PolitikonPub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2076511
Mzukisi Qobo, Mills Soko
{"title":"The Rise of Sovereign Wealth Funds in the Global Economy: Can South Africa Establish a Sovereign Wealth Fund?","authors":"Mzukisi Qobo, Mills Soko","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2076511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2076511","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Establishing a sovereign wealth fund is one of the instruments the governing party has considered to give expression to the idea of a developmental state. Such an instrument would largely draw on natural resource windfalls to build an intergenerational store of wealth while also responding to longstanding developmental challenges. This makes sense given South Africa’s mineral endowments and future prospects in natural gas, as shown recently by the abortive attempt of Royal Dutch Shell to undertake geological surveys along the country’s wild coast. A sovereign wealth fund could underpin a developmental state and act as alternative resource for achieving legitimate social goals. South Africa presently lacks fiscal space and does not have the conditions necessary for a viable sovereign wealth fund. These need to be created. Certain resources and institutional qualities are vital to building a functional sovereign wealth fund, including a high-performing economy, current account surpluses or resource windfalls, sound institutional framework, good corporate governance, and strong state capabilities. The effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic, and its devastating impact on the South African economy, could further constrain the options of setting up a sovereign wealth fund, which is why the country needs to develop a long-term path for inter-generational equity.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"195 - 210"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41734366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2032914
Quraysha Bibi Ismail Sooliman
{"title":"Entrenching Privilege: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Afriforum Jeug During the #Mustfall Protests at the University of Pretoria: A Case Study","authors":"Quraysha Bibi Ismail Sooliman","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2032914","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2032914","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The #FMF protests at the University of Pretoria (UP) and universities across South Africa reflected a confrontation with power and an exhibition of distrust in democratic institutions. #Fallists consciously chose to challenge pre-determined notions of ‘the right to education' and the pervasiveness of gatekeeping and access. These were questions intricately linked with their past. On all campuses, including UP, the #Fallists encountered many challenges. At UP, students who had affiliated themselves with the AfriForum Jeug student society contested very specifically the ‘rights’ that the #Fallists were demanding. This paper involves a modest attempt at formulating the possibilities that have been opened up by considering the #MustFall events in light of the responses by white Afrikaans speaking students. In this case study, one of the challenges faced by the #Fallists at UP was the opposition they encountered from AfriForum Jeug. How was this tug-o-war to be read and understood? The AfriForum case study is particularly relevant since it has been significantly argued that a dominant motivation and rationale for participation in the #MustFall protests included a pushback against persistent inequality and racism.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"81 - 92"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44487206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2031771
Chenai Matshaka, Cori Wielenga
{"title":"Who is Being Served? How Competing Norms and Values Shape the Transitional Justice Agenda in Zimbabwe","authors":"Chenai Matshaka, Cori Wielenga","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2031771","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2031771","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Any transitional justice process involves a multiplicity of actors and competing norms and values that shape the transitional justice agenda. This article is concerned with the ways competing norms and values have shaped the transitional justice agenda in Zimbabwe. It makes the argument that the privileging of a neoliberalist perspective, as well as a human rights discourse in dealing with the concerns of post-conflict societies, has posed challenges for meaningful transitional justice interventions in Zimbabwe and on the African continent and suggests a nuanced approach to transitional justice that captures the history, culture and other dynamics that shape a country’s politics. This article draws from interviews with four civil society activists and scholars on transitional justice in Zimbabwe, as well as narratives are drawn from a categorical content analysis of the reports and other publications of four civil society organisations – Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (ZHRNGOF), Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), Amnesty International (Zimbabwe) and Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZIMRIGHTS). The civil society organisations and activists were purposively sampled based on the work they have done in the area under study, as well as their understanding of the context and its nuanced complexities.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"60 - 80"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46956901","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2022.2033060
Khwezi Mabasa
{"title":"In Precarious Battle: Labour Broking in the South African Post Office","authors":"Khwezi Mabasa","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2022.2033060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2022.2033060","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"93 - 95"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42519525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2021-12-16DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2021.2018119
J. Fredericks, Nicola de Jager
{"title":"An Analysis of the Historical Roots of Partisan Governance within the ANC: Understanding the Road to State Capture","authors":"J. Fredericks, Nicola de Jager","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2021.2018119","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2021.2018119","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Despite constitutional aspirations for good (impartial) governance since 1996, partisan governance nearly brought South Africa to the brink of economic, social, and political implosion. For the duration of his tenure (2009–2018), President Zuma spent public funds for private ends with impunity and enabled the creation of a shadow state, which effectively siphoned millions out of the public purse into private hands and hollowed out the country's state-owned enterprises. The question posed here is: How did the Zuma administration manage to ‘capture the state' in a context where the 1996 Constitution enshrines impartial governance? Using the analytical framework of good governance, this article aims to understand the governance approach of the African National Congress (ANC) in terms of its overarching national plan, the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) and its strategy of cadre deployment. Using document and conceptual content analysis of ANC policy documents it is noted that the ANC’s governance approach is inherently partisan, with historical roots. In line with the Marxist tradition, governance based on partisanship was established together with the blurring of lines between party, government and state. This framework of partisanship, justified with the language of transformation, allowed for repurposing the state for private ends.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"21 - 42"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48339551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2021-12-16DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2021.2018120
Ernest Toochi Aniche, V. Iwuoha, I. Alumona, F. Okwueze
{"title":"When All Hands Are Not on Deck: Intergovernmental Relations and the Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic in the Nigerian Federation","authors":"Ernest Toochi Aniche, V. Iwuoha, I. Alumona, F. Okwueze","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2021.2018120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2021.2018120","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The defects and susceptibility of the Nigerian federalism are more pronounced at this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Existing studies are yet to articulate how the states, in the formulation and enforcement of the lockdown and physical distancing policies, infringed on the federal exclusive matters by closing land borders, airports and imposing partial banking services. There is selective provision/distribution of healthcare facilities and stimulus packages and palliatives across the states by the federal government. The objective of this study is to examine how the conflicting nature of intergovernmental relations is implicated in the level of implementation of containment policies/strategies towards the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Based on content analysis and the functional-process theory, the article argued that the cantankerous/imploding disconnects between the federal and state governments–obscuring the making and implementation of harmonised and coordinated pandemic containment policies–constitute key impediment to the fight against Covid-19 in Nigeria.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"72 3","pages":"43 - 59"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41270963","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2021-12-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2021.2008091
Sandra Ochieng’-Springer
{"title":"Governance and Public Administration During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Issues and Experiences in Kenya’s Health System","authors":"Sandra Ochieng’-Springer","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2021.2008091","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2021.2008091","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has devastated societies and economies all over the world. States, both developed and developing, have struggled to mitigate its effects. National interventions have reaffirmed the importance of co-ordination of different levels of government to help cushion the impact of the pandemic. For a developing country such as Kenya, these conversations include issues of decentralisation via a devolved system of governance that was enacted by the 2010 constitution after decades of agitation against centralisation. Devolution was used as a mechanism to curb inequality, create more inclusive governance, as well as enhance service delivery throughout the country. Health was one of the sectors that was decentralised with these aims in mind. However, despite devolution, centralisation tendencies continue to present a challenge to the sector, to policy implementation and the pandemic response. This article seeks to evaluate the extent to which these problems of the two-tiered devolved governance structure affected the COVID-19 pandemic response in its early stages.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"49 1","pages":"1 - 20"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43201203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2021.1995272
Enzo Lenine, Elisa Gonçalves
{"title":"Violence Against Women as a Political Act: Toward a Typology of Gendered Messages","authors":"Enzo Lenine, Elisa Gonçalves","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2021.1995272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2021.1995272","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The pervasiveness of violence against women has drawn the attention of international audiences in multilateral fora, media, and academia. Feminist researchers across social sciences have attempted to make sense of violent acts that target women and feminised bodies, especially by unravelling their causes and motivations. A particular approach sees violence against women as a political act that delivers gendered messages to individuals and communities. In this paper, we develop a typology of the messages conveyed by acts of violence against women. We argue that deciphering these messages is quintessential to making sense of gender violence, namely when it targets women.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"48 1","pages":"530 - 546"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44762561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2021.1991659
V. Iwuoha, Ernest Toochi Aniche
{"title":"COVID-19 Lockdown and Social Distancing Policies and the Sustainability of Small Businesses in South-Eastern Nigeria","authors":"V. Iwuoha, Ernest Toochi Aniche","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2021.1991659","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2021.1991659","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study explores the experience of small business operators in South-Eastern Nigeria to underscore the sub-sectoral effects of COVID-19 lockdown measures on small businesses. Although COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing policies are generally perceived to have negative effects on small businesses, this study argues that these policies have had both positive and negative effects on small businesses. Clustering small businesses into three categories: fashion/event, food/drug and general merchandise, the study depicts a cross-sectoral disparity in the patronage level and income streams of small businesses. While the fashion/event businesses experience very low sales and poor performances, the food/drug businesses record high sales/improved performances, and the general merchandise maintains normal sales/performances. The study observes gaps in government’s COVID-19 intervention policies and initiatives (palliatives) on small businesses and proposes new policy directions to cushion the negative impact of lockdown measures and fast track the sustainability of small businesses in post-COVID-19 period.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"48 1","pages":"517 - 529"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48701475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
PolitikonPub Date : 2021-10-02DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2021.1991658
Christopher Williams
{"title":"Re-Evaluating South African Foreign Policy Decision-Making: Archives, Architects and the Promise of Another Wave","authors":"Christopher Williams","doi":"10.1080/02589346.2021.1991658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2021.1991658","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Research on South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policy decision-making has stagnated. For more than a quarter century analysts have generally drawn on secondary material from other scholars, newspaper reporting, and the speeches of government officials to elucidate how South Africa crafts and carries out its foreign policy. The accessibility of previously classified archival documents and the availability of policy makers for research interviews holds the potential to advance scholarship on South African foreign policy along two fronts. First, these primary sources offer insight into foreign policy decision-making processes. And second, they encourage a critical re-evaluation of many of the traditional understandings and tropes that have dominated the study of South African foreign policy. This paper outlines the state of foreign policy studies in South Africa and then demonstrates the power of primary research to alter key ideas about the conduct and content of South African foreign policy through three case studies.","PeriodicalId":45047,"journal":{"name":"Politikon","volume":"48 1","pages":"547 - 571"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2021-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43965783","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}