New Contree: 2018 No 80http://hdl.handle.net/10394/314672024-03-29T09:47:26Z2024-03-29T09:47:26ZColonial administrators, indigenous leaders, and missionaries: Contesting the education of the Swazi child, 1921-1939Simelane, Hamilton S.http://hdl.handle.net/10394/314742018-10-22T11:53:48Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZColonial administrators, indigenous leaders, and missionaries: Contesting the education of the Swazi child, 1921-1939
Simelane, Hamilton S.
The study of Swazi historical affairs in the colonial period has remained patchy. The historian is confronted by numerous gaps that make it difficult to get a comprehensive view of the development of the history of the country during this period. One of the neglected subjects is the nature of the relations between indigenous rulers who were allowed to exercise some authority by the British policy of Indirect Rule, colonial administrators, and missionaries who promoted western education for Swazi children. This article interrogates such relations in the 1920s and 30s arguing that between 1928 and 1937 the education of Swazi children was intensely contested by groups whose main aim was power and control over the indigenous population. The article shows that indigenous leaders challenged western education as advanced by missionaries because it was viewed to be undermining the power and authority of the Swazi monarchy. Colonial administrators were part of the contest as they wanted an education system that would further the ends of British colonialism. For their part, the missionaries became part of the contest as they believed that western education was a good instrument for evangelization.
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZExpectations and the issue of land in South Africa – the historical origins and current debateJankielsohn, RoyDuvenhage, Andréhttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/314732018-10-20T07:04:31Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZExpectations and the issue of land in South Africa – the historical origins and current debate
Jankielsohn, Roy; Duvenhage, André
Land remains a contentious political issue that has the potential for further conflict in South Africa. Expectations over land are a legitimate result of a history of dispossession, displacement and deprivation during the pre-colonial, colonial and Apartheid eras. The importance of placing discussions on land within a historical context is salient. Legitimate perceptions around the slow pace of sustainable land reform since 1994 have left a vacuum for politicians to continue to use the land issue as tool for political mobilisation. However, development programmes that are meant to deliver on the expectations such as the National Development Plan (NDP) and the New Growth Path (NGP) are often undermined by the same politicians. The ideological divisions between the NDR and the NDP/NGP within the ruling African National Congress-run (ANC) government hamper progress towards achieving the land redistribution objectives outlined in these development plans and programmes. The dilemma that this creates is that factors required to mitigate this problem such as an emphasis on sustainability of redistributed land for increased food security have fallen victim to this ideological tug-of-war. The widening gap between the politically fuelled expectations trajectory on the one hand, and the inability to meet these expectations by current development programmes on the other, are sources of increasing social conflict in society.
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZThe politicisation of health in Zimbabwe: the case of the cholera epidemic, August 2008-March 2009Masakure, Clementhttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/314722018-10-20T07:04:46Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZThe politicisation of health in Zimbabwe: the case of the cholera epidemic, August 2008-March 2009
Masakure, Clement
In this article the case of the August 2008 to March 2009 cholera epidemic is used to examine the intersections between health and politics in Zimbabwe. The focus is on the different narratives deployed by the mainstream opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change under Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T) and the ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front (ZANU -PF) to explain the causes of, and responses to the cholera epidemic which emerged in the immediate aftermath of the disputed June 2008 presidential runoff. An analyses of how regional governments, especially South Africa, responded to the cholera outbreak is made. The opposition argued that the epidemic was a clear indicator of government’s mismanagement. On the other hand, public intellectuals aligned to ZANU-PF and government ministers invoked conspiracy theories and blamed external forces for the epidemic. South Africa and the region saw it through a humanitarian crisis lens. In the discussion the varied narratives explaining the causes of the outbreak and responses to the cholera epidemic exposed ongoing internal and external political contestations are noted. The epidemic seems to have become inextricably entangled with discourses revolving around political governance, human rights problems and the struggles over political power between the ruling party and opposition parties.
2018-01-01T00:00:00ZHidden Histories of Gordonia, land dispossession and resistance in the Northern Cape, 1800-1990Field, Seanhttp://hdl.handle.net/10394/314712018-10-20T07:04:48Z2018-01-01T00:00:00ZHidden Histories of Gordonia, land dispossession and resistance in the Northern Cape, 1800-1990
Field, Sean
2018-01-01T00:00:00Z