Child abuse in South Africa: rights and wrongs

In a country in which human rights feature prominently in our discourse about who we are, as well as in the South African constitutional and legal framework, so many wrongs continue to be done to children. One category of wrongs is abuse, but it is not the only one. Poverty, patriarchy and gender violence, as well as the socialised obedience, dependency and silence of women and children, create conditions in which abuse can occur, often with few consequences. South Africa has extremely high rates of both physical and sexual abuse of children. Progressive, rights‐based legislation exists to protect children, but it is not adequately supported or resourced by services to fulfil their provisions. Child abuse and neglect will not be significantly reduced in South Africa, without simultaneous improvements in the social and economic conditions in which very large numbers of children live. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The coloniality of the gaze on sexual violence: a stalled attempt at a South Africa - Rwanda dialogue?

ABSTRACT

In South Africa and Rwanda, the issue of sexual violence has been catapulted into the public sphere in politically charged post-conflict contexts. This article chronicles some of the theoretical, practical and ethical dilemmas that the writer has faced while contemplating research on rape law formation and reform in Rwanda, with an acute awareness of being a Black feminist from a country known to many as one of the rape capitals of the world. Feminist discourses around sexual violence may be grounded in political convictions that this historically invisible aspect of women’s oppression should be spotlighted and included in agendas for criminal and social justice. The writer contends that while feminist scholarship in its plurality is to be commended for stressing the importance of power relations in research, scholars are still not always sensitive to how inter- and intra-group power disparities may adversely affect the interaction between the researchers and researched and the nature of the research itself. Inter-group power disparities may also adversely affect the interaction between researchers themselves. Decolonial thought may provide lenses to make these power disparities even more visible, but it is difficult to say whether decolonial approaches can establish the terms for a more equitable engagement between all the parties concerned.     

The Sunday Times Heritage Project: heritage,the media and the formation of national consciousness

Since the advent of democracy in 1994, the landscape of memory in South Africa has undergone significant changes. While most new monuments, memorials and heritage sites have emerged under the aegis of the government, this article focuses on a private sector initiative, the Sunday Times Heritage Project (STHP), sponsored by the Sunday Times newspaper in celebration of its centenary in 2006. The project involved the installation of 30 small-scale memorials commemorating key moments in the history of South Africa, with each memorial being accompanied by a website entry. The article focuses on the role of the media in shaping a new national consciousness in South Africa and specifically investigates how a new, supposedly shared history emerges through the work of the Sunday Times journalists in selecting stories and negotiating with stakeholders. With reference to specific examples, significant differences are highlighted between the newspaper’s heritage initiative and the state-initiated memory projects, but ultimately, it is argued, the STHP reveals a calculated or unconscious acceptance of the state-endorsed historical discourse structured around resistance narratives, which has become hegemonic since 1994.     

Dealing with Institutional Abuse in a Multicultural South African Society

SUMMARY

The climate of socio-political transformation in South Africa together with a society of complex multicultural diversities creates enormous challenges regarding the care of the elderly in institutions. Institutional abuse in South Africa may present in a unique way, as a result of issues relating to policy and legislation and care delivery systems. The need for previously segregated groups to integrate and understand the various cultural practices of people from different socio-economic backgrounds further compounds the opportunity for abuse in homes for the aged which are undergoing transformation.     

Rituals of complicity,the ‘humanities’ rhetoric,and the closing of the South African mind

A mail survey undertaken in 1977 showed that a clear majority (64%) of final year students polled at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, answered in the affirmative to a question asking them whether they would permanently settle in a country other than South Africa. Almost all the respondents in the survey were desirous of change to the socio‐political structure of this country; in particular the Apartheid, pass laws, job reservation, educational and residential policies; although students expressing attitudes favourable to emigrating seemed to be slightly more concerned in this regard. Thus it appears that South Africa may lose many of those of its citizens who, if they remained, would be most likely to contribute to peaceful change.     

Managing the Trauma of Community Violence and Workplace Accidents in South Africa

Summary

Community violence that spills over to the workplace is substantially impacting the quality of work/life in South Africa. Gold mining is one of the country's leading industries and also one of the most dangerous. Internal and external employee assistance programs are well represented in South Africa and are helping employees deal with the economic and psychological fall-out of community violence and work related accidents.     

Analysis of HIV Caregivers in South Africa: A South African Depression and Anxiety Group

ABSTRACT

The severity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa is well documented. However, little is known regarding the well-being of caregivers of persons with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. This study sought to evaluate characteristics, similarities and differences between groups of HIV caregivers in rural, semi-rural, and urban areas of South Africa. Interesting trends were noticed in the areas of suicidality, alcohol abuse, and intimate trauma. Findings indicate a substantial need for further study in the area of suicidality, denial of or lack of desire to know HIV status and the accompanying diagnostic stigma, and the need for a support network within lay caregivers.     

‘Skeptics’ and ‘believers’: anti-trafficking,sex work,and migrant rights activism in South Africa

ABSTRACT

Very little is known about activism, as it relates to the issue of migration in South Africa. Yet, migration policy and migration governance are increasingly becoming important to states like South Africa, which, 22 years into democracy, finds itself being home to the second highest number of migrants in Africa. This paper fills this gap by exploring multi-level policies and advocacy experiences of activists working on migration in a post-colonial context of South Africa through the lens of key contestations around the trafficking discourse in South Africa from 2005 to 2018.     

Transforming the Springboks: Re-imagining the South African Nation through Sport

Abstract

Nation-building occurs not only through the creation of formal institutions, but also through struggles in cultural and symbolic contexts. In apartheid South Africa, the rugby union Springboks both symbolised and institutionalised a racially based form of ‘bounded citizenship’. In post-apartheid South Africa, the Springboks have emerged as a contested and significant site in the attempt to build a non-racial nation through reconciliation. To explore these contests, we undertook a qualitative thematic analysis of newspaper discourses around the Springboks, reconciliation and nation-building in the contexts of the 1995 and 1999 Rugby World Cups. Our research suggests, first, that the Springboks have been re-imagined in newspaper discourses as a symbol of the non-racial nation-building process in South Africa, especially in ‘media events’ such as the World Cup. Second, we find that there are significant limitations in translating this symbolism into institutionalised practice, as exemplified by newspaper debates over the place of ‘merit’ in international team selection processes. We conclude that the media framing of the role of the Springboks in nation-building indicates that unless the re-imagination of the Springboks is accompanied by a transformation in who is selected to represent the team, and symbolically the nation, the Springboks' contribution to South African nation-building will be over.     

Institutionalising the evaluation function: A South African study of impartiality,use and cost

PurposeThis article explores the implications of outsourcing the evaluation function in South Africa, a context where there is a mismatch between evaluation supply and demand. It unpacks the tradeoffs between internal and external evaluation, and challenges some commonly held assumptions about both.ApproachBased on experiences as an internal evaluator, external evaluator, evaluation manager, and building evaluation capacity, the author explores how each role changes when evaluation is a scarce skill, and looks at implications outsourcing has for both the organization, and the evaluation.FindingsThe purpose of the evaluation must drive the decision to outsource. However, with changing models of collaboration, there may be hybrid options that allow organizations to build evaluation capacity.Practical implicationsOrganisations are faced with a trade-off between commissioning an evaluation, and building internal evaluation capacity. To better understand each approach, it is important to consider the purpose and context of the evaluation. This shifts some commonly held assumptions about internal and external evaluations. Re-examining these assumptions will help organizations make a more informed decision about an evaluation approach.Originality/valueThe field of evaluation is particularly concerned with evaluation use. Most of the literature on this has focused on the approach of individual evaluators, and insufficient attention has been paid to the institutional architecture of the evaluation. This article considers how some of the organisational structures around an evaluation contribute to evidence use, and the case study of South Africa also shifts the focus to the central but overlooked role of context in the debate.     

Evaluation in South Africa: An introduction

This article provides a brief background to the articles in this edition on evaluation in South Africa. The overall background is self-evident: South Africa is a country which has undergone a political revolution, with a government of national unity in place. The formulation and implementation of new policies, and the programs which form part of them, will be an important part of South African politics in the years to come.These articles also appear against the more immediate background of trying to place evaluation on a surer footing in this country. In this introduction the efforts of a group of South African evaluators to position themselves and their activities in such a way as to make evaluation an accepted part of the organizational landscape, and to play a useful role in a future South Africa, are described as well.     

Climate justice and sustained transnational mobilization

ABSTRACT

Samir Amin’s final essay called for the creation of a new international organization of progressive social forces. Here I review evidence from twenty-first century transnational movements germane for understanding the likelihood of the emergence of such an international organization and the issues and sectors most likely to facilitate coalitional unity. More specifically, the ecological crises identified by Amin in the form of global warming and climate change have created an unprecedented global environmental threat capable of unifying diverse social strata across the planet. The climate justice movement has already established a global infrastructure and template to coordinate a new international organization for confronting neoliberal forms of globalization. Pre-existing movement organizing around environmental racism, climate justice in the global South, and recent intersectional mobilizations serve as promising models for building an enduring international organization that will represent subaltern groups and have a substantial impact on world politics.     

Immigration policies that include or exclude: a South African public opinion study of immigration policy preferences

South Africa is a regional hub for migration on the African continent and is home to a growing documented international migrant community. Foreigners in the country, however, often face violations of their established rights and are the victims of abuse. This paper examines public support for policies that would exclude international migrants from the country. Data from the 2013 South African Social Attitudes Survey, a nationally representative opinion poll (N = 2739) of all adults in the country, are used. This poll found that many South Africans favoured restrictive immigration policies and opposed granting foreigners the same rights as citizens. Multivariate analysis is employed to discern determinants of this opposition. Respondents’ perceptions of the population sizes of foreigners in their communities did not affect support for inclusion. It can be inferred, therefore, that the growth of the immigrant population has not provoked exclusionary attitudes in the country. Rather, results revealed, it is national pride (cultural versus political) and fears about the consequences of immigration that drive such attitudes. Programmes and policies designed to improve public perceptions of how foreigner impact society and the promotion of a nationalism characterised by inclusive multicultural civic patriotism may improve public support for the inclusion of international immigrants.     

Race-Making/Race-Mixing: St. Helena and the South Atlantic World

Abstract

This paper focuses on the South Atlantic Oceanic World, and the pivotal place of the Island of St. Helena within that world, as both a context and a conceptual tool for thinking about race-making and race-mixing in South Africa. Drawing on various historical ‘snapshots’ from documentary and archival sources on St. Helena, as well as from exploratory fieldwork in South Africa, St. Helena, an Atlantic World of flux and fluidity, is invoked as a contrast to an Apartheid world that insists upon fixity. These contrasting worlds are the context for thinking about the racial identifications made by St. Helenian immigrants, and their descendants in South Africa. Following Robert Young the paper is interested in ‘counter-active’ constructions of race, which means that the context of race-mixing that this paper invokes is simultaneously a context for race-making.     

Elder Abuse and Neglect in South Africa: A Case of Marginalization,Disrespect, Exploitation and Violence

ABSTRACT

The problem of elder abuse and neglect in South Africa is widespread, but the definition of abuse remains problematic. An expanded typology is needed to classify certain types of abuse reported commonly, such as marginalization, disrespect, exploitation and violence. The history of elder abuse and responses is traced, relevant legislation and selected intervention programs are reviewed, and research and the status of elder abuse are evaluated. Interventions to address sociostructural factors that impact elders' settings, increase their vulnerability, and diminish their ability to realize human rights can contribute to an improvement in their condition and a reduction in abuse and rights violations in the long-term.     

Introduction: Globalisation and identity

Abstract

This paper examines the identities of early leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) at a time when British influences still prevailed in South Africa. African attitudes to the “British World” reveal complex identities that also reflected political and cultural variations according to race, class and region. Relations between ANC leaders and the African “elite” and between the elite and subaltern strata were not straightforward. A careful reading of the discourses in and around Congress points to contradictory attitudes to things British and to ambiguous identities that lingered and contributed to the mix of social and national ideas and identities that influence contemporary South Africa.     

Managing Meaning: the constitutive contradictions of institutional culture

Abstract

This essay seeks to defamiliarise the currently dominant sense of institutional culture in South Africa. It does so first by examining the history of the emergence of the term in U.S. business studies in the late 1970s, and second, its translation/transposition into higher educational discourse in the 1980s. A third section examines the developing scepticism around the term in the 1990s, and the essay as a whole argues that the idea of institutional culture is based on a constitutive contradiction between instrumental and constitutive understandings of social process. The essay frames the debate around the ways in which the creation of new vocabulary responds either openly or in concealed ways to larger social trends and tensions, and notes the ways in which the current emphasis on institutional culture in South Africa curiously works to marginalise the dominant elements in the neo-liberal transformation of higher education.     

A Model of Heterosexual Adaptive Relationship Functioning in South Africa: Implications for HIV Prevention Interventions

Abstract

Objectives: Couple-based HIV prevention efforts are an important HIV prevention strategy in South Africa but there is a lack of understanding as to what constitutes healthy relationships in South African sociodisadvantaged communities. Methods: To address this, 8 focus group discussions were conducted with 27 men and 23 Black African women living in a large disadvantaged community in Cape Town, South Africa. Results: A model of adaptive relationship functioning is put forth, which involves four primary relationship components that emerged as central to healthy relationships: active relationship building, emotional support/display, communication, and problem-solving. Conclusions: The results of this study can inform couple-based HIV prevention efforts.     

Young people's reproductions of the ‘father as provider’ discourse: intersections of race,class, culture and gender within a liberal democracy

ABSTRACT

Despite a plurality of paternal forms available to men, certain enactments of fathering remain immobile. In South Africa the ‘father as provider’ discourse, which establishes the legitimate father as one who provides financially for his family, continues to be regarded as the primary mark of a good father. Using photo-elicitation interviews to interrogate the persistence of this discourse, this paper examines how adolescents from two low-resourced South African communities construct fathering. Using a critical intersectional discursive framework, the analysis focuses on how gender, race, class and culture are implicated in the reproduction of the ‘father as provider’ discourse. Participants’ constructions suggest that the father’s duty to provide is intensified within marginalised contexts. Central to participants’ reproductions of the ‘father as provider’ discourse was a neoliberal conception of ‘freedom of choice’. The paper concludes that South Africa’s post-apartheid reliance on discourses around liberal democracy has cast the low-income father’s ability to fulfil the provider role as a conscious choice. While the father is made responsible for his failure to provide, broader structural oppressions are in turn rendered largely invisible by such discourse.