Racism and law : implementing the right to equality in selected South African equality courts
- Authors: Krüger, Rósaan
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: South Africa Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000 , Equality -- South Africa , Discrimination -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Racism -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Apartheid -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Constitutional law -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3677 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003192 , South Africa Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000 , Equality -- South Africa , Discrimination -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Racism -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Apartheid -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Constitutional law -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Description: Racism has informed South African society since colonial times. Racist beliefs found expression in the laws of colonial and apartheid South Africa and shaped both state and society. The constitutional state that South Africa has become since 1994, is based on the values of ‘human dignity’, ‘the achievement of equality’ and ‘nonracialism’, among others. Law formed the basis of the racist state prior to 1994, and now law has a fundamental role to play in the transformation of the state and society in an egalitarian direction by addressing socio-economic inequalities on the one hand, and by changing patterns of behaviour based on racist beliefs forged in the past, on the other. This thesis examines one of the legal instruments that is intended to contribute to transformation in the latter sense, namely the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 (the Equality Act), with specific reference to the issue of racism. The provisions of this Act and the framework for its operation against the background of South Africa’s racist past, and within the broader framework of international and constitutional law, are examined. These two legal frameworks are analysed for the purpose of determining the standards set by international and constitutional law regarding racial equality in order to determine whether the Equality Act measures up. This thesis also incorporates an analysis of the practical application of the provisions of the Equality Act to complaints of racism in selected equality courts. The theoretical analysis of the Act’s provisions and their application in the equality courts point to various problematic formulations and obstacles which negatively affect the application of the provisions and thus hamper social change. The thesis concludes with recommendations for refining the Act’s provisions and its application.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Krüger, Rósaan
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: South Africa Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000 , Equality -- South Africa , Discrimination -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Racism -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Apartheid -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Constitutional law -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3677 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003192 , South Africa Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, 2000 , Equality -- South Africa , Discrimination -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Racism -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Apartheid -- Law and legislation -- South Africa , Constitutional law -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Description: Racism has informed South African society since colonial times. Racist beliefs found expression in the laws of colonial and apartheid South Africa and shaped both state and society. The constitutional state that South Africa has become since 1994, is based on the values of ‘human dignity’, ‘the achievement of equality’ and ‘nonracialism’, among others. Law formed the basis of the racist state prior to 1994, and now law has a fundamental role to play in the transformation of the state and society in an egalitarian direction by addressing socio-economic inequalities on the one hand, and by changing patterns of behaviour based on racist beliefs forged in the past, on the other. This thesis examines one of the legal instruments that is intended to contribute to transformation in the latter sense, namely the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act 4 of 2000 (the Equality Act), with specific reference to the issue of racism. The provisions of this Act and the framework for its operation against the background of South Africa’s racist past, and within the broader framework of international and constitutional law, are examined. These two legal frameworks are analysed for the purpose of determining the standards set by international and constitutional law regarding racial equality in order to determine whether the Equality Act measures up. This thesis also incorporates an analysis of the practical application of the provisions of the Equality Act to complaints of racism in selected equality courts. The theoretical analysis of the Act’s provisions and their application in the equality courts point to various problematic formulations and obstacles which negatively affect the application of the provisions and thus hamper social change. The thesis concludes with recommendations for refining the Act’s provisions and its application.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
The economic valuation of cultural events in developing countries: combining market and non-market valuation techniques at the South African National Arts Festival
- Authors: Snowball, Jeanette Dalziel
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Standard Bank National Arts Festival -- Economic aspects , Performing arts festivals -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Arts -- South Africa -- Economic aspects , Finance -- South Africa , Arts -- South Africa -- Finance , Arts -- South Africa -- Political aspects , Finance, Public -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:969 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002703 , Standard Bank National Arts Festival -- Economic aspects , Performing arts festivals -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Arts -- South Africa -- Economic aspects , Finance -- South Africa , Arts -- South Africa -- Finance , Arts -- South Africa -- Political aspects , Finance, Public -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Description: The arts in many countries, but particularly in developing ones, are coming under increasing financial pressure and finding it difficult to justify the increases in government funding needed to maintain and grow the cultural sector. The trend in cultural economics, as well as in other areas, appears to be towards including qualitative valuations, as well as the more traditional quantitative ones. This thesis argues that the value of cultural events should include long term historical qualitative analysis, financial or economic impact and a valuation of the positive externalities provided by cultural events and that any one of these should only be regarded as a partial analysis. Four methods of valuing the arts using the South African National Arts Festival (NAF) as an example are demonstrated. Firstly, a qualitative historical analysis of the role of the NAF in South Africa’s transformation process from Apartheid to the democratic New South Africa is examined, using theories of cultural capital as a theoretical basis. It is argued that the value of cultural events needs to take into account long-term influences especially in countries undergoing political and social transformation. The second valuation method applied is the traditional economic impact study. Four economic impact studies conducted on the NAF are discussed and methodologies compared. It is concluded that, despite the skepticism of many cultural economists, the method can provide a useful partial valuation and may also be used for effective lobbying for government support of the arts. Chapter four discusses willingness to pay studies conducted at the NAF in 2000 and 2003 (as well as a pilot study conducted at the Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees). It is found that lower income and education groups do benefit from the positive externalities provided by the Festival and that this is reflected in their willingness to pay to support it. It is also argued that such contingent valuation studies can provide a reasonably reliable valuation of Festival externalities, but that they may be partly capturing current or future expected financial gains as well. Finally, the relatively new choice experiment methodology (also called conjoint analysis) is demonstrated on visitors to the NAF. The great advantage of this method in valuing cultural events is that it provides part-worths of various Festival attributes for different demographic groups. This enables organizes to structure the programme in such a way as to attract previously excluded groups and to conduct a cost-benefit analysis for each part of the Festival.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
- Authors: Snowball, Jeanette Dalziel
- Date: 2006
- Subjects: Standard Bank National Arts Festival -- Economic aspects , Performing arts festivals -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Arts -- South Africa -- Economic aspects , Finance -- South Africa , Arts -- South Africa -- Finance , Arts -- South Africa -- Political aspects , Finance, Public -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:969 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002703 , Standard Bank National Arts Festival -- Economic aspects , Performing arts festivals -- Economic aspects -- South Africa -- Grahamstown , Arts -- South Africa -- Economic aspects , Finance -- South Africa , Arts -- South Africa -- Finance , Arts -- South Africa -- Political aspects , Finance, Public -- South Africa , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Description: The arts in many countries, but particularly in developing ones, are coming under increasing financial pressure and finding it difficult to justify the increases in government funding needed to maintain and grow the cultural sector. The trend in cultural economics, as well as in other areas, appears to be towards including qualitative valuations, as well as the more traditional quantitative ones. This thesis argues that the value of cultural events should include long term historical qualitative analysis, financial or economic impact and a valuation of the positive externalities provided by cultural events and that any one of these should only be regarded as a partial analysis. Four methods of valuing the arts using the South African National Arts Festival (NAF) as an example are demonstrated. Firstly, a qualitative historical analysis of the role of the NAF in South Africa’s transformation process from Apartheid to the democratic New South Africa is examined, using theories of cultural capital as a theoretical basis. It is argued that the value of cultural events needs to take into account long-term influences especially in countries undergoing political and social transformation. The second valuation method applied is the traditional economic impact study. Four economic impact studies conducted on the NAF are discussed and methodologies compared. It is concluded that, despite the skepticism of many cultural economists, the method can provide a useful partial valuation and may also be used for effective lobbying for government support of the arts. Chapter four discusses willingness to pay studies conducted at the NAF in 2000 and 2003 (as well as a pilot study conducted at the Klein Karoo Nationale Kunstefees). It is found that lower income and education groups do benefit from the positive externalities provided by the Festival and that this is reflected in their willingness to pay to support it. It is also argued that such contingent valuation studies can provide a reasonably reliable valuation of Festival externalities, but that they may be partly capturing current or future expected financial gains as well. Finally, the relatively new choice experiment methodology (also called conjoint analysis) is demonstrated on visitors to the NAF. The great advantage of this method in valuing cultural events is that it provides part-worths of various Festival attributes for different demographic groups. This enables organizes to structure the programme in such a way as to attract previously excluded groups and to conduct a cost-benefit analysis for each part of the Festival.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2006
The call centre labour process : a study of work and workers’ experiences at Joburg Connect, South Africa
- Authors: Magoqwana, Babalwa Mirianda
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Johannesburg (South Africa) -- Joburg Connect , Call center agents -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Work environment -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Customer services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Personnel management -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Employee morale -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Employees -- Attitudes -- Case studies , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3400 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018569 , Johannesburg (South Africa) -- Joburg Connect , Call center agents -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Work environment -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Customer services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Personnel management -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Employee morale -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Employees -- Attitudes -- Case studies , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Description: This thesis is an investigation of the call centre labour process focusing on both the way work is organised and experienced by the operators and the management of employee relations inside a local government workplace – The City of Johannesburg (COJ) Call Centre. The City of Johannesburg is used to understand labour process dynamics in local government. Johannesburg was recently named the ‘World’s Second Most Inspiring City’ (by Global City Index, 2014) possessing economic and political influence within and around South Africa. Johannesburg is the economic hub of the country, contributing nine per cent to the South African GDP. But it needs to be emphasised that the focus of this thesis is on the labour process rather than the City of Johannesburg. The nature of work in the COJ local government call centre involves answering calls about water, electricity, refuse removal, accounts and other general municipal services. The government’s objective was to have a more customer centred service delivery plan in compliance with the Batho Pele (People first) framework (RSA, 1997, White Paper on Local Government). This resulted in a shift in the government ‘mantra’ and philosophy from viewing Johannesburg residents as customers rather than citizens. This shift from public administration to New Public Management (NPM) has meant the introduction of private sector business principles into public services. This seeks to improve organisational and individual performance to enhance service delivery within South African municipalities. This is also meant to promote responsive and performance management culture. The study uses Labour Process Theory set out in Labour and Monopoly Capital (LMC-1974) by Harry Braverman to argue for the need to contextualise the labour process debate within the socio-political understanding of work in South Africa. In developing the argument about the narrow analysis of public sector call centres based on economic lines I have reviewed literature on call centres which is influenced by Michel Foucault and Harry Braverman to understand the public sector call centre labour process. Inspired by Adesina (2002) and Mafeje (1981) this study uses a ‘complementarity’ approach to knowledge. This means the local context tends to complement the global trends though not without contradictions within the local context. The case study approach was used for in-depth analysis of the local context through different methods (semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations and survey questionnaires) to collect data from different stakeholders within the City of Johannesburg between 2010 and 2013. The concept of a ‘(dis)connecting city’ is fitting for the COJ as this city connects the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa to the world through its commerce and political influence. Based on the challenges experienced in this local government call centre I attempt to show the the politicised nature of the public sector call centre labour process. I use the differential power relations in the frontline between customer and Joburg connect workers to illustrate this point. The lack of emphasis on the politicised nature of public sector call centres within literature is informed by the de-contextualised nature of these call centres. In the end, I argue that public sector call centre labour process is multilayered, contradictory and complicated because of these workers’ role as citizens, customers, community members and service providers from a politicised community environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Magoqwana, Babalwa Mirianda
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Johannesburg (South Africa) -- Joburg Connect , Call center agents -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Work environment -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Customer services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Personnel management -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Employee morale -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Employees -- Attitudes -- Case studies , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3400 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1018569 , Johannesburg (South Africa) -- Joburg Connect , Call center agents -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Work environment -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Customer services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Personnel management -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Employee morale -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , Employees -- Attitudes -- Case studies , Municipal services -- South Africa -- Johannesburg -- Case studies , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Description: This thesis is an investigation of the call centre labour process focusing on both the way work is organised and experienced by the operators and the management of employee relations inside a local government workplace – The City of Johannesburg (COJ) Call Centre. The City of Johannesburg is used to understand labour process dynamics in local government. Johannesburg was recently named the ‘World’s Second Most Inspiring City’ (by Global City Index, 2014) possessing economic and political influence within and around South Africa. Johannesburg is the economic hub of the country, contributing nine per cent to the South African GDP. But it needs to be emphasised that the focus of this thesis is on the labour process rather than the City of Johannesburg. The nature of work in the COJ local government call centre involves answering calls about water, electricity, refuse removal, accounts and other general municipal services. The government’s objective was to have a more customer centred service delivery plan in compliance with the Batho Pele (People first) framework (RSA, 1997, White Paper on Local Government). This resulted in a shift in the government ‘mantra’ and philosophy from viewing Johannesburg residents as customers rather than citizens. This shift from public administration to New Public Management (NPM) has meant the introduction of private sector business principles into public services. This seeks to improve organisational and individual performance to enhance service delivery within South African municipalities. This is also meant to promote responsive and performance management culture. The study uses Labour Process Theory set out in Labour and Monopoly Capital (LMC-1974) by Harry Braverman to argue for the need to contextualise the labour process debate within the socio-political understanding of work in South Africa. In developing the argument about the narrow analysis of public sector call centres based on economic lines I have reviewed literature on call centres which is influenced by Michel Foucault and Harry Braverman to understand the public sector call centre labour process. Inspired by Adesina (2002) and Mafeje (1981) this study uses a ‘complementarity’ approach to knowledge. This means the local context tends to complement the global trends though not without contradictions within the local context. The case study approach was used for in-depth analysis of the local context through different methods (semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations and survey questionnaires) to collect data from different stakeholders within the City of Johannesburg between 2010 and 2013. The concept of a ‘(dis)connecting city’ is fitting for the COJ as this city connects the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa to the world through its commerce and political influence. Based on the challenges experienced in this local government call centre I attempt to show the the politicised nature of the public sector call centre labour process. I use the differential power relations in the frontline between customer and Joburg connect workers to illustrate this point. The lack of emphasis on the politicised nature of public sector call centres within literature is informed by the de-contextualised nature of these call centres. In the end, I argue that public sector call centre labour process is multilayered, contradictory and complicated because of these workers’ role as citizens, customers, community members and service providers from a politicised community environment.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
The role of open government data in the repurposing of land administration in postapartheid South Africa : an exploration
- Authors: Manona, Siyabulela Sobantu
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Transparency in government -- South Africa , Land reform -- South Africa , Qualitative research -- Methodology , Postcolonialism -- South Africa , Post-apartheid era -- South Africa , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994- , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , Open Government Data (OGD)
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178397 , vital:42936 , 10.21504/10962/178397
- Description: Almost three decades after the official end of the apartheid, South Africa has been on a sturdy path that is characterised by deepening spatial economic inequalities. A plethora of policy instruments unleashed since 1994 had not only failed to stem the tide of poverty and inequality, but had deepened them. As part of this, South Africa’s most ambitious social engineering programme – land reform -- had disappointing outcomes. Premised on a view that these apartheid continuities were embedded in South Africa’s land administration system – which was incoherent and fragmented and requiring a systemic overhaul -- the study sought to explore the potential role of Open Government Data (OGD) in the repurposing of land administration system in the post-apartheid South Africa. To achieve this goal, the study was guided by the following objectives: to explore the ontology and the state of land governance and administration in the context of the post-apartheid South Africa; to undertake an evaluation or assessment of South Africa’s land data ecosystem; and to explore the potential role of OGD in the repurposing of land administration system in the postapartheid of South Africa. This study was steeped in qualitative research methods, underpinned by primary and secondary literature review. While the study was primarily pitched on a national scale – the combination of the systems and multiple scales approaches – yielded results which dislodges solutions that are required outside of the domain of a single state. This is one glaring example of land governance complexities that straddle beyond national scale – specifically in respect of new policy trajectories on trans-national boundaries and governance of water resources. Based on the holistic ontology of land, this study concludes that land administration and land governance overarching conceptual orientation -- concerned with land use decisions made by humans at various scales from a praxis and policy perspective –constitute two sides of the same coin, the former steeped towards practice and the latter steeped towards policy. Drawing from decolonial theories the study concludes that land does not only have multiple dimensions, but it also has multiple meanings, in a manner that calls for an ontological shift away from the western ontology, towards an inclusive and holistic conceptualisation. Historiography that is anchored in de-colonial thinking of South Africa’s land governance helps us understand how and why – colonial/apartheid norms acrimoniously found their way into the post-apartheid order -- the post-apartheid institutions of modernity rest on the same hierarchies of identities, classification and pathologisation. The study concludes that, while the colonial/apartheid administration may be gone, it’s underlying power matrices continue -- i.e. capitalism/European/patriachal/white – in a manner which explains the continuities of South Africa’s spatial inequalities and the associated economic inequalities. The organising principle for land relations (including opportunities) continues to be underpinned by gender, race and class, in ways that expose the mythical dimensions of the 'post-apartheid' underbelly. While identifying the need for homogenisation and rationalistion of colonial, apartheid and post-apartheid institutions (on a national scale) that is insufficient for the transformation of the colonial situation of what is in essence a part of the global system, the study advocates for the ‘repurposing of land governance and administration’ – underpinned by de-colonial thinking. Repurposing is seen as political imaginary that would entail uncoupling thought processes and praxis from the colonial matrices of power. The study goes on to conclude that there is a definite role for Open Government Data in repurposing of land administration in the post-apartheid South Africa – as a necessary, though in and of it’s own it is an insufficient condition to achieve that ideal -- but presents an opportunity to enhance transdisciplinarity approaches and efficiencies in internal government functioning and evidence-based decision making and policy formulation processes. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Geography, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
- Authors: Manona, Siyabulela Sobantu
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Transparency in government -- South Africa , Land reform -- South Africa , Qualitative research -- Methodology , Postcolonialism -- South Africa , Post-apartheid era -- South Africa , South Africa -- Economic conditions -- 1991- , South Africa -- Social conditions -- 1994- , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994- , Open Government Data (OGD)
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/178397 , vital:42936 , 10.21504/10962/178397
- Description: Almost three decades after the official end of the apartheid, South Africa has been on a sturdy path that is characterised by deepening spatial economic inequalities. A plethora of policy instruments unleashed since 1994 had not only failed to stem the tide of poverty and inequality, but had deepened them. As part of this, South Africa’s most ambitious social engineering programme – land reform -- had disappointing outcomes. Premised on a view that these apartheid continuities were embedded in South Africa’s land administration system – which was incoherent and fragmented and requiring a systemic overhaul -- the study sought to explore the potential role of Open Government Data (OGD) in the repurposing of land administration system in the post-apartheid South Africa. To achieve this goal, the study was guided by the following objectives: to explore the ontology and the state of land governance and administration in the context of the post-apartheid South Africa; to undertake an evaluation or assessment of South Africa’s land data ecosystem; and to explore the potential role of OGD in the repurposing of land administration system in the postapartheid of South Africa. This study was steeped in qualitative research methods, underpinned by primary and secondary literature review. While the study was primarily pitched on a national scale – the combination of the systems and multiple scales approaches – yielded results which dislodges solutions that are required outside of the domain of a single state. This is one glaring example of land governance complexities that straddle beyond national scale – specifically in respect of new policy trajectories on trans-national boundaries and governance of water resources. Based on the holistic ontology of land, this study concludes that land administration and land governance overarching conceptual orientation -- concerned with land use decisions made by humans at various scales from a praxis and policy perspective –constitute two sides of the same coin, the former steeped towards practice and the latter steeped towards policy. Drawing from decolonial theories the study concludes that land does not only have multiple dimensions, but it also has multiple meanings, in a manner that calls for an ontological shift away from the western ontology, towards an inclusive and holistic conceptualisation. Historiography that is anchored in de-colonial thinking of South Africa’s land governance helps us understand how and why – colonial/apartheid norms acrimoniously found their way into the post-apartheid order -- the post-apartheid institutions of modernity rest on the same hierarchies of identities, classification and pathologisation. The study concludes that, while the colonial/apartheid administration may be gone, it’s underlying power matrices continue -- i.e. capitalism/European/patriachal/white – in a manner which explains the continuities of South Africa’s spatial inequalities and the associated economic inequalities. The organising principle for land relations (including opportunities) continues to be underpinned by gender, race and class, in ways that expose the mythical dimensions of the 'post-apartheid' underbelly. While identifying the need for homogenisation and rationalistion of colonial, apartheid and post-apartheid institutions (on a national scale) that is insufficient for the transformation of the colonial situation of what is in essence a part of the global system, the study advocates for the ‘repurposing of land governance and administration’ – underpinned by de-colonial thinking. Repurposing is seen as political imaginary that would entail uncoupling thought processes and praxis from the colonial matrices of power. The study goes on to conclude that there is a definite role for Open Government Data in repurposing of land administration in the post-apartheid South Africa – as a necessary, though in and of it’s own it is an insufficient condition to achieve that ideal -- but presents an opportunity to enhance transdisciplinarity approaches and efficiencies in internal government functioning and evidence-based decision making and policy formulation processes. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, Geography, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
Challenging hegemony? : a provincial perspective on the limits of policy challenge in the South African state
- Authors: Reynolds, John
- Date: 2014 , 2014-06-24
- Subjects: Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3372 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013031
- Description: This thesis provides a provincial perspective on the limits of policy challenge within the post-apartheid South African state. This perspective is located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, which is one of the poorest of the nine provinces into which the national territory was divided during the constitutional negotiations prior to the landmark democratic elections of 1994. The empirical foundation for this perspective is an analysis of the process of developing the Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan 2004-2014 (PGDP), which took place in 2002-2004. Starting with a broader theoretical discussion, followed by a brief contextual analysis of the South African economy, the structure of the post-apartheid South African state, and key growth and development policies, the more detailed engagement with the PGDP process is undertaken. Drawing on Jessop’s (2008) strategic-relational approach, this thesis argues that the PGDP process arose within a particular spatio-temporal context where new opportunities for policy challenge were possible, but that such challenge had to be negotiated on a strategically selective terrain on which that challenge was neutralised. The PGDP process unfolded as a complex dialectic of agency and a range of path-dependent institutional processes with varying temporal and spatial horizons (cf. Pierson, 2004, 2005) in which no particular outcomes were guaranteed, but in terms of which some outcomes were more likely than others. Although the organisation of state power was expressed in the content of the PGDP, that power had to be understood as fractured across a range of state and non-state institutions, but with the state as the primary site of the contingent organisation of power. The provincial sphere of government faces particular constraints with the South African state, which has implications for its policy scope and the possibilities of policy challenge, even where wider social support is achieved.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Reynolds, John
- Date: 2014 , 2014-06-24
- Subjects: Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: vital:3372 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013031
- Description: This thesis provides a provincial perspective on the limits of policy challenge within the post-apartheid South African state. This perspective is located in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, which is one of the poorest of the nine provinces into which the national territory was divided during the constitutional negotiations prior to the landmark democratic elections of 1994. The empirical foundation for this perspective is an analysis of the process of developing the Eastern Cape Provincial Growth and Development Plan 2004-2014 (PGDP), which took place in 2002-2004. Starting with a broader theoretical discussion, followed by a brief contextual analysis of the South African economy, the structure of the post-apartheid South African state, and key growth and development policies, the more detailed engagement with the PGDP process is undertaken. Drawing on Jessop’s (2008) strategic-relational approach, this thesis argues that the PGDP process arose within a particular spatio-temporal context where new opportunities for policy challenge were possible, but that such challenge had to be negotiated on a strategically selective terrain on which that challenge was neutralised. The PGDP process unfolded as a complex dialectic of agency and a range of path-dependent institutional processes with varying temporal and spatial horizons (cf. Pierson, 2004, 2005) in which no particular outcomes were guaranteed, but in terms of which some outcomes were more likely than others. Although the organisation of state power was expressed in the content of the PGDP, that power had to be understood as fractured across a range of state and non-state institutions, but with the state as the primary site of the contingent organisation of power. The provincial sphere of government faces particular constraints with the South African state, which has implications for its policy scope and the possibilities of policy challenge, even where wider social support is achieved.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
A double-edged sword : the minimum wage and agrarian labour in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, 2003–2014
- Authors: Naidoo, Lalitha
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Minimum wage -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Agricultural wages -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Social conditions , Agricultural laborers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laws and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Work environment -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economics -- Sociological aspects , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/177111 , vital:42791 , 10.21504/10962/177115
- Description: Statutory wage setting and the extension of labour laws to the South African agrarian labour market are path-breaking events that altered the unilateral power which agrarian employers had, under apartheid, to set low wages and harsh employment conditions. Yet, economic sociologists have shown little interest in the agrarian minimum wage in South Africa. Consequently, little to no sociological perspectives are available on the way in which statutory wages shape the setting of actual agrarian wages, employment conditions, labour relations and working and living conditions. At the same time, economic sociology’s neglect of agrarian minimum wages perpetuates the dominance of economics in minimum wage research, as well as the narrow cost-benefit analysis, and firm and employer-centric focus, deployed by both opponents of minimum wages in the neoclassical economics camp and supporters in the heterodox economics camp. The firm-centric focus also applies to the few labour relations scholars who focus on minimum wages. As a result, a wide body of empirical information is available and concentrated in the Global North, on low-waged, urban-based firms’ employment and labour relations strategies with the occasioning of minimum wage laws, with scant to non-existing information on rural-based workers’ experiences in the Global South, at least in the case of South Africa. This thesis addresses the lacuna in existing research, specifically by concentrating on agrarian workers’ narratives of the outcomes of minimum wages on actual wages and conditions, and experiences at the site of production and in the sphere of expanded social reproduction. The conceptual framework of the thesis is rooted in a critical realist meta-theory which directs inquiry towards the search for underlying causes of events with a sensitivity to the interaction of structure and agency, so as to develop explanations of events, which in turn encourage emancipatory thought and praxis. Within this framework, a political economy perspective of the agrarian minimum wage is charted, founded on an inter-disciplinary approach that incorporates economic sociology perspectives, which view markets as socio-political constructs, alongside a Marxist analysis of wages and the distinction between the value of labour and the value of labour power. Also relevant are segmentation labour market models where the focus is on segmentation in labour supply, demand and regulation, and institutional economics that highlights labour’s weak bargaining power in low-waged labour markets. Based on this analytical perspective, the South African agrarian minimum wage is seen as a necessary intervention stemming from post-apartheid uneven neoliberal restructuring processes, to address extremely low agrarian wages that pose threats to the ongoing generation of agrarian labour power. Low agrarian wages are located in unequal power relations in the workplace and are embedded in the totality of the low-waged agrarian labour market, composed of particular features in the supply-side of the labour market (the sphere of social reproduction of labour), the demand-side of the labour market (the site of production), and the forces of regulation (the labour relations regime). The thesis explores new ways of conceptualising minimum wages in the South African context, placing emphasis on the local agrarian labour market, and it highlights the agency of agrarian labour by revealing their struggles, working life and living conditions. In so doing, the research expands inquiry beyond economic “impact” at the level of the firm/employer to examine: (a) workers’ employment trends before and after the minimum wage was introduced, (b) the extent of changes in working and living conditions and labour relations, (c) the scope for workers in animating changes and their struggles and challenges, and (d) shifts in actual wages in relation to prescribed wage rates. Focussing on the aforementioned aspects represents an attempt in this thesis to build on themes, raised in heterodox economics studies, of minimum wages and their relationship to the social devaluation of low-waged work, inequalities in bargaining power, and justice. Based on a stratified sample of workers that included, among other variables, sex, geographical area and agricultural sub-sectors, original data was collected through 52 in-depth interviews, two focus group interviews (comprised of 10 workers), and 501 surveyed workers. The research did not find widespread job losses when minimum wages were introduced, as per neoclassical economics’ predictions. Nor did it find transitions from low- to high-road approaches in employment strategies and labour relations, as claimed by certain heterodox economists. Instead, the findings at the sites of production corroborate the uneven, mixed and contradictory findings of applied heterodox minimum wage studies on employment strategies, labour relations and wage settings. In this light, it is concluded that the agrarian minimum wage had layered outcomes for workers based on key findings, which include: (a) the minimum wage became the maximum wage as actual wages increased and clustered at the prescribed wage rate; (b) a level of gender wage parity close to the level of the prevailing prescribed minimum wage was found, but an overall gendered pattern to low-waged employment surfaced and manifested differently at sub-sector and enterprise levels; (c) though no changes were found in the way work was organised and how workers executed their tasks alongside no fundamental changes in the social relations of production, statutory minimum wages and limitations on working hours did reduce the hours of work and the existence of unpaid overtime work in certain sub-sectors such as livestock and dairy workplaces, through worker and employer initiatives (yet, at the same time, work intensification in compressed working hours appeared in the sample in other worksites, for example citrus workplaces); (d) authoritarian labour relations existed in varying depths and forms, based on sub-sector and enterprise characteristics, which shaped the propensity and scope for worker action; and (e) the layered outcomes of the agrarian minimum wage were felt at the site of social reproduction, where it brought a measure of relief for sampled workers; however, it was chronically inadequate to allow workers to meet their subsistence needs comprehensively. The research findings also highlight sub-sectoral complexities in changing employment and labour relations strategies from low- to high-road approaches in the agrarian sector. The layered outcomes of minimum wages for agrarian workers stems from the combined and uneven amalgamation of pre-existing and new conditions and relations consequent to neoliberalising processes in the agrarian political economy as well as the low minimum wage-setting. The thesis thus argues that the mixed outcomes reflect the layered character of the minimum wage as a conversion factor, which in turn equates to a layered notion of justice. This is because, on the one hand, the minimum wage ameliorates the plight of agrarian labour but, on the other hand, and given the bulwark of authoritarianism, pre-existing conditions and neoliberalising processes, the collective vulnerabilities in the agrarian labour market have expanded and may be intensifying. The agrarian minimum wage acts as a double-edged sword in contexts of mixed and layered outcomes for agrarian labour. A layered perspective of the conversion factor of a minimum wage exposes the possibilities and limitations of statutory wages as a conversion factor, based on context, and identifies the limits and possibilities for worker mobilisation and action. In the case of this research, the agrarian minimum wage deals in limited fashion with the value of labour power because of the initial and subsequent low settings; the minimum wage does not deal with class exploitation and the value of labour, although it sets the frame for instigating basic labour standards. The implications of a layered conversion potential of low minimum wage-settings are profound for conceptualising, theorising and researching the link between statutory wages and justice, with respect to the value of labour power and the value of labour. Future research on the minimum wage based on a Marxist reading of wages and located in real labour markets, strengthens heterodox approaches by deepening theories on the relationship between statutory wages, justice and production. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Department of Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
- Authors: Naidoo, Lalitha
- Date: 2021-04
- Subjects: Minimum wage -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Labor laws and legislation -- South Africa , Agricultural wages -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laborers -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Social conditions , Agricultural laborers -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural laws and legislation -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Work environment -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economics -- Sociological aspects , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-
- Language: English
- Type: thesis , text , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/177111 , vital:42791 , 10.21504/10962/177115
- Description: Statutory wage setting and the extension of labour laws to the South African agrarian labour market are path-breaking events that altered the unilateral power which agrarian employers had, under apartheid, to set low wages and harsh employment conditions. Yet, economic sociologists have shown little interest in the agrarian minimum wage in South Africa. Consequently, little to no sociological perspectives are available on the way in which statutory wages shape the setting of actual agrarian wages, employment conditions, labour relations and working and living conditions. At the same time, economic sociology’s neglect of agrarian minimum wages perpetuates the dominance of economics in minimum wage research, as well as the narrow cost-benefit analysis, and firm and employer-centric focus, deployed by both opponents of minimum wages in the neoclassical economics camp and supporters in the heterodox economics camp. The firm-centric focus also applies to the few labour relations scholars who focus on minimum wages. As a result, a wide body of empirical information is available and concentrated in the Global North, on low-waged, urban-based firms’ employment and labour relations strategies with the occasioning of minimum wage laws, with scant to non-existing information on rural-based workers’ experiences in the Global South, at least in the case of South Africa. This thesis addresses the lacuna in existing research, specifically by concentrating on agrarian workers’ narratives of the outcomes of minimum wages on actual wages and conditions, and experiences at the site of production and in the sphere of expanded social reproduction. The conceptual framework of the thesis is rooted in a critical realist meta-theory which directs inquiry towards the search for underlying causes of events with a sensitivity to the interaction of structure and agency, so as to develop explanations of events, which in turn encourage emancipatory thought and praxis. Within this framework, a political economy perspective of the agrarian minimum wage is charted, founded on an inter-disciplinary approach that incorporates economic sociology perspectives, which view markets as socio-political constructs, alongside a Marxist analysis of wages and the distinction between the value of labour and the value of labour power. Also relevant are segmentation labour market models where the focus is on segmentation in labour supply, demand and regulation, and institutional economics that highlights labour’s weak bargaining power in low-waged labour markets. Based on this analytical perspective, the South African agrarian minimum wage is seen as a necessary intervention stemming from post-apartheid uneven neoliberal restructuring processes, to address extremely low agrarian wages that pose threats to the ongoing generation of agrarian labour power. Low agrarian wages are located in unequal power relations in the workplace and are embedded in the totality of the low-waged agrarian labour market, composed of particular features in the supply-side of the labour market (the sphere of social reproduction of labour), the demand-side of the labour market (the site of production), and the forces of regulation (the labour relations regime). The thesis explores new ways of conceptualising minimum wages in the South African context, placing emphasis on the local agrarian labour market, and it highlights the agency of agrarian labour by revealing their struggles, working life and living conditions. In so doing, the research expands inquiry beyond economic “impact” at the level of the firm/employer to examine: (a) workers’ employment trends before and after the minimum wage was introduced, (b) the extent of changes in working and living conditions and labour relations, (c) the scope for workers in animating changes and their struggles and challenges, and (d) shifts in actual wages in relation to prescribed wage rates. Focussing on the aforementioned aspects represents an attempt in this thesis to build on themes, raised in heterodox economics studies, of minimum wages and their relationship to the social devaluation of low-waged work, inequalities in bargaining power, and justice. Based on a stratified sample of workers that included, among other variables, sex, geographical area and agricultural sub-sectors, original data was collected through 52 in-depth interviews, two focus group interviews (comprised of 10 workers), and 501 surveyed workers. The research did not find widespread job losses when minimum wages were introduced, as per neoclassical economics’ predictions. Nor did it find transitions from low- to high-road approaches in employment strategies and labour relations, as claimed by certain heterodox economists. Instead, the findings at the sites of production corroborate the uneven, mixed and contradictory findings of applied heterodox minimum wage studies on employment strategies, labour relations and wage settings. In this light, it is concluded that the agrarian minimum wage had layered outcomes for workers based on key findings, which include: (a) the minimum wage became the maximum wage as actual wages increased and clustered at the prescribed wage rate; (b) a level of gender wage parity close to the level of the prevailing prescribed minimum wage was found, but an overall gendered pattern to low-waged employment surfaced and manifested differently at sub-sector and enterprise levels; (c) though no changes were found in the way work was organised and how workers executed their tasks alongside no fundamental changes in the social relations of production, statutory minimum wages and limitations on working hours did reduce the hours of work and the existence of unpaid overtime work in certain sub-sectors such as livestock and dairy workplaces, through worker and employer initiatives (yet, at the same time, work intensification in compressed working hours appeared in the sample in other worksites, for example citrus workplaces); (d) authoritarian labour relations existed in varying depths and forms, based on sub-sector and enterprise characteristics, which shaped the propensity and scope for worker action; and (e) the layered outcomes of the agrarian minimum wage were felt at the site of social reproduction, where it brought a measure of relief for sampled workers; however, it was chronically inadequate to allow workers to meet their subsistence needs comprehensively. The research findings also highlight sub-sectoral complexities in changing employment and labour relations strategies from low- to high-road approaches in the agrarian sector. The layered outcomes of minimum wages for agrarian workers stems from the combined and uneven amalgamation of pre-existing and new conditions and relations consequent to neoliberalising processes in the agrarian political economy as well as the low minimum wage-setting. The thesis thus argues that the mixed outcomes reflect the layered character of the minimum wage as a conversion factor, which in turn equates to a layered notion of justice. This is because, on the one hand, the minimum wage ameliorates the plight of agrarian labour but, on the other hand, and given the bulwark of authoritarianism, pre-existing conditions and neoliberalising processes, the collective vulnerabilities in the agrarian labour market have expanded and may be intensifying. The agrarian minimum wage acts as a double-edged sword in contexts of mixed and layered outcomes for agrarian labour. A layered perspective of the conversion factor of a minimum wage exposes the possibilities and limitations of statutory wages as a conversion factor, based on context, and identifies the limits and possibilities for worker mobilisation and action. In the case of this research, the agrarian minimum wage deals in limited fashion with the value of labour power because of the initial and subsequent low settings; the minimum wage does not deal with class exploitation and the value of labour, although it sets the frame for instigating basic labour standards. The implications of a layered conversion potential of low minimum wage-settings are profound for conceptualising, theorising and researching the link between statutory wages and justice, with respect to the value of labour power and the value of labour. Future research on the minimum wage based on a Marxist reading of wages and located in real labour markets, strengthens heterodox approaches by deepening theories on the relationship between statutory wages, justice and production. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Department of Sociology, 2021
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021-04
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