Cheryl Hendricks

DEBATING COLOURED IDENTITY IN THE WESTERN CAPE

Extracted from text ... The nature and form of coloured identity in the Western Cape has been vociferously debated. Coloured identity became a particular concern after the 1994 general elections when the coloured vote returned the National Party to the Western Cape provincial government. More recently, a spate of incidents in the Western Cape have propelled the group into the national spotlight. Many coloureds have indicated that they feel marginalised in the post-apartheid dispensation, and are especially resentful at what they perceive to be a preferential allocation of resources to Africans in the Western Cape, when their needs are just as great. These tensions ..

Women, peace and security in Africa

This article highlights and critiques the underlying conceptualisations and assumptions of the women, peace and security (WPS) agenda that emerged with the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000. The main argument is that we need to rethink the WPS agenda to produce more holistic and groundbreaking responses for the types of challenges encountered, i.e., that gender inequality and insecurity are deep rooted and multi-layered, and thus negate mechanistic responses that do not deal with cultural and structural issues. It specifically focuses on gender and peace-making and gender and peacekeeping to point to the pitfalls in the current conceptions and practices in this arena.

Human security in Africa

The idea that our understanding and articulation of security needed to be broadened to focus on individuals and communities and that we should view democratisation, development and security as interlinked had been on the margins of the security discourse until the release of the United Nations Development Programme Report of 1994. This report gave coherent and systematic expression to these beliefs, named the concept ‘human security’, and thus posited it in the lexicon of security studies. The concept gained widespread international attention, challenging the ontological and epistemological assumptions that had become the mainstay of security studies and praxis. ‘“Freedom from want’, ‘Freedom from fear’ and ‘Empowerment’ were constitutive of the new human security approach.

Progress or Stagnation: Quo Vadis Southern African Politics?

The papers in this special edition of Politikon emanate from a joint South African Association of Political Studies (SAAPS)/University of Johannesburg (UJ) Colloquium held by the Department of Politics and International Relations at UJ from 31 August to 1 September 2015. The theme of the colloquium, Progress or Stagnation: Quo Vadis Southern African Politics? sought to draw a cross-generation of scholars from the region to engage in a critical reflection on issues of democratisation, political economy, peace and security, identity politics, regional integration and international relations. Among these scholars was Prof. Sam Moyo. It would be the last time that we had the privilege of listening to, and learning from, one of Southern Africa’s prominent, engaging, committed and humble scholars as he died in a car crash in India a month later. We therefore wish to dedicate this issue of Politikon to his memory and in tribute and thanks to his tireless struggle across the continent in search of justice, equality and the production of knowledge by African scholars. The nurturing of new generations of African researchers was an important part of Sam’s professional life. The representation of young scholars amongst the participants in the colloquium and contributors to this special edition pays homage to his enviable commitment to growing African researchers and scholars. Prof. Moyo presented the key note address at the colloquium on a theme he was passionate about, The Political Economy of Agrarian Transformation in Southern Africa. He reiterated his familiar arguments about the kind of economic growth we were experiencing in Southern Africa, namely, ‘economic growth without development’ that is characterised by ‘limited large-scale employment; narrow forms of accumulation; poor production technologies and exclusive development’. The challenges he identified remained those of

Decolonising Universities in South Africa: Rigged Spaces?

Abstract This article provides a broad overview of the necessity for and challenges of decolonising universities in South Africa. It situates the student protests for the decolonisation of knowledge within the debates on the African Higher Education landscape, the ideology of Pan-Africanism, and calls for an African Renaissance. The article highlights the context in which the Fallist Movement emerged in South Africa and the demands it articulated. This article questions whether or not the decolonisation of knowledge, and the broader university system, can truly materialise, given the inherent nature and functioning of these institutions and the current practices of decolonising universities. The article argues that to date the decolonisation of universities has largely been ad-hoc, performative, and technical, rather than the sustainable and substantive transformative processes that should be at the heart of any decolonisation project. Furthermore, the article asserts that the universities that we are trying to decolonise are rigged spaces as they have been fashioned in the image of western universities and align with their norms, values, and epistemologies. To break this foundational epistemological and cultural bedrock requires a complete overhaul of the structure, ideology, and functioning of the universities. Without major shifts in the power relations, orientation and forms of knowledge production at these universities, there can be no decolonisation.

The convergence and divergence of three pillars of influence in gender and security

This article explores the convergence between three pillars of influence – feminist security studies, civil society activism and policy decision-making – and its role in the adoption and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. It argues that these three pillars, individually and collectively, have made important contributions to the debate and action on the gender and security agenda, but that they remain organically disconnected. Their convergence has the potential to achieve path-breaking results in the sphere of gender and security, whilst their divergence makes transformation unattainable. We show the disconnect in the application of UNSCR 1325 in Africa and argue that this is partly the reason why, despite enormous efforts, the gains realised in terms of gender equality in the peace and security arena have been negligible.

ZIMBABWE: BEYOND THE DEMOCRATIC IMPASSE

Extracted from text ... COMMENTARY ZIMBABWE: BEYOND THE DEMOCRATIC IMPASSE CHERYL HENDRICKS Few countries in Africa attract sustained international media coverage without the presence of a civil war. Countries beyond the Limpopo rarely attract close scrutiny by the South African citizenry either, and their policies and practices seldom evoke domestic outbursts or mobilisation. Zimbabwe, since its 2000 general elections, has achieved this feat. Unfortunately, this particularity is derived from many of the factors that led to the disintegration of other post-colonial African states. The Zimbabwean governments resistance to democratisation, its reassertion of a narrow African nationalism, the governments repressive tactics, and ..