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Bestsellers 2009-2010
1.Cleaner Energy Cooler Climate
2.South African National HIV Prevalence, HIV Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey, 2008
3.Learning / Work: Turning work and lifelong learning inside out
4.The Meanings of Timbuktu
5.Saviours and Survivors: Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror
6.State of the Nation: South Africa 2008
7.Imagining the City: Memories and Cultures in Cape Town
8.Development and Dreams: The urban legacy of the 2010 Football World Cup
9.Legacies of Power: Leadership change and former presidents in African politics
10.Teenage Tata: Voices of young fathers in South Africa

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CONSTRUCTING A DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENTAL STATE IN SOUTH AFRICA: POTENTIALS AND CHALLENGES

EDITED BY OMANO EDIGHEJI and published by the HSRC PRESS

The global economic crisis has shown that unregulated markets are unworkable and unsustainable in the long run, not only for the improvement of human well-being, but also for the markets.

Importantly, it has emphasised the importance of state interventions; it makes the case for a developmental state that is democratic and engenders social inclusiveness more compelling.

A country like South Africa is suitably positioned to construct a democratic developmental state because, even prior to the current global crisis, the ANC and the government recognised the need to address certain challenges, including growing the economy and reducing poverty, through a developmental agenda. A commitment to constructing a democratic developmental state is a recurring theme in government policy documents.

But expressing interest in a developmental state is one thing. Actually constructing such a state is another. The real challenge is designing the requisite institutions for South Africa to be truly a developmental state, and creating and carrying out policies to achieve this goal.

In this highly anticipated new book, Constructing a democratic developmental state: potentials and challenges (HSRC Press), edited by Omano Edigheji, a range of eminent scholars and researchers explore the possibilities and pitfalls facing the country in its quest for a developmental democracy. The debate around the developmental state in South Africa covers many issues, including that it is seen as a way of building the capacity of the state, and ultimately provide basic services to citizens. There is also some scepticism – including the argument that a developmental state can not take root because of South Africa’s constitutional democracy. Then there are concerns about whether the state can simultaneously effect policy reform and undertake institutional design. Also, that the developmental state is unlikely to succeed in a mineral-rich country such as South Africa, which are supposedly prone to the “Resource Curse”.

This volume engages with these issues, clearly elaborating the case for a democratic developmental state, with its central goal being an expansion of human capabilities – through investment in health, education and social welfare. In this regard, economic policy should be preoccupied with the same objective. For South Africa to become a developmental state, its macroeconomic policy needs to serve social objectives, and social policy needs to occupy a prime place in the hands of the state.

The structure of the book reflects key issues related to the potential for and challenges of constructing a democratic developmental state in South Africa, with social and economic issues overlapping.

Part One covers the conceptual issues and comparative experiences from Africa, Asia and Northern Europe. Part Two addresses policy-making and economic governance in South Africa. Part Three deals with South Africa´s macroeconomic policy and industrial policy landscapes. Part Four focuses on social policy and its institutional underpinnings in the democratic South Africa, while Part Five deals with the question of agrarian reform and its role in the context of a democratic developmental state.

Ultimately, the recognition of the importance of a democratic developmental state in addressing the economic, social and institutional deficits in South Africa is not enough. The litmus test is the desire and ability on the part of government to create a competent administrative apparatus within the state. It is political leaders having the will to ensure that the necessary resources are deployed, and that policy and programmes are developed and implemented. It is having the political will to forge reciprocal relationships with trade unions, business, community organisations and so on. In effect, democratic deliberations are essential to enhance state capacity to address developmental challenges.

Constructing a democratic developmental state: potentials and challenges (HSRC Press) raises interesting issues, accords praise where necessary, and points to policy and institutional deficits. As such, the volume makes an invaluable contribution to the debate. Finally, as pointed out, the current weak capacity of the state should not be an excuse to avoid building development-orientated institutions; rather, it makes a compelling case for such institutions.

Constructing a democratic developmental state in South Africa: potentials and challenges (HSRC Press) is edited by Omano Edigheji. Dr Edigheji specialises in the political economy of development and is Research Director in the Policy Analysis Unit of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).

For review copies of the book or for interviews with the volume editor, please contact:

Shaun Stuart

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HSRC Press
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8000

Tel: +27 21 4668002
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E-mail: sstuart@hsrc.ac.za
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GROWING UP IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA: CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE IN POST-APARTHEID CAPE TOWN

BY RACHEL BRAY, IMKE GOOSKENS, LAUREN KAHN, SUSAN MOSES AND JEREMY SEEKINGS and published by the HSRC PRESS

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children … As we set about building a new South Africa, one of our highest priorities must therefore be our children.” – Nelson Mandela, 1995

South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994 marked the achievement of a free society, but they have not ushered in a golden age of opportunities for all children. Some of the country’s children grow up amid extraordinary affluence and privilege. At the opposite extreme are highly impoverished rural and urban street children, deprived of access to basic healthcare, services or schooling. In between these extremes are the majority of South African children and adolescents – many still living in poverty – for whom the transition from apartheid has resulted in a mix of opportunities and disappointments, changes for the better and changes for the worse.

Growing Up in the New South Africa: Childhood and Adolescence in Post-Apartheid Cape Town (HSRC Press) is about the realities of life for children and adolescents in a democratic South Africa after the end of apartheid. The book is based on extensive research in Cape Town, especially in the Fish Hoek valley on the southern periphery of the city. The authors worked closely with children and adolescents in the adjoining racially- and class-segregated neighborhoods of Masiphumelele, Ocean View and Fish Hoek.

Through extensive interviews with children and adolescents, as well as their teachers, parents, social workers, friend and extended family, the book examines the lives of young people at home, in the neighborhoods where they live and at school. It examines their relationships with friends and family, identifies anxieties and stresses, and considers the diversity of experience, opportunity and risk facing young people as they navigate their way through the complex and uncertain post-apartheid landscape. Above all, it seeks to understand the lives of ordinary urban young people facing many challenges in life – and how they deal with them.

The publication combines both quantitative and qualitative data, melding in-depth interactions with analysis of data from a study of young people across Greater Cape Town. It is divided into chapters which deal with experiences in a variety of settings.

After a contextual introduction, Chapter 2 deals with discourses and realities in family life. Chapters 3 and 4 extend the gaze beyond the home to the neighborhood, looking at spaces where young people play and interact, as well as the spatial boundaries of community which are drawn and sometimes crossed. Chapters 5 and 6 move into the schools, looking at them first as educational institutions, and then as social arenas, examining what if any effective schooling is taking place, and what conditions are contributing or detracting from this. Chapter 7 turns to the private and intimate realm of young peoples’ sexual lives, including the challenges of peer pressure, the need for parental guidance and support and the issues of HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy. Chapter 8 asks the fundamental questions of where and how, in a society still riven with inequalities and restricted opportunities, young people are able to make decisions and act in ways that bolster their own well-being. The publication is rounded up with a Conclusion.

Engaging, rigorous and ground-breaking, Growing Up in the New South Africa: Childhood and Adolescence in Post-Apartheid Cape Town (HSRC Press) points to both alarming and encouraging patterns amongst young people in South Africa. As the study relates, the combination of persistent material or economic differences and the social and cultural legacies of apartheid have resulted in the reproduction of deep differences and even divisions between social worlds. Some of these are real and some are assumed or imagined, precisely because similarities are not recognised. Young people are powerful agents of change; yet at the same time, they engage in conversations and actions which reproduce perceived differences and actual inequalities. There is clearly a need for a shift in material circumstances at the household and neighborhood levels, as well as greater contact between young people of different classes and race groups, for significant and sustainable changes to take place amongst and for young people in post-apartheid South Africa.

Growing Up in the New South Africa: Childhood and Adolescence in Post-Apartheid Cape Town (HSRC Press) is by Rachel Bray, Imke Gooskens, Lauren Kahn, Susan Moses and Jeremy Seekings of the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR), University of Cape Town.

For media copies of the book or for interviews with the authors, please contact:

Shaun Stuart

Marketing Co-ordinator
HSRC Press
Private Bag X9182
Cape Town
8000
South Africa

Tel: +27 21 4668002
Fax: +27 21 4610836
Mobile: 082 886 2869
E-mail: sstuart@hsrc.ac.za
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za


AFRICAN LANGUAGES IN A DIGITAL AGE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE COMPUTING

BY DON OSBORN and published by the HSRC PRESS

Given the growing numbers of computers and the penetration of the internet around the world, the localisation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the many languages people speak is becoming increasingly important. Localisation, in this regard, means the translation and cultural adaptation of user interfaces and software applications. It also includes the creation of internet content in diverse languages, and the translation of content from other languages.

Localisation is therefore essential in making new ICTs more accessible to populations of poorer countries, with the aims of advancing development; increasing the relevance of ICT to their lives, needs and aspirations; and bridging the “digital divide”.

In African languages in a digital age: Challenges and opportunities for indigenous language computing (HSRC Press), author Don Osborn looks at the issue of ICT localisation in the context of two overlapping regions – Africa and Arabic-speaking countries, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa and Arabic-speaking North Africa.

The sheer number of diversity of languages on the continent – over 2000, nearly a third of all languages in the world – presents a challenge for localisation efforts, as do issues such as education levels, technical hurdles, and economic factors. Overall, the broad picture is of a world region where there are a great number of indigenous languages, many not well-resourced and some assigned a low social status, and where ICT penetration is low and the means to increase its use are limited.

But, as Osborn maintains, the potential to enhance initiatives in African languages is not only necessary for the development of the continent as a whole, it is already being explored, His work aims to offer a better understanding of the overall situation and find ways to support localisation efforts. In principle, ICT should be capable of accommodating people in any language and serve as a tool for development. But in a context where basic needs are often not met, health crises persist and literacy is low, localisation could be seen as a luxury. However, Osborn asserts that to pursue this potential is an expression of hope, an affirmation of the value and relevance of Africa’s linguistic and intellectual heritage, and a practical attempt to find new solutions to old problems, in the very languages most familiar to the disadvantaged.

The book is the start of an initiative in a new direction, and to this end is also being printed online, with provision being made for web resources as well as updates. It can be found at http://www.panafril10n.org

The book is divided into several thematic chapters on language, ICT and localisation. Following a background discussion on localisation, localisation ecology is presented and modelled, followed by a section on linguistic and technical content. The next section deals with enabling systems, followed by a series of chapters on aspects of localisation, and concluding with a summary, recommendations and a conclusion.

Ultimately, Osborn maintains that the path to localisation of ICT in African languages, while crucial, is not straightforward. Basic technological and educational situations are not favourable, resources are limited, and policies are not actively supportive. While Africa is the second-largest continent, it is not yet well-placed to take full advantage of new ICTs, let alone shape them. However, what African languages in a digital age: Challenges and opportunities for indigenous language computing does is to identify and analyse some of the main challenges facing localisation, offering a much-needed resource as the initiative is taken further. It also provides optimistic examples of where localisation has taken place, with positive results. In the long run, the hope and potential of ICT is to advance development in the broadest sense of revealing potentialities. This volume plays a significant part in furthering that aim in and for Africa.

African languages in a digital age: Challenges and opportunities for indigenous language computing is written by Don Osborn and published by the HSRC Press. The research for this book was made possible through the PanAfrican Localization project (PAL), sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Copies of all of HSRC Press published titles are available from leading booksellers nationally, and from the online bookshop at www.hsrcpress.ac.za. You can also download the eBook from our website in PDF format by clicking on www.hsrcpress.ac.za/african-languages-in-a-digital-age

For a review copy of the publication or to set up an interview with the editor, contact:

Shaun Stuart
Marketing Co-ordinator
HSRC Press
Private Bag X9182
Cape Town
8000
South Africa

Tel: +27 21 4668002
Fax: +27 21 4610836
Mobile: 082 886 2869
E-mail: sstuart@hsrc.ac.za
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za


THE RACE TO TRANSFORM: SPORT IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

EDITED BY ASHWIN DESAI and published by the HSRC PRESS

Post-apartheid South Africa put great stock in the potential of sport to break down racial barriers and build a united nation. The 1995 Rugby World Cup victory, and Nelson Mandela’s now-famous appearance in a Springbok jersey, seemed perfect catalysts for the dream of a “rainbow nation”. Under the ANC slogan “A Better Life for All”, great expectations were raised concerning the redress of sport and recreation inequalities under apartheid.

In The Race to Transform: Sport in post-apartheid South Africa (HSRC Press), editor Ashwin Desai and eight other authors examine elements of change in a number of sports arenas – swimming, athletics, rugby, soccer and cricket. They pose and seek to address a number of key questions: How have the state and sporting organisations sought to redress the damage caused by “one of the cruellest legacies of apartheid” on the playing fields, athletics tracks and in the swimming pools of South Africa? Are the changes in South African sport actually reinforcing a form of class apartheid in sports? And ultimately, will the present trajectory deepen inequalities rather than progressively mitigate them?

Ashwin Desai opens the debate with an Introduction providing background to these issues. In the aftermath of the 1995 World Cup, discussions around policy formulation for a new South Africa could be broadly labelled “reformative” and “transformative”. The latter sought to fundamentally transform the structure of society through a bottom-up, mass-based approach. The former placed emphasis on economic growth and acceptance into a neoliberal world order, with the hope that the benefits of such economic growth would trickle down to the poorest members of society. The reformative achieved hegemony, and its consequences can be seen across the country. While the system has created a class of super-rich elites, the trickle-down effect has been minimal. And this applies as much to service delivery as it does to sport.

Chapter Two explores the neglect of black swimming under apartheid, and the current tension between the drive to create a grassroots culture of swimming and pressure to produce black Olympics qualifiers and medallists.

Chapter Three looks at the fortunes of the only black rugby club in the premier division in KwaZulu-Natal, the Jaguars, and how they have struggled to survive.

Chapter Four examines the inner workings of the South African Football Association (SAFA), especially within the context of billions of rands being spent on new stadiums for the 2010 World Cup, while player development and even pitch conditions are neglected.

Chapter Five considers the sidelining of women’s football, notably the women’s national soccer team Banyana Banyana, and also raises issues of sexual orientation and the struggle to confront a heterosexist norm.

Chapter Six looks at athletics through a case study of the Worcester Athletics Club, providing insights into the ways that old apartheid racial categories persist as well as get challenged.

In Chapter Seven, the journey of cricket at a national level after 1990 is followed, while the changing face of international cricket is also closely interrogated.

Chapter Eight digs into the way the transformation project has played out at a national level, by focusing on the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union (KZNCU) and how the historic constructions of boundaries between Indians, whites and Africans is manifested in cricket.

Collectively, the chapters in The Race to Transform: Sport in post-apartheid South Africa (HSRC Press) offer an in-depth look at how the dialectic between reformative and transformative projects play out in the context of sport. What is clear is that impact of nearly two decades of transformation speak has had a minimal impact on the divide between haves and have-nots. This publication will stimulate debate, encourage people involved in sport to think more critically about policies of transformation and prod all of us to turn a more nuanced eye on sporting activities in general.

The Race to Transform: Sport in post-apartheid South Africa (HSRC Press) is edited by Ashwin Desai with contributions by Ahmed Veriava, Zayn Nabbi, Dale T. McKinley, Prishani Naidoo, Zanele Muholi, Justin van der Merwe, Goolam Vahed and Vishnu Padayachee.

Copies of all of HSRC Press published titles are available from leading booksellers nationally, and from the online bookshop at www.hsrcpress.ac.za. You can also download the eBook from our website in PDF format by clicking on www.hsrcpress.ac.za/race-to-transform

For a review copy of the publication or to set up an interview with the editor, contact:

Shaun Stuart
Marketing Co-ordinator
HSRC Press
Private Bag X9182
Cape Town
8000
South Africa

Tel: +27 21 4668002
Fax: +27 21 4610836
Mobile: 082 886 2869
E-mail: sstuart@hsrc.ac.za
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za


THE STRUGGLE OVER LAND IN AFRICA: CONFLICTS, POLITICS AND CHANGE

EDITED BY WARD ANSEEUW AND CHRIS ALDEN and published by the HSRC PRESS

“Sustainable growth and development in Africa as well the continent’s contribution to the world economy in the 21st Century will continue to depend largely on the manner in which land and land-related resources are secured, used and managed. This will require that these issues be addressed through comprehensive people-driven land policies and reforms which confer full political, social, economic and environmental benefits to the majority of the African people.” - Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa, adopted by Heads of State of Africa meeting in Sirte, Libya in July 2009

Disputes over land are an enduring feature of African politics. From civil war in Côte d’Ivoire to threatened land invasions in Kenya to the murder of white farmers in South Africa, the profound linkages between land and the onset of violence and strife in Africa are illustrated across the length and breadth of the continent. The failure of African governments to recognise and resolve lingering land disputes has triggered violence, disrupted vital production and even destabilised economic and political systems. International development programmes often ignore these concerns, leading to ineffectual interventions.

Land is a fundamental and also highly symbolic resource for the vast majority of African peoples. It is a valuable and immovable resource of limited quantity, and represents a precious reservoir of natural resources. The power of the land issue to invoke emotional responses and political action spills over into questions of ownership, usage, citizenship and identity politics. With economic, symbolic and emotional aspects at stake, small wonder that land is often the root cause of violence across the continent. The response to such conflict, in terms of policy and reconstruction, remains a continental challenge.

Examining land conflicts in Africa is a daunting task, as the contexts are continuously changing, altering the nature of the conflicts themselves. Understanding the volatile dynamic between land, conflicting uses and conflicting claims to control is not straightforward, they are extremely complex and embedded. However, by taking note of economic policy, international relations, sociology and anthropology in approaching land, a more constructive and viable source for policy appears possible. The struggle over land in Africa: Conflicts, politics and change (HSRC Press), edited by Ward Anseeuw and Chris Alden, analyses the role of land as a site and source of conflict, with special regard to policy development, crisis management and (post-conflict) reconstruction. With authors drawn from the academic, diplomatic, political and civil sectors, the publication takes a multi-layered look at the land issue from a variety of perspectives. The struggle over land in Africa: Conflicts, politics and change (HSRC Press) draws attention to the diverse and often complex root causes of these land questions, a complexity that is seldom analysed and documented and often neglected. It demonstrates that the simplistic, one-dimensional interventions that have dominated, to date, should be questioned.

The chapters are updated contributions selected from the international conference “The Changing Politics of Land: Domestic Policies, Crisis Management and Regional Norms"” held in Pretoria in 2005.

The book is divided into six themes, grouping causes and structural factors:

  • Ethnic and indigenous land conflicts (featuring research in Kenya and the Great Lakes Region);
  • Between “traditional and modernity”: Insecurity, privatisation and marginalisation (including studies in communal reform in South Africa and farming land in Cameroon);
  • Renewed land interests, land use and conflicts (featuring research on tourism in Namibia, land rights in Mozambique and the effects of biodiversity conservation);
  • State building, policies and land (with chapters on conflict in Angola, land policy in South Africa and land reform in Namibia);
  • Land policy development, planning and (non)-inclusiveness (featuring studies on violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and urban planning in Tanzania);
  • Regional scopes of land conflicts and changing norms (including a look at the Zimbabwe land crisis and the impact of narratives on southern African land policies).

The chapters interrogate land conflicts and their factors, and compare responses to internal crises across a range of countries drawn from all regions of Africa. As such, the publication forms a valuable contribution to the process of land policy development across the continent.

The struggle over land in Africa: Conflicts, politics and change is edited by Ward Anseeuw and Chris Alden and published by the HSRC Press.

Copies of all of HSRC Press published titles are available from leading booksellers nationally, and from the online bookshop at www.hsrcpress.ac.za. You can also download the eBook from our website in PDF format by clicking on www.hsrcpress.ac.za/struggle-over-land-in-africa

For a review copy of the publication or to make contact with the editors, contact:

Shaun Stuart
Marketing Co-ordinator
HSRC Press
Private Bag X9182
Cape Town
8000
South Africa

Tel: +27 21 4668002
Fax: +27 21 4610836
Mobile: 082 886 2869
E-mail: sstuart@hsrc.ac.za
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za


PROMOTING MENTAL HEALTH IN SCARCE-RESOURCE CONTEXTS: EMERGING EVIDENCE AND PRACTICE

EDITED BY INGE PETERSEN, ARVIN BHANA, ALAN J. FLISHER, LESLIE SWARTZ AND LINDA RICHTER and published by the HSRC PRESS

Promoting mental health in scarce-resource contexts: Emerging evidence and practice (HSRC Press) is a new publication which calls for greater attention to be paid to mental health in the quest for human development and self-reliant, sustainable communities.

Mental health is not just the absence of mental disorders. It is a state of well-being in which individuals recognise their abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and make a contribution to their community. Poor mental health can impede a person’s capacity to realise their potential in many areas. Risk influences for poor mental health range from individual genetic influences through to interpersonal, community and societal level influences. Social conditions such as food insecurity, inadequate housing and unstable employment are all factors which can contribute to poor mental health.

The contributors to this publication take the perspective that the promotion of mental health needs to be located within a multisectoral approach to development which recognizes the centrality of mental health to human development and ultimately the socio-economic development of low to middle income countries.

The volume is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to practice issues, providing necessary information to embark on programme development and implementation. As such, Part 1 covers the theoretical models, processes, research methods and challenges of developing, implementing and evaluating mental health promotion and prevention programmes. Chapters include an overview on relevant theories, contextual issues and processes that need to be considered, and the challenges of dissemination of interventions.

Part 2 adopts a lifespan developmental approach to mental health promotion and prevention, premised on the different developmental phases being associated with key challenges. Each chapter outlines the key risk influences for poor mental health outcomes associated with each stage, together with evidence-based interventions that have been found to be effective. The chapters in this section thus move one through early childhood, middle childhood and early adolescence, adolescence, adulthood and finally on to old age, addressing the issues pertinent to each phase.

Poor mental health can trap people in a cycle of poverty and mental ill-health, impeding the development of people and the development of societies as a whole,.What is evident from Promoting mental health in scarce-resource contexts: Emerging evidence and practice (HSRC Press) is that there is a growing body of evidence on how mental health promotion across the lifespan can mediate positive health outcomes in scarce-resource contexts. Placing mental health promotion on the development agenda is, however, a challenge that requires advocacy across multiple sectors.

Thought-provoking as well as practical, it is hoped that this text can serve as a tool to assist in the advocacy, training and practice of mental health promotion.

Promoting mental health in scarce-resource contexts: Emerging evidence and practice (HSRC Press) is edited by Inge Petersen, Arvin Bhana, Alan J. Flisher, Leslie Swartz and Linda Richter.

Copies of all of HSRC Press published titles are available from leading booksellers nationally, and from the online bookshop at www.hsrcpress.ac.za.

For a review copy of the publication or to make contact with the editors, contact:

Shaun Stuart
Marketing Co-ordinator
HSRC Press
Private Bag X9182
Cape Town
8000
South Africa

Tel: +27 21 4668002
Fax: +27 21 4610836
Mobile: 082 886 2869
E-mail: sstuart@hsrc.ac.za
http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za


THE ZUMA ADMINISTRATION: CRITICAL CHALLENGES

EDITED BY KWANDIWE KONDLO AND MASHUPYE H MASERUMULE and published by the HSRC PRESS

The administration of Jacob Zuma came into power in May 2009, following the victory of the ANC in the fourth democratic elections in South Africa. The political victory of Zuma raised the hope of a period of transition, change and promise, especially among the masses of the poor, after 15 years of disappointed popular expectations. At the heart of this victory lies the hope of improved service delivery, the hope to have the voices of the poor heard in more meaningful ways, and the hope for pro-poor economic policy. Added to this is the hope of getting the wheels of government to move faster, coherently and effectively. The gap between policy talk and policy action is a key factor.

In The Zuma Administration: Critical Challenges (HSRC Press), six authors explore the nature and scope of the challenges and prospects for the new administration. The six essays that comprise the publication seek to stir up debate, as much as to provide positive and practical considerations for moving forward.

The book focuses on selected issues that are key to the ANC’s agenda as stated in its 2009 election manifesto, and in the 2009 State of the Nation address by President Zuma. The chapters cover critically important topics such as the developmental state; land, agrarian reform and rural development; service delivery; governmental relations; and socio-economic development and poverty reduction.

Setting the scene, Kwandiwe Kondlo’s Introduction broadly sketches the political and governance challenges faced by ‘young’ democracies in today’s world, and shows how these challenges touch on perennial questions running through the veins of South Africa’s democracy

In Chapter Two, Mashupye H Maserumule identifies the need to consolidate a developmental state agenda as a critical governance challenge. On the one hand, the left of the Tripartite Alliance is propagating a more redistributive socio-economic approach, while on the other hand, there are those are inclined to ensure a continuation of Thabo Mbeki’s neo-liberal economic orthodoxy. The successful navigation of the two economic extremes – and the formation of a cohesive agenda – is necessary.

In Chapter Three, Gilingwe Mayende presents a systematic analysis of the ANC’s shift on rural development and agrarian transformation, asking to what extent the new policy perspective will raise the living conditions of the rural masses, and integrate them into the national economy. The chapter also challenges some of the assumptions made concerning subsistence and the promotion of sustainable livelihoods, versus commercial production

In Chapter Four, Modimowabarwa H Kanyane examines service delivery, proposing that the challenge to the administration is to focus on both the physical and the intangible aspects of service delivery, arguing for a more humanising public service that aims at the empowerment and consciousness-raising of the communities it serves.

Questions of governmental and intergovernmental relations are explored by David M Mello in Chapter Five, which focuses on the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act (No.13 of 2005) and makes suggestions for possible improvements. Mello also advises the Zuma administration to take seriously the challenges from the previous administration in working towards an integrated system of governance.

Polly Mashigo concludes the publication in Chapter Six, proposing that poverty reduction is the mainspring of economic development, and that it is crucial to put greater emphasis on it. With reference to both the first and second economies, the author looks at priority areas such as the creation of decent work, education and promoting health, while the global financial crisis and its effect on sustainable poverty reduction strategies is an additional focus.

Rather than concentrating on building consensus, The Zuma Administration: Critical Challenges (HSRC Press) is concerned with stimulating thinking, challenging entrenched views and perceptions, and breaking new ground. As such, it makes a valuable contribution to contemporary discourse on the new administration.

The Zuma Administration: Critical Challenges (HSRC Press) is edited by Kwandiwe Kondlo and Mashupye H Maserumule.

Copies of all of HSRC Press published titles are available from leading booksellers nationally, and from the online bookshop at www.hsrcpress.ac.za

For a review copy of the publication, contact:

Shaun Stuart
Marketing Co-ordinator
HSRC Press

Tel: +27 21 466 8002
Fax: +27 21 461 0836
Mobile: 082 886 2869
e-mail: sstuart@hsrc.ac.za

 
 
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