About 42-43 million people (90% of whom are ‘people of color’)
Thirteen recognized national parties (both a republic and a monarchy)
Nine provinces, three capitals (Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Cape Town)
Eleven Official Languages in four major groupings
Early History
“Empty Land” Theory
Early History
Africa is where our species became human. Four million years of human evolution happened there.
About 100,000 years ago, it is believed that a handful of these early ancestors of ours began a journey that took humans to every corner of the globe.
Every country on earth is populated by descendents of those first migrants.
Modern South Africa: Diversity
Modern South Africa: Diversity
Modern South Africa: Diversity
Eleven Official Languages
Economy (1)
Modern industrialized, urban economy but a subsistence economy (low-paid labor)
Minerals: World’s leading supplier of gold, chromium, manganese, vanadium, and platinum
Private sector: highly centralized and dominated by the interrelated DeBeers and Anglo-American corporations
Economy (2)
How do you develop a new financial order without disturbing the old?
How do you create equality on a foundation of blatant inequality?
To what extent can you rely on the good will of the rich to uplift the poor?
Apartheid Black Sash Movement
Apartheid
“No education before liberation !”
Apartheid 1948 and 1990 (1)
Approximately 10,000 blacks were killed by the notorious system of racial domination.
The greatest damage was the dehumanization and humiliation of non-whites through ruthless laws and practices by about 12% of the population (whites).
Apartheid 1948 and 1990 (2)
When apartheid finally collapsed,
the oppressors sought amnesty for their crimes...while
the victims sought justice.
"The oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed, for he is the prisoner of hatred, robbed of his own humanity."
"The oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed, for he is the prisoner of hatred, robbed of his own humanity."
"While the particulars of our histories may have been different, the heart of our struggles, from Selma to Soweto, has been the same."
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it."
Constitution
Constitution (1996) of South Africa is among the most progressive in the world.
Among the 27 Fundamental Rights is the right not to be discriminated against on any grounds and “in particular on:
race, gender, sex, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture or language.”
Gender & the Constitution (1)
There shall be no discrimination on the basis of gender (including inheritance and property rights). But . . .
CAN THE NEW CONSTITUTION AND TRADITIONAL LAW CO-EXIST?
Traditional Law
Traditional Law
The National Organization of Traditional
Leaders (Contralesa):
The chiefs were defeated in their struggle to have the gender equality clause eliminated.
However, traditional leaders do have special protection under the Constitution.
Changing the laws of a society is one
Changing the laws of a society is one
aspect of implementing change, but the
most critical aspect is changing the way
society views those laws.
The hen knows it is morning, but she waits for the cock to crow.
The cow never leads the bull.
A woman married under custom shall be considered a minor and her husband her guardian.
Restitution - Land Claims
The bureaucracy has lagged in addressing the basic issues of restitution for land claims.
The government, for example, promised to compensate all families and their descendants who lost their property under apartheid.
But of the nearly 70,000 claims, only about 12,000 have been resolved.
Low-Cost Housing
Unemployment
Due to the 40% jobless rate among black South Africans, there is a 4% levy on businesses to finance worker training.
Job creation and training
education are imperative!!!
Job Training
Literacy Projects
Reconciliation - OBUNTU
Obuntu is about the essence of being human and the importance of communal harmony. Anger and revenge are corrosive of this harmony.
It is the best form of self-interest to forgive you, because if I do not, my anger that is directed toward dehumanizing you will dehumanize me in the process.
So if I can enhance your humanity, my humanity is enhanced.
The South African Interim Constitution sought to provide "Transitional Justice."
The South African Interim Constitution sought to provide "Transitional Justice."
It lay the secure foundation for the people of South Africa to transcend the divisions and strife of the past, which generated:
Gross violations of human rights;
The transgression of humanitarian principles in violent conflicts; and
A legacy of hatred, fear, guilt, and revenge.
Those violations could then be addressed on
Those violations could then be addressed on
the basis that there was a need for:
Understanding but not vengeance;
Reparation but not retaliation; and
"Ubuntu" but not victimization.
Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation
Act,1995
Making known the fate of victims of gross violations by letting them relate their experience
Possible granting of amnesty to the oppressors in exchange for the truth;
Submitting report with recommended reparation measures.
