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Strengthening voices, shaping policy: the impact of HSRC’s multi-stakeholder workshops
No full textDiscover how the HSRC’s adaptive multi-stakeholder engagement workshops are empowering South Africa’s not-for-profit sector by creating safe and inclusive public platforms to address key R&D challenges, foster collaboration and advance equitable development. Natasha Saunders and Rory Liedeman examine the evolution
of these workshops and their important contributions to future policymaking, inclusivity and tackling urgent socioeconomic and health challenges.N/
HSRC Review 23(1). March: 1-75
No full textSouth Africa has made significant progress since the advent of democracy three decades ago. However, many South Africans continue to face persistent challenges in various aspects of their daily lives. As part of the HSRC’s Democracy@30 Project, our researchers, together with their collaborators, have conducted fieldwork across the country, visiting sites such as Gqeberha, Makhanda, Mxekazi and Cwebe in the Eastern Cape; Sweetwaters and Wentworth in KwaZulu-Natal; Luka in North West; QwaQwa in the Free State; Langa in the Western Cape; Vuwani in Limpopo; Matsulu in Mpumalanga; and Orlando West in Gauteng. Residents and those closely connected to these areas shared their experiences with democracy over the past 30 years, as well as their
hopes for the next 30 years. This edition of the HSRC Review features nine articles about these site visits
The early writings of Alex La Guma: reflections on cultcha, identity and freedom in the 1950s and 1960
No full textAlex la Guma was a major twentieth-century South African novelist. His first novel, A Walk in the Night, in1966 brought him instant recognition as a pioneering writer on the African continent. Its ‘startling realism and accurate imagery’ drew high praise from his contemporaries. Wole Soyinka, later awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o . The critic and writer, Lewis Nkosi, likewise, compared La Guma’s intense and sombre vision of the individual in society to that of Dostoevsky. La Guma was also an important political figure. As leader of the South African Coloured People’s Organisation and a communist, he was charged with reason, banned, house arrested and eventually forced into exile. At the time of his death in 1985 he was serving as chief representative of the African National Congress in the Caribbean. Published on the centenary of Alex LaGuma’s birth on 20 February 1925, The Early Writings of Alex LaGuma contains a selection of his early work as a journalist and short story writer, before he became a published novelist and was forced into exile. It provides unique cameos of South African life and politics during turbulent time in the country’s history – the late 1950s and early 1960s, the years around Sharpeville–at the same time giving us insight into the making of a novelist. The ‘hidden’ world of Alex La Guma –material, social, emotional, political and intellectual – at a time when he was developing into a serious writer, is revealed. Many of the themes in his fiction are first encountered and developed in these early newspaper articles, providing useful material for literary scholars seeking to understand the progression of his work. A reviewer wrote that this book, like Alex La Guma’s novels, captures not only the misery of poverty and oppression in South Africa, but also the rich song of everyday life beneath the surface. It reads easily as fiction and adds significantly to our understanding of popular culture in Cape Town, as well as to the social and political history of the city. When asked what one of his novels was about, La Guma – born andbredinDistrict 6 – replied, ‘Ag, just about the folks back home’. La Guma peels off, as if with a scalpel, the glossy covers of the Cape’s tourist brochure ‘Liberalism’ to reveal the hard realities faced by the majority of its(non-)citizens: This is District Six talking. It is unmistakable – terse, racy, humorous, as convincing as truth.’ LaGuma’s insider accounts of contemporary politics also help with the recovery of important aspects of the history of the South African liberation movement. La Guma is described by Michael Weeder in these pages as ‘Cape Town’s Urban Griot’, someone who gives meaning to James Baldwin’s words that: “ … the war of an artist with his society is a lover’s war, and he does, at his best, what lovers do, which is to reveal the beloved to himself and … to make freedom real.” His words still resonate across the decades. They are an archive of a time past and a space whose spirit still survives though it was infamously bulldozed into dust under apartheid.N/
The brick in the ballot box: the relative influence of democratic discontent and identity politics in the 2024 elections in South Africa
Get PDFDuring the 2024 National and Provincial Elections, the newly established uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) performed unexpectedly well, leading to a national coalition and raising concerns about a rise in ethnic identity in electoral politics. This article explores the relationship between electoral outcomes, attitudes toward democracy, and identity politics (class, race, and ethnicity), using South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) data combined with electoral results at voting district level. It investigates whether voter dissatisfaction with the status quo influenced MKP support as a form of protest vote, or if the party’s success was more reflective of identity politics. Regression analysis shows that MKP support was most strongly predicted by ethno-racial identity and provincial residence. Regime evaluation effects on MKP support, such as political trust and satisfaction with democracy, lost significance once identity and geography were considered. This suggests the MKP’s electoral success was driven more by identity-based mobilization than protest sentiment.
Modernising South Africa’s agricultural sector through innovation: results from the South African Agricultural Business Innovation Survey, 2019-2021
Get PDFThe report provides agribusiness leaders, extension workers, industry association executives, economists, and policy implementers with insight into the state of innovation in agriculture, including forestry, farming and fisheries
agribusinesses. Using the data it provides, actors can benchmark their activities against those of other agribusinesses and industries, learn more about the evolving national innovation landscape, and develop evidence-informed action plans to strengthen the sector. Agribusiness role players can also use the report and its analyses in ongoing planning for R&D, policy development, industry coordination initiatives and business investments.
Conversational bridges in African feminisms: weaving knowledge together
No full textThe conversations explore diverse terrain: from critical discussions on current geopolitics and its influence on women, to sexuality, class, and power struggles globally, and responses needed to address the scourge of gender-based violence. By centralizing the power of dialogue among feminist scholars, activists and artists, the collection shows how African feminists theorize their lived experiences, thereby building communities of activism, of care and of solidarity.
Book review: #FeesMustFall and its aftermath
No full texthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeJfC8bR9Fk#FeesMustFall and its aftermath is a book about the experiences of violence and well-being of #FeesMustFall student activists from a range of South African universities. It looks at the sacrifices this student generation made for the benefit of many to be able to access higher education and tells the students' experiences through over 100 photos and related narratives that contextualize the photos and explain their meaning and significance.N/
Gender differences in determinants of psychological distress in South Africa: findings from the 2017 national HIV household survey
No full textMental health is increasingly recognised as a public health concern in South Africa, with psychological distress used as a measure of poor mental health. A recent paper based on national data from the 2017 South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence, and Behaviour Survey (SABSSM V) highlights significant gender differences. Women were found to be more likely than men to experience psychological distress. A range of sociodemographic and behavioural factors—such as location, education, alcohol use, employment, and HIV status—contributed to this disparity.
The power on your plate: health, hunger, and hope
No full textPaper presented at World Food Day Celebrations, Johannesburg, 16 Octobe
Understanding poverty and inequality in Africa: some contextual and methodological explications
No full textAs urban areas continued to attract African rural-to-urban migrant labor after the establishment of the colonial enterprise, and economic activities rapidly expanded with European colonial infrastructure development, several
large metropolitan cities were founded. This marked the beginning of urbanism in Africa. Today, with fast-growing economies and globalization, there is unprecedented migration from rural to urban areas. In most cases, the
opportunities in urban areas seem to pull people into the urban environment, rather than a strategic government plan pulling people out of rural areas for urbanization. These trends present new challenges to governments trying to break the cycle of poverty and build a secure tomorrow for the people of today. The chapter reflects on some of the causes of urban poverty and inequality in African metropolitan cities. It draws on secondary data to examine the main causes of urban poverty and propose how the challenges could be addressed. It is important to regard cities as human creations that are designed to meet human needs and aspirations, rather than just representing physical concentrations of urban hardware such as buildings and infrastructure. A critical reflection of cities as citadels of national and global importance is presented to provide new opportunities for human growth and development. The chapter concludes with some policy recommendations on how the challenges of urban development could be tackled in Africa.