Post-apartheid human security in South Africa : challenges and prospects

Abstract

Human security shifts the attention from the state to the individual, as the individual is placed at the centre of the debate, analysis and policy. Human security, it could be argued, represents a paradigm shift from the old state-centric model of security. A key development of human security in terms of the claimed paradigm shift towards the security of the individual and away from the state-centric model of security is that human security purports to draw attention to what should be two interlinked aspects of policy, development and security. Does identifying the challenges of human security provide the solution and assist the South African Government to bury the legacy of apartheid? Most authors have examined and identified the challenges and clearly defined the concept from Europe to Africa but what is lacking is the application of the concept, especially in third world countries, in order to address the legacy of colonialism and apartheid. The concept of Human Security addresses almost all aspects of human life, which theoretically looks great, contemporary and inclusive, yet almost no serious interdisciplinary work exists at the theoretical and practical level. Disciplines do not interact enough, there are no joint methodologies, and operational institutions that try to provide human security work too much in parallel and too little in close interaction. For these reasons, this concept is difficult to implement. The study highlights the fact that the number of people living under poverty has dropped over time but not significantly. This is only part of the dilemma faced in South Africa, because while poverty levels are declining, inequality is increasing and the gap between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen. The ranks of capitalism are continuously swelling; the rich are still in control of the means of production and getting richer by exploiting the poor who are also getting poorer and poorer. The level of human insecurity is still very high in South Africa. A lot still needs to be done.