Suchergebnisse

• Summary: The article attempts to respond to the controversy of leadership squabbles within the ranks of the Congress of the People (COPE). For the past few years, COPE has become the home of divisions, factions and character assassination. It is argued in the article that based on the malicious practices by some leaders of this organisation, it might lose the realisation of its fundamental vision as an alternative voice for South Africa. It is contended that COPE is not divided along the lines of ideological differences, but due to leadership personalities and preferences.

Alhoewel die eerste demokratiese verkiesing in Suid-Afrika reeds 12 jaar gelede gehou is, is die kriteria gebruik deur die Onafhanklike Verkiesingskommissie (OVK) om die April 1994 verkiesing "vry en regverdig" te verklaar nog nooit waarlik deur historici en politieke wetenskaplikes nagevors nie. 'n Vraag wat reeds 'n lang tyd by studente van die geskiedenis en politiek bestaan is of die OVK geoorloof was om die verkiesing van April 1994 in Suid-Afrika as "vry en regverdig" te verklaar "ondanks geweld en intimidasie wat gedurende dié tyd voorgekom het"? Het dit oor die nodige kennis en menslike hulpbronne beskik om die verkiesing "vry en regverdig" te verklaar? Het dit die vermoë gehad om daadwerklik die veelvuldige probleme insluitende geweld, intimidasie en verkiesingsbedrog gedurende die verkiesingsperiode die hoof te bied? DL Horowitz, lid van die Demokratiese Party (DP), het nadat hy van die talle probleme ondervind deur die OVK te hore gekom het, verklaar dat die April 1994-verkiesing in werklikheid geen verkiesing was nie, maar eerder 'n sensus. In dié artikel probeer die navorser Horowitz se stelling én die komplekse proses rondom die 1994-verkiesing ontleed.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the social license to operate (SLO) are widespread global phenomena in mining-dependent countries. These self-regulated frameworks are used to ensure local ownership and as a response to conflict by mining companies. Over the past two decades, CSR in the mining industry has only been more prevalent in Africa and South Africa. Studies on CSR and SLO primarily focus on community perspectives. This paper interrogates how mining companies respond to civic social pressure by considering two cases that have experienced much conflict in South Africa. Based on eighteen in-depth interviews and an analysis of company and media reports, our case studies demonstrate that mining companies primarily use CSR and SLO to assert and maintain corporate control under the guise of promoting local ownership and sustainable mining. Such strategies provide temporary relief and gradually erode CSR and SLO's legal and political imperatives.

In 2014, South Africa celebrated 20 years of democracy. Within these 20 years of democracy, there were many changes in the education sector. The teaching of history, particularly South African history, has survived many challenges during and after apartheid. During the apartheid era, to a certain extent the teaching of South African history was subjected to political abuse and became a springboard of politicians to justify the existence of the racial divide that had previously engulfed the country. Equally, the study offers critical and epistemological criticisms levelled against the teaching of South African history in secondary schools in the post-apartheid era. The selected criticisms include, inter alia, the question of the relevance of history in post-apartheid South Africa; the limitations of further political abuse of the discipline by educators, as well as the politicians; the lack of analytical skills in the teaching and interpretation of historical facts; and the notion of further perpetuating the racial divide in the country which was once riddled by such divisions. Epistemologically, earlier selected criticisms which took place during the apartheid era will also be referred to, to demonstrate that the teaching of South African history has always been subjected to criticisms that advantaged the then ruling National Party's (NP's) government in South Africa. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p2303

Since its formation in 1985, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) had played a significant role in the political landscape of South Africa. From the start, COSATU appeared to be in support of the then banned African National Congress (ANC) when it adopted the Freedom Charter. This article highlights the relationship which exists between COSATU and the ANC as part of the Tripartite Alliance. The persistent animosity between the members of these two organisations is discussed.

Chapter 14, Jeremy Seekings collaborates with Chitja Twala to examine activist networks and political protest in the Free State. The authors explain that although no regional UDF structure was ever formally launched in the area there were protests in the townships of Tumahole, Thabong (Welkom) and Mangaung (Bloemfontein); these later spread as far afield as Bethlehem and Harrismith.

South Africa becoming a democratic country in 1994 saved Botshabelo, a town-ship 55 kilometers from Bloemfontein, from incorporation into the former home-land of Qwaqwa. Qwaqwa was formely the Witsieshoek reserve in the eastern part of the Free State Province. Two tribal authorities were established in the area while it was still a reserve in 1953, but later these tribal authorities became known as regional authorities in 1962. A territorial authority established in 1969 was replaced by a legislative assembly in 1971. In line with the South African government's homeland policy, Qwaqwa was proclaimed a self-governing territory for Africans of South Sotho origin on 25 October 1974. In the same year, a process began that was to bring upheaval in Qwaqwa as the first Basotho were relocated to the area from other locations of the then Orange Free State Province. In Qwaqwa, for example, before 1974, the Batlokoa tribe under the leadership of Chief Wessels Mota administered the area. After 1975 political and administrative power was taken by Dr TK Mopeli and his Dikwankwetla Party and the area from then became a contested political terrain as it became a homeland.

In order to discuss the stance of the left-wing groups prior to the 27 April 1994 democratic election, one must begin with a great riddle. The statements of the left-wing liberation movements over the three decades before the 1994 election warrant this kind of a research. From the foregoing it became clear that the demands made by these left–wing groups would have an impact on the outcome of the election and also during the first decade of democratisation. This article therefore analyses the stance taken by the left–wing groups prior to the election, and whether such a stance was a viable move or not. The article also disputes the widely held view of other political parties before the election that, like the right–wing groups, the left–wing groups had little to offer in the 1994 April election. Even if that was the case, knowledge about the demands made by these groups need to be documented. Many historians and political analysts as well as journalists poured cold water on the analysis of the demands forwarded by these groups.

The surprising appointment of Winkie Direko as premier of the African National Congress (ANC)-led Free State Province in June 1999 came as a rude awakening to the provincial leadership of the ANC, as well as to the Free State citizens. Because of her 'lack of experience' in as far as full-time party politics are concerned, her appointment to the premiership position came as a shock to some people in the Free State Province, who without doubt had earmarked certain individuals within the ANC provincial leadership for this position. After the June 1999 elections the appointment of the provincial premiers became the prerogative of the country's president, Thabo Mbeki. Direko found herself appointed in this position based on the trust the president had in her to lead the trouble-torn Free State Province. It is important to note that when Mbeki appointed a premier, the potential of that individual counted more than the role that individual had played in the party's politics. Direko's community involvement is a factor that could not be ignored in her appointment as the premier of the Free State Province.

To record merely that Winkie Direko, present premier of the Free State Province, was born on 27 November 1929 in Bochabela (Mangaung) and to an average family, will be an inadequate prelude to assessing her community and political life, which had an impact on her political career. Her entry into full-time party politics after the April 1994 first non-racial democratic election in South Africa caused a great stir in the Free State Province, and no one ever expected that she would rise to the premiership position after June 1999. This article attempts to provide an accurate, scientific and historical assessment of Direko as a political leader in her own right amid serious criticisms levelled against her before and after her appointment as the province's premier. The article, however, does not tend to adopt a defensive stance for Direko, but rather to answer a repeatedly asked question in the political circles of the Free State Province on whether Direko is a political leader or not.

During the apartheid era in South Africa, there were significant activities and events taking place within and outside the country in as far as the liberation struggle was concerned. The banning of the liberation movements in 1960 and the subsequent launch of an armed struggle led to dramatic change in the lives of millions of South Africans. Participants in the sabotage campaign and other underground activities, exile, military training and action, imprisonment, death in detention, banishment, torture, imprisonments without trial, house arrests, constant surveillance and harassment, and general involvement in the struggle against apartheid characterised the psychological and physical traumatic experiences of the political activists in the Free State Province.The traumatic experiences of the political activists in the Free State forms part of the tapestry of South Africa's liberation history.The article gives a reflection of the political activists' memory against the state of forgetting. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n3p568

This article analyses the emphasis given to the teaching of the South African liberation struggle history at the country's universities. Although this history has been analyzed in books, chapters, journal articles, conference papers, theses,and dissertations by South African scholars working in various disciplines, it is generally underrepresented in the curricula of the country's universities. This absence stems, at least in part, from the racial segregation that divided South African universities until the end of Apartheid in 1994. Today, the overwhelming majority of lecturers devote, on average, six or fewer of their annual class sessions to the subject, when most university modules run from seven to fourteen weeks. Despite the limited time given to topics on South African liberation struggle history, a majority of academics surveyed in history and political science departments believe that their institution's undergraduate curriculum deals sufficiently with the history. Thus, aside from some notable exceptions, South African departments of history and political science have failed to integrate this eld within the broader study of national history. As a result, most university-educated South Africans lack post-secondary formal study on the history of the liberation struggle, a reality that affects the development of research and scholarship on this topic.