Pieter Labuschagne

DEVELOPMENT, POLITICS AND THE FEASABILITY OF HOSTING THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN AFRICA

The Olympic Games are a mega-sport event of unparalleled prestige and status on a global scale. The host city is not only rewarded with fame, but since the commercialisation of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, also with the substantial financial benefits, which accrue from staging the Games. The Olympic Games in the modern era have become highly commercialised and generate substantial sums of money. Apart from Africa, all the continents of the world have already had the opportunity to host the Olympic Games. However, the host cities were without exception situated in developed countries that could absorb the substantial costs that staging the Olympic Games entail. This article investigates the feasibility and desirability of hosting the Games in an African city from a developmental perspective and attempts to answer the following question: Is the staging justifiable in light of the continents developmental problem?

One Law, One Nation – The Making of the South African Constitution

The English philosopher, Thomas Paine, wrote in 1795 in his seminal work, The Rights of Man, that a government without a constitution is equal to ‘Power without Right’. Paine’s notion could also be applicable to South Africa’s political and constitutional development during the period 1910 to1994. South Africa’s central government had political power for a long period, but it was power without right. However, the adoption of the 1993 and 1996 constitutions in South Africa signalled the transition from power without right, to authority with right, which hallmarked the start of the democratic era in the country.

Sport, Politics, and Diplomacy: Perspectives on Durban's (South Africa) Bid to Host the 2022 Commonwealth Games

ABSTRACT This article investigates the wider implications of the Commonwealth Games Federation’s decision to withdraw the invitation to South Africa’s potential host city, Durban to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. A host city has the unique opportunity to communicate with extensive global, regional and national networks through the intersection of sport, politics and diplomacy. The advantages derived from these events are not restricted to a diplomatic level: hosting a major sporting event generates international prestige, establishes strong credentials for the host city/nation, and develops infrastructure countrywide by prompting urban development and renewal. The critical question here is how to evaluate Durban’s loss of the hosting rights against the background of the country’s successful staging of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. We interrogate three crucial issues: Has the inability to host the Commonwealth Games dented South Africa’s international prestige? Has an opportunity to benefit from public diplomacy been lost? Will this loss affect potential urban and infrastructural regeneration?

The study of political science in South Africa and beyond: the search for relevance

ABSTRACT Political science as a field of study has been taught and researched in South Africa for nearly a hundred years and for a lesser period in other African countries. A diversity of approaches and theoretical focus areas and ideological orientations have been followed over the decades largely in response to the political evolution of the African state. The argument of the article citing historical and contemporary literature, is that political science in South Africa and beyond needs to engage anew with the state and its institutions. The discipline needs to refocus on teaching and research and, in particular, more firmly address the needs of diverse practitioners in state and governmental institutions in South Africa and beyond. Teaching and research interests of particular relevance and utility to government and opposition leaders and representatives – such as institutional design, democratic models, electoral systems and political party structures, candidate selection, decision making processes, election processes and oversight and accountability mechanisms – should be given increasing attention by political scientists at all spheres of government, that is, national, provincial or regional and local. It is argued that a new relevance should be sought to provide answers to the pressing contemporary political and developmental issues and problems facing the continent.

The brutality of war: A perspective on the actions of Olaf Bergh’s black scouts at Smaldeel during the South African War (1899-1902)

The intensity of the South African War (1899-1902) escalated sharply during the guerrilla phase in the rural areas outside the conventional theatre of operations. The conflict, which already resembled a total war, had a devastating destabilizing effect on the socio-economic stability and internal security in the rural areas of the two Boer Republics. The resulting lack of internal or domestic security in the rural areas eroded internal control by the Boer community and giving rise to a power vacuum. This development put the black population in the position to challenge white rule. This challenge took the form of armed black units under the command of either ‘joiners’ or British officers that started to operate in the unregulated and unsecured space. The black units committed tasks in the power vacuum that varied from spying to assisting the British forces to transport Boer women and children from their farms to concentration camps. In some cases armed blacks also operated as a military unit to challenge small pockets of Boers. The Boer population reacted with bitterness against these armed units. The expressed animosity even surpassed the adverse feelings they had for the British. The aim of the article is to investigate this phenomenon, with specific focus on the actions of Olaf Bergh in the Free State, who commanded a Winburg unit consisting of 500 armed blacks. Bergh’s actions at Smaldeel station in the central Free State caused anger and bitterness that lingered for decades after the War. The focus of the article is to explain why the reaction against Bergh and his black unit was so strong and bitter, and also disproportionally stronger than the general feeling of animosity toward the British.

THE SKIRMISH AT GATBERG: A PERSPECTIVE ON THE UTILISATION OF BLACK AUXILIARIES DURING THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR ON THE TRANSKEI BORDER (1899–1902)

The South African War (1899–1902) created major rifts in the post-war society as a result of various controversies that emanated from the conflict, which left a long legacy of bitterness and in many ways inhibited nation-building in the country. One contentious issue that had a major influence on society during and after the War was that of the role and participation of black auxiliaries who were deployed against the Boer forces. After the hostilities had ended, many publications dealt with the topic at both a general and an individual level. The aim of the study on which this article reports, was to analyse the topic at an individual level, specifically focusing on an incident that occurred at Gatberg on 20 November 1901. The skirmish near the former Transkei border occurred between a Boer commando and a black unit under the command of a British officer, and resulted in a great deal of bitterness and controversy that lasted for many years after the conclusion of the War. In the article, the clash is described and placed in its historical context in order to explain what transpired on that fateful day. The article explains the animosity that was generated by the incident, but also the contrasting views that existed after the incident.