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The Durban Strikes and the End of a Cycle of Struggle
No full textWhile we remember the 1973 Durban strikes as a watershed moment in the fight against capitalism and colonialism, it is also crucial to remember that the strikes marked the start of a cycle of struggle dominated by workers in the manufacturing sector. A cycle of struggle, as I describe it, is a discrete phase of capitalist growth marked by the creation of a distinctive workforce centred in specific production and reproduction zones. Expanding on this idea, I contend that South Africa\u27s manufacturing sector\u27s domination since World War II, as well as its subsequent development in the 1960s, produced circumstances for working-class opposition and the birth of the Durban strikes and radical trade unions. The manufacturing industry was looking for a huge workforce in the townships to work in major plants. These areas, both in the workplace and in working-class neighbourhoods, were fertile grounds for resistance. As a result, my argument is that the Durban strikes initiated a cycle of struggle that lasted from 1973 to the 1990s, coinciding with the fall of the industrial sector and the formation of democracy. The decline of the manufacturing sector in the 1990s, the drastic reduction of the manufacturing workforce, the decline of the political and social strength of manufacturing unions in COSATU, and the rise of precarious forms of work are indicators of the end of the Durban cycle of struggle that occurred in the 1990s
The de-mobilisation of Action Kommandant: The United Democratic Front, popular democracy and the ANC
Get PDFWhen the ANC was unbanned it sought to demobilise grassroots democracy. In disbanding the United Democratic Front, the ANC turned its back on the insurgent non-racialism that had emerged in the 1980s, argues ROBERT VAN NIEKERK. It opted instead for a neo-liberal strategy of economic development and elitist democracy.
The Zondo Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture (2022) laid bare the evisceration of South African state capacity through unchecked plunder by apparatchiks (or cadres) in the ruling ANC and its collaborators in the private sector. This denouement can be traced to the early 1990s where the moral and political decay of the ANC became evident with the emblematic injunctionby senior leaders of government such as the then deputy-minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka that “Black businessmen should not be shy to say they wanted to become ‘filthy rich’” (News24 Business: 2005; Taylor, 2016: 35)
Dateline Africa: Looking back on the past 30 years in ten countries beyond SA
Get PDFSouth Africans have been sorely disappointed by the first 30 years of democracy – unemployment has increased, inequalities have deepened, corruption is rampant, there are water crises, electricity blackouts, potholed roads, awful education, creaking hospitals, lots of crime, gender-based violence, xenophobia, discordant politics … but no civil war, no genocide, no famine, no military coups, no mass kidnapping, no insurgencies, no unfair elections, no censorship, no capital punishment, no arbitrary arrests, no run-away inflation.
Yes, the Mbeki government denied South Africans free HIV treatment, resulting in over 300,000 deaths (HSPH, 2009). And yes, there was Marikana, which left 34 miners dead, and one (short) insurrection in which more than 300 people died. But South Africa has free trade unions, vibrant civil society organisations, legal protection for LGBTI+ and a strong constitution protected by checks and balances. South Africa has been trying to find a way to make democracy work.
In this Special Issue of New Agenda on 30 Years of Democracy in South Africa, IFAA’s regular quarterly Dateline Africa column looks beyond the country’s borders to see how democracy has fared in other countries in Africa over the last three decades. We look at the ten African countries with the highest populations to provide a comparative perspective – and we have added Rwanda.
Each brief country profile cites a novel published since 1994 because, as acclaimed Egyptian writer, Naguib Mahfouz, said in 1988 on receiving his Nobel Prize in Literature, “…literary writers… spread the fragrance of joy and wisdom in this grief-ridden world of ours.
Laughter in the Dark: Egypt to the Tune of Change: An extract
No full textThe modern history of Egypt is told, by insiders and outsiders alike, largely through the narrative of authoritarian leaders and their so-called “iron-fisted” rule. Gamal Abdel Nasser (1956–1970) was well known for his method of having people disappeared – “behind the sun” is the Arabic refrain1 – if they disagreed with his socialist, nationalist policies, as well as for his persecution of Egypt’s Jews.2 And for thirty years, under the rule of the late Hosni Mubarak (1981–2011), citizens did not dare speak of politics, for fear of the deep state, with its troops of secret police and informants, notorious for their ruthless methods of kidnapping and torture
Towards integrating the WEF nexus into food systems thinking: A case study of the Philippi Horticultural Area
Get PDFIn a case study of the peri-urban Philippi Horticultural Area (PHA) outside Cape Town, South Africa, AMIENA BAYAT and MARK VOLMINK uncover the many issues and racial legacies that negatively impact the security and equitable distribution of water, land and energy resources and suggest how the embryonic water, energy and food or WEF nexus applications, already prevalent in the PHA, could strengthen food production and security
Big data in the food supply chain: The technological, organisational and environmental factors that play a role
Get PDFThe fourth industrial revolution has redesigned the future of food production and transformed the food supply chain. This advancement and evolution of digitalisation has enabled organisations to modify business models and processes resulting in new and increased revenue and enhanced value-offering opportunities. This has meaningfully altered and advanced the adoption of big data technologies in organisations. OSDEN JOKONYA argues that the adoption of big data in the food supply chain is important to African food systems and analyses the factors that affect its adoption
Affordable, accessible, healthy: Urban consumer knowledge and the use of indigenous food
Get PDFFor many residents in peri-urban areas, the price of essential healthy food items in supermarkets is unaffordable. At the same time, the more affordable informal markets tend to offer highly processed foods with low nutritional value. Indigenous foods are recognised for their potential to improve food and nutrition security, reduce malnutrition and enhance health and well-being, yet their use in urban areas is limited. In this article NOKUTHULA VILAKAZI explores the gap in urban consumers’ knowledge about the availability, production, preparation and use of indigenous foods in the City of Durban, eThekwini Municipality, with a specific focus on cowpeas
Empowering marginalised students in access programmes: A gendered and Afrocentric approach to a decolonised academic literacy curriculum
Get PDFReading during academic literacy (AL) courses may improve academic skills and empower marginalised students’ access to education. However, reading curricula might not address the interests, cultural background, and gender context of South African students. Calls for the decolonisation of the curriculum and gender equality remain largely unaddressed. This research aims to address this gap by assessing whether students experience a decolonised, Afro/gender-centric, intensive reading curriculum as beneficial and empowering. Student interest in reading is crucial for acquiring reading skills and from these, AL skills which are key to student success in a multilingual context. A secondary objective is to explore students’ perceptions of reading skills improvement, including reading interest. An interpretivist approach embedded in critical theory was used to guide this research. A mixed-method approach measuring students’ perceptions revealed that exposure to decolonised and gender-inclusive texts was empowering and beneficial for academic skills.