![South Africa Pushed to the Limit South Africa Pushed to the Limit](https://123library.org/images/books/239660.png?w=254&h=360&fit=&c=2&assets_cache=20240420023212)
Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
Since 1994, the democratic government in South Africa has worked hard at improving the lives of the black majority, yet close to half the population lives in poverty, jobs are scarce, and the country is more unequal than ever.
For millions, the colour of people’s skin still decides their destiny. In his wide-ranging, incisive and provocative analysis, Hein Marais shows that although the legacies of apartheid and colonialism weigh heavy, many of the strategic choices made since the early 1990s have compounded those handicaps. Marais explains why those choices were made, where they went awry, and why South Africa’s vaunted formations of the left -- old and new -- have failed to prevent or alter them.
From the real reasons behind President Jacob Zuma’s rise and the purging of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, to a devastating critique of the country’s continuing AIDS crisis, its economic path and its approach to the rights and entitlements of citizens, South Africa Pushed to the Limit presents a riveting benchmark analysis of the incomplete journey beyond apartheid.
Hein Marais is a South African writer, journalist and author of 'South Africa: Limits to Change - The Political Economy of Transition' (Zed Books, 1998 & 2001), 'To the Edge' (2000) and 'Buckling: The impact of AIDS in South Africa' (2005), as well as numerous other book chapters, essays and articles.
'An extraordinary achievement. This is, by a considerable margin, the best book yet on the political economy of South Africa. Marais combines an unrivalled knowledge of the literature with a prose style that is accessible, moving and witty.'
John Sender, Emeritus Professor of Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
'A classic. I doubt whether anyone can match Marais' grasp of where South Africa is at today.'
Bill Freund, Professor of Economic History, University of KwaZulu-Natal and author of 'The Making of Contemporary Africa'
'Combining powerful analysis with a wealth of documentation, this book provides by far the best overview of political, economic and social change in post-apartheid South Africa. Essential reading for anyone trying to understand one of the great social experiments of our time.'
Gillian Hart, Professor of Geography and Chair of Development Studies at the University of California at Berkeley and author of 'Disabling Globalization: Places of power in post-apartheid South Africa'
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Acknowledgements | ix | ||
Introduction | 1 | ||
Pushed to the limit | 4 | ||
1 The making of a polarised society | 7 | ||
The mould is cast | 8 | ||
The rise of the working classes | 11 | ||
Illusions of strength | 12 | ||
The rise of African nationalism | 13 | ||
Afrikaner nationalism’s triumph | 15 | ||
Iron fist ‘development’ | 17 | ||
The post-war growth path | 18 | ||
The minerals-energy complex | 19 | ||
Fight-back | 21 | ||
The turn to armed struggle | 23 | ||
Into the doldrums | 24 | ||
Apartheid’s harvest | 26 | ||
Cracks in the system | 27 | ||
Endnotes | 34 | ||
2 Saving the system | 39 | ||
A new wave of resistance | 39 | ||
The party’s over | 41 | ||
Recasting the divide | 43 | ||
Seizing opportunities | 44 | ||
‘Total strategy’ | 45 | ||
Panic attack: from resistance to ‘revolution’ | 48 | ||
‘Workerists’ and ‘populists’ | 48 | ||
‘Everything is political’ | 49 | ||
The state shifts course | 52 | ||
Costs of insurrectionism | 53 | ||
Taking stock | 56 | ||
Stalemate | 58 | ||
At the crossroads | 60 | ||
Leap into the unknown | 62 | ||
Government-in-waiting | 64 | ||
Deadlock | 66 | ||
Endnotes | 66 | ||
3 Contours of the transition | 69 | ||
Big stakes, high risks | 69 | ||
Taking the plunge | 71 | ||
Breaking the rules | 72 | ||
Terms of the deal | 74 | ||
Hidden hazards | 77 | ||
Tectonic shifts | 79 | ||
Change and continuity | 80 | ||
Bypassed | 82 | ||
Salvaging the economic system | 84 | ||
South Africa in the global economy | 87 | ||
Shifting the terms of incorporation | 90 | ||
The triumph of orthodoxy | 91 | ||
Endnotes | 94 | ||
4 Sticking to the rules: the evolution of post-apartheid economic policy | 97 | ||
Catching up | 99 | ||
Back to school | 99 | ||
Drawing pictures | 101 | ||
Converted: ANC economic policy in the early 1990s | 103 | ||
‘No alternative’ | 105 | ||
The quiet death of the MERG report | 107 | ||
Marching with history | 108 | ||
The myth of the weak state | 109 | ||
Rude awakenings | 111 | ||
The GEAR plan | 112 | ||
Putting the best foot forward | 113 | ||
Report cards | 117 | ||
Defending GEAR | 119 | ||
Endnotes | 120 | ||
5 All dressed up: the economy in the twenty-first century | 123 | ||
Rewind: South Africa’s economic makeover | 123 | ||
Post-apartheid investment patterns | 125 | ||
Nip and tuck: the conglomerates restructure | 127 | ||
Figure 5.1: Industry, value added, South Africa and various other middle-income countries, 1990–2008 | 128 | ||
Melting into the air: the financialisation of the economy | 128 | ||
Figure 5.2: Gross fixed capital formation as percentages of GDP (2009 prices), South Africa, 1946–2008 | 131 | ||
Recap: a familiar story | 132 | ||
The meanings of neoliberalism | 134 | ||
Variations on a theme | 136 | ||
‘Muddling along’? | 138 | ||
Stuck in the middle | 139 | ||
Back from repairs: black economic empowerment in the 2000s | 140 | ||
The functions of BEE | 141 | ||
State of denial | 144 | ||
Figure 5.3: Annual GDP growth (%), South Africa, upper-middle-income and lower-income countries, 1990–2007 | 145 | ||
Figure 5.4: Annual percentage changes in GDP and GDP per capita, South Africa | 146 | ||
Responding to the recession | 147 | ||
Reviving South Africa’s industrial drive | 150 | ||
Breaking the mould | 152 | ||
The ecological frailty of South Africa’s development path | 153 | ||
Burning down the house | 154 | ||
Hoodwinked | 155 | ||
Shifting the blame | 156 | ||
Untenable growth | 158 | ||
New approaches to growth | 165 | ||
Endnotes | 168 | ||
6 The world of work | 176 | ||
Not hiring | 176 | ||
Figure 6.1: Official unemployment rates, South Africa, September 2000 to March 2010 | 177 | ||
Recession | 178 | ||
Explaining the ‘jobs bloodbath’ | 179 | ||
Working poor | 181 | ||
The myth of the magic portal | 183 | ||
Holding the line | 185 | ||
The state of the trade union movement | 187 | ||
Shifts underfoot | 189 | ||
Public works — or does it? | 190 | ||
Money well spent? | 191 | ||
The big picture | 193 | ||
Double vision: the ‘two economies’ | 193 | ||
Endnotes | 198 | ||
7 Poverty and inequality in the post-apartheid years | 203 | ||
Is poverty decreasing? | 204 | ||
Figure 7.1: Average annual income and expenditure of South African households by population group of household head, 2005/06 | 204 | ||
Measuring poverty | 206 | ||
Less poor, more unequal | 208 | ||
Figure 7.2: Distribution of household income across deciles, South Africa, 2005/06 | 208 | ||
Figure 7.3: Distribution of South African households by expenditure quintiles and population group of household head | 209 | ||
Figure 7.4: Distribution of South African households by income quintile and population of group of household head, 2006 | 210 | ||
The social wage debate | 211 | ||
Defining the social wage | 211 | ||
Tracking improvements in the social wage | 212 | ||
Figure 7.5: Social wage provision in South Africa, 2002–08 | 213 | ||
Slow harvest: land reform | 217 | ||
That hollow feeling: food and hunger | 218 | ||
A sickly society | 219 | ||
The fetish of coping | 221 | ||
Microfinance: small change | 224 | ||
Microfinance under the microscope | 225 | ||
Crime, violence and justice | 226 | ||
Woe to the women | 228 | ||
Cycles of violence | 229 | ||
Wedged apart | 230 | ||
Endnotes | 231 | ||
8 The social protection system | 238 | ||
Social expenditure in South Africa | 238 | ||
The main social grants | 238 | ||
Origins of the system | 241 | ||
Hit and miss: means-testing and targeting | 243 | ||
The impact of social protection on labour supply | 245 | ||
Grants, poverty reduction and development | 246 | ||
The universal income debate | 247 | ||
‘It’s not the money, it’s the idea’ | 248 | ||
The radical potential of a universal income | 250 | ||
Dependency and shame | 252 | ||
Lineages of a taboo | 254 | ||
Social rights, the state and the market | 255 | ||
Endnotes | 257 | ||
9 AIDS and TB: like ‘waiting for a tidal wave to hit’ | 262 | ||
An overview | 262 | ||
Double blow: tuberculosis and AIDS | 264 | ||
Entanglements of risk | 265 | ||
A political economy of AIDS in South Africa | 267 | ||
A disease of poverty? | 267 | ||
The uneven distribution of HIV in South Africa | 269 | ||
History’s template | 271 | ||
Lives turned upside down | 272 | ||
Sexual networking | 274 | ||
Aiding and abetting: government’s AIDS response | 276 | ||
The impact of a hyper-epidemic | 281 | ||
History lessons | 282 | ||
Keeping perspective | 283 | ||
Home is where the hurt is | 284 | ||
An unhealthy system | 288 | ||
Learning to cope? | 289 | ||
AIDS on the bottom line | 290 | ||
An unequal epidemic in a polarised society | 293 | ||
Turning the tide | 294 | ||
Fragmentation, introversion, erasure | 298 | ||
Endnotes | 300 | ||
10 False starts: the health and education systems | 309 | ||
Rebuilding the health system | 309 | ||
Skewed spending | 310 | ||
Figure 10.1: How South Africans pay for their healthcare needs | 311 | ||
The private health system | 312 | ||
A national health insurance scheme | 314 | ||
Sick system | 316 | ||
Diagnosing the problems | 319 | ||
Intensive care | 321 | ||
Worlds apart: the new education system | 322 | ||
The doors of learning open | 323 | ||
The best education money can buy | 324 | ||
Engines of inequality | 327 | ||
A bridge too far: the folly of outcomes-based education | 329 | ||
Recasting higher education | 331 | ||
Repair work | 332 | ||
Endnotes | 333 | ||
11 A South African developmental state? | 338 | ||
In search of models | 339 | ||
The Asian ‘blueprints’ | 340 | ||
Civil society and developmental states | 342 | ||
Developmental states in the twenty-first century | 343 | ||
Closer to the ground: subnational ‘developmental states’ | 344 | ||
A South African developmental state? | 346 | ||
Things we learn when the lights go out | 348 | ||
Beneath the hood | 349 | ||
Decorative development | 352 | ||
Endnotes | 356 | ||
12 Last man standing: the Mbeki-Zuma battle | 360 | ||
The arms deal | 361 | ||
Face-off: Zuma versus Mbeki | 363 | ||
Take no prisoners (on the road to Polokwane) | 363 | ||
Everybody hates Thabo | 365 | ||
Made to order: the Zuma challenge | 370 | ||
What was the Mbeki-Zuma duel really about? | 375 | ||
Invincible? | 375 | ||
Salvage operation | 378 | ||
That special ‘something’ | 381 | ||
Endnotes | 384 | ||
13 Power, consent and the ANC | 388 | ||
Rewind: the road travelled | 388 | ||
Hegemonic struggles | 391 | ||
Power, state and society | 392 | ||
Work in progress | 394 | ||
Reform from above | 397 | ||
Prospects for hegemony | 401 | ||
Circling the wagons | 407 | ||
Damage control | 414 | ||
Nationalism and the boundaries of belonging | 417 | ||
Pandora’s box | 423 | ||
Reinventing authority, rebuilding power | 424 | ||
Endnotes | 428 | ||
14 Left behind: challenge and protest | 434 | ||
The gravity field of national liberation | 434 | ||
Give and take | 436 | ||
COSATU and the SACP take a shortcut | 439 | ||
Popular activism beyond the Alliance | 447 | ||
Dazed and confused | 447 | ||
Taking the gap | 449 | ||
‘With us, or against us’ | 453 | ||
‘Movement beyond movements’ | 457 | ||
Keeping perspective | 459 | ||
Endnotes | 460 | ||
Acronyms | 464 | ||
Bibliography | 466 | ||
Index | 523 |