tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/eastern-cape-24945/articlesEastern Cape – The Conversation2023-09-07T13:30:48Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122112023-09-07T13:30:48Z2023-09-07T13:30:48ZSouth Africa’s great white sharks are changing locations – they need to be monitored for beach safety and conservation<p>South Africa is renowned for having one of the world’s biggest populations of great white sharks (<em>Carcharodon carcharias</em>). Substantial <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/great-white-sharks-have-suddenly-disappeared-one-their-favorite-hangouts">declines</a> have been observed, however, in places where the sharks normally gather on the coast of the Western Cape province. Sharks congregate at these locations to feed, interact socially, or rest. </p>
<p>In Cape Town, skilled “<a href="https://sharkspotters.org.za/safety/shark-sightings/#:%7E:text=Shark%20Sightings%20to%20Date%20Since%20the%20program%20began,over%202%2C020%20shark%20sightings%20on%20Shark%20Spotters%20beaches.">shark spotters</a>” documented a peak of over 300 great white shark sightings across eight beaches in 2011, but have recorded no sightings since 2019. These declines have sparked concerns about the overall conservation status of the species. </p>
<p>Conserving great white sharks is vital because they have a pivotal role in marine ecosystems. As top predators, they help maintain the health and balance of marine food webs. Their presence influences the behaviour of other marine animals, affecting the entire ecosystem’s structure and stability. </p>
<p>Marine biologists like us needed to know whether the decline in shark numbers in the Western Cape indicated changes in the whole South African population or whether the sharks had moved to a different location.</p>
<p>To investigate this problem, we undertook an extensive <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23008622">study</a> using data collected by scientists, tour operators and shore anglers. We examined the trends over time in abundance and shifts in distribution across the sharks’ South African range. </p>
<p>Our investigation revealed significant differences in the abundance at primary gathering sites. There were declines at some locations; others showed increases or stability. Overall, there appears to be a stable trend. This suggests that white shark numbers have remained constant since they were given protection in 1991.</p>
<p>Looking at the potential change in the distribution of sharks between locations, we discovered a shift in human-shark interactions from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape. More research is required to be sure whether the sharks that vanished from the Western Cape are the same sharks documented along the Eastern Cape.</p>
<p>The stable population of white sharks is reassuring, but the distribution shift introduces its own challenges, such as the risk posed by fisheries, and the need for beach management. So there is a need for better monitoring of where the sharks are.</p>
<h2>Factors influencing shark movements</h2>
<p>We recorded the biggest changes between 2015 and 2020. For example, at Seal Island, False Bay (Western Cape), shark sightings declined from 2.5 sightings per hour in 2005 to 0.6 in 2017. Shifting eastward to Algoa Bay, in 2013, shore anglers caught only six individual sharks. By 2019, this figure had risen to 59. </p>
<p>The changes at each site are complex, however. Understanding the patterns remains challenging. </p>
<p>These predators can live for more than 70 years. Each life stage comes with <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.811985/full?fbclid=IwAR3JnefKDynkDfRp0ffs2p6l9T1oRXdBJcVeIOLnd6FAV3BlcnSfzgQk8ig&utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=page">distinct behaviours</a>: juveniles, especially males, tend to stay close to the coastline, while sub-adults and adults, particularly females, venture offshore.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0068554">Environmental factors</a> like water temperature, lunar phase, season and food availability further influence their movement patterns. </p>
<p>Changes in the climate and ocean over extended periods might also come into <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-09-27-quest-for-elusive-white-shark-decades-ago-raises-questions-about-the-species-today/">play</a>. </p>
<p>As adaptable predators, they target a wide range of prey and thrive in a broad range of temperatures, with a preference for 14–24°C. Their migratory nature allows them to seek optimal conditions when faced with unfavourable environments.</p>
<h2>Predation of sharks by killer whales</h2>
<p>The movement complexity deepens with the involvement of <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2531">specialist killer whales with a taste for shark livers</a>. Recently, these apex predators have been observed preying on white, sevengill and bronze whaler sharks. </p>
<p>Cases were first documented in 2015 along the South African coast, coinciding with significant behavioural shifts in white sharks within Gansbaai and False Bay. </p>
<p>Although a direct cause-and-effect link is not firmly established, observations and tracking data support the notion of a distinct <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Simon-Elwen/publication/361638937_Fear_at_the_top_killer_whale_predation_drives_white_shark_absence_at_South_Africa's_largest_aggregation_site/links/62d4f7aba6abd57c6aeea4ed/Fear-at-the-top-killer-whale-predation-drives-white-shark-absence-at-South-Africas-largest-aggregation-site.pdf">flight response</a> among white sharks following confirmed predation incidents. </p>
<p>More recently, it was clear that in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10078210/">Mossel Bay</a>, when a killer whale pod killed at least three white sharks, the remaining sharks were prompted to leave the area. </p>
<h2>Survival and conservation of sharks</h2>
<p>The risk landscape for white sharks is complex. A <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.811985/full?fbclid=IwAR3JnefKDynkDfRp0ffs2p6l9T1oRXdBJcVeIOLnd6FAV3BlcnSfzgQk8ig&utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=page">study</a> published in 2022 showed a notable overlap of white sharks with longline and gillnet fisheries, extending across 25% of South Africa’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The sharks spent 15% of their time exposed to these fisheries. </p>
<p>The highest white shark catches were reported in KwaZulu-Natal, averaging around 32 per year. This emphasised the need to combine shark movement with reliable catch records to assess risks to shark populations.</p>
<p>As shark movement patterns shift eastward, the potential change in risk must be considered. Increased overlap between white sharks, shark nets, drumlines (baited hooks) and gillnets might increase the likelihood of captures.</p>
<h2>Beach safety and management adaptation</h2>
<p>Although shark bites remain a <a href="https://sharkspotters.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Curtis-et-al.-Responding-to-the-risk-of-white-shark-attack-sm.pdf">low risk</a>, changing shark movements could also influence beach safety. The presence of sharks can influence human activities, particularly in popular swimming and water sports areas. Adjusting existing shark management strategies might be necessary as distributions change. </p>
<p>Increased signage, temporary beach closures, or improved education about shark behaviour might be needed. </p>
<p>In Cape Town, for example, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185335">shark spotters</a> have adjusted their efforts on specific beaches. Following two <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/great-white-sharks-gather-site-fatal-attack-1749172">fatal shark incidents</a> in 2022, their programme expanded to <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=+plettenberg+bay+shark+spotters&qs=n&form=QBRE&sp=-1&lq=0&pq=+plettenberg+bay+shark+spotte&sc=7-29&sk=&cvid=FB5D782CE8BF476793D155E8B9C6B408&ghsh=0&ghacc=0&ghpl=">Plettenberg Bay</a>. Anecdotal evidence highlights additional Eastern Cape locations where surfers and divers encounter more white sharks than before.</p>
<h2>Enhanced monitoring and long-term programmes</h2>
<p>Further research is required to understand the factors behind the movements of sharks and their impact on distribution over space and time. Our study underscores the importance of standardising data collection methods to generate reliable abundance statistics across their entire range. Other countries suffer from the same problem.</p>
<p>Additionally, we propose establishing long-term monitoring programmes along the Eastern Cape and continuing work to reduce the number of shark deaths.</p>
<p><em>Sarah Waries, a master’s student and CEO of Shark Spotters in Cape Town, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Kock works for South African National Parks. She is affiliated with the Top Predator Scientific Working Group of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and Shark Spotters. She received funding from the Save Our Seas Foundation for shark research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Towner, Heather Bowlby, Matt Dicken, and Toby Rogers do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>South Africa’s white shark population is not in decline but migrating to survive.Alison Kock, Marine Biologist, South African National Parks (SANParks); Honorary Research Associate, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), South African Institute for Aquatic BiodiversityAlison Towner, Marine biologist, Rhodes UniversityHeather Bowlby, Research Lead, Fisheries and Oceans CanadaMatt Dicken, Adjunct Professor of Marine Biology, Nelson Mandela UniversityToby Rogers, PhD Candidate, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2105632023-08-17T15:47:30Z2023-08-17T15:47:30ZTeen mums in South Africa: largest ever study explores what it takes to go back to school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542353/original/file-20230811-35944-nv1ukl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">GettyImages</span> </figcaption></figure><p>Imagine the weight of responsibility for caring for a child when you are not yet fully grown yourself, and the fear of being shamed by parents, fellow learners, and even strangers within the community? </p>
<p>Vast numbers of adolescent mothers, many of them very vulnerable, exist across Africa, but there remains little research on their challenges and what can be done to support them and their children. </p>
<p>Policies and programmes are often small scale, poorly implemented, or not inclusive of adolescent parents. </p>
<p>Detailing findings from <a href="https://www.heybaby.org.za/">the largest adolescent mother cohort study</a> in sub-Saharan Africa, this article sheds light on some of the challenges they face, potential entry points for interventions and programmes, and opportunities to support adolescent mothers and their children. </p>
<p>Some adolescent mothers from sub-Saharan Africa say <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-021-01078-y">they did not realise they could get pregnant or how to prevent pregnancies</a>, pointing to the challenges to provide youth with <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7887764/">comprehensive sex education</a> and the possible cultural obstacles to <a href="https://reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-4755-8-25">communication about sex</a>underlying early pregnancy. </p>
<p>Even before the COVID-19 pandemic sparked an <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380199_eng">education crisis</a>, nearly <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/65586/file/A-new-era-for-girls-2020.pdf">one in five girls </a> aged between 15 and 19 globally were not in school, employment or training. </p>
<p>Many adolescent mothers have a history of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19248721/">poor school performance</a>, and a pregnancy can <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0376835X.2013.853610">act as a catalyst </a>for early dropout. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.heybaby.org.za/">HEY BABY </a>(Helping Empower Youth Brought up in Adversity with their Babies and Young children) research study was conceptualised to better understand adolescent mothers’ needs.</p>
<p>The study aimed to identify the hurdles young mothers face and how to overcome them. Between 2017 and 2019, HEY BABY collected data from over 1,000 adolescent mothers and their children living in rural and urban areas of South Africa’s Eastern Cape.</p>
<h2>Addressing mothers’ obstacles and identified points of intervention</h2>
<p>Prior research, using older samples, from South Africa indicates that only between <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4465.2008.00181.x">30%</a>and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1728-4465.2008.00180.x">50%</a> of young mothers manage to continue their education, highlighting a continued need to understand better why this is the case.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2022.2049846">Our most recent study</a> showed that almost 70% of young mothers indicate having returned to school after birth. These mothers showed lower poverty rates, fewer repeated grades preceding the pregnancy, continued schooling during pregnancy, higher daycare/crèche use, more family childcare support, and lower engagement in exclusive breastfeeding within six months of birth.</p>
<p>Examining the relationship between poverty and school enrolment within this population, we identified two distinct routes towards a return to school: </p>
<p>Route one: Lower household poverty drives schooling throughout pregnancy which, in turn, drives higher school return rates post-birth;</p>
<p>Route two: Lower household poverty drives the use of daycare/crèche services which, in turn, drives higher school return rates post-birth. </p>
<p>The large proportion of mothers - 30% in our sample - who do not return to school might require substantial targeted support to re-engage with education. </p>
<p>Our results suggest that financial support alone might not be sufficient to support adolescent mothers. But when combined with other resources, such as affordable daycare and services that support school retention during pregnancy, they could prove effective.</p>
<p>This evidence aligns with the growing interest in <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/research/cash-plus/">cash-plus programmes </a> which provide cash payments in addition to complementary interventions to strengthen outcomes. This type of intervention might help adolescent mothers to continue their education. </p>
<p>Further research from the HEY BABY team provides valuable insights into maternal education and its potential drivers and consequences:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Better maternal education is associated with increased <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0275805">child cognitive development</a>. </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059321001371">Withdrawal from school during pregnancy</a> is associated with more poverty, higher grade repetitions and greater lack of information about the pregnancy. </p></li>
<li><p>Some adolescent mothers face compound risks. For example adolescent motherhood and HIV-infection double the chances of <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=Toska%2C+Banougnin%2C+Hertzog%2C+et+al.+(2022).+Syndemic+effects+of+adolescent+pregnancy+and+HIV.&rlz=1C1GCEA_enZA1069ZA1069&oq=Toska%2C+Banougnin%2C+Hertzog%2C+et+al.+(2022).+Syndemic+effects+of+adolescent+pregnancy+and+HIV.&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQRRg70gENNDE4MzUzNjVqMGoxNagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8">dropping out of school</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jia2.25928">Food security</a> is associated with both education and lowered HIV behaviours, including age-disparate sex and sex on substances. </p></li>
<li><p>Access to <a href="https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4670412/1/Cluver-etal-2023-Associations-of-formal-childcare-use.pdf">formal childcare services</a> has a substantial positive impact for adolescent mothers such as engagement with education and employment, optimism about the future, and improved parenting) and showed better child development over time. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Evidence to improve the implementation of school policies</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/au0618_insert_webspreads.pdf">Progressive laws and school policies</a>, and their effective implementation, are essential to increase school access for pregnant girls and adolescent mothers. </p>
<p>In South Africa, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/au0618_insert_webspreads.pdf">a national policy</a> assigns the responsibility for managing the care and support for adolescent mothers to individual schools. These schools need to know <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2023.2206465">how to provide effective and targeted help</a>, and which community networks to tap into. </p>
<p>Establishing and promoting education, health, and social systems that are responsive to the rights and needs of pregnant girls and adolescent mothers will require that the policy implementation is grounded in robust evidence.</p>
<p>Only then can we effectively improve the lives of adolescent mothers and our future generations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:janina.jochim@spi.ox.ac.uk">janina.jochim@spi.ox.ac.uk</a> receives funding from the UKRI </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Steventon Roberts does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Almost one in three teen mothers do not return to school. Cash incentives help get them back, but affordable day-care is essential too.Kathryn Steventon Roberts, Researcher - Global Health, University of OxfordJanina Jochim, Postdoctoral fellow, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661862021-08-19T14:31:31Z2021-08-19T14:31:31ZBook review: Sindiwe Magona’s devastating, uplifting story of South African women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416571/original/file-20210817-14-bac34a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reading South African author <a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-from-the-story-of-pioneering-south-african-writer-sindiwe-magona-155670">Sindiwe Magona</a>’s latest novel <em><a href="https://www.panmacmillan.co.za/blogs/news/author-q-a-when-the-village-sleeps-a-new-novel-from-the-legendary-dr-sindiwe-magona">When the Village Sleeps</a></em> reminded me of my time researching and teaching in the country’s Eastern Cape province a decade ago. While involved in community engagement for Rhodes University I heard stories of young people who would deliberately contract HIV in order to receive government <a href="https://socialprotection.org/discover/publications/south-africa-universal-disability-grant">disability grants</a>. </p>
<p><em>When the Village Sleeps</em> spans three generations of women in one family and the central role of ancestral belief and ancient custom – or a lack of it – in their lives. It initially focuses on Busi, a promising young student who benefits from an education at a good school due to the hard work and friendship of her grandmother with her former white employer. </p>
<p>It reveals the devastating motivation behind Busi’s teenage pregnancy orchestrated to produce a financial reward in the form of a <a href="https://www.westerncape.gov.za/service/sassa-child-support-grant">child support grant</a> from the state.</p>
<p>The shocking story at the centre of Magona’s latest novel is as heartbreaking as it is cruel – and yet the character of Busi’s daughter Mandlakazi (or Mandla) completely overturns the notion that her birth is a tragedy. She becomes the heroine who unites her family. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover showing the title 'When the Village Sleeps' inside an illustration of a giant moon, trees and lands in the foreground and the name of the author, Sindiwe Magona." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416574/original/file-20210817-13-17utp9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pan Macmillan/Picador Africa</span></span>
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<p>Magona is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-from-the-story-of-pioneering-south-african-writer-sindiwe-magona-155670">pioneering</a> writer who, with this new novel, continues to feature challenging contemporary issues in her work, with incisive commentaries on power, masculinity and the role of women. </p>
<h2>The old and the new</h2>
<p>Mandla’s great grandmother, Khulu, who takes baby Mandla to the rural Eastern Cape to recuperate from birth disabilities and strengthen her, is central to the story and it is her unending devotion that seems to bring about such a significant change in the “broken bundle” she brings home to Sidwadweni. </p>
<p>Referencing the poetry and teachings of celebrated isiXhosa-language author and historian <a href="https://sala.org.za/2010-2/s-e-k-mqhayi/">S.E.K. Mqhayi</a>, the narration frequently shifts into poetry to enable the voice of Mandla to articulate her nascent consciousness which seems fused with her ancestors, “the Old”. From her earliest moments she would:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>fall asleep to the ministrations</p>
<p>of her hands infused with care</p>
<p>and into that sleep</p>
<p>the lyrics of songs pouring from an ancient throat</p>
<p>sink deep into my mind</p>
<p>into my brain, my heart, my limbs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No wonder Mandla is so transformed by the years she spends under Khulu’s care. She returns to Kwanele township in Cape Town with a divine gift that enables her to access the ancestral realm, and predict the future.</p>
<p>Central to the novel is <em>abenzakalise</em> (those who have harmed) and the consequences of their actions. On a personal level this relates to Busi’s strained relationship with her mother Phyllis and her estranged father, and then, as a teenager, the alcohol and the street drug <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/tik-meth-in-cape-town.html">tik</a> she imbibes in order to deform her baby and receive the state’s <a href="https://www.gov.za/services/services-residents/parenting/child-care/care-dependency-grant">disability allowance</a>. </p>
<p>However, all of these characters are shown to be capable of <a href="https://www.grocotts.co.za/2021/06/12/hope-inspiration-in-a-time-of-plague/">redemption and change</a>, as long as they adhere to Khulu’s wisdom – which is by no means a fixed regurgitation of “tradition” but a practical, living faith. So the resilience and strength of all the female characters shines through, as it does in Magona’s <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=lEwaBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16&dq=beauty%27s+gift+lizzy+attree+review&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvzLavsbfyAhU4RUEAHeMBBoQQ6AEwAHoECAoQAg#v=onepage&q=beauty's%20gift%20lizzy%20attree%20review&f=false">celebrated 2008 novel</a> <em><a href="https://readinglist.click/sub/new-edition-of-sindiwe-magonas-classic-novel-beautys-gift-out-now-with-a-new-essay-by-the-author/">Beauty’s Gift</a></em>. </p>
<h2>A devastating critique</h2>
<p>On a wider allegorical level the novel reads as a critique of South Africa itself, the impact of colonialism and the ruling African National Congress (ANC), who have harmed the people through corruption and a failure to tackle inequality, stunting the growth of a healthy, prosperous nation.</p>
<p>Explicit critique of the government and particularly government handouts which do nothing to really alleviate poverty, but just entrench feelings of helplessness, is evident throughout the novel. </p>
<p>Magona makes incisive judgements, through her characters – especially the elder Khulu and young Mandla – and offers possible solutions, which include honouring the earth and returning to self-sufficiency. This idealism can feel naïve at times but there’s something very seductive and straightforward about the self-care, and self-respect that comes from citizens helping themselves and transforming their communities from within.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-from-the-story-of-pioneering-south-african-writer-sindiwe-magona-155670">Learning from the story of pioneering South African writer Sindiwe Magona</a>
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<p>Towards the end, the book tips into a kind of disabled girls’ manifesto or set of instructions for how to set up community-based support for disabled and marginalised young people. However Magona expertly shifts the narrative at that point back to a dialogue with the ancestors and manages to transform the didactic elements of the tale into wisdom that reaches up to the present day and the threat of COVID-19. </p>
<p>Very recent commentary on the difficulties of enforcing social distancing in communities which rely on food parcels during the pandemic, forcing locals to gather together to collect much needed help, is painful to read. The mistakes are so preventable and obvious and yet are made time and again.</p>
<h2>The prophecy</h2>
<p>Most interesting to me is the way in which the novel manages to balance the re-introduction of neglected female initiation rites alongside the magic realism of Mandla’s prediction of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike the 15-year-old Xhosa prophetess <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/nongqawuse">Nongqawuse</a>’s 19th century prophecy – which led to a millennial movement that culminated in the cattle-killing and famine of 1856-7 – Mandla’s foretelling that “the world will die”, comes true, although perhaps not on the scale the “voices” decreed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The ground will not be able to swallow all the dead!</p>
<p>O-oh! The multitudinous dead!</p>
<p>There will be none left to bury the dead.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In many respects this prediction blurs, in my mind, with the scale of the <a href="https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/sub-saharan-africa/south-africa">HIV/AIDS pandemic</a> that killed more than 2 million South Africans, with 7.7 million currently infected with HIV. Magona has written searingly on this topic before. </p>
<p>Once again excoriating the corruption and failures of government, the Fields of Hope project, which young Mandla initiates to grow food for the township, shines like a beacon when “what government help does for the poor is cement them in poverty… Here comes help that is real!” </p>
<p>Ending on a shockingly blunt and abrupt note, Magona leaves us, as always, with a lot to think about.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166186/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lizzy Attree does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The shocking story at the centre of When the Village Sleeps is as heartbreaking as it is - ultimately - full of hope.Lizzy Attree, Adjunct Professor, Richmond American International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1584882021-04-22T15:10:24Z2021-04-22T15:10:24ZBrown locusts have survived a long drought in South Africa – here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396007/original/file-20210420-17-12uv4rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C310%2C2153%2C1071&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Northern Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa recently experienced their longest <a href="http://karoospace.co.za/eastern-cape-drought-facts-and-figures/">drought</a> in 100 years. The seven year drought, starting with lack of rains in <a href="https://www.nda.agric.za/doaDev/topMenu/doc/07Ad12%20for%20Mar2013.pdf">February 2013</a>, wrought havoc on this sheep farming community. When the summer rains finally fell in October 2020 the farmers had to contend with a <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/mail-guardian/20210326/281711207428085">locust outbreak</a> as well. </p>
<p>The brown locust found in this area mainly eats grass but will consume any green plants and has been known to decimate maize fields. </p>
<p>The two provinces fall within the <a href="http://pza.sanbi.org/vegetation/nama-karoo-biome">Nama Karoo</a>, a vast, open, arid region dominated by low-shrub vegetation. The last locust outbreak in the region was in <a href="https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/31408/">2012</a>, so the interesting question is how the insects survived a long drought and could still produce the <a href="https://www.agriorbit.com/alert-brown-locust-outbreak-in-south-africa/">large numbers</a> seen in the area after the rain. </p>
<p>The answer lies in the fact that the eggs can survive for <a href="http://icosamp.ecoport.org/archives/mpw/P04.pdf">several years</a> in the soil with the embryos developing at different rates in response to environmental conditions. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.sanbi.org/animal-of-the-week/brown-locust/">brown locust</a> (<em>Locustana pardalina</em>) is an arid adapted locust endemic to South Africa. It is a different species to the swarming locusts found in other parts of Africa. It has regular outbreaks in the Nama Karoo region and these <a href="http://gadi.agric.za/articles/Kieser_M/kieser_vol4_2002_locust.php">outbreaks</a> can extend into the southern parts of neighbouring Namibia and Botswana.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-whats-behind-the-locust-swarms-damaging-crops-in-southern-africa-147129">Explainer: what's behind the locust swarms damaging crops in southern Africa</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The female locust lays on average <a href="https://www.nda.agric.za/docs/locustpolicy/locust.htm">380 eggs</a> during her life in 6–10 egg pods. The eggs are protected by being in the soil and by having a foam cap. These drought resistant eggs will remain in the soil until they get sufficient moisture to hatch. Each egg contains an embryo which will ultimately emerge as a hopper. </p>
<p>As a study I conducted has shown, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3032.2011.00792.x">development of the embryo</a> is complex. In some eggs, there’s a delay in the embryo development regardless of the moisture available, whereas in other eggs the embryo will start development as soon as moisture is available. Both types of eggs can be found in the same egg pod. All embryos, from both egg types, can reduce their rate of development when environmental conditions are unfavourable. </p>
<h2>Egg build-up and synchronised hatching</h2>
<p>Thus, these eggs can remain in the soil for several years with the embryos waiting to receive sufficient moisture to complete development. This results in synchronised hatching when there’s sufficient rain as all the embryos are at the same stage of development regardless of when the eggs were deposited. </p>
<p>The solitary females tend to lay their eggs in the same areas and thus there is a build-up of eggs in particular areas. How the females find these egg laying sites is unknown. Many farmers know where the potential sites of the eggs are due to the large numbers of hoppers they see emerging simultaneously. But ploughing egg beds to destroy the eggs is not feasible because this also destroys grazing. </p>
<p>While many of the eggs remain in the soil, some hatch and produce the solitary form of the locust, thus maintaining the locust population at a low level. This contributes to the build-up of eggs. With the onset of good summer rains, synchronised hatching occurs along with the growth of grass. </p>
<p>Grass found in the region, <em>Enneapogon desvauxii</em>, has long-lived seeds which germinate with the onset of rain, providing food for the hoppers. A pheromone (or chemical) found in locust faeces stimulates the hoppers to aggregate and develop into the gregarious phase if the population density is high. These hoppers form bands and move up to 8km per day in search of food, competing with livestock for the available grazing. </p>
<p>The behaviour of the adults depends on the hoppers. If the hoppers don’t form large enough bands and change colour from green/brown to black and red/orange, then the adult will not form into large swarms and leave the area. As is <a href="http://www.salocalnewspapers.co.za/newspapers/agrieco/2021/march2021/linked/eng/AGRPLS0110103%20-%20Eng.pdf">currently happening</a> in the region, the adult swarms are smallish, locusts fly close to the ground and tend to stay in the same area. Without control these adults will mate and lay eggs, adding to the build-up of eggs in the area. </p>
<p>Due to the large area and sparse human population many swarms aren’t <a href="https://www.farmersweekly.co.za/agri-news/south-africa/sa-on-high-alert-for-further-brown-locust-outbreaks/">detected</a>. When they are, locust control district officers in each region co-ordinate the chemical control – spraying the government approved insecticide with knapsack and vehicle pump sprayers. The hoppers are sprayed while they roost on the bushes, either in the late afternoon or early morning. The adult swarms are sprayed while they are settled on a field for the night. This targeted spraying is less environmentally damaging than aerial spraying. </p>
<h2>Going forward</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/africa/2021-02-22-farmers-fight-back-making-animal-feed-from-a-locust-plague/">Alternatives</a> to the environmentally damaging chemical control are needed because even though there has been over a century of chemical control, the locust outbreaks <a href="https://enews.saeon.ac.za/issue-02-2020/putting-the-brake-on-locust-outbreaks/">still occur</a>. Future research needs to focus on understanding the impact of rangeland management and climate change on locust outbreaks. </p>
<p>Location of the egg laying sites and criteria used by female locusts in choosing these sites will improve the current prediction models and assist in locust surveillance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158488/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frances Duncan receives funding from National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>Eggs can remain in the soil for several years with the embryos waiting to receive sufficient moisture to complete development. This results in synchronised hatching when there’s sufficient rain.Frances Duncan, Professor, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1527862021-01-20T13:59:19Z2021-01-20T13:59:19ZSouth African internal migrants fare better in the job market in two regions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377990/original/file-20210111-21-mke2w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Johannesburg is the most preferred destination for jobseekers from other provinces, followed by Cape Town. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Labour migration is an essential – and potentially beneficial – part of all economies, regions and countries in the 21st century. One of the main reasons for migration is to enjoy better employment and earnings prospects.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/1813-9450-3915">usual flow of people</a> is from developing to developed countries at the international level, and domestically from rural to urban areas or from poorer areas to richer ones.</p>
<p>In South Africa two provinces – Gauteng and Western Cape – stand out among the full complement of nine – as the most attractive destinations for labour migrants. They contribute most to the economic success of the country, accounting for 49% of the gross domestic product in <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0441/P04414thQuarter2019.pdf">2019</a>. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://sihma.org.za/journals/02%20The%20Impact%20of%20Inter-provincial%20Migration%20on%20the%20Labor%20Market.pdf">study</a> used the South African Census 2011 data to examine the impact of inter-provincial migration on the labour market in the Western Cape and Gauteng. Our specific focus was on whether the inter-provincial migrants fared relatively better in the labour market in the destination provinces. </p>
<p>Our key finding was that migrants from other provinces were more likely to be employed than the permanent residents of Gauteng and the Western Cape. But, the intra-provincial migrants – people who moved from one area to another within the same province in search of better job prospects – remained the best-performing group with the lowest unemployment rates, especially in the formal sector.</p>
<p>As not all inter-provincial migrants find work in the destination provinces, the provincial unemployment statistics should be interpreted with great caution, as they can be distorted by these migrants.</p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://sihma.org.za/journals/02%20The%20Impact%20of%20Inter-provincial%20Migration%20on%20the%20Labor%20Market.pdf">study</a>, we used the <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=3839">Census 2011 data</a> – the most recent – to examine the personal, socioeconomic status and labour market characteristics of eight groups of people aged 15 to 64 years.</p>
<p>The categories were, in the case of the Western Cape:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>permanent residents, </p></li>
<li><p>intra-provincial migrants, </p></li>
<li><p>long-term migrants from other provinces,</p></li>
<li><p>short-term migrants from other provinces.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In the case of Gauteng:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>permanent residents,</p></li>
<li><p>intra-provincial migrants,</p></li>
<li><p>long-term migrants from other provinces,</p></li>
<li><p>short-term migrants from other provinces.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Short-term and long-term migrants were distinguished from each other based on the time periods before and after 2006. The short term refers to those who migrated within the last five years. Long-term means they migrated more than 5-10 years earlier.</p>
<p>The findings point to the need for the national government to consider inter-provincial migration when allocating the national budget to provinces, districts and municipalities. More of the budget should go to the Western Cape and Gauteng, given their ever-growing populations because of migration from other provinces.</p>
<h2>Key findings</h2>
<p>The majority of migrants into the Western Cape came from the Eastern Cape (53.64%) and Gauteng (20.95%). In contrast, migrants into Gauteng were more evenly spread. They came mostly from Limpopo (30.92%), KwaZulu-Natal (19.30%), the Eastern Cape (14.22%) and Mpumalanga (11.15%) provinces.</p>
<p><em>Inter-provincial migrants’ previous province of residence and current province of residence</em></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Note: intra-provincial migrants and immigrants from overseas are excluded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sipplied by author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The statistics also indicated that the majority of migrants from other provinces into the Western Cape settled in the City of Cape Town (over 70%). On the other hand, nearly 90% of migrants into Gauteng resided in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni districts. </p>
<p>The results suggest that these popular destination districts are most likely associated with better living conditions and labour market prospects.</p>
<p>Furthermore, both short and long-term migrants into Gauteng and the Western Cape were likely to be young, aged 15-34 years. They were mostly unmarried <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/race-and-ethnicity-south-africa">African</a> urban residents with 11 to 12 years of education on average.</p>
<p>These migrants into Gauteng and the Western Cape enjoyed lower unemployment rates than the permanent residents. One interesting finding was that the intra-provincial migrants had the lowest unemployment rate, compared with the inter-provincial migrants and permanent residents.</p>
<p><em>Labour force participation rates and unemployment rates of the eight groups of individuals</em></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied by author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The figure below shows that the proportion of workers involved in skilled occupations was the highest for the intra-provincial migrants. More short-term and long-term inter-provincial migrants were in skilled work compared to the permanent residents.</p>
<p><em>Percentage share of employed in each skills level by migration status</em></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied by author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lastly, after controlling for differences in other personal and household characteristics, the econometric analysis found that, compared to the permanent residents, both short and long-term inter-provincial migrants into the Gauteng and the Western Cape enjoyed a significantly greater probability (of 3%) of finding work. Migrants within a province enjoy the lowest unemployment rate and probability of engaging in skilled occupations.</p>
<h2>Policy implications</h2>
<p>Job-seeking migration into Gauteng and the Western Cape will certainly continue for as long as these two provinces are associated with better economic conditions and job prospects than the migrants’ home provinces. In particular, these migrants are most likely to cluster in certain districts with more lucrative job opportunities; namely Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane.</p>
<p>Gauteng and Western Cape provincial governments will continue to face important challenges in addressing the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10800379.2010.12097213">increased burden</a> on providing basic services, housing, health, education and social service systems because of the flow of migrants.</p>
<p>The findings indicate that not all the inter-provincial migrants eventually find work. This adds to the unemployment burden for Gauteng and the Western Cape. This has implications for the provinces’ job creation and entrepreneurship development strategies. </p>
<p><em>Joseph Kleinhans, an Economics Masters graduate at the University of the Western Cape, collaborated on the research on which this article is based.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152786/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Yu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Labour migrants from other provinces into Gauteng and the Western Cape are more likely to be employed than the two provinces’ permanent residents.Derek Yu, Professor, Economics, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1417302020-07-12T08:33:40Z2020-07-12T08:33:40ZDennis Brutus: South African literary giant who was reluctant to tell his life story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346131/original/file-20200707-194413-7c5ctr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dennis Brutus's life is synonymous with South Africa's freedom struggle.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">@mjb/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is an edited extract from a new biography about Dennis Brutus, the anti-apartheid activist, poet and author. Brutus died in 2009. The extract records Brutus’s reluctance to write about his life when he was still alive. But as Tyrone August, author of the biography, writes, it was inevitable that his life story would eventually be told: “Brutus’s life is woven far too deeply into the fabric of the recent history of South Africa.”</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>Dennis Brutus, the South African poet and veteran anti-apartheid activist, lived in Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape, during the first half of the twentieth century. This tumultuous period saw the emergence of <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a>, a legally codified system of racial segregation and discrimination. It was followed by the development of a ruthless state apparatus designed to systematically eliminate any resistance. </p>
<p>It was in these grim circumstances that Brutus, who was classified as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Coloured">coloured</a> – a term used to refer to people of mixed European (“white”) and African (“black”) or Asian ancestry – under the <a href="https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01829/06lv01838.htm">Population Registration Act of 1950</a>, distinguished himself as a student, teacher, poet, journalist, sports administrator and anti-apartheid activist.</p>
<p>Yet, despite this range of achievements, there was not a single biography on him – until now. Nor did he publish any extended autobiographical work in a single volume. In a letter to the South African writer and academic <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/eskia-mphahlele">Es’kia Mphahlele</a> in November 1970, he confirmed his ambivalence about</p>
<blockquote>
<p>get (ing) that mess of autobiographical material out of my system. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He expressed a similar sentiment in a tape recording in October 1974, and attributed his reluctance to embark on a full-scale autobiography to his belief that there was no coherent or unifying narrative in his life.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I fail to see in my life any kind of cohesion or pattern or unifying thread which would justify an autobiography … It seems to me that autobiographies need organisation of one’s knowledge of one’s life in such a way that a pattern emerges, some kind of intelligibility is made of the mass.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He added emphatically that he saw no such pattern in his life. And, until he could impose some such order on what had happened to him, it didn’t seem to him that he was entitled to write about it. He thought that, although some instances in his life might be exciting or flattering to him, they did not justify a book. </p>
<h2>Aversion and ambivalence</h2>
<p>Despite his aversion to writing an autobiography, Brutus conceded in the same tape recording that he was beginning to find the prospect “less repellant” than before. He went on to entertain the possibility of at least writing what he described as fragments of an autobiography in the form of essays. </p>
<p>So, by the time Hal Wylie, a University of Texas academic, approached him in 1988 about working towards an autobiography, he was more amenable to the idea. Wylie offered to assist with “spade-work and organising, etc”.</p>
<p>He tried to persuade Brutus that an autobiography would be preferable to an academic work on his life as it would be enriched by certain poetic and literary qualities. It could focus on existential details, memories, personal aspects that would not be appropriate for an official biography, but would be more striking, interesting, with greater human interest. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346125/original/file-20200707-194413-lgwblu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346125/original/file-20200707-194413-lgwblu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346125/original/file-20200707-194413-lgwblu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346125/original/file-20200707-194413-lgwblu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346125/original/file-20200707-194413-lgwblu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346125/original/file-20200707-194413-lgwblu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346125/original/file-20200707-194413-lgwblu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an admittedly subjective work one would have more choice and editorial focus. It would be more direct and forceful.</p>
<p>In addition, Wylie submitted that Brutus’s life was closely interlinked with the rise of apartheid and, at the same time, offered “a new way of looking at the anti-apartheid struggle”. He drew particular attention to Port Elizabeth and the Eastern Cape as major sites of this struggle. In response, Brutus wrote encouragingly: “I like the project.”</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Brutus expressed concern about the amount of work required by an autobiography. Instead, he advised, he would still prefer a biography written by Wylie or, alternatively, a biography “as told to Hal Wylie”. Despite his reservations about writing a fully fledged autobiography, Brutus started working with Wylie on a rough draft. This effort was provisionally titled – in a handwritten addition – The Autobiography of the South African Troubadour (or, alternatively, The Story of a Troubadour/Griot).</p>
<p>Wylie recalled in personal correspondence how this draft was created: “It was based on tapes that Dennis recorded, which I then transcribed and typed up. It was then supplemented with additions he wrote in by hand and responses he gave me in response to my questions.”</p>
<p>However, this collaboration eventually collapsed. “When we got to late adolescence and adulthood he clammed up and wouldn’t respond to further questions, so it was abandoned at that point”, Wylie stated.</p>
<p>He then passed the project to another biographer, whose name has since escaped him, but it did not get any further. This is not surprising.</p>
<h2>A simple lust</h2>
<p>Although initially Brutus felt sufficiently comfortable about working with Wylie on an autobiography, he continued to harbour deep suspicions about the intrusive nature of biographical writing. </p>
<p>His discomfort with the possibility of potential biographers invading his private life is clearly reflected in an untitled poem published in 1973 in his collection, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/584232.A_Simple_Lust">A Simple Lust</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Finding this rubbish, </p>
<p>this debris, </p>
<p>of mine after</p>
<p>I am dead, </p>
<p>when they come to pry</p>
<p>mouse-rustling in my papers, </p>
<p>ghoulishly-hopeful in my things, </p>
<p>what rubbish they will find! </p>
<p>Will I shrivel, inanimate, in my shame?</p>
<p>Will the dead flesh curl up in protest</p>
<p>being assessed by curious strangers’ hands?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A life woven in history</h2>
<p>But, in the long run, renewed interest from potential biographers was probably inevitable. Brutus’s life is woven far too deeply into the fabric of the recent history of South Africa. This is true especially of the first four decades of his life, which, as the most important period in his personal, literary and political development, is the particular focus of <a href="http://www.bestred.co.za/dennis-brutus-detail.html">Dennis Brutus, The South African Years</a>, published by <a href="http://www.bestred.co.za/">Best Red</a>, an imprint of <a href="https://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/">HSRC Press</a>. Brutus died of prostate cancer at his home in Cape Town on 26 December 2009.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141730/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyrone August received funding from the Mellon Foundation while a postdoctoral fellow in the English department at Stellenbosch University. He is a founding member of the South African National Editors' Forum and a member of the Academic and Non-Fiction Authors' Association of South Africa.</span></em></p>Brutus’s life was closely interlinked with the rise of apartheid and offered a way to look at resistance to this system.Tyrone August, Research fellow, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1301402020-01-20T09:37:46Z2020-01-20T09:37:46ZLandmark court ruling highlights crisis in South Africa’s cities and towns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310852/original/file-20200120-69555-ebzvvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The town of Makhanda, formerly Grahamstown, and surrounds have suffered serious neglect by the local municipality. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A high court in South Africa has passed a <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/makana-municipality-to-be-dissolved-placed-under-administration-court-orders-20200114">landmark ruling</a> with far-reaching implications for municipalities that fail to carry out their constitutional duty to citizens.</p>
<p>The Makhanda High Court granted an application by the Unemployed People’s Movement that the <a href="https://www.gov.za/about-government/contact-directory/ec-municipalities/ec-municipalities/makana-local-municipality">Makana Local Municipality</a> be dissolved. The court ordered that
the <a href="https://provincialgovernment.co.za/provinces/view/1/eastern-cape">Eastern Cape provincial government</a>, under which the municipality falls, appoint an administrator to run its affairs. It will be the second time this has happened. </p>
<p>In 2014 the city was placed under administration for <a href="https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/service-delivery-lessons-from-the-makana-municipality/">three months</a>. This was because it was financially vulnerable, wasn’t maintaining infrastructure and service delivery had crumbled. At one point residents went without water for nine days. </p>
<p>That intervention failed to fix the problems. </p>
<p>Last year citizens turned to the judiciary, signalling that they were no longer willing to give government a chance to fix the problem. They are hoping that the judiciary can help solve the crisis of governance. </p>
<p>South Africa’s <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng-07.pdf">Constitution</a> stipulates that local government must ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable way, promote a safe and healthy environment and encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations.</p>
<p>Municipalities are the third tier of government after provinces and the national government. This tier is also the closest level to ordinary citizens, and as such, forms the basis of the relationship between government and citizens. </p>
<p>Judge Igna Stretch said in her judgment that the conduct of the Makana municipality had been </p>
<blockquote>
<p>inconsistent with the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa … [by] failing to promote a healthy and sustainable environment for the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The ruling is a victory for activists who have been embroiled in a long-running battle against the dysfunctional and incompetent municipal council run by the African National Congress (ANC). The party governs the country and most municipalities. </p>
<p>This is the first time in South Africa’s democratic history that citizens have been able to argue successfully in court that local government is not living up to its constitutional obligations. The ruling effectively opens the door for others to challenge poor service delivery due to incompetent and dysfunctional governance. </p>
<p>The precedent-setting ruling is set to cause jitters in municipalities around the country. It might see more municipalities being challenged in court. It signals that when internal structures of accountability are dysfunctional the courts can provide recourse for citizens. </p>
<p>It could have broader implications too. South Africans will elect new local councils next year. The court’s ruling fundamentally undermines the ANC’s electoral claim that it’s creating a <a href="https://africacheck.org/reports/anc-2019-election-manifesto-factcheck/">“better life”</a>. It signals that the party effectively failed at fulfilling the constitutional mandate given to it by the electorate. </p>
<h2>Decades of decline</h2>
<p>The current crisis in Makana has been in the making for almost a decade. The seriousness of the situation surfaced in 2011 when it became apparent that the municipality had cash-flow problems. By 2013 there were clear signs that it was in <a href="https://www.grocotts.co.za/2019/03/28/turning-around-makana-municipality/">distress</a>. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2019-04-18-makana-municipality-is-a-city-in-deep-crisis/">2014</a> the municipality was put under administration for a period of three months. This meant that an administrator, and not municipal executives, would oversee its day-to-day business.</p>
<p>Despite this, the situation never improved. Financial vulnerability, failure to maintain critical infrastructure, and a dysfunctional billing system continued. The delivery of basic services, such as clean water, <a href="https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2018-09-21-residents-mull-diverting-rate-payments/">gradually ground to a complete halt</a>: </p>
<p><em>“The city’s decrepit water and sewerage infrastructure has resulted in massive leaks of both fresh treated water, and sewage flowing down suburban roads and past schools.</em></p>
<p><em>Uncollected rubbish decomposes in piles on every street in Grahamstown east and informal rubbish dumps have multiplied across the city.</em></p>
<p><em>The roads are potholed; cattle, donkeys and other stray animals wander unchecked in roads, including national and regional roads such as the N2 which circumnavigate the city.”</em></p>
<p>The council is barely able to spend <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2019-04-18-makana-municipality-is-a-city-in-deep-crisis/">2% of its budget</a> on maintaining critical infrastructure. And amid a major water drought, the council effectively <a href="https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/disasters/2131699/rescue-our-broken-town-makhanda-residents-plead/">“chased away” NGOs</a> willing to help by not paying them.</p>
<p>The Makana municipality has been unable to address the <a href="https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2014-09-03-names-behind-makana-fiasco/">decline</a> in governance, financial mismanagement, as well as rampant corruption.</p>
<p>Makana is <a href="https://theconversation.com/local-government-in-south-africa-is-in-crisis-how-it-can-be-fixed-97331">not unique</a>. Only 18 of the country’s 257 municipalities received a clean audit from the Auditor-General in <a href="https://www.agsa.co.za/Portals/0/Reports/MFMA/2019.06.25/2019%20MFMA%20Media%20Release.pdf">2017/18</a>. </p>
<p>The South African Local Government Association <a href="https://www.parliament.gov.za/news/salga-concerned-about-high-number-section-139-interventions-municipalities">is increasingly concerned</a> about the parlous state of financial management and performance by municipalities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201906/agsareport.pdf">The root cause of this collapse</a> is that governance systems are built on patronage, rather than the principles of good governance. Appointments are political rather than based on merit, and executive and municipal positions become collateral for political support. </p>
<h2>Systems left unfixed</h2>
<p>In 2015 <a href="https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2014-09-03-names-behind-makana-fiasco/">a forensic investigation report</a> detailed corruption and maladministration, implicating senior officials and <a href="https://www.grocotts.co.za/2015/10/01/peter-left-a-legacy-of-corruption-mxube/">then executive mayor of Makana Municipality, Zamuxolo Peter</a>. </p>
<p>But those implicated have not been held <a href="https://www.rnews.co.za/article/da-grahamstown-lays-charges-for-slow-progress-on-kabuso-report-offenders">to account</a>. </p>
<p>The national ANC leadership attempted <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/decade-of-corruption-leaves-former-south-african-city-of-saints-in-the-dumps-11731531">some intervention</a>, replacing the Executive Mayor, but it left an ineffective municipal council in place. </p>
<p>Makana provides a good example of how patronage in a party-dominant political system undermines good governance. This hampers the ability of municipalities to fulfil their constitutional mandate of delivering services for citizens’ benefit. </p>
<p>The ANC is very aware of this <a href="https://anceasterncape.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/JR-Presentation-on-ANC-Discussion-Documents-March-2017.pdf">problem</a>. Yet, it is incapable of addressing it.</p>
<h2>Party’s poor response</h2>
<p>The Eastern Cape government has said that it intends to appeal the groundbreaking Makana court ruling, claiming it violates the <a href="https://www.algoafm.co.za/article/local/103339/bhisho-considers-appealing-makana-court-ruling">principle of separation of powers</a>. The decision is clearly driven by the ANC which runs the province and is concerned that the ruling will be used against it ahead of the local government elections. </p>
<p>The decision to <a href="https://www.grocotts.co.za/2020/01/16/government-may-appeal-makana-judgment/">“test the judgment to its fullest”</a> will effectively see the provincial government seeking ways to overturn a ruling that holds politicians accountable for their governance failures. </p>
<p>Instead of rooting out a culture of patronage and lack of accountability in the municipalities it governs, the ANC would rather turn the issue into one of alleged judicial overreach. </p>
<p>Unless it changes, its <a href="http://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/south-african-elections-declining-dominance-anc-aopub/">ongoing electoral decline</a> may turn into a spectacular fall come the 2021 elections.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joleen Steyn Kotze receives funding from the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p>The precedent-setting ruling may cause jitters in dysfunctional municipalities around the country.Joleen Steyn Kotze, Senior Research Specialist in Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1219452019-08-26T14:16:07Z2019-08-26T14:16:07ZHow a rural community hopes to retain spiritual life undermined by western ways<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288350/original/file-20190816-192254-13gl0no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C149%2C613%2C261&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lily Heisi/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Around the world, the introduction of western ways of life has changed indigenous communities. This has often happened by decreasing or by limiting their access to the resources they need. It’s been deliberate as well as unintentional, often with negative results </p>
<p>AmaBomvane of the Eastern Cape in South Africa provide an example of the impact such disruption can have. The traditional spiritual beliefs of this community underpin their entire way of life, and when “modern” interventions disrupted their spiritual practices, they began to suffer harm.</p>
<p>AmaBomvane aren’t the only community to have been affected in this way. Many indigenous communities around the world experience globalisation as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1745-5871.2007.00443.x">a loss of spiritual connectedness</a>. They include the Cree of the Whapmagoostui in northeastern Canada, the Anishinaabe (Ojibwa), also in North America, the Mohawk community of Akwesasne, and various indigenous communities in Hawaii, Australia, <a href="http://www.umanitoba.ca/institutes/natural_resources/canadaresearchchair/Gwichin%20berry%20harvesting%20from%20northern%20Canada.pdf">the Pacific islands and New Zealand</a>.</p>
<p>For my PhD, <a href="http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/105990">I studied</a> the understanding and practice of indigenous spirituality and its influence on well-being. I also explored the impact of the imposition of western, individualist values on Bomvanaland, a deeply rural area of Elliotdale, in the former Transkei region of South Africa. And I examined what enables the AmaBomvane to survive despite these challenges. </p>
<h2>AmaBomvane</h2>
<p>AmaBomvane’s beliefs traditionally inform their very existence. During my research I found that they understood spirituality to be about relationships. The main determinant of their community’s well-being was the management of strife in these relationships. </p>
<p>Their belief system is informed by <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/the-meaning-of-ubuntu-43307"><em>ubuntu</em></a> (humaness), a <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-archbishop-tutus-ubuntu-credo-teaches-the-world-about-justice-and-harmony-84730">southern African ethic</a> grounded in the belief that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A person is a person through other persons.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To amaBomvane, relationships exist between three dimensions: humans (living and dead), nature and the divine. All three areas are in a complex balance.</p>
<p>As they explained their beliefs to me, it became clear that amaBomvane did not see physical death as an end to life. They believe in the continued presence of family members (ancestors). Their core values are kindness, empathy and support for the collective. A person’s humanity depends on how they treat other people.</p>
<p>This beneficence is extended to the land and animals as well. AmaBomvane believe that humans exist in a reciprocal relationship with all of nature. When people harm the earth and the animals, they harm themselves. There is no separation.</p>
<p>AmaBomvane grew various plants for food and for treating illnesses. They also grew grain for making a local brew, which was used in maintaining their relationship with their ancestors and with God. </p>
<p>Their animals supported them to achieve and maintain their relationship to the divine through sacrifices. They protected and cared for their animals, which in turn nourished them physically and spiritually.</p>
<p>The land, too, was cared for and responded in kind. The land received the bodies of people’s ancestors and carried their cattle enclosures, which remained very spiritual spaces. Land also yielded the crops used for food and for making the beer for ancestral veneration. </p>
<p>The ancestors are spirit beings who are believed to liaise between God and family members, relaying messages to support well-being or admonishment for wrongdoing and disobedience. This is at the centre of amaBomvane belief system. Ancestors are believed to provide protection, guidance, advice, good health, and even punishment. </p>
<p>To enjoy well-being and thrive, people must maintain this relationship with the divine, others and the world around them.</p>
<p>AmaBomvane sustain the relationship through a collective expression of their spirituality. This occurs through songs, dance and various familial and communal rites of passage. They hold ceremonies that strengthen their identity and support their connection to each dimension of the relationship.</p>
<p>All these activities contributed to cultural continuity, supporting their well-being.</p>
<p>But, this cultural continuity has been systematically disrupted – historically by the entrance of colonial powers and contemporarily by globalisation and urbanisation.</p>
<h2>Disrupted way of life</h2>
<p>AmaBomvane identified three distinct ways in which their socio-cultural and spiritual wellbeing was disrupted. These were western spirituality, healthcare and education introduced by the colonial powers into their context. Their indigenous spiritual knowledges were demonised and marginalised. Lands were seized, causing forced migration and disrupting their access to spiritual resources, connection to one another and shared identity. </p>
<p>These disruptions continue. The ongoing socio-cultural, political and globalised approaches to “bringing communities into the 21st century” – like the poor engagement and collaboration between traditional healers and western healthcare practitioners – continue to create problems for amaBomvane. They assert that currently, some developmental agencies and businesses have cordoned off land for private use within their villages. </p>
<p>AmaBomvane made it clear that the global development agenda had contributed to division because it sees people as individuals rather than primarily as members of a collective.</p>
<p>They also believed that although it seeks greater good, the way in which human rights have been introduced into their context without incorporating their own moral belief systems has been more detrimental than beneficial to their community. An example that they cited was that children had become disobedient towards their parents and elders, contributing to broken relationships.</p>
<p>And the disruption of their traditional way of life, coupled with the lack of alternative ways of making a living, had led many amaBomvane, especially young people, to seek opportunities elsewhere.</p>
<p>This had negatively affected the practice of their spirituality. Community members were confused about their spirituality, combining both indigenous and western spiritual practices. Youth migration had also robbed the area of the young people needed to farm the land. Alcohol and drug abuse among the youth had also brought new social problems.</p>
<h2>Shared humanity</h2>
<p>There is no easy answer to amaBomvane’s dilemma. But they have proposed a way forward. They argued that those coming into their spaces must seek collaboration, not domination. </p>
<p>This collaboration must be led and infused by their indigenous value system of <em>ubuntu</em>. The community assert that if people recognise their shared humanity, the outcomes would be beneficial to the well-being of all – human, land, animals, and the divine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Chioma Ohajunwa is a lecturer at the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Stellenbosch.
Dr Chioma Ohajunwa received funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) Grant Holder Linked Bursary for this study </span></em></p>The Bomvana say the global development agenda has created division because it sees people as individuals rather than primarily as members of a collective.Chioma Ohajunwa, Lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Rehabilitation Studies, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1166072019-05-09T14:29:01Z2019-05-09T14:29:01ZThe story of Oromo slaves bound for Arabia who were brought to South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273600/original/file-20190509-183096-1brlr85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=117%2C263%2C2578%2C1327&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oromo children saved from slavery. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied by author</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September 1888, the HMS Osprey serving in the Royal Navy’s anti-slave trade mission in the Red Sea, based in Aden, intercepted three dhows embarked from Rahayta and Tadjoura on the Ethiopia coast. </p>
<p>Aboard were 204 boys and girls bound for resale in Arabian markets. Other dhows with young human cargo were also apprehended. The children came from the highland area of Oromia Region of Ethiopia, and spoke the Oromo language.</p>
<p>They had been trekked as many as several hundred kilometres to the coast. The children were taken to Aden and, for a time, were housed and cared for at the Free Church of Scotland mission at Sheikh Othman. </p>
<p>The arrivals, however, were often too debilitated to withstand the harsh climate and prevalent malaria. In 1890, 64 of the survivors were transferred to the Free Church of Scotland’s Lovedale Institution, in Alice, a town in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. </p>
<p>The story is captured in a new book laden with graphs, maps, charts and statistics. But if you like your history as narrative, you’ll have the job of piecing together this extraordinary <a href="https://www.loot.co.za/product/sandra-rowoldt-shell-children-of-hope/fyyp-5169-g0a0">story</a> written by Sandra Rowoldt Shell in <em>Children of Hope: The Odyssey of the Oromo Slaves from Ethiopia to South Africa</em>. </p>
<h2>Fate of Oromo kids</h2>
<p>During the 10 years the children spent at Lovedale they proved to be good students and on good terms with their Xhosa-speaking and English school mates. Four in five survived and left the school as young adults in search of opportunities. They became teachers, shop assistants, carpenters, painters, cooks, clerks.</p>
<p>Most remained in South Africa, but 17 earned fares to Ethiopia. A few married and started families. One whose story is traced in the book is Bisho Jarsa who married former Lovedale student Reverend Frederick Scheepers. Their daughter Dimbiti married carpenter James Edward Alexander, and were the parents of South African liberation struggle veteran and academic <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/dr-neville-edward-alexander">Neville Alexander</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273021/original/file-20190507-103045-1646uii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/273021/original/file-20190507-103045-1646uii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273021/original/file-20190507-103045-1646uii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273021/original/file-20190507-103045-1646uii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273021/original/file-20190507-103045-1646uii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273021/original/file-20190507-103045-1646uii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/273021/original/file-20190507-103045-1646uii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But most of the Oromo orphans’ lives ended in obscurity or tragedy. Mortality among the returnees was particularly high (33%). </p>
<p>However, the orphans’ stories are not completely lost. Many left behind their autobiographies at Lovedale. They related, in their own voices, their individual ordeals from the time they were captured, sold or pawned, including the tortuously long journeys between their Oromo homeland to the coast. All are rendered in full in the books’ appendices.</p>
<p>Much of Shell’s account delivers the quantitative side of the Oromo story. She followed an assiduous research path to retrieve all possible data related to the orphans, their place of origin, the details of their enslavement and transfer, place by place to various entrepots, the traders and merchants involved, until over a 100 pages later, the Royal Navy’s Osprey appears.</p>
<h2>Rich detail</h2>
<p>Once in Aden, lengthy asides document the Sheikh Othman mission and its Keith-Falconer school (illustrated by photographs), personal details about the missionaries involved, orphan mortality, age and gender data. </p>
<p>After the orphans reach East London, in the Eastern Cape, we learn a lot about the Lovedale curriculum, comparative performance of Oromo and non-Oromo students (the Oromo did better on average), supplemented with graphs on class marks and percentages, including distributions, gendered results, class positions, and mortality rates, among others (the reproductive quality of the graphs is not very good).</p>
<p>A teacher scandal gets its own sleuthing through the display of doctored photographs eliding the suggestive hands of an Oromo boy on the alleged culprit’s shoulders prior to his dismissal. </p>
<p>Once leaving Lovedale, individuals are traced (thanks to a 1903 questionnaire results unearthed by Shell) that reflect the mixed fortunes of the Lovedale graduates. Though she displays many Oromo group photographs, Shell has uncovered only one individual photograph (the arresting Berille Boko). </p>
<p>A full one-third of the volume is made up of appendices on data variables, the Oromo autobiographies with a place-name gazetteer, an essay by Gutama Jarafo, detailed endnotes, bibliography and an extensive index.</p>
<p>Shell has added a great deal to our understanding of how children were ensnared into the Indian Ocean slave trade, which connected much of the Eastern African interior to Arabia, the Persian Gulf and India. Long after the Atlantic slave trade was snuffed out, the Indian Ocean trade continued almost to the beginning of the 20th century. The Osprey’s intervention and the survival of but a mere quarter of those it rescued suggests that thousands of children’s lives remained enslaved and in misery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fred Morton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Book adds a great deal to our understanding of how children were ensnared into the Indian Ocean slave trade.Fred Morton, Professor of History, University of BotswanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1077462018-12-13T12:26:55Z2018-12-13T12:26:55ZWhy South African community’s win against mining company matters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249267/original/file-20181206-128196-132mrc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Xolobeni villager protesting against mine development.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Patricia Alejandro</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A South African High Court has passed an important <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPPHC/2018/829.html">judgment</a> putting a stop to <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/media/migration/news-migration/files/SWOP%20%20WP%20%20Bakgatla%20%20Mnwana%20and%20Capps.pdf">the pervasive practice</a> by companies to mine ancestral lands in rural areas without the villagers’ consent.</p>
<p>The case was brought by the community of rural UMgungundlovu, a small cluster of villages that fall under the Amadiba traditional authority on the largely undeveloped coast of the Eastern Cape Province. The place is also known as <a href="https://za.geotargit.com/index.php?qcountry_code=ZA&qregion_code=05&qcity=Xolobeni">Xolobeni</a>. </p>
<p>The villagers have been resisting plans by the Australian mining company, Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources, to mine their land for titanium and other heavy minerals for <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-03-24-goodbye-bazooka-wild-coast-anti-mining-activist-killed/">at least a decade</a>.</p>
<p>The government granted the firm’s holding company, Mineral Resources Commodities, a mining licence in 2008, with the support of the chief who ostensibly represented the villagers, much to their disgruntlement. The state later <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2011-06-07-wild-coast-mining-rights-revoked">revoked</a> the licence due to lack of consultation with the community. The conflict deteriorated into violence – <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-03-24-goodbye-bazooka-wild-coast-anti-mining-activist-killed/">including murder</a>. </p>
<p>In this court battle, Xolobeni villagers fought not only to be consulted, as required by law, but – as the owners of the land – for the power to give consent to mining.</p>
<p>The court ruling is, therefore, a major victory for them. But subtle points remain to be worked out in a country that legally recognises tradition and <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-courts-and-lawmakers-have-failed-the-ideal-of-cultural-diversity-91508">customary law</a>, on condition that these must ultimately conform with the values of the <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution-republic-south-africa-1996">Constitution</a>.</p>
<h2>Free and informed consent</h2>
<p>The court ruled that the Minister of Mineral Resources had no legal authority to grant a mining licence, unless the Minister and the Director General of Rural Development and Land Reform had implemented the provisions of an act <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/interim-protection-informal-land-rights-act">that covers protection to informal land rights</a>. A key provision on which the Xolobeni community based their demands is a section of the act that states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… (No) person may be deprived of any informal right to land without his or her consent.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The court also confirmed that the UMgungundlovu community – and other customary rights holders – are entitled, not just to be consulted - under the <a href="http://www.dmr.gov.za/Portals/0/mineraland_petroleum_resources_development_actmprda.pdf">Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Act</a> - but to free, prior and informed consent before a mining right can be granted on their land. This is in line with international human rights law. </p>
<p>This is a significant victory for the people of Xolobeni and other rural communities who face dispossession of their ancestral land due to mining in South Africa. </p>
<p>But, for this court victory to translate into real power for rural communities, a few issues need to be made explicit. These include clarity about what is meant by “custom” and who has power over the different categories of rural land. There is also the need to appreciate the true meaning of land to rural African communities.</p>
<h2>Customary communities</h2>
<p>Some people may think that “customary communities” are homogeneous groups living in areas that were set aside for them under apartheid <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/homelands">according to an ethnic identity</a>. They may also think that these groups’ interests and views can be represented and protected by local chiefs.</p>
<p>The judgment, although groundbreaking in terms of enforcing the protection customary rights when it comes to land, makes it even more important to understand the nature and content of custom. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249216/original/file-20181206-128199-z99jrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249216/original/file-20181206-128199-z99jrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249216/original/file-20181206-128199-z99jrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249216/original/file-20181206-128199-z99jrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249216/original/file-20181206-128199-z99jrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249216/original/file-20181206-128199-z99jrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249216/original/file-20181206-128199-z99jrt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Court judgment prevents Australian firm mining without South African rural villagers’ consent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Patricia Alejandro</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The content of precolonial African custom was reshaped and distorted by colonialism and <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> in South Africa. The whole scale colonial process of “formalisation” of custom enhanced the power of colonial chiefs over land and people. According to <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11315.html">Ugandan academic and author Mahmood Mamdani</a>, the colonial version of custom</p>
<blockquote>
<p>was not about guaranteeing rights, it was about enforcing custom. It was not about limiting the power of local chiefs and the colonial state, but about enabling it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Xolobeni judgment secures customary rights through the 1996 interim law protecting customary rights over land. But questions remain about which social units have the power to decide on which categories of rural land.</p>
<p>In practice, access to African property rights depend on membership to a particular group and the way society allocates power over property. If decisions on land are to be left to the domain of custom, it should be made clear by those who subscribe to local customary law: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>which social categories – including gender, age, marital status, level of authority – are likely to hold more power than others to decide on the control and distribution of certain categories of land and why;</p></li>
<li><p>which local authority - allocates rights to and power over various categories of land, and why; </p></li>
<li><p>how does power (of access, use, distribution) over land gets distributed at the family level, and who gets to decide about land at this micro level?;</p></li>
<li><p>if power is not shared equally, what will that mean when communities are asked to consent to mining? How will compensation for loss of land be allocated?</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Democratic discussion</h2>
<p>Land carries multiple meanings among Africans. It’s, among other things; a home and a place to grow food. It is a space for cultural, political, social and spiritual fulfilment and dignity. It’s also a place for political belonging and identity, and property - that is owned and shared by members of families or other units. </p>
<p>There is a common misconception that customary land rights in Africa are always “communal”. This is not always the case. A large communal group may take decisions about land for livestock grazing and the use of natural resources such as herbs, trees and thatch grass. But, it is families and individuals who decide on land where homesteads, ploughing fields, and in some instances graves are located. African living custom does not allow any outside authority, even that of a local chief, to take away such land.</p>
<p>Xolobeni villagers fought for recognition as holders of legitimate property rights on land – not only as “community” members, but as families and individuals who have inalienable rights to certain categories of land and resources. </p>
<p>Now that customary land rights are <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-court-resets-power-balance-between-villagers-mines-and-chiefs-106633">gaining legal recognition</a>, it’s time to open a democratic discussion about customary rights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sonwabile Mnwana receives funding from the Open Society Foundation South Africa. </span></em></p>Villagers from a community in South Africa’s Eastern Cape fought to be consulted and for the power to consent to mining their land.Sonwabile Mnwana, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of Fort HareLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1002592018-08-05T10:02:39Z2018-08-05T10:02:39ZLand claims in South Africa: it’s about the meaning of the land, not just money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229461/original/file-20180726-106511-1umcb1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A gorge in the Eastern Cape. Land is much more than a resource for many, it has a strong symbolic value.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/champagneformonkeys/376224913/in/photolist-85hQq3-LZu7gQ-6SbmRq-ZAmXjJ-M7bHm7-LcWs2N-MahtnV-cwMEru-M7bKuq-Ld9d2D-zffyr-LcXJtd-MaiFDg-zJTkRq-bz7cde-PeqahE-Ld8ybP-Ld883H-LcYpSy-M36CbM-M37BHR-M7dfGS-MagHgD-LcW9om-LZuou1-LHAZtm-6BSWDA-97zmeN-6BMDT4-6BRYG1-Ph99PZ-QsmeG5-PWJHy7-ZgTBH5-Peq5Lf-6BP31e-Ph9nhe-LcZ5k5-8547gE-bv8yvd-bJ3jyc-bv8BLs-bJ3sxt-bJ3rtV-bJ3Avp-9gp8S2-932nns-QhEdPd-7kBadE-7kBamd">Flickr/E</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Land distribution and people’s access to land have always been high on the political agenda in South Africa. Colonisation and land dispossession have been a strong feature of the country’s history, even more so during apartheid when land ownership became firmly concentrated in the hands of <a href="http://jacana.bookslive.co.za/blog/2013/07/19/fred-hendricks-lungisile-ntsebeza-and-kirk-helliker-examine-land-reform-in-the-promise-of-land/">the white minority</a>. </p>
<p>After the first democratic elections in 1994, two key pieces of legislation were developed to address these. They were: the 1994 <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/lcc/docs/1994-022.pdf">Restitution of Land Rights Act</a> and the 1997 <a href="http://www.ruraldevelopment.gov.za/phocadownload/White-Papers/whitepaperlandreform.pdf">Land Reform White Paper</a>. Together they provided a framework that had three aims: land restitution, that is making it possible for people who were evicted from their land to get it back; land redistribution to address the racial inequality in land ownership; and redress. </p>
<p>One area that’s been particularly challenging has been cases of land restitution in areas deemed to be important for conservation. During apartheid, communities across the country were systematically evicted so that protected areas could be established – a feature of conservation practices <a href="http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2009;volume=7;issue=1;spage=1;epage=10;aulast=Agrawal">in other parts of the world too</a>.</p>
<p>But settling land claims in protected areas is unlike any other claims, because South African law says that land that’s been declared a conservation area must retain that <a href="http://www.ruraldevelopment.gov.za/phocadownload/Annual-report/Annual_Report_2006_2007.pdf">status</a> forever. </p>
<p>This has put land claimants who have won back their land rights in a difficult position. In other land claims, people are given a choice: they can have their land rights restored, they can elect to be given financial compensation, the equivalent of the land in another area or a combination of the three. But claimants who win a land restitution on land that falls in a protected area, and the claimant community chose restoration of land rights, they aren’t allowed to move back. </p>
<p>Communities have no option but to enter into a collaborative management - or co-management - agreement with the conservation agency <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2013.05.016">in charge</a> of the land. These partnership agreements between the state and local communities vary quite a bit, but all involved share responsibility for decision-making through power-sharing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2004.11.008">to varying degrees</a>. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041616302959">research</a> looked at a successful land claimant community negotiating a co-management agreement. What we learnt was that during the negotiations little attention was given to how claimants felt about the land they had claimed back. The negotiations focused on the potential material benefits of the land, rather than on non-material benefits, such as access to visit burial sites.</p>
<p>This, we believe, raised a red flag, and should be revisited.</p>
<h2>Challenges</h2>
<p>Co-management is often favoured because it can reconcile biodiversity conservation and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9034-x">land reform</a>. But experiences on the ground have faced challenges. Instead of empowering communities, co-management arrangement can <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0376892910000044">marginalise communities</a> further. </p>
<p>The main focus of the arrangement is usually economic gain. The focus is on financial gains, access to resources and employment. These are, of course, important, but to only focus on these drivers in negotiations paints an incomplete picture. </p>
<p>Land is much more than a resource. It also has a strong symbolic value. People develop bonds to land, known as <a href="https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/value/docs/psychometric_place_attachment_measurement.pdf">place attachment</a>. A person’s life experiences happen in a particular place. These experiences – the type of event, the people that were there, the meaning of it to the person - shape the connection with a place. </p>
<p>We looked at these elements in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041616302959">our research</a> on a successful land claim in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. What we found was that land is culturally and historically important to people and this is often ignored in the co-management arrangements put in place after a claim has been settled. </p>
<p>This concept of place attachment can be broken down to two components:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>place identity – drawing on identity, history, community life, understanding, behaviour, and</p></li>
<li><p>place dependence – the opportunities a person had there, the functional quality of the place, and livelihoods. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>These bonds are very unique to a specific place and cannot be replaced.</p>
<p>Values attached to a particular place and natural resources shape how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-006-9053-4">people use them</a>. </p>
<p>The land is important for the community for its cultural and historical value and it is important for the conservation agency for its conservation value. Both have a place in co-management, but they need to be acknowledged and considered by all involved. If the cultural and historical importance of the land aren’t taken into account, communities might not be fully committed to conservation measures. In some cases, conservation agencies used co-management agreement to reach conservation goals which, at times, were at the expense <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08039410.2005.9666319">of communities’ needs</a>. </p>
<p>Frustration over co-management negotiations can reach tipping points, as was the case in a nature reserve in the Eastern Cape in 2013 when the land claimant community closed down <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2015.1089609">access to the reserve</a>.</p>
<h2>Opportunities</h2>
<p>Despite these challenges, co-management can work as examples in other countries show. For example, research in Colombia covering 10 protected areas showed that co-management initiatives can be successful if certain conditions <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144943">are respected</a>. This includes effective community participation in the process. </p>
<p>There is still hope in South Africa, but the existing co-management arrangements need to be revisited. They must ensure effective community participation as well as access to non-material benefits. For example, communities can negotiate access rights which would enable them to perform ceremonies and speak to their ancestors, therefore benefiting from the cultural value of their land. Place attachment reveals the symbolic value of the land, which is the first step in the process of including these in co-management arrangements. </p>
<p>Taking this approach could play a crucial role in the success of land reform policies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100259/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joana Bezerra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Land is culturally and historically important to people and often this is ignored when addressing land issues.Joana Bezerra, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1005512018-07-26T14:20:30Z2018-07-26T14:20:30ZRevisiting Nelson Mandela’s roots: a photographic exploration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229418/original/file-20180726-106505-1gq3tsm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fertile valleys in rural Eastern Cape where Nelson Mandela was born.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bonile Bam</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>South African photographer, Bonile Bam, decided that he wanted to tell a different Nelson Mandela story by documenting the landscape and physical setting in which Mandela lived as a boy. Like Mandela, Bam also grew up in the Eastern Cape province. The entirely black and white photographs will form part of an upcoming <a href="http://www.polity.org.za/article/exhibition-of-photographic-works-on-nelson-mandelas-roots-revisited-by-bonile-bam-2018-07-23">exhibition</a> in Johannesburg called Mandela’s Roots (revisited). Raymond Suttner interviewed Bam on his photography and how he came to develop the Mandela exhibition, which coincides with Mandela’s birth 100 years ago.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><strong>How did you come to focus on Mandela?</strong></p>
<p>In 2003, I had the privilege of working for the <em>Sunday Times</em> newspaper in Johannesburg. During that period, I read a lot of articles about Madiba but he had already retired from politics.</p>
<p>A phone call from the Nelson Mandela Foundation requesting me to be an official photographer for the event where Madiba was meeting his guests, played a huge part in my career. </p>
<p><strong>Did you get a chance to talk to Madiba?</strong></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229308/original/file-20180725-194146-ngk1zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229308/original/file-20180725-194146-ngk1zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229308/original/file-20180725-194146-ngk1zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229308/original/file-20180725-194146-ngk1zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229308/original/file-20180725-194146-ngk1zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229308/original/file-20180725-194146-ngk1zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229308/original/file-20180725-194146-ngk1zw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bonile Bam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the end of the event, Mandela, spoke to me and said, “Good to see you young man, I’m glad you came.” </p>
<p>Smiling, he continued, “You must treat a camera like a key, it will unlock many doors for you.”</p>
<p>That was a turning point in my life. Being in the presence of a man who sacrificed everything on earth in order to help liberate his country from the chains of apartheid – was exceptional. After hearing stories and struggles he had gone through as a young boy, I took it upon myself to trace his roots in the Eastern Cape.</p>
<p><strong>Was this not a difficult task?</strong></p>
<p>I could not travel to Mvezo, Qunu and Mqhekezweni (Eastern Cape towns) and just start pointing a camera at people. On my trip, I met with elders of the Madiba clan (Mandela’s clan). Arriving there with a camera ready to photograph preserved sites would be seen as a sign of disrespect and undermining the community. My attempt was to move with caution and allow the story to unfold.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229305/original/file-20180725-194155-14g5v8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229305/original/file-20180725-194155-14g5v8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229305/original/file-20180725-194155-14g5v8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229305/original/file-20180725-194155-14g5v8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229305/original/file-20180725-194155-14g5v8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229305/original/file-20180725-194155-14g5v8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229305/original/file-20180725-194155-14g5v8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=506&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Authentic remains of the house where Nelson Mandela was born in 1918.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bonile Bam</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As an observer with a camera, the ability to speak and write is not enough. I needed to listen. The elders who grew up with Madiba pointed in the direction of Mvezo. When I gathered enough material, I knew it was time to get going. </p>
<p>On my arrival, in June 2005, I was freezing from the shoulders down to my toes. My fingertips were shrinking and becoming stiffer the closer I got to his birth place. The houses were dark but I could only identify slow movement of livestock passing far away. The path I walked through was dry and dusty with some parts of rough stones. I desperately needed a cup of coffee to stay warm but the sun was beginning to crack between clouds. The sound of the birds and Mbashe River kept me going.</p>
<p><strong>On what were you focused?</strong></p>
<p>My point of interest was to find the remains of the house where Madiba’s umbilical cord was hidden in 1918 – and related things in the surroundings.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the livestock were grazing lazily in the fields. I had to stop and appreciate the view. In the village, it would be rude of a stranger to leave a place without speaking to the people on the road side. I was interested in documenting life, values, landscape, spaces, objects, specific textures and history of the place.</p>
<p>It was time to move to Qunu. Here, the Madibas dominate large part of the social landscape. Beautiful or not – a place in any part of the world is defined by human experience and knowledge brought to it. </p>
<p><strong>Why do you think we can interpret Mandela through his early physical surroundings?</strong></p>
<p>Clearly, it’s hard to measure a person of Madiba’s stature against nature. The streams and footpaths where he played traditional stick-fight with other boys, hunted rabbits, knocked birds (out of the sky) and herded his father’s cattle is seen not far away from his home. In my visits there, I sensed an element of harmony and respect for tradition.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229307/original/file-20180725-194131-yc749q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229307/original/file-20180725-194131-yc749q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229307/original/file-20180725-194131-yc749q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229307/original/file-20180725-194131-yc749q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229307/original/file-20180725-194131-yc749q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229307/original/file-20180725-194131-yc749q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229307/original/file-20180725-194131-yc749q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Julukuqu mountain in Mqhekezweni - where Nelson Mandela grew up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bonile Bam</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Mqhekezweni, where Madiba grew up after the passing of his father, a rondavel (bungalow) and church are testimony to what influenced his life long before politics took centre stage.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229309/original/file-20180725-194128-1kqzva1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229309/original/file-20180725-194128-1kqzva1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229309/original/file-20180725-194128-1kqzva1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229309/original/file-20180725-194128-1kqzva1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229309/original/file-20180725-194128-1kqzva1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229309/original/file-20180725-194128-1kqzva1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229309/original/file-20180725-194128-1kqzva1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Natural sculpture in Mvezo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bonile Bam</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Going outside, the twin gumtrees maintained their majestic appeal. This is where Madiba was groomed to be an advisor to Acting Regent Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo long before Madiba became a symbol of democracy and freedom.</p>
<p><strong>Why do you think the photographs are important?</strong></p>
<p>These photographs matter because they tell a story about a place, a man and his identity at a certain point in time. In my view, the pictures depicted here are much more than a simple record of home. They reflect values, history and lifestyle.</p>
<p>Madiba was a humanist. However, some people have a basic knowledge of where he came from and who he was but in reality, not much is known about the settings that shaped his childhood. </p>
<p>This body of work attempts to reveal his origins.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100551/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raymond Suttner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Photographs tell the story of Nelson Mandela the humanist and take us into the settings that shaped his childhood.Raymond Suttner, Emeritus Professor, University of South Africa and Visiting professor and strategic advisor in Faculty of Humanities., University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/984972018-06-20T13:10:35Z2018-06-20T13:10:35ZPolice strategy to reduce violent crime in South Africa could work. Here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223802/original/file-20180619-126543-1fgagsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa's police commissioner, Khehla Sitole, and police minister, Bheki Cele, unveil a new plan to combat violent crimes.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bongani Shilubane/African News Agency </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s Police Minister Bheki Cele and National Commissioner Khehla Sitole recently announced a new <a href="https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=16018">“high density stabilisation intervention”</a> to tackle crime. The strategy focuses on cash-in-transit heists, car hijackings, murder, house robberies, and gang and taxi violence. </p>
<p>It includes the deployment of desk-based police officials to the streets, particularly in “identified hotspots”, while dedicated detectives track and arrest suspects wanted for both organised and repeat violent crimes. </p>
<p>The strategy comes on the back of a multi-year rise in aggravated robbery, and a recent spike in robberies targeting <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44328938">cash-carrying armoured vans</a>. It has already resulted in <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-06-07-police-arrest-14-cash-in-transit-suspects-in-24-hours/">key arrests</a>, and should thus be celebrated. </p>
<p>But, more than 90% of violent crimes recorded each year fall outside the categories named in the strategy. </p>
<p>To significantly reduce violence and harm in South Africa, the police should expand the strategy in three ways: (1) focus on murder hot spots, (2) tackle domestic violence effectively, and (3) implement targeted and evidence-based interventions.</p>
<h2>Tackling murder</h2>
<p>First, for the police service to improve public safety most effectively, it should focus a significant amount of its resources on reducing murder. Murder is the most reliable crime statistic and the best proxy for violence more broadly. Where murder is common, so is other violence. Murder and associated types of violence <a href="https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/policybrief106.pdf">affect far more people</a>, and cause far more harm than car hijackings, house robberies or cash-in-transit heists.</p>
<p>A significant amount of murders in South Africa is predictable, so police should be able to reduce it. For example, in 2015/16, <a href="https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/23194/">78% of murders</a> occurred in just four provinces - KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. In the <a href="https://www.saps.gov.za/services/crimestats.php">most recent</a> crime statistics, 2% of police stations recorded 20% of all murders in the country, and 13% recorded 50% of murders. </p>
<p>Within these precincts it’s almost certain that violence and murder are clustered in hot spots known to local police. Targeting these could significantly reduce murder and other violence.</p>
<p>Many murders are also committed during predictable time periods, specifically over weekends. In 2017 the SAPS reported that most murders (66%) in the Western Cape province occurred from Friday to Sunday, with 56% occurring between 6pm and 3am. Similarly, in 2016 half of murders nationwide occurred on Saturday and Sunday, with 70% taking place between 6pm and 8am.</p>
<p>Murder and violence are also often linked to alcohol. A <a href="https://www.saferspaces.org.za/resources/entry/annual-crime-report-2015-2016-addendum-to-the-saps-annual-report">2016 analysis</a> of murder dockets found that in up to 48% of murders, the victim or perpetrator was intoxicated.</p>
<p>Based on this information, one can estimate that around a third of all murders in South Africa occur over weekends, in predictable hotspots, in roughly 100 police precincts, in four provinces. If focused police and socio-economic interventions could halve weekend murders in these areas, the national murder count could be reduced by as much as 15% in just a few years and by far more in a decade.</p>
<p>Instead, murder has increased by 22% since 2012. What’s more, by focusing on murder, police will almost certainly reduce other violent crime in the same targeted areas, significantly reducing overall harm.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223600/original/file-20180618-85863-17y58s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223600/original/file-20180618-85863-17y58s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223600/original/file-20180618-85863-17y58s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223600/original/file-20180618-85863-17y58s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223600/original/file-20180618-85863-17y58s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223600/original/file-20180618-85863-17y58s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223600/original/file-20180618-85863-17y58s7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police officials console family members of slain officers at a police National Day of Commemoration ceremony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCIS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The World Health Organisation and numerous violence experts believe the global <a href="https://www.vrc.crim.cam.ac.uk/VRCconferences/conference/violencereductionreport">murder rate can be halved in 30 years</a> in part by adopting just these kinds of targeted interventions. South African police can and must be part of this, and wherever possible, should do so in parallel with complimentary interventions by other government departments, business and civil society stakeholders.</p>
<h2>Combating domestic violence</h2>
<p>The second adjustment to the strategy should be a focus on domestic violence. Although most violence is perpetrated by men <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-05-10-analysis-how-south-africas-violent-notion-of-masculinity-harms-us-all/#.WygSPKczbIU">against men</a>, addressing violence in the home (and in schools), particularly against women and children, is key to breaking its cycle. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://apps.who.int/violence-info/">World Health Organisation</a>, witnessing violence in childhood makes one 3.8 times more likely to be a victim of domestic violence later in life, while living in a high crime neighbourhood makes one 5.6 times more likely of the same.</p>
<p>Policing domestic violence is not easy. It occurs behind walls and closed doors, and often requires vulnerable victims to risk additional abuse by seeking police help. Nor is there <a href="http://whatworks.college.police.uk/toolkit/Pages/Intervention.aspx?InterventionID=27">significant evidence</a> that policing alone effectively reduces domestic violence. </p>
<p>But hundreds if not thousands of people call on the country’s police service for such intervention each month, giving the government important opportunities to signal to the public that violence is not tolerated and victims will be supported. To do so, police must appreciate the <a href="http://apps.who.int/violence-info/">link between</a> domestic violence and societal violence.</p>
<p>Dedicated police officials should promptly investigate domestic violence reports, especially in murder hot spots, and work with social workers to fast-track interventions, mediations and, if necessary, prosecutions. They must also respond rapidly to any breaches in negotiated agreements or court orders by abusers.</p>
<h2>Targeted interventions</h2>
<p>The third adjustment pertains to visible policing. The idea that general “visible policing” will make South Africa safe is appealing but <a href="http://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/what-works-in-policing/research-evidence-review/standard-model-policing-tactics/">not supported</a> by evidence. Rather, policing is most effective <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/USAID-2016-What-Works-in-Reducing-Community-Violence-Final-Report.pdf">when directed</a> at specific places (hotspots), people (gang members, for example), and crimes (cash in transit heists, street robbery, murder). This is true of both police patrols and investigations.</p>
<p>It’s, therefore, promising that the new police strategy focuses on crime hot spots and crime types amenable to police intervention, such as aggravated robbery perpetrated by organised groups. It is important that the police not try to increase visible police in general, or to target general crime equally, everywhere.</p>
<p>Rather, targeted medium and long-term interventions are key. These should be planned and guided by best practice and crime data, and be implemented in a manner that allows rapid adaption and learning based on contextual dynamics. Participating police must work within the rule of law and treat all those they encounter, including suspects, fairly.</p>
<h2>Cause for optimism</h2>
<p>The police’s new strategy is cause for optimism. Its focus on organised and violent crime is rational and necessary but should be fine tuned and expanded. By treating murder and domestic violence as proxies for broader violence, and by deploying resources and focusing efforts to address them using data-guided methods, police could significantly reduce overall violence and harm in South Africa.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98497/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Faull's work is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF). </span></em></p>More than 90% of violent crimes in South Africa fall outside the categories named in the police’s new anti-crime strategy.Andrew Faull, Research Associate at UCT's Centre of Criminology, Institute for Security Studies Consultant, and Independent Researcher/Criminologist, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/972772018-06-06T13:59:07Z2018-06-06T13:59:07ZBiography of an ancestral river: a call to arms against exploitation in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221173/original/file-20180531-69511-eb3ovr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Kowie River follows a ‘horseshoe bend’ between Port Alfred and
Bathurst.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAI</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Respected South African academic and author <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/jacklyn-cock-201078">Jacklyn Cock’s</a> deep love for the Kowie river is the key thread that runs throughout her new book, <a href="http://witspress.co.za/catalogue/writing-the-ancestral-river/">“Writing the Ancestral River”</a>. The 94 kilometre long river snakes through South Africa’s Eastern Cape province and flows into the Indian Ocean at the small town of Port Alfred.</p>
<p>Part of Cock’s love for the river derives from deep connections that have lasted a lifetime and stretch to her ancestry in the area. This love has always involved the physical sharing of the river with her friends, giving them glimpses into nature and history that can be both exhilarating and disquieting. </p>
<p>In essence her book involves a braver and more comprehensive sharing of her thoughts on the river with a wider public. Cock’s luminous literary style, her historical sensitivity, and her ecological expertise all serve to delight the reader. </p>
<h2>A history retold</h2>
<p>Her analysis ranges over two centuries marked by colonial dispossession and despoliation of the environment, with disparate events linked to the river providing a prism through which they can be understood and connected. Part of the story involves colonial military repression of the Xhosa in the Zuurveld, through which the Kowie is the main watercourse. </p>
<p>Part of it looks at the story of William Cock, the author’s great-great-grandfather. He was leading member of the 1820 settler community, sent by the British authorities to become a buffer between themselves and the Xhosa on the contested eastern colonial frontier. </p>
<p>A third focus is the building in 1989 of a private holiday marina on the fragile Kowie estuary. This construction has been ecologically destructive and has only served the interests of the venal rich in one of the country’s poorest localities. </p>
<p>The book’s timely publication may draw attention to how South Africans choose to commemorate the bicentennial of the Battle of Grahamstown (1819) and the arrival of the main body of settlers the following year.
Cock calls the battle “a turning point in South African history”. </p>
<p>The book raises important questions about the destructive impact of colonialism in relation to pre-existing culture and nature. It makes a new contribution to debates about how capitalism developed on the colonial frontier. It also focuses on how the ecology of the river has been disturbed, disrespected and sacrificed across time. </p>
<p>The conflict on the eastern Cape frontier was a classic land grab of the Zuurveld by British forces. It was an area known for its palatable grazing. Today we would call it ethnic cleansing. </p>
<p>Xhosa groups had been farmers there for over a century. A series of colonial military actions resulted in their expulsion, the destruction of their livelihoods – including crops and cattle – and their exclusion from the district. </p>
<p>The 1819 Battle was an attempt by the Xhosa under the leadership of Makhanda to recuperate previous losses. Cock movingly describes Makhanda’s bravery and subsequent incarceration on Robben Island, from which he died trying to escape. </p>
<h2>Taming the river</h2>
<p>Another strong character in the history of the Kowie was Cock’s Cornish forbear, William. He was a complex colonial politician and entrepreneur. William Cock was involved in coastal and inter-colonial trade. He saw opportunities in taming the Kowie for these ends, in order to create from its estuary a safe haven for his fleet of cargo boats. </p>
<p>Port Alfred reached its apogee in the 1870s, but sedimentation of the river mouth required constant dredging. Harbour development saw increasing use of convict labour, and ultimately failed because of political infighting and the introduction of steamships, too large to enter the narrow estuary. William Cock turned to other pursuits, like banking, and embodied what Jacklyn has bravely termed “settler capitalism”.</p>
<p>The book brings us up to date by considering the impacts of the construction of a marina in the estuary, largely a holiday playground of the owners of second homes. The author’s appraisal of this project shows how it came to fruition during the democratic transition, at a time of fragile and biddable local regulatory institutions, prior to any strengthening of the apparatus for environmental protection. </p>
<p>Her words have had to be chosen with caution, owing to the potentially litigious bent of the marina developers. Despite this, the project is fully and eloquently critiqued. She has exposed it as a massive assault on riverine ecology and an utter failure to deliver on the promises of prosperity in the region. </p>
<h2>Warning signals</h2>
<p>Jacklyn Cock has proved brave in marshalling the history of the Kowie to illustrate not just her deep personal connections to the terroir, but also to rehearse the warnings provided by destructive colonial and post-colonial attitudes to the natural environment. </p>
<p>Her fluid biography urges readers not remain silent. Instead we should be inspired by the shapes and sounds of the river so that we can better speak out for its, and, in the end, our common survival.</p>
<p><em>“Writing the Ancestral River” is published by Wits University Press.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Fig does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The analysis of the Kowie River rehearses the warnings provided by the colonial and post-colonial destruction of culture and nature.David Fig, Honorary Research Associate, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/944432018-04-04T13:04:16Z2018-04-04T13:04:16ZNomzamo from Bizana: remembering Winnie Madikizela as a young woman<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213162/original/file-20180404-189798-1d372ch.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Winnie Madikizela achieved a lot before she met Nelson Mandela.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kim Ludbrook/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within hours of <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43621112">Winnie Madikizela’s death</a> debates about her life began to rage. One of the key themes that began to emerge was her relationship with Nelson Mandela. As was the case during her lifetime, there’s still an overarching assumption that her politics were shaped by her husband. </p>
<p>Of course a partner of 38 years, even mainly in absentia as he was imprisoned for 27, would have some influence over a person’s life. But reducing Madikizela’s entire life and legacy to her relationship with Mandela has more to do with patriarchal narratives about powerful women than reality. </p>
<p>So who was Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela, and what shaped her?</p>
<p>She was born on 26 September 1936, the last in a family of four daughters in a part of South Africa – the Eastern Cape – that had already experienced several waves of subjugation, some more effective than others. </p>
<p>Forty years earlier the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Glen-Grey-Act">Glen Grey Act</a> had been passed which led to the annexation of the Transkei and Pondolond under the control of the Cape Colony. It was the culmination of several attempts to seize the rich agricultural land of the Eastern Cape over more than 100 years.</p>
<p>The draconian measures put in place by the colonial state to bring the region under control were not completely successful. The indomitable spirit of resistance forged over centuries of conflict made it impossible to fully subjugate the people of this region. </p>
<p>By the time the Union of South Africa was <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/union-south-africa-1910">established in 1910</a> it became clear that more controls were needed to smash resistance to land appropriation by white settlers. In 1913 the Union state passed the inhuman <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/natives-land-act-1913">Natives Land Act</a>. With this act, the South African state prohibited Africans from owning and renting land in 93% of the country. It laid the groundwork for massive segregation. </p>
<p>The various waves of subjugation from colonial wars, skirmishes and laws, missionaries, encroachments of settlers and the mass expropriation of land meant that even the lush bountiful valleys of the Transkei were made poor. Men were then forced into migrant labour on the golden reefs of Witwatersrand.</p>
<p>Madikizela was born into this contested space and into a family of accomplished women who encouraged open questioning about oppression.</p>
<h2>Ancestors</h2>
<p>Madikizela’s grandfather, Chief Mazingi, was a prosperous man who owned a trading store as well as a well-functioning farm. He held onto certain customs and social norms but was also open to change. The Methodist missionaries established in the area made a strong impression on him. </p>
<p>Madikizela was also descendent from a line of powerful women. Her paternal grandmother, Seyina, for example, inherited her husband’s vast land holdings after his death. She also continued running the trading post and leased land to white settlers.</p>
<p>Gertrude Mzaidume, Madikizela’s mother, was another accomplished woman. She was the first domestic science teacher in Bizana. An exceptionally beautiful woman, she was very particular about her appearance, a trait that Madikizela inherited. Gertrude was a disciplinarian and strictly adhered to her Methodist values. Madikizela called her mother “a religious fanatic” and attributed her teenage rebellion against the church to her mother’s religious discipline.</p>
<p>Madikizela’s father, Columbus, was a schoolteacher. He and his siblings embraced the various changes sweeping through their part of the world while also maintaining a strong connection to local traditions and customs. His relationship with Christianity was ambivalent.</p>
<p>This distrust of settler society, culture and religion meant Madikizela grew up in a space that was always open to questioning oppression. Madikizela’s father was her first teacher; he taught her history from textbooks as well as history that didn’t feature in the books.</p>
<p>In her biography <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70067.Part_of_My_Soul_Went_with_Him">Part of my Soul</a>, Madikizela recalled her father using songs to teach her about the Eastern Cape’s colonial subjugation through a series of wars.</p>
<h2>Political awakening</h2>
<p>Madikizela’s young life was marked by two major events. When she was about 10, one of her elder sister’s died. Then her mother passed away. In an unconventional move for the time, Columbus refused to send his children to live with other relatives. Instead he kept his family together and, with significant help from Madikizela, ran his own homestead. </p>
<p>Eventually, after almost a year of staying at home, Madikizela returned to school in Flagstaff. Later she went to Shawbury College, a Methodist mission school, to complete her last two years of secondary school. </p>
<p>Her political education continued. Shawbury’s teachers were politically inclined, though this was more theoretical than practical in nature. Madikizela recalled that the teachers – despite being politically aloof – were still admired for introducing radical political ideas into the student body.</p>
<p>Madikizela’s interest in politics and liberation meant that she, like many before her – and many today – faced the difficult choice of entering into the political agitation at her school or persevering with her studies. </p>
<p>In 1952 people across the country were participating in the <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/defiance-campaign-1952">Defiance Campaign</a> – series of coordinated strikes, mass action campaigns, boycotts, and civil disobedience. Madikizela desperately wanted to join the protests, but also keenly felt the sacrifices her family had borne to give her the opportunity to educate herself. She reluctantly sat the protest out and completed her studies.</p>
<p>In 1953 she moved to Johannesburg to study social work. She quickly realised that the city of gold was built on the severe exploitation and oppression of black South Africans. Through her work as a young social worker she was exposed to inhumane conditions faced by the black working class: uninhabitable homes, poor sanitation, a lack of security and high infant mortality rates. </p>
<p>Her commitment to their struggles saw her turn down a prestigious scholarship to study at a university in Boston. Instead she joined the staff of Baragwanath Hospital as the country’s first black woman social worker.</p>
<p>During this period she became more involved within the broad African National Congress (ANC) networks and the work of the ANC Women’s League. By the time she had qualified she had become involved in various political causes. </p>
<h2>Remarkable achievements</h2>
<p>As we recall Madikizela’s life it’s important to remember that in 1957 – by the age of just 21 and before she met Mandela – she was already extremely accomplished.</p>
<p>Her achievements weren’t rare just for a black South African woman in a racist society. They were highly unusual for any woman regardless of class and race in the society at that time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94443/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vashna Jagarnath is affiliated with the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa. </span></em></p>Reducing Madikizela’s entire life and legacy to her relationship with Mandela has more to do with patriarchal tropes about powerful women than reality.Vashna Jagarnath, Senior researcher, Centre for Social Change, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/874482017-11-28T14:53:23Z2017-11-28T14:53:23ZHow a rural community built South Africa’s first ISP owned and run by a cooperative<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195051/original/file-20171116-18368-zkj4vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Zenzeleni cooperative member carefully aligns some equipment in the village of Mankosi, Eastern Cape.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bill Tucker</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mankosi is a remote rural community in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. It is home to almost 6,000 people. The nearest city is Mthatha, about 60 kilometres away, as a bird flies.</p>
<p>Most homes are not connected to the electricity grid; residents charge their cellphones at a local shop or shebeen, for which they must pay. Both data and airtime for those phones also cost a lot: a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02681102.2016.1155145">survey</a> shows that people spend up to 22% of their income on telecommunications. This is money that could be spent on food, education, transport and other needs.</p>
<p>They’re not alone. South Africa has some of the highest mobile voice and data costs in <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Tech/Multimedia/data-prices-how-sa-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world-20160930">the world</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, things are changing in Mankosi. A <a href="http://www.coe.uwc.ac.za/index.php/BANG/BANG.html">research team</a> at the University of the Western Cape has worked with residents to develop a solar powered wireless community network. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://zenzeleni.net/">Zenzeleni Networks project</a> – Zenzeleni means “do it yourself” in isiXhosa, the Eastern Cape’s most prevalent language – is, as far as we’re aware, South Africa’s first and only Internet Service Provider (ISP) that’s owned and run by a rural cooperative. Just like any ISP, Zenzeleni installs and maintains telecommunications infrastructure and also sells telecommunications services like voice and data.</p>
<p>Yet what’s special about the project is that it involves a registered not-for-profit company which works with cooperatives in the community to deliver affordable voice and data services. Crucially, the project also keeps money in communities like Mankosi, often beset by <a href="http://www.polity.org.za/print-version/r2k-data-must-fall-right2know-june-16-statement-2017-06-15">high rates of unemployment</a>. </p>
<p>The community networks model has proven successful elsewhere in the world: the largest is in Spain – the <a href="http://guifi.net/">Guifi.net</a> project. Others that have been developed successfully include projects in <a href="http://www.machaworks.org/">Zambia</a> and <a href="https://www.rhizomatica.org/">Mexico</a>. </p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>The Mankosi project was launched in 2012 and <a href="repository.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/10566/1948">legally registered</a> in 2014. I have done research on information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) in the Mankosi area since 2003. Since then, colleagues and postgraduate students have also worked, even lived, in the area for extensive periods of time.</p>
<p>To establish the Zenzeleni network we approached local leaders to help get the community on board and we provided help and mentorship. Ultimately the residents run the project themselves.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YxTPSWMX26M?wmode=transparent&start=327" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Zenzeleni is all about communities doing it for themselves.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With the local authority’s permission, a cooperative comprising ten local and respected people was formed. This group designed the network layout, and built and installed a dozen solar powered mesh network stations. These are mounted on and inside houses around Mankosi. These are organised in what we call a mesh network and WiFi stations cover an area of 30 square kilometres. </p>
<p>Zenzeleni constitutes a fully fledged Internet Service Provider (ISP), equipped with an Internet and Voice-over Internet Protocol gateway, and a billing system in isiXhosa run by community managers. </p>
<p>The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), which grants licences to ISPs and collects fees where necessary, granted Zenzeleni a licence exemption; so it costs Zenzeleni nothing in fees to operate infrastructure and sell services. The community only has to pay for the backhaul Internet connectivity, which they can get at wholesale prices from companies like <a href="http://easttel.co.za/">EastTel</a> and <a href="http://openserve.co.za/open/">OpenServe</a>, and for educational use from <a href="http://www.tenet.ac.za">TENET</a>. </p>
<p>Any device – even a low to mid-range smart phone – that’s WiFi-enabled can access the network. There are two dedicated wireless connections to “point of presence”, or POP, fibre in Mthatha.</p>
<p>Zenzeleni’s voice calls and data costs are much cheaper than what’s offered by the big mobile operators. For example voice calls can cost 20c a minute rather than the standard R1.50 or more while data costs can be between 20 and 40 times cheaper.</p>
<p>The solar powered stations also charge cell phone batteries less than what’s usually charged by spaza shops or shebeens. Those shops also tend to be some distance from the village, so people save time as well as money.</p>
<h2>A true community project</h2>
<p>Community is at the heart of Zenzeleni’s model. All revenues stay in the community: each cooperative has a bank account, and all residents get together to decide what to do with the money that’s been paid for Zenzeleni services. </p>
<p>For example, the Mankosi cooperative has provided micro-loans to residents for starting small businesses. </p>
<p>No one is currently earning a salary from the community network. Yet when usage grows, as we expect it will do with super cheap data, revenues are likely to grow so much that the cooperative will want to install more nodes and hire people to actively maintain them making the network more resilient. Since March 2014, the project has earned around R33,600 (about USD$2422.16).</p>
<h2>Keeping money at home</h2>
<p>On the surface it may appear that Zenzeleni cannibalises the revenues of big telecommunications companies like MTN and Telkom. We believe the opposite is true. Firstly, Zenzeleni purchases backhaul Internet connectivity from areas like Mankosi that Telkom and others have failed to connect – so it’s operating in entirely new areas that have been ignored because they’re considered too remote to generate good revenue.</p>
<p>Secondly, all telecommunications companies earn interconnect fees. Calls to mobile and landline numbers across South Africa incur these fees, which are charged when calling from one network to another. This is also true for Zenzeleni so that’s extra money in the bank for all telecommunications companies.</p>
<p>Lastly, and most importantly, most of the money generated by this project stays in Mankosi. This is perhaps the most crucial aspect of the Zenzeleni model, and one we believe will foster economic growth which will benefit people living in and around the village, and enable them to purchase telecommunications, and other goods and services, that they currently cannot afford.</p>
<p>Zenzeleni Networks’ next goal is to build critical mass to support between 20 and 30 communities surrounding Mankosi. When this happens, about 300,000 people will be able to sustainably connect themselves – and their schools, clinics, hospitals and homes – to cheaper voice, data and phone battery charging. This puts telecommunications into their own hands, by themselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Tucker receives funding from Telkom, Aria Technologies, NRF, DST, Mozilla Foundation, AFRINIC, Internet Society, TIA and more. He works for UWC in the Department of Computer Science. He has no shares or business interest in Zenzeleni Networks Mankosi or Zenzeleni Networks NPC; both of which are non-profit entities. </span></em></p>South Africa has some of the highest mobile voice and data costs in the world. A project to deliver affordable services and keep money in communities with high unemployment rates could be the answer.Bill Tucker, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/862492017-10-24T14:11:36Z2017-10-24T14:11:36ZSouth Africa’s police: at times proud, at times shamed by the work they do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191614/original/file-20171024-30587-11t37qy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most South African police officers view their job as primarily just that -
a job and a means to survive.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GCIS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Police officers are central to modern states and societies, including South Africa. But contrary to popular belief, the standard model of policing - random patrol, rapid response and follow up investigation - has <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/10419/fairness-and-effectiveness-in-policing-the-evidence">limited impact on general crime</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, crime and <a href="http://apps.who.int/violence-info/">violence</a> are shaped by a <a href="https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono192.pdf">myriad of factors</a> including: <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014488614002842">in utero stress</a>; childhood loss of a caregiver, <a href="https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Mono192.pdf">neglect and malnutrition</a>; untreated mental health and <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sJKoDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=robert+sapolsky+crime&ots=uRd64c_EUm&sig=uU2gxWNDdXU57Gl4-Tur-8bg4WA#v=onepage&q=robert%20sapolsky%20crime&f=false">cognitive disorders</a>; stark income and opportunity <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118517390.wbetc123/abstract?userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=">inequality</a> and related constructs of and damage to masculinities; and <a href="http://globalreport.knowviolenceinchildhood.org/">early exposure to violence</a>, including at home and school. About much of this, police alone can do little. </p>
<p>Rather, many South African police officers are the products of the same forces that shape the “criminals” against whom they are pitted.</p>
<p>In 2012/13 I spent eight months shadowing SAPS officers as they went about their work at four stations: two in Cape Town (one poor township, one affluent city) and two in the Eastern Cape (one rural town, one rural village, both poor). Aware of the limits of policing, I wanted to explore who officers thought they were – the stories they told themselves about themselves – and how these shaped their work. My findings have just been published in the book, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Police-Work-and-Identity-A-South-African-Ethnography/Faull/p/book/9781138233294">Police Work and Identity</a>.</p>
<p>So what did I find? </p>
<h2>Accidental officers</h2>
<p>Born and raised in the poverty stained shadow of South Africa’s minority wealth, most officers I met found themselves in the SAPS after original aspirations had slipped beyond reach. Some told stories of having disliked or been in conflict with the SAPS before signing up. </p>
<p>Yet, once inside, given a gun and uniform and asked to do the dirty work of a fragile and anxious democracy, they found themselves rewriting their self-narratives. They told themselves the SAPS was not ideal, but it was not bad either. It offered them secure employment, a decent salary and, often, interesting and rewarding work in a country where these are rare.</p>
<p>And so, for most officers a job in the SAPS is primarily just that, a job - a means to strive and survive in contexts of great precarity. The meaning and income the work brings to officers’ lives is usually more important to them than the work they carry out. Consequently, they seek first to please managers, and so to ease the pressures placed on them. </p>
<p>They enact institutional performances that promote the myth that the SAPS is a rational, effective, evidence based and rule-bound organisation consisting of well-trained officers performing common sense crime prevention tasks. This, while hiding the grimy by products of police work. Through official reports and statements, and carefully choreographed public performances, the SAPS and its officers present a <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-police-need-more-than-social-media-savvy-to-polish-their-image-52873">strategically crafted façade</a> behind which they cocoon themselves and seek to build their lives on the precarious socio-economic terrain of contemporary South Africa.</p>
<p>Because officers are aware of their limits, and that the SAPS’ public face is part fiction, some officers seek to distance their identity from the organisation. Instead, they present themselves in private as what might be thought of as “accidental police officers”, people who had hoped for more in life and who thus deserved more respect and dignity than the South African public gave them. But, with prospects of comparable financial remuneration and job security outside of the SAPS unlikely for most, they simultaneously and contradictorily invest in and protect the SAPS image. This is achieved both through dedication to legitimate task, and by ignoring abuse by colleagues.</p>
<h2>Incongruence</h2>
<p>While officers aspired to lives characterised by middle class materialism, few had the money to do so. Instead they deferred their dreams to their children, investing in their education, while sharing what little remained with networks of precarious kin. </p>
<p>Some officers invested in more than their immediate relatives. They volunteered their time and money to support youth in their communities who they believed to be at risk. Like the <em>skollies</em> (the colloquial name for thugs) they hunted at work, the teens reminded officers of themselves. </p>
<p>By investing in them officers hoped to deflect the teens from the violence of the criminal justice system. In a sense, they offered them carrots so that they might avoid becoming the objects of the violence through which some officers asserted their right to manhood and respect on the job.</p>
<p>A notable portion of the police behaviour I observed was in congruent with the imagined ideals of an exemplary police service. In less orderly spaces – the township and rural town for example – police were more likely to disregard traffic laws, litter, speak their prejudice, and resort to violence.</p>
<p>Their turning to such behaviour in such spaces has its roots in the disparate ways the apartheid state governed Black and White space, and the opposition to state law and authority this fostered. Extended into the democratic era, it seems that disorderly space encourages disorderly police conduct, while order encourages police compliance. As such, police reproduce both order and disorder in their work, rather than enforcing order.</p>
<h2>Raised on the periphery</h2>
<p>Who do SAPS officers think they are and how does it shape police practice? </p>
<p>Like so many South Africans, they are men and women born and raised on the periphery, chasing a vision of a more prosperous future. At times, proud, at times, shamed by the work they are required to do, they are nourished by the knowledge that while they may not be able to make South Africa safe, they can provide themselves and those they care for, with a better life than the one they were born into. </p>
<p>In the meantime, they do what they must do to get through the day, hold fast to the story they tell themselves about themselves, and with it secured, strive to colonise the future with a vision that is golden.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86249/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Faull has previously received funding from the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p>Born and raised in poor circumstances, many South African police officers find themselves in the job after original aspirations slipped beyond reach.Andrew Faull, Independent Researcher and Research Associate, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/820042017-08-24T19:29:02Z2017-08-24T19:29:02ZCould breakfast and lunch at schools reduce stunting?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183270/original/file-20170824-13916-1msmeux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">TigerBrands Foundation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Stunting –- a condition in which children are shorter than the recommended height for their age –- is a key indicator of long-term malnutrition. It has severe effects on a child’s cognitive growth and development. </p>
<p>South Africa continues to have a high prevalence of stunting. This is despite the fact that it’s a middle income country, which should put it on a par with countries like Brazil, which has a stunting prevalence rate of <a href="https://www.wfp.org/stories/10-facts-about-food-and-nutrition-brazil">just 7%</a>. In South Africa nearly <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-05-17-suffer-the-children-sas-inequality-strikes-hardest-where-it-hurts-the-most/">a fifth</a> of children under the age of 14 are stunted, showing persistently high levels of food insecurity in households. </p>
<p>The traditional dominant thinking about stunting suggests that it’s an issue set in early childhood and that after the age of two there is limited opportunity to correct it. But research has started to <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/97/5/911.full">disrupt this conventional wisdom</a>, suggesting that there are opportunities to “catch up” in middle childhood – that is around the age of 7 years – and later again in puberty. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/humanities/csda/Documents/TBF%20Nutrition%20Report%202015%20FINAL%20WEB%20VERSION.PDF">research</a> builds on this new thinking. It suggests that the physical effects of stunting can be reduced up until the age of 14 and that there is an association between lower stunting levels and serving children a combination of a breakfast and lunch meals at school.</p>
<p>Our findings are only preliminary and require further verification in different settings. But our study lays the ground for a possible solution to consistently high rates of stunting among children in South Africa. </p>
<h2>A meal on arrival</h2>
<p>All children attending 60% of the poorest schools in South Africa receive a lunch meal as part of the <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Programmes/NationalSchoolNutritionProgramme.aspx">National School Nutrition Programme</a>. The meal consists of a protein, starch and vegetables.</p>
<p>Schools in South Africa are classified into five quintiles (categories): quintile one and two schools are the poorest while quintile five are the wealthiest. The nutrition programme targets schools in quintiles one to three.</p>
<p>Children at some quintile one and two schools are also being given breakfast when they arrive at school through partnerships that the education department enters into with corporates and foundations.</p>
<p>Our study assessed the effects of children between the ages of six and 14 receiving a combination of breakfast and lunch against those who only received lunch. We looked at 39 schools. At eight of them, children received breakfast and lunch while at the other 31 they only got lunch. The schools were in the Lady Frere district of the Eastern Cape, the <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/review/june-2012/the-people-matter-policy-population-dynamics-and-policy">country’s poorest province</a>. Lady Frere is a largely rural area. </p>
<p>We measured the childrens’ height and weight and found that the stunting rate among children who received lunch was 14%. This compared with a rate of 19% for the province. The lower stunting rate could be explained by the age range of the children in our study. While the provincial average is for children from the age of 0 to 15 our sample does not include pre-school children who are more vulnerable to stunting. Stunting rates in Lady Frere may also be lower than in other parts of the Eastern Cape.</p>
<p>But more significantly, among the pupils who received two meals the stunting rates was even lower – at 9%. This is despite these children being from arguably poorer households. Similar results were found in <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/faculties/humanities/csda/Documents/Evaluation%20of%20the%20Tiger%20Brands%20Foundation%E2%80%99s%20Pilot%20School%20Breakfast%20Feeding%20Scheme.pdf">the urban leg</a> of the study. </p>
<h2>Counter-intuitive stats</h2>
<p>Our findings counteract conventional wisdom about stunting but they are not without precedent. Research in Brazil, Guatemala, India, Philippines, and the Gambia show that there are opportunities for <a href="http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/97/5/911.full">height-for-age catch up</a> after the first 1000 days of a child’s life.</p>
<p>Our findings suggests that for our sample of children between the ages of six and 14, there are opportunities for catch up and that there is an association between providing an additional meal at school and lower stunting rates, although this does not mean that the programmes cause these effects. </p>
<p>But we believe our findings need to be subjected to further assessment. This is because the study was not designed to assess impact and there could therefore be other possible reasons for the reduction in stunting seen in Lady Frere. We also do not know whether the physical effects observed in our study would also result in positive cognitive effects, although <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26399543">some research suggests</a> it would not.</p>
<h2>Policy initiatives</h2>
<p>The National School Nutrition Programme is one of three initiatives by the South African government to address malnutrition in children. The other two are <a href="http://www.sassa.gov.za/index.php/social-grants/child-support-grant">child support grants</a> as well as the <a href="http://www.daff.gov.za/daffweb3/Programme/Integrated-food-Security-and-Nutrition-Programme">Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme</a> - a process aimed at ensuring an integrated approach across agriculture, social development, education and health to ensuring delivery of food security programmes.</p>
<p>These programmes amount to massive state investments in alleviating the effects of childhood poverty. But the consistently high stunting levels suggest that they aren’t enough to address the effects of household food insecurity. </p>
<p>Our findings echo international research which shows that stunting can be shifted in middle childhood and puberty. This suggests that a great deal might be gained from providing children with two meals at school, although further research is required. Nevertheless it does show that there is potential for South Africa to disrupt the high stunting levels its school children face.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Graham received funding from the Tiger Brands Foundation for this study. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Stuart received funding from Tiger Brands Foundation for this study.</span></em></p>South African learners receiving two meals, despite being from arguably poorer backgrounds, had statistically significantly lower stunting levels than children receiving only one meal.Lauren Graham, Associate professor at the Centre for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg, University of JohannesburgLauren Stuart, Researcher in Social Development, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/643112016-09-14T21:18:31Z2016-09-14T21:18:31ZThe triple vulnerability of being poor and disabled in rural South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137589/original/image-20160913-4948-um4tr9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People with disabilities living in Madwaleni in the Eastern Cape have difficulty accessing healthcare. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Vergunst</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the last two decades the South African government has passed several pieces of legislation to ensure that people with disabilities are included in society and are able to access services such as health care.</p>
<p>This has included a <a href="http://www.gov.za/services/social-benefits/disability-grant">national disability grant</a> as well as regulations that all government buildings provide ramps so that people with disabilities can easily access them.</p>
<p>According to official statistics <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=3180">7.5%</a> of South Africans live with disability. In the rest of the world, this figure sits at <a href="http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/report/en/">15%</a>. It’s quite possible that the South African figure doesn’t reflect the full extent of disability in the country because of under-reporting. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/chapter3.pdf?ua=1">Global studies</a> show that the top three barriers stopping people with disabilities from using health facilities are cost, lack of services near to where they live and transportation.</p>
<p><a href="http://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/98408/vergunst_access_2016.pdf?sequence=1">Our study</a> found that these three barriers were particularly acute for poor people with disabilities living in rural South Africa. This is because they experience a “triple vulnerability”: poverty, disability and rurality. They see themselves as less healthy compared to able bodied people and they have less access to health care.</p>
<h2>A community with very little</h2>
<p>Our study formed part of the international study <a href="http://www.sintef.no/Projectweb/Equitable">Equitable</a>. This looked at access to health care for people with disabilities, evaluating 16 sites in South Africa, Namibia, Malawi and Sudan.</p>
<p>Our part of the study centred on Madwaleni in the Eastern Cape, a largely rural and poor province in South Africa. We looked at the differences between people with and without disabilities when it came to accessing health care. </p>
<p>Madwaleni is made up of about 20 villages scattered around rugged hills, valleys, rivers and forests. The area lacks basic services like water and electricity and has poor infrastructure. Nearly 90% of the community is unemployed and there are low levels of literacy and education. There is a high incidence of communicable diseases and high mortality rates.</p>
<p>There is a hospital which handles cases in a 35km radius as well as eight smaller health care centres. Together they service the 120 000 people living in the area. </p>
<p>Poor people with disabilities have more problems going about their daily activities than those who are able bodied. Travelling around their communities, shopping, preparing food and doing household chores are more challenging. They also have problems furthering their education and getting jobs and often experience prejudice and discrimination.</p>
<p>In a rural, remote and impoverished communities these challenges are more amplified. The people with disabilities in these settings experience such issues more intensely. </p>
<h2>Physical barriers</h2>
<p>In Madwaleni the topography of the area, the natural environment and the terrain all contribute to the experiences of people with disabilities. Many have to manage hills, cross rivers or use gravel and uneven roads to access health care. </p>
<p>The distances are vast between the eight smaller health centres and the villages in the area. Travelling on foot is often not an option and taxis are expensive. The result is that people with disabilities receive health care less often and in turn feel that they have poorer physical and mental health.</p>
<p>In addition to transportation problems, there are other physical barriers. For example, participants recounted how they were unable to use overnight accommodation at health care centres and were not provided with the drugs and equipment they needed after their consultations. </p>
<h2>Bad attitudes</h2>
<p>In addition to these challenges, participants said they encountered negative attitudes from health care providers who treated them differently from other patients. </p>
<p>People with disabilities felt their preferred health care providers were not as accessible to them as their able bodied peers. They also did not receive the same level of service and were unhappy with health care personnel.</p>
<p>They communicated less with health care providers and as a result felt that they received less respect from these providers. This often meant that they were afforded less privacy during consultations when compared with able bodied patients. This meant that health care providers did not spend time explaining things to them. They also felt that they were less involved in their own treatment. </p>
<h2>Improving the situation</h2>
<p>Based on the site study in Madwaleni, there are several changes that could improve the way rural people with disabilities access health care. </p>
<p>Mobile health clinics would help. This would mean that people with disabilities could access health care services more regularly. </p>
<p>In addition, health care workers should be trained to better deal with people with disabilities so that attitudinal barriers can be addressed. </p>
<p>And lastly, the community needs to be educated about disability and how it can help create a more inclusive environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Vergunst does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Poor people with disabilities living in rural South Africa are particularly disadvantaged when it comes to accessing health care.Richard Vergunst, PhD Psychology Department, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/616992016-07-10T16:44:40Z2016-07-10T16:44:40ZHow clearer strategy and precaution could make mining better for all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129526/original/image-20160706-12743-esc7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mining companies are keen to get to work in underdeveloped, deeply rural parts of South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mining in South Africa is beset with controversy. The 2012 <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/marikana-massacre-16-august-2012">Marikana massacre</a> was an extreme expression of this – but dangerous conflicts can arise even before a mine is commissioned. Mining proposals are often <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2015-05-04-wild-coast-mining-conflict-xolobeni-escalates/#.V3zL1Lh97IU">opposed by</a> neighbouring communities and can be <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-05-07-villagers-call-for-chiefs-head-over-plan-to-mine-their-land">hugely divisive</a>.</p>
<p>This sort of conflict can escalate into violence unless the state and companies take a strategic and precautionary approach.</p>
<p>This was illustrated by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/25/australian-mining-company-denies-role-in-of-south-african-activist">murder</a> in March 2016 of Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe. He was part of a broad group of locals opposing a titanium mine proposed by <a href="http://www.mineralcommodities.com">Mineral Commodities Limited</a> at Xolobeni in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.polity.org.za/article/cm-murder-of-xolobeni-community-leader-2016-03-24">responses</a> to Rhadebe’s murder fail to grasp two underlying problems. The first is that the state and mining companies don’t always effectively implement progressive environmental management policies. The second is that neither the companies nor the state seem sufficiently committed to avoiding conflict.</p>
<p>This needn’t be the case. The government, mining companies and communities can be brought together by a thorough assessment process before any ground has even been broken. Historical precedent shows that these processes can help.</p>
<h2>How it can be done</h2>
<p>South African <a href="https://www.environment.gov.za/legislation/actsregulations">law</a> requires project-level assessments before mining activities begin. These typically take mining as a given. They also tend to fall short of a broader strategic assessment of diverse alternative land uses and development options, and how these relate to each other and to local communities’ preferences. </p>
<p>In 1999 one of us was part of a consultant team that developed one of South Africa’s first strategic assessments for a mining project. It came in response to a <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/south-africa/mining-paradise-caught-between-rock-and-heavy-">proposal to mine titanium</a> near <a href="http://www.centane.co.za/">Centane</a> in the Eastern Cape. The proponent, Iscor, recognised the controversial nature of the proposal and, to its credit, saw the benefit of such a strategic assessment. </p>
<p>Our job was not just to react to the proposed project plan but to take a broader view. We looked at mining as a development option in Centane, compared it with other options and examined whether it could complement land uses like agriculture and ecotourism.</p>
<p>Our report recognised a number of mining’s potential benefits, especially with regard to job creation, and the construction of roads and other infrastructure. But it also highlighted two very important risks. One focused on how the pristine estuary would be affected and the other concentrated on the very real risk of conflict – or even violence – if mine planning proceeded.</p>
<p>The provincial government set up a committee to assess the report and make recommendations. It paid close attention, particularly to the risk of conflict. This contributed to the project not going ahead in the end.</p>
<p>The point of such processes is not necessarily to stop mining. Rather, it’s to assess in a comprehensive, measured way how mining will interact with the local context and other development options. It also gives communities an opportunity to discuss their preferences in an open-minded way. Creating such a strategic platform can help facilitate, at least to some extent, <a href="http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/journal_archive/10231765/243.pdf">public participation</a> based on people’s underlying interests rather than on entrenched positions relative to a specific development option.</p>
<h2>Strategy through policy</h2>
<p>Since 1999, the South African government has recognised the need to take a strategic approach to balancing development opportunities and environmental management. The country played a pioneering role in developing the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.za/documents/strategies/integrated_environmentalmanagement_eim">theory and practice of strategic assessment</a>. Local practice up to 2007 has, however, been described as largely ineffective and little more than the “<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925507001370">emperor’s new clothes</a>”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/eiams_environmentalimpact_managementstrategy.pdf">2014 National Strategy for Environmental Impact Assessment and Management</a> seeks to place this tool on a firmer footing. It posits an ideal situation in which strategic environmental assessments “are utilised … with clearly defined sustainability objectives”. There have been several recent examples of such assessments in line with this new policy.</p>
<p>These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.environment.gov.za/mediarelease/cabinet_gazetting_redz">renewable energy development zones</a>;</li>
<li>the <a href="http://www.ska.ac.za">Square Kilometre Array</a>; and</li>
<li>proposed <a href="http://seasgd.csir.co.za">shale gas mining (fracking) in the Karoo</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Of course, as these examples illustrate, conducting a strategic assessment – even if it’s done well – is not going to do away with the fundamentally <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/sep/02/frack-controversy-south-africa">controversial</a> nature of something like fracking in the Karoo. The point is that it provides, at least potentially, a transparent and well-informed platform for deliberation among different stakeholders. The administrative and political decision will then need to defend itself with reference to this deliberation, consistent with the notion of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Science-Public-Reason-Society/dp/0415624681">public reason</a>.</p>
<p>These sorts of strategic assessments also ought to be used to guide decisions on mining before controversial proposals create conflicts between deeply vested interests and community concerns. But this potential is, by and large, not being fulfilled.</p>
<p>It is not obvious why this is the case. One likely reason is that many municipalities and provincial governments lack the interest and skills to implement strategic environmental planning. This is particularly likely in the poor, rural municipalities in which controversial projects like the Xolobeni and <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/anthracite-mine-fatally-flawed-1910804">Fuleni mines</a> are proposed. </p>
<p>A second possible reason lies with the national Department of Mineral Resources. It still sees itself primarily as a promoter of mining rather than a facilitator of mining within an overarching need for sustainable development.</p>
<h2>A duty to avoid conflict</h2>
<p>In the Centane example, both the mining company and the provincial government recognised the need for a strategic assessment. They also recognised the danger of community conflict. Both Xolobeni and Fuleni are lacking a strategic assessment. There also seems to be no real recognition of the precautionary duty to avoid conflict.</p>
<p>The state’s duty to avoid conflict and violence, and to avoid environmental degradation, is clearly established. A key principle situated in this nexus between human rights and environmental policy is the <a href="http://www.sehn.org/precaution.html">precautionary principle</a>. Precaution entails careful and democratic assessment of potential harm in advance of action, and a willingness to consider a range of options that includes no action. Proponents – not the public – are expected to shoulder the burden of proof, and to adopt precautionary measures to minimise risk.</p>
<p>Companies’ responsibility in these respects is also being clarified in international “soft” law. The <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf">United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights</a> insist that companies have a responsibility to avoid human rights abuses in their operations and in associated activities. Such human rights due diligence requires companies to develop <a href="http://www.international-alert.org/sites/default/files/Economy_ConflictSensitivityBusinessHumanRights_EN_2016.pdf">conflict sensitivity</a>. This also ought to involve a precautionary approach.</p>
<p>Both the state and mining companies need to be more proactive in demonstrating their duty of care. Indeed, some community activists argue that the mining companies are actively fomenting conflict and violence. In the Xolobeni case, they are openly concerned that the <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2016-03-30-xolobeni-hawks-take-over-probe-into-bazookas-slaying/#.V2APwlf-0rU">police are not impartial</a>.</p>
<h2>Assessments are crucial</h2>
<p>These grave concerns will need to be investigated. But even if they turn out to be baseless, the government and the proponent companies are neglecting their duty to avoid conflict. Rhadebe’s murder means that things have gone too far already in Xolobeni. </p>
<p>It’s our belief that both the Xolobeni and Fuleni mining proposals should be put on ice until carefully facilitated strategic assessments have been commissioned. These should cover the environment and human rights, and establish locals’ vision for their own areas. Information from such assessments can help to evaluate and even reconcile conflicting development scenarios. </p>
<p>More regular use of regional and precautionary strategic assessments to inform controversial proposals is the least the state and mining companies can do to honour the issues raised by the late Rhadebe and his peers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ralph Hamann is affiliated with the University of Cape Town, but parts of this article are based on experience working as a consultant. He receives research funding from the National Research Foundation, the UCT African Climate and Development Initiative, and the UCT Graduate School of Business.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Hill is affiliated with the Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa.</span></em></p>Mining proposals are often hugely controversial in South Africa and can even lead to violence. Better strategic assessments based on participation and precaution would help.Ralph Hamann, Professor, Research Director, Research Chair, University of Cape TownRichard Hill, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Assessment, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/573602016-04-08T04:21:39Z2016-04-08T04:21:39ZExplainer: understanding plague in the 21st century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117864/original/image-20160407-16252-17u3bir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Uncollected rubbish provides food and shelter for rodents which can spread plague if they pick up the bacteria. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In medieval times, plague was known as the “black death” and resulted in millions of Europeans dying. Plague still persists in many areas, with the highest annual burden of disease in Africa.
The advent of antibiotics means that milder versions of plague can be treated. But according to the World Health Organization, pneumonic plague is still one of the most <a href="http://www.who.int/topics/plague/en/">deadly infectious diseases</a>. If someone contracts it, they can be dead within 24 hours.
Health and Medicine Editor Candice Bailey spoke to John Frean, Head of the Centre for Opportunistic, Tropical and Hospital Infections at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa, about the deadly disease.</em></p>
<p><strong>Why is plague considered dangerous?</strong></p>
<p>Plague is a zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium <a href="http://web.uconn.edu/mcbstaff/graf/Student%20presentations/Y.%20pestis/Yersinia%20pestis.html"><em>Yersinia pestis</em></a>. It is found mainly in rodents and is spread by fleas from rodent to rodent. It can also spread from rodents to humans and other mammals, including dogs and cats. </p>
<p>Rodents are susceptible to plague bacteria and usually become ill or die after they are infected. An outbreak of plague in rodents is recognised by an unusual number of rodents dying. In these situations, rodent fleas are more likely to bite and infect other animals or humans, as their natural hosts have died.</p>
<p>People are at risk of getting plague if they:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>are bitten by rodent fleas that are infected with plague; </p></li>
<li><p>handle rodents that have died from plague, as infected blood or tissue could contaminate skin or be ingested; or</p></li>
<li><p>are in contact with humans or animals infected with plague, as infected pus or sputum droplets could carry the organism.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If plague is not recognised and treated promptly, it can produce potentially serious or fatal disease. In its pneumonic form, plague may rapidly spread from person to person, which could constitute a public health hazard.</p>
<p><strong>How does plague manifest in humans?</strong></p>
<p>There are three forms of the plague that humans can get, all of which are potentially deadly: </p>
<p><strong>1. Bubonic plague:</strong> This happens after someone is bitten by a flea from an infected rat. There is a sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, weakness and the swelling of lymph nodes (glands) near the bite site. The patient may complain of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. If treated, symptoms resolve in three to five days. If untreated, the disease can become more severe and can be fatal. Complications may include bubonic plague progressing to septicaemic or pneumonic forms, which could result in death.</p>
<p><strong>2. Septicaemic plague:</strong> This may arise as a complication of untreated bubonic plague but could be the first presentation of plague in a person. Aside from the fever, chills, extreme weakness, abdominal pain and shock experienced with bubonic plague, septicaemic plague can also result in bruises and bleeding in organs. Skin and other tissues – especially on the person’s extremities, such as the fingers, toes and nose – may turn black and die. </p>
<p><strong>3. Pneumonic plague:</strong> This can come about after bubonic or septicaemic plague is not treated, but it can also develop when someone inhales infectious droplets from a patient with pneumonic plague. People who have pneumonic plague have a fever, headache, weakness and a rapidly-developing pneumonia. They experience shortness of breath, chest pain, coughing and sometimes bloody or watery sputum.</p>
<p><strong>How common is plague?</strong></p>
<p>Plague has been reported in several African countries in the past decade. These include Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>There is currently a plague outbreak in Madagascar that was first reported in December 2013. It is affecting humans and there have been more than 170 cases of bubonic plague and a single case of pneumonic plague reported.</p>
<p>The last case of human plague in South Africa was reported in 1982 in Coega in the Eastern Cape province after being dormant for more than ten years. There were seven laboratory-proven infections and one death.</p>
<p><strong>How is plague diagnosed and treated?</strong> </p>
<p>Symptoms of plague may start showing two to eight days after the person has been exposed to the organism.</p>
<p>Plague may be diagnosed through culture of clinical specimens. For example, pus from the swollen lymph node, or blood or sputum could be cultured. This takes a few days. There are rapid tests that can identify the presence of a specific plague antigen in these samples, but they are generally only available in high plague transmission areas. They are relatively quick. </p>
<p>Plague can also be detected by finding <em>Yersinia pestis</em> antibodies in a blood specimen. Laboratory testing is done in specialised laboratories under strict biosafety conditions. Antibody testing takes a few hours.</p>
<p>Antibiotics are effective to treat all forms of plague and should be started as soon as possible to prevent complications. A vaccine is available for people at high risk, such as laboratory workers, but its effectiveness is not fully known.</p>
<p><strong>Can plague be prevented?</strong></p>
<p>Rodent and flea control, and monitoring of the wild rodent population, are the main measures to monitor the risk of outbreaks. Rodents are trapped and tested for plague antibodies. Their tissues might be cultured if plague infection is strongly suspected. </p>
<p>If there is a positive result, public health measures are implemented to prevent humans becoming infected. These include insecticide spraying in and around dwellings to kill fleas. Rodent surveillance and elimination measures such as trapping and poisoning also take place. Rubbish cleanup is an important element of control as it reduces the availability of food and shelter for rodents.</p>
<p>In South Africa, there are currently two national plague surveillance sites: the Coega area of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape, and the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng province. </p>
<p>A rat that was plague antibody-positive was recently trapped in the greater Johannesburg area in an informal settlement. Although the origin of the rat’s infection is unknown, plague typically survives at low or undetectable levels in wild rodent populations. A wild rodent flea may have been the source. </p>
<p>Public health measures were rolled out by the city’s environmental health officers and to date no further plague-positive rodents have been found. </p>
<p>South Africa has been a plague risk area for many years but the number of animal and human outbreaks dwindled to zero in the past 34 years, so the risk of a major outbreak is low. Environmental health officers are, however, alert to the possibility of new plague outbreaks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Frean previously received funding from the SA Medical Research Council for molecular plague epidemiology research, but the project has terminated.</span></em></p>Plague, one of the deadliest diseases in the world, has been reported in several African countries in the past decade.John Frean, Principal Pathologist and Head of the Centre for Opportunistic, Tropical and Hospital Infections, National Institute for Communicable DiseasesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/548532016-02-24T04:06:46Z2016-02-24T04:06:46ZHow South Africa’s media deny the country’s youth a voice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112605/original/image-20160223-16447-2n1m21.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the transition to democracy in the early 1990s, the media in South Africa underwent a shift in their operations and understanding of what their role in society was to become. </p>
<p>The result was a strong move towards a normative ideal of a watchdog media, which would work in the interest of “the public” by exposing the shortcomings of the new government. </p>
<p>Community media - both print and broadcasting - emerged as a key sector after 1994, targeting smaller communities and working within a developmental space to provide local information, news, entertainment and engagement. </p>
<p>But, our <a href="https://www.academia.edu/4157311/A_baseline_study_of_youth_identity_the_media_and_the_public_sphere_in_South_Africa">research</a> in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, found many young, black and poor South Africans do not recognise themselves or their communities in the stories they see, hear or read in the mainstream media. </p>
<p>While young people have <a href="http://www.ru.ac.za/media/rhodesuniversity/content/highwayafrica/documents/A%20baseline%20study%20of%20youth%20identity.pdf">high</a> levels of trust in the media, the failure of the media to listen to people place a barrier between the media they consume and their lived experiences.</p>
<h2>The Eastern Cape context</h2>
<p>The Eastern Cape is the <a href="http://advocacyaid.com/images/stories/rrdownloads/statistic_show_26.pdf">second poorest province</a> in the country. It is plagued by an inadequate education system, poor local government performance and frequent reports of corrupt public officials.</p>
<p>The majority (65%) live in rural areas and more than half of households live below the <a href="http://beta2.statssa.gov.za/publications/P02114.2/P02114.22014.pdf">poverty line</a>. Just over 40% of 15 to 34 year olds are <a href="http://beta2.statssa.gov.za/publications/P02114.2/P02114.22014.pdf">unemployed</a>. They lack access to quality mainstream print media and rely mainly on the <a href="https://www.google.co.za/search?q=SABC+TV&rlz=1C1CHWA_enZA634ZA634&oq=SABC+TV&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1012j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=SABC%20TV&tbs=lf_msr:-1,lf:1,lf_ui:1&rflfq=1&rlha=0&tbm=lcl&rlfi=hd:;si:10519612971351543340">South African Broadcasting Corporation</a> television and radio for news and information needs. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112535/original/image-20160223-16455-8rtcgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112535/original/image-20160223-16455-8rtcgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112535/original/image-20160223-16455-8rtcgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112535/original/image-20160223-16455-8rtcgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112535/original/image-20160223-16455-8rtcgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112535/original/image-20160223-16455-8rtcgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112535/original/image-20160223-16455-8rtcgk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533952.2014.929304">Previous research</a> among Eastern Cape youth shows those who have access to the internet actively use it for relevant news and information. Despite high levels of consumption and trust in the mainstream media, the participants almost unanimously agreed that the news lacked relevance to their lives. The media are failing to listen to their daily challenges.</p>
<p>Young people are marginalised by political and social structures which are unable to uplift them. The media add to this marginalisation by failing to engage with the youth and <a href="https://theconversation.com/voices-of-the-poor-are-missing-from-south-africas-media-53068">poor communities</a>.</p>
<p>For example, research on the coverage of education stories in South African newspapers shows that they lack the voices of young people. This, despite them being the key beneficiaries of the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/8025583/The_voiceless_generation_-_non-_representations_of_young_citizens_in_the_coverage_of_education_stories_by_South_African_newspapers">education system</a>. </p>
<p>Given their myriad challenges, many young people succumb to a sense of hopelessness. Others find alternative avenues for speaking and being heard (including voting, protest and petitions). </p>
<h2>Global phenomenon</h2>
<p>The South African media’s lack of listening is not unique. Journalism globally tends to ignore the experiences and stories of the marginalised, which include <a href="https://www.academia.edu/766456/Listening_pathbuilding_and_continuations_A_research_agenda_for_the_analysis_of_listening">young people</a>. </p>
<p>Active listening for journalists would move beyond simply representing a community of people, or acting as the “voice of the voiceless”. It entails providing a space where a community can speak out and receive attention.</p>
<p>Young people, mostly referred to as the <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2015/04/29/south-african-born-frees-still-in-chains-irr">“Born Frees”</a> in South Africa, are often stereotyped as the</p>
<ul>
<li><p>“lost generation”,</p></li>
<li><p>unemployed, or unemployable, and </p></li>
<li><p>not looking for employment because they prefer the welfare provided by the state.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Without a willingness to listen to both individual and group voices, the media will continue to regard the youth as “a stereotyped object” rather than a “conscious, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Dissonance-Democracy-Listening-Citizenship/dp/0801483778">active subject</a>”. </p>
<p>To understand listening processes and possibilities, we interviewed editors and producers of commercial and community media across diverse platforms. This resulted in three classifications of media – those which adhere to the commercial imperative, those which spoke to the people, and those which pioneered listening.</p>
<h2>The commercial imperative</h2>
<p>There are several reasons for the media disregarding the youth. These include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>their commercial needs drive programming and engagements with audiences, </p></li>
<li><p>audiences are treated as consumers of media products, not necessarily citizens,</p></li>
<li><p>news programming has a traditional approach, speaking to and for the audience, </p></li>
<li><p>the journalists set the agenda on behalf of their audiences.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These media outlets are aware that their market is affected by access to social media. But there is no research into this trend to show where young people are placed and there is still a strong reliance on traditional media methods to engage audiences.</p>
<p>To their credit, some media outlets have focused on local content. There is also a strong political commitment to helping people deal with problems. </p>
<h2>‘Speaking to the people’</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters</span></span>
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<p>We detected a stronger commitment among community newspapers to truly serve communities they report on, with the commercial imperative somewhat receding. </p>
<p>There is hyperlocal programming and content. Full time journalists and freelancers live in the communities they cover and propose story ideas from their locations. </p>
<p>The newspapers are free because people in the areas they cover cannot afford to pay. They are conscious that listeners and readers may not have high levels of education so the content is made especially relevant.</p>
<p>Generally, they have a stronger consciousness of the harshness of people’s lives and an emphasis on providing “positive … inspirational stories that speak to the people”. </p>
<p>The concerned media make deliberate use of local languages (Afrikaans and isiXhosa). The radio stations take advantage of their medium to invite local officials into studios to answer questions raised by their audiences. </p>
<h2>Pioneering listening journalism</h2>
<p>The most interesting approach is one we call “pioneering listening journalism” which is attuned to a local context. </p>
<p>One feature is to invite municipal councillors and officials to public meetings to address issues. Community and church leaders are used as mediators in these meetings.</p>
<p>The benefit of such meetings is the invaluable knowledge city officials gain about situations and opinions they usually have little contact with. Another value is that officials get to explain processes of governance. They develop an understanding of what lies behind the <a href="https://theconversation.com/protests-soar-amid-unmet-expectations-in-south-africa-42013">ongoing protests</a> over the provision of public services.</p>
<h2>Impetus to listen</h2>
<p>The commercial imperative discourages listening journalism. Journalists in many newsrooms continue to communicate with their readers and audiences in the same routinised ways, despite the radically altered political and social space in South Africa. And despite the disruptions caused by digital and social media. </p>
<p>Where listening has become imbedded in a journalism operation it is usually driven by one individual who has the power and authority to make it happen and who is keenly aware of the political nuances of a local situation.</p>
<p>The impetus for listening is usually driven by a desire to understand a local situation and to build a strong loyal relationship with a particular readership or audience. The impulse is also a social justice one – to take responsibility for redressing societal inequalities.</p>
<p><em>This research was supported by a grant from the National Research Foundation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54853/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthea Garman receives funding from the Mellon Foundation and the National Research Foundation. She is affiliated with the South African National Editors' Forum. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vanessa Malila receives funding from Rhodes University and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. </span></em></p>Research in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, shows that many young, black and poor people do not recognise themselves or their communities in the stories they see, hear or read in mainstream media.Anthea Garman, Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes UniversityVanessa Malila, Public Service Accountability Monitor: Advocacy Impact Programme Head, Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.