part of no part

1.       Introduction The world is faced with two immediate and imminent threats. On the one hand the rising levels of inequality has emerged as a grave threat to social stability and sustainable development, while a warming planet and a changing climate not only presents the possibility where the “ planetary order upon which all societies are built starts breaking down ”   (Malm, 2017) , as temperatures sour and stressed populations become increasingly anxious about their survival and their future, but also presents the possibility of increasing climate catastrophe`s which will continue to place the lives of millions at risk. According to some reports, we are speeding towards a four to five degree global temperature rise in the next few decades, “ a prospect which could annihilate large sections of the world’s population, particularly those most vulnerable in Africa ” (Hallowes, 2012) . As Vishwas Satgar notes, despite numerous warnings – scie...

On Wednesday the 8 th of May 2019, voters turned out to participate in the 6 th National elections since the end of the Apartheid State in 1994.   Over the course of the days that followed, the media devoted extensive resources, airtime and space to covering and commenting on the historic process. The headlines that marked the period referred mainly to the extent of the growth or the decline of various parties to attain a percentage of the vote and the main debate was whether the ANC as the governing party would be able to retain its 60% support among voters. Some media and commentators did make mention of the low voter turnout, but none bothered to provide a contextual analysis of what low voter turnouts may mean for our young democracy. This is surprising and eminently deeply concerning that the entire media establishment, committed as they are to maintaining the status quo, or at least ensuring the ascension of Cyril Ramaphosa and his faction, to the helm of the...

“[O]ne does not liberate people by alienating them. Authentic liberation—the process of humanization—is not another deposit to be made in men. Liberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it.   (Freire, 1968) On the eve of the 6 th General elections in South Africa, The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) confirmed that the growing number of unregistered voters in South Africa has increased to over 9.8million eligible voters or 25.5% of eligible voters  (IEC, 2019) . Add this to the 30% ( or 8 million voters) registered voters who may not turn up at the polls and the legitimacy of the system starts to look rather precarious where 18 million or 50% of the 36 million eligible voters do not participate. According to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), this is an increase of more than 2 million unregistered eligible voters over the 7 million reported during the 2014 election and 3...