3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Public participation in the constitution making process in Zimbabwe (2009-2010)(2012-10-04) Shonhe, ToendepiThe purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which participatory deliberative democracy is being practised in the constitution making process in Zimbabwe. The nature of public participation determines the character, quality and extent of consultations and democratic deliberation in policy formulation Constitution making has inescapably remained an ‘unfinished business’ in Zimbabwe as a consequence of the Lancaster House settlement of 1979. Yet, a national constitution is a biography of the nation, whose crafting must embody legitimacy and credibility. This research sought to examine the processes available for public participation for constitution making in Zimbabwe. The research focused on the constitution making process as a case study against the background of a partocratic policy making system that existed since 1980, and the advent of the Inclusive Government consummated on 13 February 2009 whose policy making architecture is premised on the GPA. The central question of this study was: “What processes are being used to secure deliberative democratic participation in the constitution design process in Zimbabwe? The research relied on documentary evidence, the researcher’s experience and observations as well as targeted semistructured interviews on public participation in the constitution making process in Zimbabwe for data collection, as a case study. The researcher relied on secondary data from published and unpublished literature and tracked newspaper publications to gather data related to the constitution making process. The researcher also visited and observed some of the Constitution Select Committee (COPAC) outreach meetings to gather information relating to the quality of deliberation at the meetings. The main findings were that the COPAC structure did not adequately provide a framework for delivering deliberative democracy as political parties retained decision making at stages of the process. The research concluded that political parties, the Executive and Parliament, dominated the process. Participation was cosmetic and “Executo-partocratic driven” rather than a “people-driven” process. The prevalence of citizen harassment and intimidation as well as the occurrence of violence during the consultative process hampered meaningful participation in deliberative processes by citizens. Similarly the inauspicious operating environment discouraged the free flow of information and debate, alienating citizen views and limiting deliberative participatory democracy. In the main, the policy making approach adopted was ‘Executo-partocratic’ and as such limited the citizens participation in equal, open and free deliberation resulting in a process that lacked legitimacy and credibility.Item The discourses on the right to housing in Gauteng Province, 1994-2008.(2010-05-25T09:15:57Z) Thomas, Christopher GeraldThe post-apartheid government of 1994 is a product of the ‘Age of Rights’. Statemaking processes and the exercise of state powers is managed by the rule of law based on a constitution. Constitutionally recognised rights, and rights protection institutions, animate a transition from a legacy of Black political exclusion and underdevelopment. Intensifying class stratification and inequality constrain Black’s formal realisation of citizenship rights, placing great pressure on creative interpretation of constitutionally legitimated claims. My thesis examines the rights discourse informing the Constitution, particularly issues about the realisation of social and economic rights. I examine the unfolding of discourses on the right to housing between 1994 to 2008, to illustrate of the complexity of the discourse. Episodic housing protests suggest significant degrees of alienation, marginalisation, and disappointment with expectations of citizenship and the non-realisation of social and economic rights. Housing rights is an issue that will affect the democratic consolidation and political stability prospects of the new political order. I examine the interface between macro-economic policies, budgets, and the realisation of housing rights, and assess the impact of an identifiable configuration of forces expected to play important roles in realising a rights culture and broadening the discourse. My study draws on a spectrum of qualitative, interpretive, and analysis of discourse approaches, using data from: published articles, annual reports and archives, speeches, court proceedings and statements, interviews with persons whose scope of activities impact the unfolding of the concerned rights, namely, representatives of government departments, private sector developers, financing institutions, and civil society formations. My main findings are that few actors in the configuration support the view that the Constitution should be changed to make explicit the state’s obligations on the realisation of social and economic rights. Nevertheless, there are isolated cases of people expressing an absolute entitlement sense of rights --- the state should deliver when demands are made. My conclusions are that considerable political unrest about non-realisation of these rights will persist, but will not cause a collapse of the post-1994 political institutions and processes. More likely, political actors, legal scholars and jurists, will persistently engage the prevailing rights discourse and the variety of institutions acting towards their realisation, without effecting drastic changes to these, but always invoking positions about how they still are suited for a post-apartheid transformation project yet need critical interrogation and improvisation.Item Taking ethno-cultural diversity seriously in constitutional design: towards an adequate framework for addressing the issue of minorities in Africa(2010-03-16T08:50:39Z) Dersso, Solomon A.No abstract providedItem Perceptions of democracy education among preset and inset students and teacher educators at a college of education(2007-02-16T12:17:42Z) Colgan, DesiaThis research report focuses on educators’ current attitudes, skills and knowledge in relation to democracy in South African education today. The research report also considers what needs to be done to make democracy a reality that informs education as opposed to simply adhering to policy and legislation that speaks of fine ideals but may well have limited impact on the lives of the majority of South Africa’s citizens. I contend that one of the main barriers between democratic theory and practice is ambiguity and the resulting uncertainty and insecurity. I believe that many South Africans, many world citizens in fact, struggle to articulate what democracy actually means. If this grey area is to be addressed and ambiguity defused then educators need to be clear about what it is they are trying to educate learners for. This can only be realised when educators have internalised ‘lived democracy’ and, as a result, feel both an ownership and commitment to democracy as a lived practice.