Many critics question the validity of the inclusion of South Africa as a BRICS country. It is deemed by some that South Africa, although an emerging country, does not show significant overall growth like other African countries such as Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan countries (Besada, Tok & Winters, 2013). On the 7th of May 2014 South Africa hosted “its fifth general election” (Enca.com, 2014). In his article dated 7th May 2014 for BBC news, Milton Nkosi reported that although “about 25 million people registered to vote – roughly half the population” (Nkosi, 2014) voted. Furthermore Nkosi (2014) states that the “ANC’s campaign drew heavily on its campaign to end Apartheid the outpouring of grief over Mr Mandela’s death”. Ironically after twenty years of democratic rule, the ANC uses as its main ploy, history and the loss of a leader to win its campaign. In contrast, Ronnie Kasrils, a former ANC cabinet minister, appealed to people to not vote for the ANC as a means to remind the government “ that they’ve got to serve the people of the country and not themselves” (Nkosi, 2014). Kasrils quoted in Nkosi (2014) told the BBC that “there’s a rot that’s set in, there’s huge corruption and cronyism”. Nevertheless the ANC still won the day.
J. O’s (2014) of the Economist reviews the state of South Africa’s political, economic and social ‘dilemma’ aptly in his article where he highlights the fact that the ANC who has ruled for two decades has been inadequate in the governing of the country and supporting its people’s wellbeing. For instance, O’s states that, “since the last election in 2009… There has been a steady increase in violent protests against local government, corruption and the shoddiness of public services” (O’s, 2014).
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...Site. Wsws.org. Retrieved 27 May 2014, from http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/05/26/safr-m26.html?view=print
Smith, D. (2014). ANC's glory fades as South Africa's 'born free' generation votes. the Guardian. Retrieved 28 May 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/25/anc-south-africa-born-free-generation-election
Weber, R. (2014). 'Born frees' don't care about South Africa election. Usatoday.com. Retrieved 27 May 2014, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/05/06/south-africa-election/8765313/
Za.undp.org,. (2013). 404 | UNDP. Retrieved 26 May 2014, from http://www.za.undp.org/content/dam/south_africa/.../MDG_October-2013
Zarenda, H. (2013). South Africa's National Development Plan and its implications for regional development. tralac.org. Retrieved 21 May 2014, from http://www.tralac.org/.../D13WP012013-Zarenda-South-Africas-NDP-and-imp
It is important to note that although realignment is comprised of characteristics, some of these characteristics will be evident in one election, but not in another. For a better understanding, of the characteristics that define realignment, this essay will firstly use a specific case study that emphasizes the attributes required for a critical election and secondly apply these characteristics to the current 2016 elections to determine whether a realigning election is being paved. Firstly, the dominant societal issue that disrupted the political order of the National Party was racial segregation and the termination of apartheid. Secondly, while the National Party promoted the apartheid system, the African National Congress (though at the time the party was illegitimate) advocated for the termination of racial segregation (Encyclopaedia Britannica).
South Africa was positively affected in the way that before the Dutch and British, South Africa had been split up into many different tribes, who though they were free were not united. Through the centuries of hardship South Africa came out of apartheid very strong and the ANC has maintained a popularity of 60% popularity for all the elections since 1994. Economically South Africa has blossomed and is the 2nd largest economy in all of Africa and has managed to triple its GDP even though it has been less than 30 years since it has left apartheid, established democracy and freed itself from many international sanctions. South Africa’s economy still has many issues though for it is still an underdeveloped country which suffers from lack of education, employment, and crime. Socially South Africa remains strong as it is united under one goal of making its nation once again great, and it has maintained its heritage and culture. In fact, a quick look at a South African site will show many articles and memorials, of days in the past remembering the struggle for freedom. Politically, South Africa has remained strong and united with the ANC still carrying the vast majority of the votes and uses a governmental system quite similar to ours with a separation of powers and a thriving democratic system. Luckily, political diversity has also started to appear with many other groups appearing making the most out of South Africa’s democracy and all of which pledge freedom and are led by native
...bances began to emerge, and the economy began to drop. Unrest cost many lives, until demands for change were heard and the political system was revised. In 1994, the South African people went to the polls for the first time and held a democratic election in which Nelson Mandela became president. The country of South Africa has made strides in healing their broken country.
"Movement towards Republic." The Union of South Africa: Movement towards Republic | South African History Online. South African History Online, Web. 04 May 2014.
Nelson Mandela’s commitment to politics and the ANC grew stronger after the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner dominated National Party, which formed a formal system of racial classification and segregation “apartheid” which restricted non whites basic rights and barred them from government.
The End of Apartheid - HistoryWiz South Africa. (n.d.). HistoryWiz: for students, teachers and lovers of history. Retrieved February 19, 2011, from http://www.historywiz.org/end.htm
Supporting fact two: The economy of the country continued to grow, despite the sudden change of power. South Africans salaries increased: there used to be 12% of workers payed 2$ a day and after the abolishment of the apartheid, it went down to 5%. (http://www.bbc.com/news/business-23041513)
Coster, P., & Woolf, A. (Eds.).(2011). World book: South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Movement, (pp. 56-57). Arcturus Publishers: Chicago.
Michael Smith (2013) South Africa: Politics Crime Commerce and Lies [WWW] Editorial. Available from: http://guardianlv.com/2013/12/151154/ [Accessed 24/03/2014].
...ellent policies, 5) the Constitution had come into existence through the working together of various groups that had composed South Africa, 6) South Africa's political and economic institutions are well established, 7) and that South Africa is by far the most developed country in Africa. However, there are still avenues that can impede further progress, more so economically then politically. Primarily the lack of foreign investment, especially when South Africa's gold and diamond reserves are emptied as other parts of economy are not as developed. Secondly, the economic gap between whites and blacks that was stretched during the time of apartheid needs to be tightened or else it could become dangerous to the stability of the political system. However, due to the leadership of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s current government structure exists to solve these issues.
Finally in 1990 De Klerk, president of South Africa unbanned the ANC (‘History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). In 1994 the first free multiracial elections were held and the people voted to end apartheid (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Nelson Mandela was elected president (Wright, 66). The opposition to apartheid helped turn things around in South Africa.
As mentioned above, South Africa has been working on improving the lives of people. The Reconstruction and Development Program is one of the many that have been implemented that work on improving the life styles of people in South Africa. This is one of the strategies that has been very successful and is still standing as is. It is through this program that the lives of the many South Africans living in rural areas will be made
Oelofse. C. 2001. Sustainable Development: Theoretical and conceptual issues, LA 21 Training Programme. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Natal, Durban
According to Collier & Dollar, (2001) economic growth is normally dependent on the nature and quality of economic policies that a country implements. In South Africa, soon after apartheid the government have tried to wrestle with the multiple objectives which are namely to reduce poverty, increase employment, increase international trade as well as increasing the rate of economic growth. According to Mohr et al, (2015) the macroeconomic objectives are used to assess the performance of the economy. The five macroeconomic objectives that will be discussed in this assignment are firstly the economic growth, full employment, price stability, balance of payments and equitable distribution of income. The assignment will then evaluate each of the objectives of macroeconomic growth and asses where South Africa as a country is performing on each of these respective points.
It is therefore an indispensable component of democracy (Tshabalala & Lombard, 2009:397). Local government should therefore be concerned with democratising development (Maserumule, 2008:439). The reason for the continuing dissatisfaction and protests by the communities because of poor service delivery eighteen years into democracy is an indication that the local government in South Africa has not been able to provide effectively for local participation (Mathekga & Buccus, 2006:11). In the South African context, community needs cannot be isolated from structural causes, so participation is incorporated into the social justice perspective (Patel,