Apartheid on Trial: South West Africa and the International Court of Justice, 1960–66

The deputation of Basuto chiefs to England in 1907 provides an example of close co-operation between traditional African chiefs, educated black activists, and white humanitarians in pursuing to the heart of empire the claims of Africans seeking remedy for injustices suffered under colonial rule. The deputation arrived at a time when the Colonial Office felt severely constrained in its ability to fulfil its responsibility of trusteeship towards its African subjects in colonies which were ‘on the eve of responsible government’. This article highlights the support provided in England by Frank Colenso, the son of Bishop Colenso of Natal, in partnership with his sisters in Natal, and argues that, though failing in its immediate aim, this black-led initiative led to a strengthening of relationships between black South African activists and white British-based humanitarians. It also provided an impetus for the development in England of a loosely knit informal organisational framework able to provide material, moral, and political support for South African political activists who were to visit England in deputations from the newly formed South African Native National Congress (forerunner of the ANC) to pursue their grievances against the South African government in the second and third decades of the twentieth century.     

Zapiro and Zuma: A symptom of an emerging constitutional crisis in South Africa?

In September 2009 The Sunday Times (South Africa) published a controversial cartoon depicting Jacob Zuma preparing to rape the figure of Lady Justice. This image precipitated a barrage of complaint and criticism surrounding issues of race, gender violence and freedom of speech. The cartoon represents a critical geopolitical moment through which to analyse the entrenchment of democracy in South Africa. I argue that careful analysis of the image and the responses generated provides insights into a series of constitutional challenges in South Africa and provides an entry point for those researching and teaching about political geographies outside of the traditional ‘core’ of the discipline. Problems with colonial legacies and the strategic depoliticisation of race are highlighted as key concerns for post-apartheid nation-building. Opposition to the cartoonist's freedom to criticise political leaders highlights the continued deployment of race in political ways while reminding us of the transitional challenges facing the state and the African National Congress party. The cartoon also provides a moment to address threats to the independence of the judiciary from political bodies through inflammatory and intimidatory rhetoric and protest. Questions over gender equality and security are highlighted through the rape motif of the image and responses to the cartoon. It is argued that the challenges made visible through this cartoon are critical to the consolidation of democracy in South Africa. The potential for political cartoons to be used by political geographers to engage with issues beyond the discipline's geographic ‘core’ is also stressed.     

Blombos Cave,Southern Cape,South Africa: Preliminary Report on the 1992–1999 Excavations of the Middle Stone Age Levels

The Later- and Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave (BBC) were excavated over four field seasons between 1992 and 1999. Here we report on the results from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) levels. The taphonomy and depositional history of the MSA levels is complex due to faulting, folding and spalling. Careful observations during excavation have assisted in understanding some of these taphonomic and site formation processes; microstratigraphic analysis, currently in progress, will add to this information. The uppermost MSA level, the Still Bay phase, contains high densities of bifacial points, the fossile directeur of the Still Bay Industry. Placing the Still Bay within the MSA culture sequence has been problematic in the past because Still Bay assemblages are rarely found in situ and previous excavations were inadequately recorded. However with the regional data discussed in the text, the Still Bay can be securely placed before the Howiesons Poort dated at 65–70 ka.Flaked stone makes up the greatest proportion of all artefacts with the highest incidence of retouch and use of fine grained, non-local materials found in the Still Bay levels. The ochre assemblage is remarkable for the mass of material compared to other MSA sites. Finds uncommon in an MSA context are two pieces of ochre from the Still Bay phase engraved with a geometric design; a fragment of deliberately engraved bone; also, 28 shaped and polished bone tools recovered mainly from a phase just below the Still Bay. Blombos Cave is the first site where well preserved faunal remains have been recovered in association with the Still Bay allowing for unique insights into human subsistence behaviour and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Large fish bones, marine shells, seals and dolphins attest to extensive exploitation of aquatic resources and a wide range of terrestrial animals were hunted and gathered. The few human teeth recovered are heavily worn and damaged thus the issue of morphological modernity cannot be addressed.The BBC findings are a useful adjunct to findings from other MSA coastal sites in the southern Cape, especially Klasies River (KR) and Die Kelders Cave 1 (DK1); uniquely, BBC provides insights into human behaviour during a phase of the MSA never before studied in detail.     

Civil society and public–private partnerships: case study of the Agri-FoodBank in South Africa

In recent decades, civil society organizations (CSOs) have joined public–private partnerships (PPPs) to reduce poverty and promote local development. In what follows, I analyze the development of the Agri-FoodBank (AFB) CSO in South Africa in order to critically examine PPPs. As part of the FoodBank South Africa (FBSA) network of food banks, the AFB has emerged to reduce rural and urban food insecurities. Building on the national system of food banks, the AFB aims to train small-scale rural farmers to sell their crops to the food bank’s network of local food organizations which then feed the urban poor. In the case of the AFB, findings suggest that the PPP emerged as a mutually beneficial collaboration between the state and FBSA, as the state needed political power and FBSA needed money. However, for this PPP to form, FBSA completely transformed its mission and structure to fit the state’s preference for rural development projects. Thus, although the AFB formed to empower FBSA, data findings indicate that the AFB has increased state control over FBSA. In this way, PPPs need to be understood within the context of local state-civil society relations, as methods of state control reflect South Africa’s unique version of neoliberalism.     

Comecon and the South in the years of détente: a study on East–South economic relations

The article deals with the economic relations of the socialist bloc with less-developed countries in the 1960s and 1970s. It focuses on the economic policies envisaged by technocrats and policy-makers in the Comecon's Commission for technical assistance. It argues that the original formula based on autarky, whereby socialist aid aimed at building a clear alternative to the West and less-developed countries were advised to introduce Soviet-style planning, nationalisation and industrialisation, was progressively abandoned during détente. Doubts on the appropriateness of the Soviet model emerged, especially in Eastern European governments. Trade became increasingly crucial and the strategy of promoting an international division of labour based on mutual advantage turned into an obsession with importing strategic raw materials. In the mid-1970s, despite the official socialist view, the East pursued ‘realist’ policies that made sense in terms of economics rather than ideology. The myth of socialist modernity as a variant of industrial modernity had definitely collapsed, and socialist countries' participation in the Western-dominated world economy became a necessity. Eventually, the developing world became the place where a joint East–West co-operation could take place, often in the framework of the so-called trilateral co-operation, where Western Europe had a special role.     

Two Remarks on Michael Attaleiates’ Account of the Preliminaries to the Battle of Mantzikert†

The ability to extract fully the contextualized interpretations of Michael Attaleiates’ Historia is a rather difficult task without the parallel study of sources chronicling the same period. This article reconsiders Attaleiates’ justification for the division of the army by Diogenes before the battle of Mantzikert in 1071, and argues that the author is as critical of this emperor’s strategy as his close contemporary, Psellos, though his criticism is more subtly formulated. Another section discusses a gap in the narrative structure of the Historia and goes on to fill it with information derived from the Hyle Historias of Bryennios and from the chronicles of al-Bundari and Ibn al-‘Adim.     

Does Solidarity Pay? The Case of the Small Enterprise Foundation,South Africa

This article argues that the costs of lending through solidarity groups are high. This is explained by the nature of groups: groups are not a forum for contractual exchange, but are costly institutions built on social capital. The costs of group formation and interaction outweigh the benefits of high repayment rates associated with group control. Supposedly sustainable group-lenders often depend on large injections of subsidized loans or capital from donors. This is usually ignored in mainstream literature which does not pay sufficient attention to the operational costs of credit extension. The argument is illustrated with a study of the Small Enterprise Foundation, South Africa, which shows a contradiction between staff-intensive, personalized lending technology and sufficient cost-recovery.     

A Report on the British Premiere of Death of Yazdgerd: A Cross-cultural Adaptation?

In the spring semester of 2010, the students of the module “Non Western Performances” at Loughborough University were directed by Sudipto Chatterjee to stage the UK premiere of Bahram Beyzaie's canonical play, Death of Yazdgerd (1979). The play, which was initially supposed to be a student-led workshop as part of the module's practice, took a life of its own and turned into a full-blown production. The production consisted of all the registered students of the module who formed the cast and the crew, the main tutor and director Sudipto Chatterjee, the co-tutor and dramaturge Proshot Kalam) and the two technical tutors (Dave Hill and Mark Simpson). The present essay is an attempt to analyze the cross-cultural aspects and the practical approaches undertaken by the crew for the production of the play.