T: +27 (0)51 401 3121 | www.ufs.ac.za
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE
SEMINAR SERIES HOSTED BY THE CENTRE FOR AFRICA STUDIES IN CELEBRATION OF AFRICA MONTH
A Critical Anatomy of the
African Middle Class(es) by Prof Henning Melber
DATE
04 May 2016
TIME13:00
VENUEFGG 201, UFS
Namibia since Independence:
The Limits to Liberation by Prof Henning Melber
DATE
04 May 2016
TIME15:00
VENUEFGG 201, UFS
Continental Shift. A Journey into Africa’s Changing Fortunes by Kevin Bloom & Richard Poplak
DATE
25 May 2016
TIME13:00
VENUEEquitas Building Auditorium, UFS
Africa and the Remaking
of the Global Order by Prof Tim Murithi
DATE
25 May 2016
TIME18:00
VENUEEquitas Building Auditorium, UFS
And the Mighty Liberator May Fall
by Prof Joleen Steyn Kotze
DATE
26 May 2016
TIME10:00
VENUEFGG 201, UFS
T: +27 (0)51 401 3121 | www.ufs.ac.za
ABSTRACTS
A Critical Anatomy of the African Middle Class(es)
By Henning Melber
The African middle class(es) have of lately become a reference point supporting the notion of ‘Africa Rising’. It is implied that a growing segment in African societies has entered a middle class status and will be an engine for economic growth and social and political progress. But the definition of ‘middle class’ remains vague, lacks profound analytical efforts and the analysis of the proclaimed phenomenon remains rather ahistorical.
This lecture critically summarizes the discourse and suggests that the actual size, the role and the effect of African middle classes is more wishful thinking of a developmental paradigm than reality.
And the Mighty Liberator May Fall
By Joleen Steyn Kotze
This year is potentially a watershed moment in South Africa’s democratic history. In the context of a narrative of state capture, corruption, weak service delivery, and a lack of a moral politics, it is widely expected that the ANC will bleed with significant losses in the 2016 Local Government Elections. One of the most contested areas is that of Nelson Mandela Bay, a city with a proud liberation history and often referred to as the engine room of our liberation history. Yet, it is a city that has been plagued by large scale corruption, severe internal factional battles within the ANC that hampered ability of the municipal council to govern, an education crisis, a crumbling health care system, the continued use of the bucket system that undermines human dignity, and a growing rate of unemployment. On the eve of a local government election, where the ANC’s power is so weakened that for the first time since 1994, the outcome of the 2016 municipal election for Nelson Mandela Bay is unpredictable. The ruling party faces a real possibility of losing power in the very city synonymous with its history.
Namibia since Independence:
The Limits to Liberation
By Henning Melber
Namibia’s Independence in 1990 was the result of a negotiated transfer of political power to the former anti-colonial liberation movement SWAPO.
Since then turned into a political party, SWAPO has continuously consolidated its political hegemony.
But socio-economic realities have shown only a limited transformation into what could largely be considered another elite project.
To this extent the lessons from Namibia’s limits to liberation might also be instructive for the transition from controlled change to changed control in South Africa only a few years later.
