Media briefs

The Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa (HSRC) has released a study indicating that Israel is practicing both colonialism and apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The study is being posted for public debate on the HSRC website.

It is five months since the outbreak of xenophobic violence in South Africa claimed the lives of 60 people and displaced tens of thousands. Why did this happen and what are the lessons that have been learnt? The launch of the HSRC's latest study on what happened in May 2008 and why - aims to provide some answers.

Stellenbosch University (SU) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) conducted a collaborative workshop on Tuesday, 2 September, to roll out plans for cooperation between the two institutions, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in February.

The HSRC report on Saving Zimbabwe - an agenda for democratic peace, released at a media briefing yesterday (Thursday, 10 July 2008) is part of the HSRC's endeavour to bring credible scientific evidence to bear on issues of immediate public concern and purpose to South Africa and Africa at large. At this juncture, Zimbabwe is one of these urgent issues.

A new study warns that there is currently a low intensity war in Zimbabwe uniquely and often linked to the country's election cycles. The report recommends bold and decisive actions by the African Union and SADC to minimise and eventually eradicate the culture of political violence in Zimbabwe to create a context which will be conducive to a negotiated settlement of the crisis.

The State of the Nation project draws on a long tradition of critical, analytical scholarship to provide an important contribution to our understanding of South Africa at this moment in history. The State of the Nation volume is divided into four areas which focus on politics, the economy, society and South Africa in Africa and the world. Within each area, the authors reflect on the inherited apartheid legacy, review policy and other initiatives introduced to overcome that legacy and then dissect the impact of these initiatives. A photographic competition to select a front cover for the State of the Nation: South Africa 2008, called the Isolezwe Project, has become an integral part of the broader State of the Nation series.

Development Plans (IDPs), produced as a statutory requirement by all municipalities, are local planning processes that are intended to give strategic direction to the work of municipalities. Increasingly, they are being seen as a forum for achieving links between spheres of government and facilitating co-ordinated planning, budgeting and implementation.

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) notes with concern that Professor Adam Habib, Executive Director of the HSRC’s Democracy & Governance research programme and a respected scholar and an outspoken political commentator, has had his visa revoked by the US government on his arrival in New York on Saturday 21 October 2006, and was subsequently deported back to South Africa. To date no reasons have been given for these actions.

Many commentators deemed the 2004 elections to be a big yawn. They contended that the ANC’s victory was a foregone conclusion, and that there was very little difference between the competing parties’ manifestoes; to the extent, some argued, that a national consensus had been achieved.

However, the articles in this final edition of election synopsis illustrate that these commentators were wrong, and that the actual results of the elections point to enormous complexities and nuances within voting behaviour, and dynamics between and within parties. They challenge some of the arguments presented in previous editions of electionsynopsis; for example, those which asserted that citizens continue to be locked into identity politics, and that the “liberation dividend” of the ANC was beginning to lose its value.

This issue of electionsynopsis addresses a contradiction which much commentary seems to assume lies at the heart of South African politics. On the one hand, we have a plethora of political parties. This is a product, not just of the opportunity provided by the national list proportional representation system, but also of the celebrated diversity of our population in terms of race, culture, language, class and so on. On the other hand, it is equally said that, in these post-apartheid, post-Cold War years, our parties are actually offering us all much of the same thing: a rather similar centrist mix of ‘caring capitalism’, (even if, as if we cannot wholly abandon ‘the struggle years’ of the past, the ‘c’ word has gone out of political fashion).

View the pdf file of Election Synopsis (Vol 1 Number 3 2004)

This issue focuses on the central question of electoral behaviour: What influences the political choices of the electorate?

View the pdf file of Election Synopsis (Vol 1 Number 2 2004)

Election Synopsis is a result of the labours of four partner organisations who are combining their efforts to research and analyse the 2004 elections, and gauge the implications for governance and democracy for the next five years.These partners are the Centre for Public Participation (CPP), the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), the Human Sciences Research Council's Democracy and Governance Programme (HSRC:D&G)and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS).

The major themes, which will enjoy specialist attention are public participation, politics and identity, party manifestos and campaigns, and interpretation of the results of the 2004 polls and their implications for democratic governance.

View the pdf file of Election Synopsis (Vol 1 Number 1 2004)

The 2000 municipal elections, which took place on 5 December, constituted a landmark event in the democratic consolidation in South Africa. Despite the fact that more than 2 ballots per voter had to be cast in certain non-metropolitan areas, some 96% of those who voted indicated that the voting procedures were easy to understand. This finding is based on the first-ever municipal exit poll conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on election day. The exit poll was conducted among a sample of 11 135 voters in some 209 voting stations.

Although the youth (aged between 18 and 29 years) constitute 38% of the South African population, they make up only 30% of registered voters. However, it appears that only 25% of those who voted on 5 December, fall within this category. This finding is based on the first-ever municipal exit poll conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on election day. The exit poll was conducted among a sample of 11 135 voters in some 209 voting stations.

South Africans know little about political processes and barely participate in local political processes. Less than 15% say that they understand the different legislative processes operating in the country. This has emerged from the national survey of public opinion conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) among 2 611 respondents during September 2000. "There is a wide variety of reasons why people do not participate in political processes, such as apathy, lack of interest, cynicism, alienation from the political system or opposition to the ruling party", according to Dr Gregory Houston, Chief Research Specialist at the HSRC. However, lack of knowledge about political processes is a particularly significant factor, given that our democracy is only six years old and that participation in political processes is relatively new for most South Africans. Reasons for this lack of engagement can also be related to the relative newness of opportunities for public participation since 1994.

Each of the political parties contesting the local government elections on 5 December attracts voters with distinct socio-demographic profiles. ANC support comes mainly from the country's middle Living Standard groups (LS measures range from 1 the poorest to 8 the wealthiest). The DA obtains the majority of its support from top LS groups and the IFP from the lowest LS groups. These findings emerge from a national survey of public opinion conducted by the HSRC during September 2000.

The Human Sciences Research Council welcomes the attention attracted by findings from its September 2000 national survey of public opinion. We are confident of the objectivity and accuracy of our data collection, weighting and analytical methods. The data collected allows us to project the percentage potential support for each party. In doing this, two factors were taken into consideration. The first was the proportion of the electorate that stated explicitly that they would vote for each party in the forthcoming local government elections. The second was the proportion who did not disclose the name of the party for which they would vote, but gave a clue by indicating that they felt "close" or "very close" to a particular party. The figures released yesterday are the sum of these two totals in each case. In the November 1999 survey, the question asked was slightly different, namely "If an election were held tomorrow, for which party would you vote?" A similar method was used to calculate potential votes from the November 1999 data set.

Trust in major institutions appears to have hit rock bottom on the eve of South Africa's local government elections on 5 December 2000. Not a single institution can claim to have fared better than before, including the media, which suffered a 20% decline in the level of trust. Whereas the public trust in national government decreased by 16%, political parties suffered a 10% decline, that is from 39% in November 1999 to 29% in September 2000. These findings are based on the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in a national representative sample survey of 2 611 respondents. The survey was conducted in September 2000.

The ANC is projected to receive a minimum of 58% of votes, the Democratic Alliance 12%, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) 7% and other parties together 6% of votes in the local elections scheduled for 5 December 2000. The remaining one-fifth (18%) of votes will be up for grabs by any political party. These findings emerge from the Human Sciences Research Council's (HSRC) national survey conducted among 2 611 adult respondents throughout South Africa during September 2000

Government's plans to phase out minibus taxis are supported by a substantial majority of South Africans. However, a sizeable minority of commuters who regularly use this mode of transport are opposed to the proposed recapitalisation programme.

The week-long strike called in August last year in support of higher wages for public sector employees generated almost equal levels of support and opposition among South Africans, the latest Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) opinion poll shows.

The South African public seems to be adopting a more optimistic attitude over the ability of the government to control crime, the latest Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) opinion poll shows.

A national survey conducted five months after the June 1999 general election found that the ANC is still the choice of the majority of voters. More than half (56%) of respondents in the latest opinion survey conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) said that the ANC would get their vote "if an election was held tomorrow". This corresponds with the findings of the survey of March 1999, three months prior to the election. According to the HSRC's manager of public opinion analysis, Dr Stephen Rule, the ANC thus retains its unassailable position as the country's dominant political party.

"The outlook of South Africans on the country's economic future is showing signs of slight improvement. Notwithstanding ongoing concern about their economic circumstances in 1999, fractionally more South Africans are optimistic (35%) than pessimistic (34%) about their economic prospects in the year 2000," says Ian Hirschfeld, Director in the Democracy and Governance Group of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)

A Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study shows that all race groups are now more satisfied with governance and with the general political situation in the country than was the case a year ago.

South Africans' confidence in the government's commitment to clean and honest government is increasing. More than half of all South Africans (51%) now feel that government is doing enough to ensure clean and honest government, compared to 42% in 1998.