motlanthe: A Political Biography.
Ronnie Kasrils, ANC member and former Minister for Intelligence Services, and Ben Turok, author of the Understanding the ANC Today series joined Harvey to discuss the biography.
Listen to their discussion and to the Q&A that followed:
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by Amy on Feb 28th, 2013
Anthony Butler, author of The Idea of the ANC, has written about the complex relationship between money and politics in South Africa for Business Day. The recent incident between Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille and a donor who worked for a Gupta-owned company highlighted the connection between money and politics.
Butler writes about how “resources of one kind or another will become key instruments in the battle for voters”. ANC leader and President Jacob Zuma has “recently observed that companies that openly align themselves with the ANC tend to flourish” while Zille warns that transparency is problematic mostly for the opposition as the ANC may not react favourably to companies that are donating to other parties.
The falling out between Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille and the proprietors of The New Age newspaper has shone fresh light on the relationships between money and politics in South Africa. As the electoral vulnerability of the African National Congress (ANC) grows, resources of one kind or another will become key instruments in the battle for voters.
Party funding proposals on their way to the Cabinet will recommend bumping up public funding to all parties. They will probably, however, centre on the idea of “transparency” with which liberals have been self-destructively besotted.
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