The publication of the fourth annual edition of State of the Nation by the HSRC Press offers further critical insight into the contradictory but compelling character of South Africa’s democracy. The series was conceived as the successor to the South African Review. Published by the Southern African Research Service, the Review was a sharp thorn in the side of the apartheid government, offering highly critical assessments of official policy, brutality and oppression, yet was concerned also with uncovering the deeper forces that were then reshaping South Africa internally and externally.
State of the Nation, although launched in the more comfortable conditions of the early 2000s, was started with the warm blessing of Glenn Moss, the principal editor of the Review, and has been hailed by him as displaying strong consistencies with the most progressive writing and publishing of the 1980s. Composed of 20-plus essays written by both established and emerging authors from universities and civil society, as well as from the Human Sciences Research Council itself, the collected volumes now constitute a formidable body of analysis. Indeed, it has become so heavy that last year the HSRC Press’s marketing director, Karen Bruns, wielded the latest volume to fend off an attempted smash-and-grab mugging. Beware, O you poverty-stricken citizens at traffic lights, this year’s edition is even bigger and weightier!
Of course, the different nature of the times dictates a different product. South African Review was strongly oppositional. State of the Nation, in contrast, is guided by the values embedded in the democratic Constitution, and most of its authors are in strong sympathy with the expressed goals of the ANC. But not necessarily with the way in which the ANC has chosen to implement its policies.
The tradition of critique remains strong. In his annual State of the Nation speeches to Parliament, President Thabo Mbeki offers official assessments of both the triumphs and tears of South African democracy. Regularly too, he sets targets, and invites society to monitor government performance. Our volumes seek to do that, and have probably given the president rather more than he has bargained for. Yet, more than simply responding to government policy, State of the Nation has provided a multifaceted analysis of diverse aspects of South African society, often delving into nooks and crannies that are more usually ignored.
Divided into four sections dealing, respectively, with politics, economics, society and international relations, the volumes have dealt with the staples of elections, political trends, economic directions, black economic empowerment, HIV/Aids, education, and, importantly, South Africa’s corporate expansion into Africa. They have also played the spotlight on minority communities such as the Muslims and the Chinese, and sports such as soccer and (this year) rugby.
In addition to the research by HSRC researchers and analysts from other research institutes including Idasa and the Institute of Security Studies, we have over these four years published the views of independent analysts such as Stephen Gelb, Doreen Atkinson and David Fig; journalists such as Sam Sole, Janet Wilhelm and Zayn Nabbi; and academics from almost all South Africa universities. We’ve even rooted for a member of the first Survivor South Africa!
State of the Nation has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Within the short space of four years, it has established itself as a necessary text for scholars, students, diplomats and many ordinary concerned citizens. It is now regularly prescribed on courses in both South African and international universities. ”Social science in South Africa”, remarks a just-published review in a major British academic journal, ”has always been more extensive than elsewhere on the continent … with this impressive collection [the 2005-2006 volume], it can now claim to be superior.”
We are confident that the fourth volume will meet with as much success. The previous issues have explored the notion of South Africa as a ”developmental state”. This year, the overriding theme is whether, far from being developmental, the South African state has become ”dysfunctional”.
A declining Human Development Index, municipal delivery failures and resulting protests, questionable technology choices, erosion of labour standards, a collapsing health system, a corrupted prison service, violence against women and rising xenophobia against Zimbabwean refugees indicate a society in trouble, if not actually in crisis. Add in the divided nature of the ANC and the growing privilege of the politically connected black elite, and you have a society at considerable odds with itself. To be sure, good things are happening too. But whereas the first three issues of State of the Nation were cautiously upbeat, the fourth is considerably more pessimistic.
State of the Nation has been hailed for its combination of accessibility, rigorous analysis and independence of thought. Yet its most important contribution has been — and must continue to be — to stimulate vigorous debate.
Professor Roger Southall of the HSRC is a founding editor of State of the Nation series, the fourth edition of which is published this month by the HSRC Press