3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
7 results
Search Results
Item An assessment of South African political parties' adherence to governance principles(2017) Besani, Sibongile JeremiaPolitical parties are prominent in the development of democracy in South Africa. Therefore, it is critical to expand knowledge about the governance of the major parties in the country in order to reflect on the future of democracy. The framework based on key functions - membership recruitment, policy formulation and organisational complexity performed by political parties facilitate an incisive assessment of adherence to governance principles - participation, accountability and transparency. Various sources, which include constitutions, interviews and focus group discussions of political parties, were central in the assessment of the governance principles of parties. The study revealed that the visions, missions, regularity of meetings, quorums requirements for meetings, diverse representation and structures are instructive in assessing and understanding the prevalence of governance principles within the operations of political parties. These areas are revealed in the study and they also provide insights in a future perspective of South African democracy.Item Writing between the fine lines of democracy: the role of the media in entrenching democracy in South Africa(2016) Bailey, Candice BronwynPending legislation in South Africa in the form of the Protection of State Information Bill presents an unprecedented threat to freedom of the press in post-apartheid South Africa. Like most countries globally, there have been tensions between the ruling party, which represents the state and the media, who argue that freedom of the press is critical to democracy. Both are institutions that consider their presence essential elements in a democratic regime. There is a fine line between censorship and self-regulation. But equally important is the need to balance rights to privacy with information that is in the public interest. In a country seen to have one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, enshrining freedom of the press, there are, however, still many questions around the media and where they ideally fit into society. Should they be the watchdog? Should they be a mouthpiece? And 22 years into democracy, how free are they to choose which role they prefer? With the freedom of expression war between the media and the ruling party continuing to play out in South Africa, the challenge lies in understanding what role the media has in efforts to entrench democracy.Item Community-based environmentalism in transitional South Africa: social movements and the development of local democracy(2017-01-30) Buchler, MichelleThis report explores co llect+ve ect+on around opposition to a propo..;ed hazardous waste 1andf t 11. Of concern ;s the role that social movement organisations and social movement activists, organising around environmental issues, can play in entrenching a participatory, non-racial democracy in South Africa's present transitional political phase. The analysis makes use of theories of social movements which argue that collective action is rooted in previous cycles of mobilisation, and that the role of social movement entreprenbJrS or activists is crucial in coll,ctive action mob'l Hsat ton. Data was collected through the use of participant observation and semi-structured interviews, Various documentary sources were also used. This report argues that mobilisation around environmental issues can best be understood by locating such mobilisation in the heritage of previous cycles of mobilisation, most notably in the period of the 19805. Furthermore, this report highlights the fact that the structure and form of ~he transitional state at national, regional and local levels presents certain constraints with regard to the extension and entrenchment of participatory democracy, Finally, it will be argued that while the Chloorkop Coalition demonstrates the pctent ial that environmental issues have for uniting communities across traditional racial and ideological barriers, it ;s not clear whether a lasting cross~racial cooperation can be achieved.Item Populism as an active and effective form of contemporary South African politics(2016-03-01) Du Toit, De VilliersRecent 21st century political developments in South Africa have given rise to debate surrounding a threat to a functioning democracy. New radical political parties, turmoil in the labour sectors, and dysfunctional government policies and activities have made populist tendencies a central aspect of this debate. Populism is an entity oft evoked in a negative light and rhetoric in this debate. It is associated with demagogues and the ‘uncontrollable’ urges of the masses that would be let loose upon society given the chance, destroying democracy in the process. It is the aim of this paper to argue the opposite. By expanding and contributing to the theoretical literature on populism, and through the analysis of empirical evidence – the Western Cape farm worker’s strikes and the Marikana strikes and subsequent massacre of 2012 –in South Africa this research report seeks to fill a gap in the conceptualisation and practical characterisation of populism in our political setting. Can populism be conceptually, theoretically, and empirically utilised to characterise and explain trends in contemporary South African politics and can it be utilised in providing a contextual underpinning for explaining recent events in South African society as a whole? Through the reliance on the theories of Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Zizek the aim will be to identify the underlying gaps in democratic politics that gives rise to populist movements and through this argument to build and utilise this conception of populism as a positive and effective analytical tool of contemporary South African politics.Item To what extent does the DTI 'reward' and 'discipline' firms for performance and non-perfomance in target sectors? Industrial policy in South Africa's quest for a developmental state 1994-2013(2016-03-01) Johwa, WilsonThis dissertation delves into the contested post-1994 transition to deliver economic justice and development in South Africa, particularly the country’s more recent quest to emulate the interventionist economic strategies successfully implemented in South East Asia. It follows from the governing African National Congress (ANC) being one among a few governments that have explicitly committed themselves to building a developmental state. Among some of its intentions, such a state aims to alter market incentives, reduce risks, offer entrepreneurial visions and manage conflicts. Specifically, the research study examines the role of industrial sector planning in South Africa as a component of a developmental state. In the 20th century East Asian developmental states, also known as early generation developmental states, such selective industrial policy was characterised by close ties between government and business that facilitated the sharing of information. These countries – Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore - were also distinguishable by the ability of the state to “discipline” capital through treating incentives, not as “gifts” but as enforceable performance contracts. The paper is split into three parts. Part 1 looks at the origins and evolution of the concept of a developmental state, along with key elements of such a state and their applicability to South Africa. Part 2 traces South Africa’s association with industrial sector planning, from the Jan Smuts era, through Hendrik Verwoerd until the Jacob Zuma administration. Part 3 is a case study that examines two particular sectors, the automotive industry and the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector (consisting of offshore call centres and related activities) to gauge the level of corporatism, along the state’s ability or desire to “discipline” or “reward” companies in pursuit of its industrialisation goals.Item In opposition and in power: the African National Congress and the theory and practice of participatory democracy (with particular reference to 1980s 'people's power' and policy formulation)(2016) Brooks, HeidiThe period of ‘people’s power’ in South Africa from 1985-7 represented for many participants a form of participatory, and often prefigurative, democracy. In the post-1994 period South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has committed to participatory democracy alongside representative democratic government. There has, however, been no clearly articulated theory of participatory democracy within the ANC. Through a combination of interviews and analysis of primary documents (including policy frameworks, legislation, discussion documents, guidance and other commentary), this thesis analyses the ANC’s understanding of participatory democracy as both a liberation movement in opposition and a government in power. While making a contribution to normative democratic debate, the thesis also challenges arguments which suggest that the democracy established in post-1994 South Africa is unrelated to people’s power or that people’s power in its entirety represented a superior form of democracy. Instead, it is argued that people’s power constituted a variety of overlapping themes and discourses. Elements were rooted in radical democratic theory, community activism, and ideas of popular empowerment. However it was also markedly influenced by Marxist-Leninist thought and a dominant notion of vanguardism. Overall, people’s power embraced a largely unitary form of democracy in which participation could only be exercised within the framework of the liberation movement. Into the democratic era, many of the ideas informing people’s power were woven into policy on participatory democracy. What also emerged, however, were new ideas and influences from development theory, governance discourse and international best practice. While these strands have themselves created conceptual tension - between the dual demands of performance and efficiency and citizen participation - public policy nonetheless provides politically pluralistic mechanisms for citizen influence. This thesis argues that alongside public policy discourse is a separate and distinct discourse of participation from the ANC as a movement. Here, vanguardism remains the dominant conceptual thread in which participation is seen as a means of fulfilling the NDR and extending ANC hegemony. As such, the teleological nature of participation as conceived by the ANC risks undermining the public policy objective of increasing citizen influence.Item Between science, politics and human rights: media coverage of the blood controversies(2012-08-31) King, CharlesSouth Africa obtained a new constitution in 1994 that enshrined the right to sexual orientation, race and gender equality, as well as – crucially – ensuring the “freedom of the press and other media”. However, consequent national debates appear to indicate that the country is still grappling with issues of sexual orientation and of sexual practices. It is against the complexity of this background that this research examines – through a focus on reported conflict over South Africa’s blood transfusion service – how certain debates and controversies around issues of race and sexual orientation arose and played out in the media. The editorials and opinion pieces of both The Star and The Citizen newspapers were more than mere platforms for debates to unfold upon. While both publications did undoubtedly provide a seemingly neutral platform for the two controversies to play themselves out, which included ample input from their readers, both publications from their editorial position intervened in a wide range of editorials, opinion pieces, commentaries and one cartoon. Thus, in fact, they played a powerful role in the curating manipulation of the debates.