Stephanie Allais - New South African Review 3

NEW SOUTH AFRICAN REVIEW 3

THE SECOND PHASE TRAGEDY OR FARCE?

EDITED BY JOHN DANIEL, PRISHANI NAIDOO, DEVAN PILLAY AND ROGER SOUTHALL

Published in South Africa by:

Wits University Press

1 Jan Smuts Avenue

Johannesburg

www.witspress.co.za

Published edition Wits University Press 2013

Compilation Edition editors 2013

Chapters Individual contributors 2013

First published 2013

ISBN 978-1-86814-735-9 (print)

ISBN 978-1-86814-795-3 (digital)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.

Cover image: Thousands of striking mine workers demanding a wage increase demonstrate on 16 August 2012 on a hill near Lonmins Karee Platinum Mine.

Photo by Gallo Images/City Press/Leon Sadiki

Project managed by Monica Seeber

Cover design and layout by Hothouse South Africa

Maps by Monica Seeber

Printed and bound by Paarl Media, Paarl

This third edition of the New South African Review indicates that our series of volumes featuring original chapters on issues of concern and interest to South Africa is coming of age, and is an established feature of the annual calendar (although for publishing reasons a new schedule will see it appearing in the first quarter of the year rather than the last). As ever, our chapters seek to present critical and progressive, yet varying, perspectives on current affairs, to encourage debate and diversity rather than conformity. Inevitably, for reasons of economy and practicality, there are numerous topics that we ignore or omit, and it may appear to some that our choice of issues is somewhat random, for although we as editors aim to discern common concerns raised by our contributors, we do not impose a theme upon them. We welcome suggestions of important issues, national or local, for inclusion in later volumes.

The New South African Review continues to be located in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, with John Daniel of the School of International Training in Durban having served as an additional editor of this and the two preceding volumes. We should like to thank the University for its financial support for the project under its SPARC Programme, and Professor Tawana Kupe, who served his final year as Dean of Humanities during 2012, for his constant support. Our colleagues in the Department of Sociology provide constant backing, while Ingrid Chunilall and Laura Bloem, our administrators, willingly undertake the numerous backroom tasks necessitated by production of the volume. Once again, we have received the enthusiastic support of Veronica Klipp and all her staff at Wits University Press, while Monica Seeber has exhibited her usual proficiency, combined with her kindly ability to harry recalcitrant contributors to stick to schedule. Finally, alongside our referees who unfailingly provide valuable and constructive comments, we thank all those who have reviewed our previous volumes and who have given us the encouragement to continue with this project on an annual basis.

John Daniel (School of International Training, Durban) and Prishani Naidoo, Devan Pillay and Roger Southall (all of the Department of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand).

Devan Pillay

Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce

(Karl Marx 1852)

The Marikana massacre of 16 August 2012 epitomised, in many ways, the tragedy of South Africas transition to democracy since the heady days of 1994. If, on the one hand, the country is hailed as a miracle of reconciliation, constitutional democracy and socioeconomic progress in many areas, on the other hand it is a story of a dream deferred: rising unemployment and work insecurity; widespread poverty amid expanding inequality; increasing crime and corruption; sexual violence; rural decline and displacement; urban homelessness and slummification; state dysfunctionality and public disservice; corporate greed and ecological degradation of various kinds.

Much of this corresponds with the global picture of uneven (or enclave) development, and is captured by chapters in this volume and previous volumes of the New South African Review, as well as by the states own

(namely, neoliberal, enclave development), now become a farce?