South Africa South Africa continued to face a number of human rights challenges, as the gov- ernment struggled to stop attacks on businesses and homes of refugees, asy- lum-seekers, and migrants, denying they were motivated by xenophobia or other forms of intolerance. The report of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the deaths of 44 people, in- cluding the police killing of 34 miners in 2012, was finally published, but civil so- ciety groups and the families of the deceased and injured expressed disappointment with the findings. President Jacob Zuma
South Africa The government’s inability to address critical socio-economic and political rights issues such as unemployment, corruption, and threats to freedom of expression remains a concern for many South Africans. In May 2014, President Jacob Zuma and the African National Congress (ANC) won a second term in office, but the majority victory was marred by the report of the public protector, Thuli Madon- sela, accusing the president of misusing state funds for a security upgrade to his private residence in Nkandla, Kwa Zulu Natal. South Africa also largely
165 NINE Knowledge mobilisation in education in south africa Johan Muller and Ursula Hoadley, University of Cape Town introduction In this chapter we consider both the notion of knowledge mobilisation and practices associated with it in the South African context. The chapter begins by providing an overview of the education system in South Africa, including the higher education policy and funding context. We then go on to trace the evolution of the concept of community engagement (the more common term denoting knowledge mobilisation in South Africa). We
169 NINE paradox and policy: addressing rape in post-apartheid south africa Lisa Vetten Introduction The rate of reported rape in South Africa is considered to be among the highest in the world. As a consequence, the country is better known for its alarming statistics and more sensational manifestations of sexual violence (such as ‘baby rape’ and the ‘corrective rape’ of lesbians) than its policy interventions. Yet precisely because of the extent of the problem, a range of measures intended both to combat the incidence of rape, as well as improve the
147 NINE Social work academia and policy in South Africa Antoinette Lombard South Africa’s first fully democratic election in 1994 has been followed by two decades of intense policy-oriented activity (Lund, 2008). Every sector, including social welfare, has engaged in policy revision and development toward a transformed society. The cornerstone for all policies is the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa [RSA], Act 108 of 1996, in particular, its Bill of Human Rights, which emphasises the principles of non-racialism, equity and respect for human
161 NINE Informal workers and human development in South Africa Ina Conradie In recent years, scholars and human rights agencies have been emphasising the importance of seeing civil and political rights and economic and social rights as closely related and in fact integrated (Carpenter, 2009; UN, 20111). In South Africa, it is clear that the achievement of political rights has not been sufficient to bring about either comprehensive human development or redress in terms of social and economic inequality. The anti-apartheid revolutionary and former South
Introduction: what was the purpose of the South African Minimum Income Standards pilot study? The Minimum Income Standards (MIS) approach was pioneered in the UK (see Davis et al, 2018 ), and although it has been shown to work well in this and other high-income countries (e.g. France [ Gilles et al, 2014 ; Gelot, 2016 ] and Portugal [ Ferreira Correia et al, 2016 ]), its applicability in a developing country context has until relatively recently been unexplored. South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world ( Sulla and Zikhali, 2018
83 SEVEN Privilege and responsibility in the South African context Vivienne Bozalek Introduction This chapter has as its goal a focus on recognising how, both historically and currently, privilege, responsibility and privileged irresponsibility, all central notions of the political ethics of care, can be used to understand political, economic and cultural issues in the South African context. Although the chapter focuses on the South African context in particular, the understandings generated by an analysis of privileged irresponsibility with respect to the
71 FIVE The challenge of Afrikaans language rights in South African education Michael Bishop1 Introduction International human rights law affords linguistic minorities the right to education in the language of their choice. It is an important right, both because home language education is generally more effective, and because educational institutions are vital for maintaining minority communities. South Africa too guarantees a (limited) right to education in the language of one’s choice.2 But for one particular minority community, the Afrikaners, the
307 FIFTEEN Ageing, wellbeing and development: Brazil and South Africa Armando Barrientos, Valerie Møller, João Saboia, Peter Lloyd-Sherlock and Julia Mase Introduction There is considerable diversity of population trends across low- and middle-income countries and not all have reached the final stage of demographic transition. Despite this, population ageing is accelerating in almost all countries, particularly in middle-income emerging economies. The speed of demographic change poses significant policy challenges for these countries, and they have
