School of Social Sciences (ETDs)

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Witchcraft management in the early twentieth century Transvaal
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016) Pearson, Joel David; Delius, Peter; Falkof, Nicky
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, colonial governments across Africa, including South Africa, promulgated laws which aimed to prohibit the accusation of witchcraft, methods for the detection of witches and witch trials. However, while administrators saw merely superstition in witchcraft beliefs, “repugnant to the standards of civilisation”, many Africans saw an integral element of the social and spiritual order. The policing of witchcraft beliefs became a thorn in the side of colonial rule. This article brings to light some of the deeper historical complexities in policing witchcraft by looking at the application of witchcraft law in the early twentieth century ‐ a neglected period in witchcraft scholarship. Firstly, it examines some prominent discursive constructions of the concepts of “witchcraft” and the “witch doctor” during the early twentieth century, two terms which feature centrally in colonial witchcraft legislation. It argues that these terms were shrouded in a great deal of misconception and, at times, fear. Secondly, it examines instances in which the Transvaal Witchcraft Ordinance No. 26 of 1904 was applied at the Supreme Court level, demonstrating that it was employed in a wide variety of instances which often shared only a tenuous link to poorly defined notions of “the supernatural”. Nevertheless, diviners seem to have been especially prejudiced in the implementation of the law. Finally, archival correspondence derived from Native Affairs Department files dealing with witchcraft are examined to reveal that the job of policing witchcraft was rather more uncertain and ad hoc at the grassroots level than official “civilising” rhetoric may have suggested. While in principle there was no compromising with beliefs in witchcraft, in practice, such beliefs had to be carefully managed by local officials, who were given (often uncomfortably) wide powers of discretion in deciding when and how to employ the force of the law.
Racial-based Impression Management, Sense of Belonging and Work Engagement among Black Professionals in South African Organisations
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020) Ledwaba, Khensane Amanda; Kock, Ruwayne; Donald, Fiona
Despite the increasing prevalence of diversity in many organisations in South Africa, the lack of inclusivity is an issue that most of these organisations are still challenged with. This is evidenced by the racial-based impression management (RIM) strategies that are still used by Black professionals to manage aspects of their racial identities and to navigate multiracial dynamics in workplaces in South Africa. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how RIM strategies (avoidance, affiliation, racial humour, enhancement) relates to work engagement (vigour, dedication, absorption) of Black professionals in organisations in South Africa and, whether this proposed relationship is mediated by the sense of belonging at work. A cross-sectional, correlational design with purposive sampling and snowballing was used. 206 Black professionals in a sample of various organisations in South Africa completed a self- developed demographic questionnaire, Schaufeli et al.’s (2002) Utrecht work engagement scale, Roberts et al.’s (2014) adapted RIM scale and Hagerty and Patusky’s (1995) sense of belonging instrument. The results indicated that racial humour was used least and affiliation most amongst the RIM strategies. There were weak to moderate correlations between the RIM strategies of affiliation, racial humour and enhancement with work engagement, none for avoidance. Similarly, there were weak and moderate correlations between sense of belonging at work and work engagement and RIM strategies of affiliation, racial humour, none for avoidance and enhancement. Sense of belonging acted as a mediator only between RIM (affiliation, racial humour) and work engagement, with an exception of avoidance and enhancement. The results suggest that the use of RIM strategies seems to be successful in so far as they might ‘free’ Black professionals up in organisations in South Africa to engage in their work. The mediating role of sense of belonging at work indicates the importance of allowing employees to feel like valued ‘insiders’ and the need for organisations to prioritise and strive to create working environments that are inclusive for all versus expecting assimilation.
Menstrual Hygiene and Management in Zamimpilo Riverlea Informal Settlement
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021-08) Khofi, Lucy; Manderson, Lenore
Managing menstrual hygiene in low- and middle-income countries is difficult, due to lack of proper facilities. With inadequate WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) services and infrastructure, such as proper working toilets and lack of access to sanitary materials, some women end up using unhygienic sanitary materials, such as rags, leaves, sand, tissues and so forth to manage menstruation. In this study, I used an anthropological approach to describe and analyse women’s understandings of menstrual health and hygiene in the informal settlement of Zamimpilo, Johannesburg. Firstly, I looked at how women understood menstruation and how this was influenced by community attitudes and social norms. Secondly, I identified what material, structural and normative factors hindered or enabled women to manage their menstruation and hygiene: shame, embarrassment, level of education, access to information, gender inequality, affordability of pads and soap, access to water, and access to sanitation and hygiene facilities. Thirdly, I explored women’s experiences of their bodies, and how menstruation influenced their decisions to go out, go to school, have sex, bathe with others, manage pain, and sleep. I looked also at the practices that women used to manage menstrual waste. As I illustrate, these practices are shaped by cultural, social, and religious factors. I have explored women’s creative ways to manage menstruation, menstrual waste, and hygiene under different conditions, and explored the extent to which they have internalised or resisted negative attitudes towards their bodies and bodily products. I emphasise women’s narratives. In theorising these questions, I have adapted ideas from Purity and Danger (1984) by Mary Douglas, and following her, I have analysed menstruation as something polluting and dirty that contributes to menstrual shame. I have also drawn on Emily Martin’s book The Woman in the Body (2001) and examined how social and cultural factors shape women’s understanding of themselves. The data on which this thesis was based is drawn from research using qualitative methods. Due to constraints in movement and social interactions associated with COVID-19, primary data were collected through telephonic semi-structured interviews. Twelve women – six young women between 18 and 25 years and six women between 25 and 40 years of age – were each interviewed twice, bringing the total number of in-depth interviews to 24. Participants were recruited through a key informant, using purposeful sampling for maximum variability to ensure diversity of age, ethnicity, religion, education background, among participants. This was significant given that the population of Zamimpilo was diverse and includes people from different provinces and communities: Xhosa, Zulu, Pedi and other South Africans all live in Zamimpilo, as well as people from other African countries including Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Nigeria. My findings suggest that women’s MHM (Menstrual Hygiene Management) in Zamimpilo is still a huge challenge. The environment is deeply compromised, and no residents have access to adequate housing, water and sanitation. These basic challenges, along with the lack of sanitary products, hinder women from managing their menstrual hygiene. However, I found that these women used alternatives to manage their MH (Menstrual Hygiene), including various herbs for menstrual hygiene purposes and to prevent urinary tract and reproductive tract infections. Women expressed various understandings of their bodies, menstrual blood and menstruation as a process. I describe how the South African Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities has tried to address ‘period poverty’ in the country with the collaboration of non-government, non-profit organisations, the private sector, and menstrual activists. However, the need is greater than available resources. In places like Zamimpilo, women still do not receive any assistance from community organisations or from the state, and so they must improvise to manage this most private, routine, mundane event.
YouTube: Video Commercialization, Value Creation and Identity
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021-12) Dlamini, Gabby Sipho; White, Hylton
Social media has been blamed for promoting unrealistic flashy lifestyles and an increase in influencer brand marketing. The outcome of this is said to put extreme pressure on individuals to maintain a certain lifestyle to the detriment of their self, promoting a performance of life rather than real life experiences, resulting in the breakdown of social bonds. Yet social media platforms such YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and many others are growing at considerable rates, despite all the critiques. The thesis overall questions how YouTube vloggers turn the intangible value of activities in everyday life into monetary income by attracting online audiences to their vlogs. The research is located as part of transformations taking place in late capitalism, that used to characterise the organisation of labour and, therefore, society in nineteenth and twentieth-century iterations of modern capitalist society; and the changing concepts of “private” and “public” that are described as part of the technological development and integration into our everyday lives. This thesis traces the changing structures and relationships between YouTube, YouTubers and viewers as the economy of YouTube has continued to grow. Whilst influencer brand marketing and social media reach are popularly viewed as detrimental to the individual and society, this thesis argues against this general view. Instead, I argue that in the wake of influencer marketing and the financial economies, embedded within YouTube and other social media, new ways of being and belonging are being negotiated. This thesis, using ethnographic data, focuses on these new ways of being and belonging by explaining how ideas of value, suspicion, affect, and digital footprint are factors in creating online community ties and online identities that continue inside and outside of the online space.
Governing Children in Street Situations in Pretoria: Vulnerability and Social Protection in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Matarise, Fungai
The vulnerability of children in post-Apartheid South Africa has been a major issue in social and development policy debates for decades now. Children are situated within the wider notion of “Vulnerable Groups” that is a central tenet in South African public and development policy discourse. This thesis examines the vulnerability of children in street situations as defined in the Children’s Act no. 38. of 2005. Children in street situations are a distinct category of vulnerable children that has experienced and continues to experience countless privations on the streets across South Africa. The issue of children in street situations raises fundamental questions about the political, economic and social aspects of inequality, marginality, and social exclusion in the post-Apartheid state. Hence, a central question in debates surrounding the interventions of state agencies on children in street situations is to consider how social and public policy articulate in concrete ways the country’s commitment to social inclusion, social justice and the fight against inequalities. Yet, with specific reference to children in street situations, little is known about the legal, material and practical governance of these category of children in South Africa. This study examines the governance of Children in Street Situations in Pretoria– the administrative capital of South Africa. The Department of Social Development (DSD) is the main provider for social interventions in the country, including in Pretoria. This is an exploratory study, based on my field research with informants at the Department of Social Development (DSD) and related organisations working on addressing the issue of Children in Street Situations. The study combines data from face to-face interviews with social workers at the DSD and telephone conversations with non governmental organisations (NGOs) personnel alongside textual analysis of official documents, policy reports and guidelines, legal provisions and media reports. Using discourse analysis and a post structural deconstructive approach, the thesis examines and unpacks the value and limits of vulnerability as a critical and core concept in understanding social protection in South Africa’s public and development policy. The thesis argues that a critical approach to the conceptualisation of vulnerability in South African public and development policy is important because it frames the legal and institutional responses to categories of people perceived to be in need of social protection, including children in street situations. The thesis develops this argument empirically by analyzing and discussing the representations of children in street situations in South Africa along mostly negative perceptions of these children and underlines how these representations are important to the framing and practice of social protection in aw, legislation and social policy. Furthermore, in discussing some of the social interventions for children in street situations and the challenges involved for DSD workers, this study also finds that the social problem of children in street situations is defined by ambiguity: among social workers at the DSD there are divergent views on whether these children exist and pose a policy challenge or not. Against a generic conceptualisation of children as similarly characterized by vulnerability, the thesis suggests that a further disaggregation of children in street situations as children in a specific social situation is necessary to appreciate their special vulnerabilities and needs. This fits a purposive response, more effective and targeted initiatives in care and protection that enhance their capabilities and well-being of children in street situations.
A gendered inquiry into South Africa’s agrarian question and agro-food system trends
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Mabasa, Khwezi; Williams, Michelle; Cock, Jacklyn
South Africa’s agrarian question has been shaped by the evolution of racial capitalism for nearly four centuries. Dispossession, commodification, and social stratification continue to characterise the country’s agrarian system and broader social structure. However, these three structural features exist in a 21st century finance-led racial capitalist system, which has decoupled socio-economic development from rural-based agrarian livelihoods and exacerbated uneven spatial development across the country. Sixty-seven per cent of the population resides in urban areas and deagrarianisation continues to expand. The country’s agro-food system is highly industrialised, with strong upstream and downstream linkages to other economic sectors dominated by large corporates along value chains. Yet these structural shifts, created through centuries of dispossession and racially segregated industrialisation, have not totally obliterated the role of agrarian livelihood practices in households or community social reproduction. This study used a gendered lens to explore the agrarian political economy structural changes mentioned above, drawing primarily on the experiences of black African women from low-income communities. The discussions elevate gendered socio-economic and sociological impacts of structural agrarian changes in South Africa, which are often underplayed in agrarian political economy literature focusing on transforming race or class relations. More importantly, the study examined the women’s individual and communal agentic agrarian livelihood practices. The main aim was to explore significant lessons for contributing towards debates on alternative agro-food systems in South Africa. Feminist and extended case methodology framed the overall methodological approach in the study, and data was obtained from semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. I relied on Marxist feminist and black feminist political economy literature to develop the study’s theoretical framework and analytical concepts. The central argument of the study is anchored on the following three points. Firstly, South Africa’s post-apartheid agro-food system structural change logic advances narrow agrarian transformation goals, which seek to change racial ownership patterns and integrate ‘emerging’ women farmers into existing commercial agro-food system market structures. This approach has led to negative gendered socio-economic impacts because it fails to address structural social reproduction dimensions that cause gender disparities in the first place. Secondly, black African women have created dynamic agrarian subsistence practices in response to their structural socio-economic challenges, which form part of multiple livelihood and income sources. Their contribution towards local economic v development through these subsistence livelihood practices is overlooked because it takes place outside formal markets. Thus, it is imperative to examine and study these livelihood practices with the aim of obtaining key lessons on how to support marginalised black African women who view agrarian development as an importance source of social reproduction in their communities. Thirdly, black African women-led agency goes beyond orthodox productivism approaches in studying agrarian and non-agrarian livelihood strategies. This study revealed other essential elements in the women’s agentic practices such as solidarity building, experiential learning, indigenous knowledge sharing and creating spaces for formulating women-led public policy demands.
Understanding Quiet Diplomacy: A critical analysis of South Africa’s intervention in Zimbabwe, 2000-2009
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Livay, Mametja Mafutha; Moshoeshoe, M.
This report analyses South Africa’s quiet diplomacy intervention in Zimbabwe to address the political instability and violence in the 2000-2009 period. There is great uncertainty and insufficient information on the reason for South Africa’s quiet diplomacy objectives in Zimbabwe in this period. The report uses a qualitative methodology to collect and analyze data using Joseph Nye’s Co-optive power theory to interpret South Africa’s conduct in its intervention. The study has found that the choice of quiet diplomacy from South Africa is influenced mainly by its foreign policy regarding conflict resolution which centers greatly on negotiations and mediation instead of military intervention. Equally, it has found that the main objective of the intervention has not been to address the socio-economic issues but to mediate and resolve only the political conflict between the Zimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leadership; from which the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and Government of National Unity (GNU) emerged
Controlled Existence in Zimbabwe and Beyond: Exploring Survivability in Shadows (2012) by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma and The Border Jumper (2019) by Christopher Mlalazi
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-02) Makoni, Brightman; Nyanda, Josiah
This study considers existence and survivability as the particulars of transnational migration. Through critical engagement with Novuyo Rosa Tshuma’s Shadows (2012) and Christopher Mlalazi’s The Border Jumper (2019), the research explores migrant lives in the context of transborder migration between Zimbabwe and South Africa. The chosen literary texts are analysed through the prism of typified migrant characters’ lives in Zimbabwe, South Africa and on the margins of both and on the borderlines, between societies and countries. Insights are drawn from the theory of intersectionality entwined with concepts of oppression, identity and habitus. The unified theoretical framework is applied on migrant characters’ trend of existing and surviving and how the trends expose power dynamics that play out in one’s mother country and beyond borders as a consequence of identity fluidity, place, space and time.
Experiences of Youth in Agrarian Transformation in Rural South Africa: A Case of Greenplanet Primary Cooperative in Orange Farm
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-03) Chibonore, Wilma Claris; Kariuki, Samuel
This thesis advanced a qualitative approach to analyse the practices, structures and rationalities that inform youth engagement in agriculture drawing on evidence from Orange Farm in Gauteng Province of South Africa. The study takes off on the premise that there is low generational renewal in agriculture as the older and ageing generation makes the majority of active farmers yet farming holds great potential for creating youth employment whilst youth engagement in agriculture secures food of the future. The study finds that youth (dis)engagement and (dis)interest in farming is directly related to the availability and easy access to everyday support structures particularly those provided by the state and observes that many young people are in fact interested in farming but are currently operating in a structurally disabling environment amidst poor state support which does not allow for growth or access to key resources. The study finds that youth interest in farming exists although these interests are largely skewed towards technologically advanced farming systems and against backward manual farming systems therefore contradicting existing discourse as well as challenging the general narrative and consensus that youths are not interested in farming or that youth interest in farming is waning. The thesis reveals that young farmers understanding, interpretation and engagement with agricultural technology is based on their levels of exposure, location and access to resources. Poverty, structural limitations and marginalization experienced by the youth contribute significantly to their reception and perception of agriculture as a whole. The thesis argues for an agrarian developmental state approach towards the strengthening of agricultural opportunities and the relevant institutional structures and resources such as land, stipends, extension services, training, technology and market allocation to support youth farming in rural South Africa where the economies are generally stagnant and youth unemployment very high. This study observes that young people as active citizens and through utilising individual agency have the capacity to drive their own innovations within the agricultural sector when awarded the platform, opportunity and support to do so. The study reveals that the young farmers are ‘millennials’ who use their youth agency to engage in social networking facilitated by use of social media as a powerful tool for unity and resistance against unfavourable farming environments. Lastly, two contradictory perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 emerge in this study, one of COVID-19 having presented opportunities for growth and success for the young farmers and another of the pandemic having further marginalized and disrupted the already struggling young farmers with both narratives being shaped directly and indirectly by the pre-existing structural challenges. Methodologically, empirical data was mostly gathered through face to face semi-structured interviews, focus groups and conversations with the young farmers with the remainder of interviews having been conducted virtually via Skype, WhatsApp chats and WhatsApp calls upon the emergence of COVID-19 which converged with this study. Participant observation occurred through attending farmers meetings, agriculture tours, engaging in some farming activities on some sites as well as being part of the young farmers WhatsApp group. The thesis also relied on published journals, statistical reports, media reports, policy documents as well as videos from the public hearings regarding the amendment of the South African Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation in order to bolster the empirical findings.
Justice as Recognition in the Ecological Community
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-06) Francis, Romain; Hamilton, Lawrence
This thesis postulates that an alternate mode of recognition is required to develop an authentic conception of justice that reconciles the subaltern’s desire for dignity with affording greater love, care, and respect for nature. Extant redistributive and recognitive justice frames within traditional western political theory and philosophy are strictly anthropocentric and restrict nature to a purely utilitarian function in the satisfaction of human needs. This maintains a moral hierarchy between humans and nature that perpetuates ecological injustice. Using decoloniality as both a method and critical analytical framework, this thesis develops and employs the coloniality of nature to illustrate that the continued destruction, exploitation, and disrespect for nature is fundamentally tied to the misrecognition of subaltern people. Misrecognition is a product of a deep-seated sociogenic problem of coloniality introduced during European colonisation, which consolidated the superior status of a hegemonic western subjectivity. Other experiences, knowledges, practices, and ways of articulating human-nature relations were rendered as non-scientific and superstitious and devoid of any value. The misrecognition of subaltern people denied humanity an opportunity to learn from other viewpoints and integrate them into an inclusive idea of justice where no single subjectivity assumes a dominant status. Centered on a decolonial love predicated on Fanon’s idea of “building the world of the You”, not the I, Us or We, this thesis draws on the principles of transculturalism and border thinking to promulgate a practical idea of justice as recognition in the context of an ecological community, that is more inclusive of other living and non-living entities. It advances a dialogical mode of recognition that attempts to achieve the following objectives: i) promote critical introspection amongst the subaltern to understand how their experience of (mis)recognition is connected to the destruction of nature, and how their attitudes towards nature were altered by the introduction of western modernity, capitalism and colonisation, ii) enable those social groups that are on the top of the ontological hierarchy to understand their role in such processes and how to address them, and iii) to demonstrate that increasing humanity’s love, care, and respect for nature is not possible without first addressing misrecognition between people.
The Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with Condom Consensus among Adolescents in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-07) Guambe, Malesedi Pokello; Frade, Sasha
Background: Evidence highlights that heterosexual condomless sex among adolescents aged 15 to 24 years is argued by the literature to be a contributor to the high HIV prevalence, STIs, and adolescent pregnancies. As South Africa seeks to reduce new HIV infections by approximately 80%, condom use is of paramount importance. This is due to the fact that condoms are a preventative method that can protect against HIV transmission, STIs and unwanted pregnancies. Previous studies have shown that mutual agreement about using a condom improves consistent condom use among sexual partners. This study therefore investigates the socio-demographic factors associated with condom consensus among adolescents in South Africa. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study, conducted using secondary data from the South African National HIV Prevalence, HIV Incidence, Behavior and Communication Survey (SABSSM) collected from January to December 2017. The study sampled 2 995 adolescents aged 15 to 24 years in South Africa. The software STATA 14 has been used to manage and analyze data. Descriptive statistics were computed to describe the characteristics of the study population. Cross-tabulation and Pearson Chi2 test were computed to test for association between socio-demographic factors and condom consensus. In order to examine the relationship between socio-demographic factors and condom consensus, binary logistic regression was used. Key Results: The study found condom accessibility and frequency of condom use to be significantly associated with condom consensus. Findings show that condom consensus was 0.457 less likely for adolescents who reported that condoms were not easily accessible, compared to adolescent with easier access. Statistical significance for condom accessibility is p=0.031. Furthermore, the likelihood of condom consensus for frequency of condom use was more likely (AOR,1.931; CI, 1.185-3.145) for adolescents who reported using condoms almost every-time and less likely (AOR, 0.563, CI, 0.379-0.798) for adolescents who used condoms sometimes. Main conclusion: This study found association for condom accessibility and condom consensus, as well as for frequency of condom use and condom consensus. For other socio-demographic factors there was no statistical significance with condom consensus. This study suggests that exposure of Social and Behavioral Change Communication programs needs to be increased among adolescents in South Africa. Central to reducing HIV infections, STIs, and adolescent pregnancy are programs that will influence behavior change among adolescents. At the core of such programs, there is a need for counselling on condom consensus and encouragement about not consuming alcohol before sexual intercourse. Additionally, these programs should make condom accessibility adolescent friendly, so as to encourage using condoms all the time as this is central to reducing new HIV infections, STIs, and adolescent pregnancy.
What is ‘Black Tax’? : A Study of the Experiences and Understandings of ‘Black Tax’ amongst Young Black Professionals in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-07) Dube, Luthando Nolwazi; Ally, Shireen
‘Black Tax’ is a colloquial term used to refer to a system of extended kinship support which is prevalent in Black communities in South Africa. South Africa is a country characterised by high levels of racial inequality and unemployment, due to an extended history of European colonisation, apartheid, and their long-lasting effects. In this context, Black South Africans having a regular source of income has become rare enough to be considered a ‘privilege’ and for young Black professionals in particular, it comes with the responsibility to care for their families, both immediate and extended. As a result, young Black professionals have been described as the ‘sandwich generation’, stuck between supporting both present and past generations due to greater access to education and opportunities. This study sought to explore how young Black professionals experience and understand ‘Black Tax’ in South Africa. The study looked into the different ways in which Black professionals provide support and additionally, whether there is an expectation of such support, and how it is experienced and understood by them as the givers. A qualitative research approach formed the basis of this study, based on semi-structured, non-contact telephonic interviews with eight young Black professionals identified through the snowball sampling technique. Some results from this study found that young Black professionals narrate ‘Black Tax’ both as an obligatory expectation, and also as they frame it, as an extension of Ubuntu. The study demonstrates how ‘Black Tax’ consists of mainly two things: debt and obligations of reciprocity (paying back) and thanksgiving; or the expectation as a result of having experienced similar kindness (paying forward). ‘Black Tax’ is not limited to financial contributions alone and young Black professionals have categorised their ‘Black Tax’ to include mainly shared assets, financial, non-financial, and voluntary acts and not limited to emotional support. The findings suggest that young Black professionals in this study understand the context in which ‘Black Tax’ exists in South Africa and that their experience of it is shaped by the social standing of their families, which influences the manner in which they engage in the practice of ‘Black Tax’. Furthermore, although young Black professionals experience ‘Black Tax’ in different ways, it is clear that they face the same racialised experience; they thus have a unified Black experience (shared experience).
Violence and protest: A historical analysis of ‘violence’ and community protests in Bethanie, c. 1866 to 2018
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-10) Makena, Kefuoe Emmaculate; von Holdt, Karl; Lekgoathi, Sekibakiba P.
The Bakwena ba Mogopa are a community in the North West Province of South Africa. The capital of this community is Bethanie. In 2018, residents of Bakwena ba Mogopa embarked on a protest. This protest highlighted issues of unemployment, lack of service delivery and underdevelopment. For many, in particular young people, this protest was surprisingly militant. However, for the elders in the community, this reignited memories of the war of Mabidibidi from the late 1920s. This war was about the split of the Lutheran church which resulted in two separate churches, one being the ELCSA and BLC. Moreover, other elders argued that in the 1960s, the conflict within the traditional leadership was also Mabidibidi. This dissertation explores various protests and moments of contention that have manifested in Bethanie and have shaped this rather peaceful community. To provide context for these events, this dissertation looks at the history of Bethanie from 1866 till 2018. For a community that refers to itself as peaceful, perhaps given the events of spectacular protests that have taken place throughout South Africa, this case of Bethanie complicates some of the common understandings of how violent protests manifests.
Exploration of the Impact of Police Brutality during demonstrations on Public Trust: A case study of the Malawi Police Service in Malawi, 2010-2020
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022-12) Chavula, Faith; Pakade, Nomancotsho; Duca, Federica
Police brutality during demonstrations has been a concern all around the world. Over the last decade, Malawi has recorded tens of violent demonstrations which have been associated with police brutality which has negatively affected an already declining public trust in the Malawi Police Service (MPS). This study employed a qualitative research design to investigate how police brutality during demonstrations has negatively affected public trust in the MPS. This study used semi-structured interviews and document analysis to collect data. This research study sampled twenty (20) respondents namely, citizens who had participated in demonstrations in the past decade, MPS officers, and members of Community Social Organisations (CSO’s) who had been organising different demonstrations in Malawi over the past decade. The major findings of this study are that there has been a political influence in the MPS which has led to the adoption of partisanship in the MPS. This has influenced police brutality especially during anti-government demonstrations. The study also found that the MPS have adopted a militarisation approach also known as an “us vs them” posture, where the police see the public as enemies and respond with excessive force during demonstrations. Due to this militarisation approach and police partisanship, there has been an impaired relationship between the citizens and the police which has resulted in a shift of public trust from the MPS to CSOs. Strategies and recommendations have also been explored to begin to address public trust in the MPS.
Eliminating Potentiality from Pure Powers
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Oswald, Matthew Egon Marshall; Coates, Ashley
I work to eliminate potentiality from the essences of pure powers, dispositions, by developing and defending a Megarian Actualist framework. I argue that the manifestations of fundamental natural powers are totally actual fields and that this enables me to avoid the Meinongian problem which affects traditional dispositionalist accounts. I adopt and defend Molnar’s view of manifestations and contributions and later I defend against criticisms against Megarian Actualism by Aristotle, Molnar and Bird. Finally, I conclude by demonstrating that Megarian Actualism can still preserve modality at large, despite endorsing a strict necessity relation between manifestation and disposition.
The role of Mzansi Magic’s ‘Makoti, Are You the One’ in facilitating gender discourses
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Vabaza, Ncumisa; Muparamoto, Nelson; Vanyoro, Kudzaiishe
The South African Bill of rights prohibits all forms of discrimination based on gender and sex. The government through the National Development Plan encourages stakeholder involvement in the promotion of gender equality. Yet, the experiences of women in various spheres reveal that normative patriarchal socialization persists. This research evaluates the role of local media in facilitating gender discourses that permeate modern-day South African society. This research employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) and critical diversity literacy (CDL) to interpret the dominant gender discourses on the locally produced reality television show Makoti Are You the One? CDA and CDL are used to interpret the representation techniques used to empower and disempower men and women respectively. The research adopts a qualitative research approach, specifically non-participatory observation to comprehend the dynamics in the relationships between the show’s male-female participants as well as the inter-group relationships between female participants on the show. Using discourse, framing and gender theories the study provides an understanding of the techniques used by the media in representing gender, and how these contribute to the co-construction of social meanings assigned to gender. The findings show a persistent imbalance in the representation of gender through local programming, by hegemonically positioning men in superior standing to women who are represented as subjects in their homes and the broader society. These imbalances are contrary to the ideals of gender equality.
In Search of Blackwomen’s Voices – Engendering South African Liberation Movement
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Rodwell, Karabo-Maya; Shange, Kholeka
The Black Consciousness Movement played a vital role in South Africa’s fight for liberation against the apartheid government. A significant part of this movement were the Black women that risked their lives for the country. Despite the work that they have all done and continue to do, Black women in this movement have faced multiple challenges related to their gender. I am interested in sharing the experiences of these women to add to the growing literature on the role and impact of Black women in South Africa’s history. To do this, I conducted interviews with six Black women over six months, between July 2022 and January 2023, all of whom have been involved in the Black Consciousness Movement. The participants in this research represent a small glimpse into the experiences of Black women in South African liberation movements. This research report follows the lived experiences of Black women in South Africa’s liberation movement, looking specifically at the Black Consciousness Movement. My research found that while each of these women were involved in the movement at different time periods, and in different areas of South Africa, many of their experiences overlap. I have broken these findings into three major themes. The first ethnographic chapter follows their early consciousness building and when they believe they came into consciousness. This chapter explores the formative years of Black women in the Black Consciousness Movement, namely who and or what influenced their political consciousness. The second ethnographic chapter examines Black women’s subjective interpretations of Black Consciousness and the impact this has on the self. While they were all part of the same movement they all seemed to have experienced the ideology differently. The third and final ethnographic chapter interrogates the marginalisation of Black women in the BCM. Here I discuss how women joined this structure for the emancipation of Black people at large, as well as connections to the ideology, and yet many felt that as women they were not always allowed the space to fully participate.
Adaptation strategies against drought: The case of rain-fed subsistence crop farmers in Mphego village in the Vhembe District of Limpopo province, South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Ntuli, Nokutenda Chantelle; Mukwedeya, Tatenda
South Africa’s Limpopo province is recognized as one of the drought prone regions of the country. Incessant droughts in Limpopo are compromising agricultural productivity in both the large-scale commercial and smallholder farming sectors. Regardless, smallholder farmers, especially those located in historically marginalized settings (former homeland areas) that experience socio-economic deprivation at the hands of the state, and practice rain-fed subsistence agriculture bear the disproportionate burden of drought. These farmers lack adequate finances, agri-mechanization as well as state support to sufficiently cushion them against drought. Such is the plight of rain-fed subsistence in Mphego village, a former homeland area of the Venda Bantustan now known as Vhembe district. This study contributes to understanding how drought is impacting the practices of rain-fed subsistence crop farmers in the rural community of Mphego. Attention is placed on investigating the ways in which drought intersects with existing politically engineered social and economic constraints experienced by subsistence farmers in Mphego village to exacerbate systemic vulnerabilities. Moreover, it explores the adaptation strategies that are being employed by these subsistence farmers to cope with drought impacts. Qualitative interviews were used to investigate these dynamics, and the data was analysed using the thematic approach. The results obtained from Mphego revealed that drought vulnerabilities experienced by subsistence farmers should be understood in light of other converging state orchestrated socio-economic structures of deprivation in local rural communities that shape outcomes in the smallholder agricultural sector. The state is contributing to the expansion of agri-capitalist practices and its drought relief support is biased towards large-scale commercial farmers at the expense of subsistence livelihoods. Given these circumstances, subsistence farmers in Mphego have been employing their own agency to adapt to drought conditions. The livelihood capitals possessed by the farmers were found to play a significant role in influencing and shaping their choice of adaptation practices.
Nationalism Without a State: A Comparative Analysis of Revolutionary Nationalism Among Stateless Nations
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Mayet, Humairaa; Zähringer, Natalie
A political philosophy employed by nationalist groups and parties, revolutionary nationalism, is used to resist the established order and achieve political goals. It is especially prevalent when power is held by a group or party which attempts to oppress and stifle certain identities and nationalities while enabling others. Revolutionary nationalism has been practiced by the people of Palestine and Western Sahara, both when they resisted against their European colonisers, Britain and Spain, and today, as they resist against their occupiers, Israel and Morocco. Forms of resistance practices include popular and organised resistance, as well as violent and nonviolent resistance. Similarities and differences emerge when analysing how each of these occupied populations attempted to resist through means of revolutionary nationalism and these can be examined and compared. Revolutionary nationalism often goes hand-in-hand with the expression of the right to self-determination, the highest form of which is statehood. The aim of this research report is to discern whether or not the practices of revolutionary nationalism give rise to self-determination, even though it has been proven that, in the post-Cold War era, they do not give rise to statehood.
Shifts, Changes and Continuities in Heritage Commemoration and Memorialisation of the 21 March 1960 Sharpeville Massacre: 1960-2010
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Ngoaketsi, Joseph Mairomola; Lekgoathi, S.P
The Sharpeville Massacre was a key turning point in modern South African history. The massacre ended the non-violent civil rights-style political activism and flickered three decades of armed confrontation with the colonial apartheid regime. Most importantly, it became the catalyst for the declaration of apartheid as a crime against humanity by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 1966. However, most of the studies on the massacre focus mainly on documenting the events of that day, and very little has been written about the historical re-presentations of the shooting beyond this. This study, therefore, aims to fill the lacuna in the re-presentation and observance of this event. It does so by not only complementing the existing literature but also looking at an area that has been grossly neglected, namely the diverse ways in which the killing has been observed over a period of five decades, starting from the 1960s to 2010. The study employs discourse analysis as well as critical and in-depth analyses of published secondary, historical and archival sources, including newspaper reports and commentaries on the 21 March Sharpeville Day commemorations. These sources are complemented by a large spread, and wide range of biographical sources, unstructured interviews, testimonials, informal discussions, and conversations with key local heritage activist respondents. The focus group consists of members of the Khulumani Support Group at the Sharpeville branch. The findings and conclusions of this study derive from observations of the anniversary commemorations of the massacre by ethnographic participants. The study utilises several theoretical frameworks, while the Life Narrative Interpretative theory of oral history lays the basis for this research venture. As the findings of this thesis bear out, the application of this theory converges oral history and collective memory studies. Other theories used in this study include Maurice Halbwachs’ theory of collective memory, which is located in nostalgia, individual testimony, oral history, tradition, myth, style, language, art, popular culture, and physical landscape. Émile Durkheim’s performance or ritual theory postulates that the past is represented and relived through rituals, and the relationship between the past and the present takes the form of a dramatic (re)presentation. The study observes that cultural rites conducted during memorialisation processes and annual observances of the Sharpeville massacre are marked by human arrangements of performances or viii ritual remembrances. The transitional justice theoretical discourse is applied in the study’s analysis of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission - a socio-political initiative devoted to fact-finding, reconciliation and memory culture. It concludes that memorialisation processes and rituals are communal reflexes for survivors of the Sharpeville Massacre and families of the victims. Contrary to assertions by notable Sharpeville Massacre historians, this day was not observed between 1964 and 1984, despite an international commemorative tradition that developed beginning from 1966. The study observes that during the 1960s, the Human Rights Society, an affiliate of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), commemorated Sharpeville Day even at the height of state repression. It demonstrates that it was the Black Consciousness Movement family of organisations that popularised the commemoration of Sharpeville Day, calling it Heroes Day during the 1970s. The observance of this day took the form of church services, cemetery visitations and political rallies. The study notes that with the formation of the Congress Movement-aligned civic structure in the form of the United Democratic Front, Sharpeville Day was used as a platform to openly defy the apartheid government and undermine its institutions. The 1990s was a period of political transition in South Africa, and the study analyses commemorations of the Sharpeville Massacre during this decade. In the context of the unbanning of liberation movements, observances of this day took place in a more politically tolerable landscape. During the first half of this decade, commemorations of Sharpeville Massacre revealed the deep-seated political and ideological differences between the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress former liberation movements turned political parties in the early 1990s after their unbanning. The study observes that this day was used during this period to garner support for the upcoming elections in 1994. Following the establishment of the Government of National Unity, the hegemonic impulses of the African National Congress overrode long-held traditions of how Sharpeville Day was observed. The study highlights that from the year 1995, 21 March started to be observed as an official public holiday, later transforming into Human Rights Day, instead of being a solemn commemoration, as was the case before the democratic dispensation. The study further observes that during this decade, court-like restorative justice bodies, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created a theatrical environment for victims of gross human rights violations. The ritualistic oral testimonies of those who appeared constituted a ix memorialisation process. Lastly, the study reveals that post-1994, Sharpeville commemorations possess distinct characteristics at the core of which are distortions of history, the watering down of other narratives and contributions, selective amnesia and the silencing of other voices on the part of the governing party. There are further contestations, grand narratives, commemorations, counter commemorations and counter-narratives regarding the memory of Sharpeville by both the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress. In terms of material culture, the study highlights how this tangible feature of Sharpeville’s memory is characterised by official memorials and counter-memorials.