Browsing by Subject "ANC"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    ANC Decline, Social Mobilization and Political Society: Understanding South Africa's Evolving Political Culture
    (Taylor & Francis, 2010) Reddy, Thiven
    This article examines the evolving political culture in contemporary South Africa. It draws on elite culture, neo-patrimonialism, and revisionist institutionalist perspectives to understand state weaknesses and patterns of politicization confronting South Africa’s developing democracy. While it accepts that the democratic political system and its constituent institutions are in place and function formally, a discourse of violence or threats of violence to rival political actors is commonplace. The article is structured as follows: the first part describes the increased social mobilization of disgruntled citizens who rely on a discourse of violence rather than articulating grievances through political structures; the second part focuses on those factors that ferment this kind of political culture. The article discusses the deepening economic inequality and its expression in class conflict under conditions of democracy. It then discusses the politics of the ANC as a dominant party, and in particular intra-elite conflict, ANC factionalization, and the consequent weakening of state institutions. These factors, the paper argues, encourage a politics in which political society, rather than civil society, becomes the main terrain for expressing conflict.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Restricted
    The ‘Cabbage and the Goat’: Xenophobic Violence in South Africa
    (Taylor & Francis, 2012) Reddy, Thiven
    The paper offers a way to think through the advent of xenophobia as a feature of post 1994 South African democracy. It does so by locating it within a broader politics of a mobilized citizenry in which a ruling class has been unable to assert its hegemony. In this context of opposing wills, the very terms of reference of citizenship are contested, the elite in the society operate within an idiom of rights, and the mass of poor, radical resource distribution and recognition. The ambivalent position of the ANC as liberation movement, key actor in the founding of the new constitutionalism, and political party engaged in competitive electoral politics adds to the social unease. The resultant fragile ruling ideology has allowed local discourses to thrive based on degrees of authentic belonging.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Steve Biko in the intellectual history of the Eastern Cape
    (2013) Mangcu, Xolela
    This audio lecture locates the ideas of the late Black Consciousness leader, Steve Biko, within a long trajectory beginning with the Khoi-Khoi and San wars of resistance in the Northern Cape. For anyone with an interest in the life of Steve Biko and SA history.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    The unlawfulness of the African National Congress' cadre deployment policy in its affect on an efficient administration: is an administration loyal to the ANC compromising service delivery in South Africa?
    (2025) Stein, Ruth Emily; Corder, Hugh
    This minor dissertation aims to understand the African National Congress' policy of cadre deployment, how this policy impacts on the efficiency of the South African public administration, and whether it sufficiently complies with the Constitution and the relevant law. Particular attention is given to the provision of services in postapartheid South Africa and how the appointment of cadres impacts on improved service delivery. Further attention is placed on the constitutional and legislative mechanisms that protect the ANC government from being held accountable for their decisions to appoint and remove public servants. The transformative and representative nature of the cadre deployment policy is commended. In contrast, the deployment of cadres over candidates better skilled for the job is critiqued in its impact on mismanagement and instability in the administration. The analysis applies the constitutional and legislative provisions promoting an efficient administration to the outcomes of the cadre deployment policy. Evidence on the workings of the cadre deployment policy is put forward through ANC Deployment Committee policies, findings from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, and reports of the Auditor-General. The analysis points to the susceptibility of the policy to private influence. Furthermore, it is evidenced that the policy's preference for party loyalists over persons most fit for purpose leads to mismanagement and instability in the administration. As a result, the efficiency of the administration is compromised by the ANC's cadre deployment policy. This is not to argue, however, that the policy should be abolished. It should, however, be reconsidered to focus more on the qualifications of cadres for the position to which they are appointed, continued training, and effective disciplinary measures for administrators who transgress the law.