Prof. John J. Williams
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| Position: | Professor |
| Department: | School of Government (SOG) |
| Faculty: | Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences |
| Qualifications: | PhD (MUP), (Illinois, USA); HED (Cum Laude), M.A. (UCT), HED (Cum Laude), BA HONS, BA (UWC) |
| Research publications in this repository | |
| More about me: | here and here |
| Tel: | 021 959 3807 |
| Fax: | 021 959 3826 |
| Email: | jjwilliams@uwc.ac.za |
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Item Transformative sensemaking: Development in Whose Image? Keyan Tomaselli and the semiotics of visual representation(Overseas Publishers Association, 2000) Williams, John J.The defining and distinguishing feature of homo sapiens is its ability to make sense of the world, i.e. to use its intellect to understand and change both itself and the world of which it is an integral part. It is against this backdrop that this essay reviews Tomaselli's 1996 text, Appropriating Images: The Semiotics of Visual Representation/ by summarizing his key perspectives, clarifying his major operational concepts and citing particular portions from his work in support of specific perspectives on sense-making. Subsequently, this essay employs his techniques of sense-making to interrogate the notion of "development". This exercise examines and confirms two interrelated hypotheses: first, a semiotic analysis of the privileged notion of "development" demonstrates its metaphysical/ ideological, and thus limiting, nature especially vis-a-vis the marginalized, excluded, and the collective other, the so-called Developing Countries. Second, the interrogative nature of semiotics allows for an alternative reading and application of human potential or skills in the quest of a more humane social and global order, highlighting thereby the transformative implications of a reflexive epistemology.Item South Africa: Urban transformation(Elsevier, 2000) Williams, John J.This paper discusses transformation as a multi-dimensional concept to effect social change in South African society in the post-apartheid era. The policy implications of such a variegated understanding of social change are examined with special reference to planning principles such as holism, capacity building, self-reliance, community integration, participatory democracy and so forth. It is argued that transformation is a multi-dimensional process, and whilst on the basis of provisional evidence there appears to be nascent forms of socio-spatial change, structurally, such apparent change is shot through by a number of contradictions, tensions and potential conflicts.Item The politics of social change and the transition to democratic governance: Community participation in post-apartheid South Africa(Juta, 2008) Williams, John J.Community participation, i.e. the direct involvement/engagement of ordinary people in the affairs of planning, governance and overall development programs at the local or grassroots level, has become an integral part of democratic practice in recent years (cfJayal, 2001). In the case of post-apartheid South Africa, community participation has literally become synonymous with legitimate governance. In this regard, for example, the Municipal Structures Act, Chapter 4, subsections (g) and (h) state respectively that the 'executive mayor [should] annually report on the involvement of community organisations in the affairs of the municipality' and 'ensure that due regard is given to public views and report on the effect of consultation on the decisions of council' (RSA, 1998c). Yet it would seem that most community participation exercises in post-apartheid South Africa are largely spectator politics, where ordinary people have mostly become endorsees of pre-designed planning programs, often the objects of administrative manipulation and a miracle of reconciliation in the international arena of consensus politics, while state functionaries of both the pre- and post-apartheid eras ensconce themselves as bureaucratic experts summonsed to 'ensure a better life for all'. Consequently, the process, visions and missions of a more equitable society operate merely as promissory notes issued every five years during election campaigns. In this course of endless rhetoric and multiple platitudes, the very concept of community participation has been largely reduced to a cumbersome ritual—a necessary appendix required by the various laws and policies operating at the local government level.Item The Everyday at Grassroots level: poverty, protest and social change in post-apartheid South Africa(CLACSO, 2009) Williams, John J.This paper posits that social change derives from how the everyday is encountered, analyzed and experienced at the grassroots level. Drawing extensively from the seminal work of Henri Lefebvre, the paper argues that for ordinary people in post-apartheid South Africa, the everyday is often an instantiation of multiple contradictions, tensions, conflicts and struggles as the promises of a “better life for all”, the mantra of the Mbeki government, would appear to remain largely rhetorical as evidenced by the increasing levels of homelessness and unemployment since the creation of the democratic State in 1994. The failure to substantively improve the everyday reality experienced by the poor, homeless and unemployed, has given rise throughout the country, especially from 2004 to 2009, to massive protests by communities against local authorities (municipalities). The paper concludes by considering the question whether or not this type of community discontent could serve to transform the everyday into a more equitable and democratic dispensation at the grassroots level.Item Gerwel taught us that theory without application is useless(IOL, 2012) Williams, John J.This tribute to Prof Gerwel has been triggered by a picture on p 2 of the Cape Times, 29 Nov 2012, of a group of students, he addressed in 1977 [not 1973] as I was reading for my Honours degree in Geography. As students we admired him deeply for his seemingly effortless ability to apply profound theoretical insights to the existential reality of apartheid and its nefarious effects on society as a whole. He usually addressed us during lunch-hour, in the Science Block. Every student leader of the different student organizations on campus was usually there, even the deeply- spiritual students, like myself [I headed the Anglican Student Society of Southern Africa [ANSOC/ASF] in the Western Cape, at UWC, US and UCT.Item Citizenship, community participation and social change: The case of area coordinating teams in Cape Town, South Africa(Wiley, 2004) Williams, John J.Social change does not roll in under the wheels of inevitability On the contrary; we have to organize for it, mobilize for it, struggle for it and indeed, plan for it. This is especially so in a country such as South Africa, where centuries of colonial-cum-apartheid thought and practices have led planning bureaucracies to create and perpetuate socioeconomic patterns of uneven development and neglect. Amidst the geographies of largely "white" affluence, fear and collective "othering", those others, i.e. predominantly "black", unemployed, homeless, destitute, angry and alienated, are increasingly demanding their basic rights, rights that are enshrined in the post-apartheid Constitution (RSA 1995). One of the many structures that have been created in order to make available constitutionally guaranteed opportunities for participation in governance has been Areas Coordinating Teams (ACTs), established in the late 1990s as a vehicle through which government agencies could engage local communities in development planning. The ACTs were established in order to encourage consensus among politicians, bureaucrats and communities with regard to specific planning issues such as housing, health care and overall infrastructure at grassroots level. This article addresses the question of whether the ACTs, as spaces for participation in development planning available to the local communities of Cape Town, do indeed contribute towards grassroots- oriented, bottom-up programmers in post-apartheid South Africa. It draws on two complementary studies. The first consists of informal interviews with councilors and officials. In these interviews, the politicians and the bureaucrats expressed their views and understanding of ACTs. The second study was based on a structured questionnaire directed at community-based organizations (CBOs) attending the ACTs initiated/coordinated meetings. My focus here is on the relationships between the official, "invited" spaces of the ACTs and other spaces within the community and on the relationships that officials and elected representatives have with these spaces, in order to assess their potential for democratizing the development planning process.Item Towards universal health coverage: Exploring the determinants of household enrolment into National Health Insurance in the Kassena Nankana District, Ghana(Faculty of Integrated Development Studies, University for Development studies, 2015) Williams, John J.; Alatinga, Kennedy A.This study investigates the determinants of household participation in National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the Kassena-Nankana District in Ghana. In order to achieve this purpose, a cross-sectional survey was used to collect data from 417 randomly selected household heads. The results established that the NHIS is making incremental progress towards achieving universal health coverage because majority (67%) of the sampled population was enrolled in the NHIS. However, further analysis of the data highlighted both the challenge of achieving equity of participation in health insurance and the yawning financial barriers to accessing health care for poor households and those employed in the informal sector. For example, majority (77%) of uninsured households indicated that they were not enrolled in the NHIS because they could not afford the cost of insurance premiums. The research findings showed that income, socio-economic status (SES), formal employment, educational status, and gender amongst others, significantly determine household enrolment in health insurance. In order to increase the enrolment of the poor in the NHIS, and of achieving universal health coverage, the authors recommend that the government considers using payroll deductions to finance the health care needs of all formal sector employees while financing the health care of the rest of the population using tax revenues. It is also recommeded that the NHIS considers making the payment of insurance premium flexible, such as allowing housholds to pay in installments or in kind.Item Development policy planning in Ghana: The case of health care provision(European Scientific Institute, 2014) Alatinga, Kennedy A.; Williams, John J.This paper examines the historical development of health policy in Ghana within the framework of financial, geographical accessibility and the availability of health care. Historically, health policy has been urban biased, and largely focused on financial accessibility. Even Nkrumah's free health care policy could not adequately address the problem of inadequate health professionals and facilities in the rural areas.The study also established that poverty is also largely a rural phenomenon.The poor benefit less from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). This situation makes the NHIS lack social equity, the very reason for its being. We recommend that government should expand health facilities in the rural areas, and introduce attractive incentive packages to attract and retain health professionals in such areas. There is an urgent need for rigorous criteria to be developed by the NHIS to identify the very poor for health insurance premium exemptions.