Pan-Africanism and development in the twenty-first century: A critical analysis of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development

In this chapter, we explore the Pan-African influence in the design and implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) framework with the aim of highlighting the place of Pan-Africanism in twenty-first century regional cooperation and development of Africa. The chapter highlights the strong influence of the Pan-African ideals and thoughts of independent Africa’s founding leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Sédar Senghor, Sékou Touré and Kambarage Nyerere in the NEPAD framework. The chapter argues that these ideals are as sound today as they were when they were first articulated. However, it identifies teething challenges in the framework’s implementation such as the misapplication or misconstruction of the Pan-African ideals underpinning NEPAD. As a way forward, the chapter suggests practical ways of objectively auditing NEPAD’s performance by revisiting and recommitting to its Pan-African founding principles. With revitalised Pan-Africanism, the chapter argues that the NEPAD framework can facilitate the rediscovery of the shared aspirations of African peoples to actively participate in the common development and prosperity of Africa

Intractable conflicts in Africa: The international response to the Darfur and South Sudan crises

This article considers the intractable conflicts and human rightssituations in Darfur, Sudan and South Sudan, respectively, against theinternational responses they elicited. Intractable conflicts are conflicts that havelasted for a long time with resistance to settlement despite various attempts atintervention and conciliation. These conflicts from neighbouring nations haveboth elicited extensive engagement from the international and regionalcommunities but, while some clarity regarding the direction to be taken has beenachieved in the case of South Sudan, the situation in Darfur remains dire. Thearticle analyses the difference in the peace-building approaches in the twoconflicts and how these approaches have contributed to the different outcomes inDarfur and South Sudan. Following an exposition of intractability in theintroduction, the second section applies the factors identified to the case ofDarfur, confirming that this indeed is an intractable situation. It then considersthe international response to the conflict in Darfur and the mechanismsemployed by the global and the regional community in an attempt to addressthis conflict. The third section considers the situation in South Sudan and theinternational response, noting that efforts were led by the regional and sub-regional bodies, with the UN’s role being to complement these efforts. Themethodology employed is a comparative analysis, in which the internationaland regional legal and institutional responses to the crisis in South Sudan areanalysed with a view to identifying the lessons to be applied in addressing thesituation in Darfur, utilising theoretical and functional approaches to legal andpolitical interventions. The final section draws from the insights gained incomparing the international response in Darfur and South Sudan, and concludesby attempting to extract general principles about intractability and theeffectiveness of international responses to situations considered to be intractable,noting in particular the importance of regional and sub-regional bodies takingthe lead in efforts to resolve intractable conflicts

Glass in the image – image in glass. preaching in fragments and fragments of preaching . . .

Schwier verwys na ’n ‘kritiese metodepluralisme’ wat te midde van die ‘vreemdheid van die teks’ onder meer ‘n blik het op die Bybel as literatuur; wat die rykdom van die Bybelse taal, motiewe, geskiedenisse, beelde, verhale, argumente en literêre strategieë ontgin; wat vra na die verskillende vorms en tekssoorte – wat die narratiewe, profetiese, voorskriftelike, wysheids- en himniese grondvorme van die Bybelse polifonie ondersoek; wat ’n oog het vir retoriek en metaforiese strukture. Naas die veelvuldige vorme van tekskritiek het die sosiaal-historiese, kultuur-antropologiese en kontekstuele of samelewings-betrokke ondersoeke wat gerig is op identiteits- en geloofsbegronding, sowel as verandering van die praxis, ’n wesenlike plek.E.K. (Universiteit van Suid-Afrika) was verantwoordelik vir die deel oor die homiletiek en W.K. (Universiteit van Pretoria) die deel oor die loodglasvensters. Beide dele is geïntegreer en verwerk deur die outeurs.The view that the sermon is an ‘open work of art’, promoted the awareness that the ‘meaning’ of a sermon is not fixed, but that possibilities are presented for the listeners to ‘assign meaning’. ‘Assigning meaning’ does not mean something fully ad libitum: ‘meaning’ is formed within the guidelines of the text from which a sermon stems. Visual works of art could also be based on Biblical texts or stories, analysed and interpreted by the artist. The artist could mould the encounter with the Biblical text into various forms of art, proclaiming the gospel in ways similar to that of a spoken sermon: a work of art could present possibilities for assigning meaning related to faith. In this article the new stained glass windows, symbolically depicting the Liturgical Year, in a Dutch Reformed church in Pretoria, are discussed with a view to the possibilities they present to form part of experience-based religious education in ‘bringing home’ stories from the Bible and aspects of the Liturgical Year. Also asked is how they could function as visual ‘sermons’, speaking and communicating the ‘Word of God’ to the people inside the church, as well as to people on the outside.http://www.hts.org.za/am201

South Africa’s incomplete transition towards socio-economic justice: A case study on inequality and populism

South Africa is currently one of the world’s most unequal countries, with massive income inequality, millions of people living in poverty without access to basic services and amenities, unemployment rates consistently above 20% and the top 10% of the population receiving two thirds of the total income. Government economic policies on poverty reduction in the decades since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 have been unable to eradicate the extreme racialised inequality which was the basis of the 342 years of colonialism and apartheid which were characterised by systematic dispossession and socio-economic marginalisation of South Africa’s majority Black population and the systematic privileging of the minority White population. While this history is not the primary focus of this paper, it nonetheless provides useful context. The paper’s primary focus is on the more recent normative and legal challenges of post-1994 South Africa that have resulted in further entrenching socio-economic inequality and contributing to the rise of populism. In this paper we argue that the dire living conditions of a large proportion of the population and disillusionment with the State’s ability to deliver on its promises in this regard, along with the poor implementation of social and economic rights have led to the development of a populist culture in South African politics