State of the Nation: South Africa 2005-2006

List of tables

List of figures

Foreword
Mark Orkin

Acronyms

Introduction: Can South Africa be a developmental state?
Roger Southall

Part I: Politics

Introduction
Jessica Lutchman

1. Putting numbers to the scorecard: presidential targets and the state of delivery
   David Hemson and Michael O’ Donovan
   
2. Towards a Constitutional-based definition of poverty in post-apartheid South Africa
   Wiseman Magasela
   
3. Delivery and disarray: the multiple meanings of land restitution
   Cherryl Walker
   
4. Assessing the constitutional protection of human rights in South Africa during the first decade of democracy
   Karthy Govender
   
5. More than a law-making production line? Parliament and its oversight role 
   Judith February
   
6. The state of national gender machinery: structural problems and personalised politics 
   Amanda Gouws

Part II: Economy

Introduction
John Daniel

7. Black empowerment and present limits to a more democratic capitalism in South Africa
   Roger Southall
   
8. The state of labour market deracialisation
   Percy Moleke
   
9. The state of the informal economy
   Richard Devey, Caroline Skinner and Imraan Valodia
   
10. Work restructuring and the future of labour in South Africa
    Sakhela Buhlungu and Eddie Webster
    
11. The state of research and experimental development: moving to a higher gear
    Michael Kahn and William Blankley

Part III: Society

Introduction
Sakhela Buhlungu

12. The state of South Africa’s cities 
    Bill Freund
    
13. Guns and the social crisis
    Jacklyn Cock
    
14. The Chinese communities in South Africa
    Janet Wilhelm
    
15. Winning the Cup but losing the plot? The troubled state of South African soccer
    Merryman Kunene
    
16. The state of mathematics and science education: schools are not equal
    Vijay Reddy

Part IV: South Africa in the world

Introduction
Roger Southall

17. South Africa’s evolving foreign trade strategy: coherence or confusion?
    Jesmond Blumenfeld
    
18. South Africa’s relations with the People’s Republic of China: mutual opportunities or hidden threats?
    Sanusha Naidu
    
19. South Africa in Africa: scrambling for energy
    John Daniel and Jessica Lutchman       

Contributors

Index

Dr Sakhela Buhlungu is Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand. He currently serves on the editorial boards of academic journals, Labour History and Society in Transition. Professor John Daniel was previously Research Director in the Democracy and Governance research programme at the HSRC. In his career as a political science academic, he was seconded to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (1996-1998) where he was part of the research team that wrote the five-volume final report. Professor Roger Southall is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the HSRC and was formerly Professor of Political Studies, Rhodes University. He is General Editor of the Journal of Contemporary African Studies. Jessica Lutchman was previously a researcher in the Democracy and Governance research programme at the HSRC.

Extract from review by Bertha Chiroro (EISA) in the Journal of African Elections Vol. 4 No. 1 (pp 181-183):

"... a valuable resource for readers seeking to understand South Africa's past, present and future policies on transformation. It is particularly useful for students of South African politics, civil society, and anyone who wishes to celebrate the achievements of the first ten years of South Africa's democracy, the way it has dealt with apartheid's past and the challenges of growth that lie ahead."

Extract from review by Timothy M. Shaw (Royal Roads University, Canada) in Round Table 386 September 2006 pp. 646-647:

"Social science in South Africa has always been more extensive than elsewhere on the continent especially over the past decade of democratic governance; with this impressive collection, it can now claim to be superior. And as an increasingly recognized emerging economy, South Africa's analysis and practice have a relevance to others in this ebullient middle stratum such as Brazil and India. Symptomatically, China in both Africa and South Africa is the focus of a pair of timely chapters.But the volume also holds relevance to other comparative fields and debates in addition to those about the 'developmental state',such as democracy, ecology, education, energy, gender, labour, political economy, race etc,as well as more parochial questions of African development such as the Commission for Africa and NEPAD."

Extract from review by Michael H. Allen (Bryn Mawr College) in Africa Today Winter 2006 Vol 53 Issue 2 p.111-113:

"The distinct advantage of State of the Nation is that it also locates the specific themes relevant to South Africa within global dynamics that are changing economic structures, class politics, and the character of governance and the state everywhere. This arrangement makes the volume potentially valuable to scholars and activists in the geopolitics of energy and global financial markets, the symbolic politics of sport, the transnational sociology of Chinese diaspora, and other fields. It presents rich and recent data on empirical trends in the aspects of the reality that are vital for watchers of South Africa. In some chapters, the contributors connect their data to scholarly debates and bibliographies pertaining to other parts of the world."

Click on the links below to read the reviews:

Star 08 May 2006

Succeed 01 Mar 2006 [1]

Succeed 01 Mar 2006 [2]

Enterprise 02 March 2006 [1]

Enterprise 02 March 2006 [2]

Burger (Kaap) 20 February 2006

Burger (Oos-Kaap) 20 February 2006

Saturday Dispatch 21 January 2006

Sowetan 17 January 2006

Mail and Guardian Business 6 January 2006

Cape Times 2 December 2005

Cape Times 30 November 2005

Sowetan 29 November 2005

Cape Times 28 November 2005

Sunday Independant 27 November 2005

Business Day 17 November 2005

Cape Times 15 November 2005

Cape Times 11 November 2005

Daily News 10 November 2005

Pretoria News 10 November 2005

Business Day 8 November 2005

Sunday Independent 6 November 2005

Volksblad 2 November 2005 (1)

Volksblad 2 November 2005 (2)

Volksblad 2 November 2005 (3)

Beeld 2 November 2005 (1)

Beeld 2 November 2005 (2)

Business Report National 2 November 2005

Cape Argus City Late 1 November 2005

Cape Times 1 November 2005

Pretoria News 1 November 2005

Star 1 November 2005

Sunday Independent 30 October 2005

Business Day 28 October 2005

Business Day 25 October 2005

Business Day 21 October 2005

Reviews of previous volumes...

'At the same time as covering what is essential, the editors have also managed to include some issues that may be seen as peripheral to central concerns, but providing wider coverage of important indicators of the state of the nation, and noting issues that need attention. Altogether an important voice...'
Gerry Mare, Transformation

'The HSRC has made a massive contribution to the analysis of the new South Africa with these volumes…no academic, student or policymaker can afford to ignore this huge opus on the South African condition.'
Ben Turok MP, New Agenda

'For those who remember the South African Review series from the 1980s and bemoaned its passing, State of the Nation is a worthy successor.'
Barbara Manning, Daily Dispatch

'As long as the HSRC publishes an independent annual review of this quality, there is good reason for optimism about the survival of free speech and a vigorous climate of debate…the HSRC is performing an indispensable service to the nation.'
Gerald Shaw, Cape Times