Description
Book SynopsisHegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce … (Karl Marx 1852)
In the face of the continuing national tragedy of the inequality, poverty and unemployment which have triggered rising working- class discontent around the country, the ANC announced a ‘second phase’ of the ‘national democratic revolution’ to deal with the challenges. Ironically, the ANC post-Mangaung has resolved to preserve the core tenets of the minerals-energy-financial complex that defined racial capitalism – while at the same time ratcheting up the revolutionary rhetoric to keep the working class and marginalised onside. If the ‘first phase’ was a tragedy of the unmet expectations of the majority, is the ‘second phase’ likely to be a farce? The chapters in this volume are written by experts in their fields and address issues of politics, power and social class; economy, ecology and labour; public policy and social practice; and South Africa beyond its borders. They examine some of these challenges, and indicate that they are as much about the defective content of policies as their poor implementation. The third volume of the New South African Review continues the series by providing in-depth analyses of the key issues facing our country today.
Trade ReviewThe
New South African Review offers, for the third time, a valuable compass to navigate us through South(ern) African socio-economic and political realities. It is an important stocktaking exercise. With every year, the
New South African Review becomes an ever more important tool for analytical insights into, and assessments of, the challenges. - Henning Melber, Director Emeritus of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foun- dation in Uppsala, Sweden; Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria; and Research Associate with the Centre for Africa Studies, University of the Free State.
Table of ContentsParty, power and class: The power elite in democratic South Africa: Race and class in a fractured society; The ANC circa 2012: Colossus in decline?; Fragile multi-class alliances compared: some unlikely parallels between the National Party and the African National Congress; Predicaments of post-apartheid social movement politics: The Anti-Privatisation Forum in Johannesburg . Ecology, economy and labour: Mass unemployment and the low-wage regime in South Africa; Nationalisation and the mines; Broad Based BEE? HCI's empowerment model and the syndicalist tradition; 'Ask for a camel when you expect to get a goat': Contentious politics and the climate justice movement; Hydraulic fracturing in South Africa: Assessing the deficits. Public policy and social practice: Understanding the persistence of low levels of skills in South Africa; Equity, quality and access in South African education: A work still very much in progress; Health sector reforms and policy implementation in South Africa: A paradox?; Cadre deployment versus merit? Reviewing politicisation in the public service; Traditional male initiation: Culture and the Constitution. South Africa at large: South Africa and the BRIC: Punching above its weight?; The Swazi Nation, the Swazi government and the South African connection.
