3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
1 results
Search Results
Item Race and Identity politics in post-apartheid South Africa: the use of new media for racial discourse(2018) Mdluli, NothandoIn post-apartheid South African, the government instituted policies that were established to foster the vision of a non-racial society following the colonial history of the country. Some of these policies include the Black Economic Empowerment Policy, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000 (Act 4 of 2000), as well as the idea of the Rainbow Nation, to name but a few strategies put in place to foster the vision of a non-racial society. Although these policies were enacted to create the idea of nationhood and building a new national identity, the period of 2016 and 2017, however, the country was engulfed with intense racial events that led to notions of the reawakening of racism in the society. A number of these events were facilitated through the use of social media that adversely sought to confront and challenge these enacted policies. As a result, the issue of race and identity continues to be persistent and appears to be challenging institutionalized government initiatives for a viable democracy. Thus, the significance of this study is to confront this racial antagonism so as to understand how race and identity is constructed in post-colonial South Africa Also, this is to ascertain the role of new media in facilitating racial debates, such as through the idea of citizen engagements on race and identity discourses. Methods of data collection for this study include cyber ethnography where online platforms, namely Nelson Mandela Facebook page, Andile Mngxitama’s Facebook page, and Letters from White South Africa Facebook page, were used as fundamental online communities to carry out an online study in order to understand how citizens engage on the issue of race and identity politics. Informal interviews were conducted amongst three political analysts, namely Ralf Mathekga, Tinyiko Mashiqi, and Steven Friedman and with representatives from the country’s three main political parties such as the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, and Economic Freedom Fighters. Thus, the study concluded that race and identity politics remain a challenge in the post - apartheid South African society. This was evident through immense racial contestations or tensions that were facilitated through the use of social media, which continue to challenge government’s efforts in realizing the vision of a non-racist society. The study further established that there are various political, socio, and economic factors that contribute towards the construction of race-racism and identity in post-apartheid South Africa, which require robust interventions by the state.