Decolonisation of institutional structures in South African universities: A critical perspective

In 2015, using social media, a new generation of South African university students launched the social justice movement #FeesMustFall. The call for social justice, equity and equality has been a burning issue in South Africa’s education system since the dark days of apartheid. In 1976, non-white students revolted against the apartheid government and many lost their lives during the protest. On 15 October 2015, 40 years later, students from all demographics mobilised to launch a protest under the theme #FeesMustFall against institutional racism which did not die with apartheid. The roots of this movement are symptomatic of deep social and economic concerns rooted in the apartheid history of South Africa. Through the use of social media, students mobilised protest marches in all regions of the country to demand justice, equality and equity. This paper discusses and describes the lack of transformation in South Africa’s higher education which has perpetuated institutional racism for decades

The security sector and the plunder of Zimbabwe's Chiadzwa alluvial diamonds: the 'goat mentality' in practice

While the human rights impact of the deployment of state security agencies in the Chiadzwa diamond fields has been explored, it is important to continue to expose the increasing tendency within the sector to take public resources that should be protected by the state and used for the benefit of the people and channel them for personal gain. The security sector stranglehold of President Robert Mugabe and the ruling political party, the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), has facilitated the siphoning of Chiadzwa diamond revenue into the pockets of individual security personnel. The unfolding sociopolitical crisis in Zimbabwe has also meant that these security personnel have been deployed beyond conflict zones and into traditionally civilian domains, with dire consequences for the public purse. With this in mind, it is asserted that these issues have driven state security agencies to enrich themselves through what is termed in this article as a 'goat mentality'. The article thus explores the ways in which state security agencies have been deployed and gone on to promote personal enrichment in the Chiadzwa diamond fields.

'It's in my blood': the military habitus of former Zimbabwean soldiers in exile in South Africa

This article examines the habitus of soldiers who either deserted or resigned from the Zimbabwe National Army in the post-2000 crisis in Zimbabwe and now live in exile in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is based on the information provided by forty-four former soldiers who related their life histories and participated in informal conversations and group discussions. A main finding is that these men, even though they have left the army, hold on in the extreme to their being as soldiers. This is shaped by at least four, interlinked dimensions of change in their lives: leaving the army without honorable discharge, leaving Zimbabwe itself, being exiles in an often unwelcoming South Africa, loss of family life and military status. The post-deployment dominance of military dispositions in the identity of the former soldiers is quite unique. Most former combatants worldwide have succeeded in different degrees to unmake their habituated forms of military identity or live with multiple identities

Zimbabwean army deserters in South Africa: military bonding and survival

Accounts of Zimbabwe's political crisis have mostly presented soldiers in the army as defenders of President Robert Mugabe's regime without any mention of the regime's victimization of its own soldiers. To escape further victimization many of these soldiers deserted and migrated to South Africa. In exile, their military bonds remain a significant aspect of their lives. This article explores how Zimbabwean army deserters in South Africa deal with their past and survive in exile. The exploration is based on qualitative research using life histories, focus group discussions, informal conversations, and observation. It was found that the thirty-nine army deserters surveyed formed the equivalent of a 'military unit', albeit in exile, to manage their pasts, maintain their sense of dignity, and lobby for political amnesty from the Zimbabwean government

A model of military to civilian transition: Bourdieu in action

Building on recent work that used the ideas of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to construct a theoretical framework for considering military to civilian transition (MCT), this article introduces a practical approach to develop the use of this theory into an adaptable framework to explore factors that affect MCT. We have devised a model of MCT called the Model of Transition in Veterans (MoTiVe) to explore why an enduring attachment to the military exists for Veterans and to develop an understanding of how “looking back” on life events experienced in the military may cause difficulty for some in transition. We use Bourdieusian theory to consider the adjustment of military personnel back into civilian life, taking into account the importance of individual variances in socio-economic trajectories, life stories, and subsequent discrepancies between the norms of the military and civilian environments. We suggest that MoTiVe is a useful tool to reflect on how life experiences, both within and outside of the Armed Forces, affect the transition process, which can also be adapted to consider periods of transition in all walks of life