Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Political Studies)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10566/12819

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Browsing by Author "Africa, Cherrel"

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    The negotiated nation: Evaluation of nation building in the post-apartheid South Africa
    (University of Western Cape, 2021) Moya, Hazel Nasiphi; Africa, Cherrel
    The demise of apartheid presented South Africa with an opportunity to rebuild itself from its painful racist past to become a home to all those who live in it. This was done through a process of nation-building, which took the form of a multicultural civic nation, affectionately known as the Rainbow Nation, that embraces diverse cultures while affirming that individual citizens have equal rights. This thesis argues that the building of the Rainbow Nation has been somewhat successful, but more on a symbolic than institutional level, and that enduring forms of racial exclusion from socio-economic well-being pose the greatest threat to constructing a united, multicultural nation of civic equals.
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    Race, class and law in post-Apartheid South Africa: A Marxist critique of Black Economic Empowerment
    (University of Western Cape, 2020) Hoskins, Jonathan Mark; Africa, Cherrel
    With the advent of democracy, the ANC government was faced with the problem of addressing abject poverty, persistent unemployment and rank economic inequality that beset black South Africans under apartheid. To address these problems in a structured and comprehensive fashion, the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 (BBBEE Act) was promulgated. Several economists believed that growth in the economy is the bedrock upon which black economic empowerment would provide the foundation to correct these economic problems. This study sought to interrogate black economic empowerment as a means to address economic inequality and unemployment. The method of analysis and critique employed in this study is based on theories that Marx formulated in Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. In particular, this study draws on Marx’s theories of fictitious capital, surplus value production and appropriation, and the creation of the industrial reserve army. The thesis uses the theory to examine two BEE cases namely the Sanlam and Sasol equity transactions. It also analyses the relationship between productive capital and fictitious capital through an examination of Lonmin plc and Shanduka Pty Ltd, with a focus on the use of labour power to produce surplus value. Finally, it looks briefly at Sanlam and Sankorp to understand the rise of the black middle class in South Africa. Ultimately, this study charts a Marxist path to explain why black economic empowerment is unable to address economic inequality and unemployment. At the centre of this study is the problematisation of the capitalist mode of production on which black economic empowerment rests. The central argument advanced is that the very capitalist structure upon which this growth strategy was based, in fact laid the foundation for the reproduction of these self-same phenomena.