A Critical Analysis of the African National Congress’s Inclination to the Freedom Charter: A Review of Implementation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6549/11784Keywords:
African National Congress, Freedom Charter, Promise Theory, successes, failuresAbstract
The Freedom Charter is supposed to be a guiding document on policy directives for the post-apartheid African National Congress (ANC) government. However, there is strong corroboration driving a lack of academic attention to this well-deserved scholarly subject. In simple terms, scholars do not pay much attention to linking the ANC to this important historical document. Against this background, we argue that the contemporary ANC is encountering several challenges with respect to the implementation of the tenets of the Freedom Charter. The adoption and utility of the “Promise Theory,” in the context of this article, is informed fundamentally by the need to theoretically frame the analysis within a relevant historical theoretical lens. This is done in order to best shape the broader analysis and scholarly arguments advanced in this article. This showcases all that has to do with the Freedom Charter and the various challenges facing the ANC in implementing the document. Methodologically, this article is informed by a complete document review and thematic content analysis.
References
Anderson, R. 2017. Thematic Content Analysis (TCA): Descriptive Presentation of Qualitative Data. Accessed November 8, 2019. www.rosemarieanderson.com
Bergstra, J. A., and M. Burgess. 2019. Promise Theory: Principles and Applications, 2nd edition. χtAxis Press.
Booyse, W. 2018. “A Critique of Crucial Concepts in the Freedom Charter.” Accessed November 8, 2019. https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/67355/delmas_trial_bewysstukke
Burgess, M. 2015. “Some Notes About Promise Theory.” Accessed November 9, 2019. http://markburgess.org/PromiseMethod.pdf
Department of Education. 2005. “History of the Freedom Charter.” Accessed November 9, 2019. https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/publications/history_freedomcharter.pdf
Dominy, G. 2013. “Overcoming the Apartheid Legacy: The Special Case of the Freedom Charter.” Archival Science 13 (2–3): 195–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-012-9182-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-012-9182-5
Du Plessis. C. 2019. “Member of Ramaphosa’s Government Mocks His Dream of a Future City, Bullet Train.” Accessed October 10, 2019. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-06-23-member-of-ramaphosas-government-mocks-his-dream-of-a-future-city/
Elijah, B. M. 2022. “Land Redistribution: A Thorny Issue towards Reconciliation in a Post Apartheid South Africa: A Practical Theological Perspective.” In Ecotheology-Sustainability and Religions of the World. IntechOpen.
Gerber, J. 2019. “SONA: Dream, Dream, Filling up an Idle Hour and 20 Minutes.” Accessed October 14, 2019. https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/sona-dream-dream-filling-up-an-idle-hour-and-20-minutes-20190621
Historical Papers Research Archive. 2013. “The Freedom Charter adopted at the Congress of the People at Kliptown, Johannesburg, on June 25 and 26, 1955.” Accessed November 9, 2019. http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za/inventories/inv_pdf.
Hogg, S. 2014. “Promise Theory.” Accessed November 8, 2019. https://www.networkworld.com/article/2449562/promise-theory-mark-burgess-cfengine-sdn-cisco-aci-apic-opflex.html
Kasrils, R. 2013. “How the ANC’s Faustian Pact Sold Out South Africa’s Poorest.” The Guardian, June 24. Accessed November 2, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/24/anc-faustian-pact-mandela-fatal-error
Kepe, T., and R. Hall. 2020. “Land Redistribution in South Africa: Towards Decolonisation or Recolonisation?” In Decolonisation after Democracy, 128–137. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429435621-10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429435621-10
Kotze, J. S., and N. Bohler-Muller. 2019. “Quo Vadis? Reflections on the 2019 South African General Elections.” Politikon 46 (4): 365–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2019.1692520 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2019.1692520
Madisa, K. 2019. “Ramaphosa Promises Two Million Jobs for Youth in the Next 10 Years.” Sowetan Live, June 20. Accessed October 15, 2019. https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-06-20-ramaphosa-promises-two-million-jobs-for-youth-in-the-next-10-years/
Mmapatji, T. B. 2023. “The Impact of Student Protests on Motivation, Academic Performance, and Retention Rate at Nkangala TVET College, Mpumalanga Province.” Doctoral thesis. University of South Africa.
Marrian, N. 2019. “Ramaphosa’s Sona Outlines Seven Priorities for Sixth Administration.” Mail and Guardian, June 20. Accessed October 11, 2019. https://mg.co.za/article/2019-06-20-ramaphosas-sona-outlines-seven-priorities-for-sixth-administration
Mkentane, L. 2016. “Castro ‘Warned ANC about Freedom Charter’.” IOL, November 6. Accessed November 6, 2019. https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/castro-warned-anc-about-freedom-charter-2093899
NDP Vision. 2018. “The NDP’s Vision for Growth and Employment.” NDP Vision 2013, October 13. Accessed October 13, 2019. https://vision2030.co.za/the-ndps-vision-for-growth-and-employment/
Ngoepe-Ntsoane, M. 2022. “The Land Restitution Claim Model, Towards a Sustainable Socio-Economic Development: A Case Study of Zebediela Country Estate Community in Limpopo Province of South Africa.” Journal of Public Administration 57 (3): 529–543.
Odinet, C. K. 2018. “The New Data of Student Debt.” Southern California Law Review 92: 1617.
Payne, S. 2019. “As Ramaphosa Talks Bullet Trains, Mbalula Set to Focus on Putting Metrorail Back on Track.” Daily Maverick, June 21. Accessed October 10, 2019. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-06-21-as-ramaphosa-talks-bullet-trains-mbalula-set-to-focus-on-putting-metrorail-back-on-track/
Rapanyane, M. B. 2021. “SACP and ANC-led Alliance Government’s Inclination to the National Democratic Revolution: A Review of Implementation Successes and Failures.” Journal of Nation-building and Policy Studies (JoNPS) 5 (1): 115–134. https://doi.org/10.31920/2516-3132/2021/v5n1a6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.31920/2516-3132/2021/v5n1a6
SAC Alliance. 1955. “The Freedom Charter.” Adopted in Kliptown, Soweto, 26.
SAPA. 2013. “ANC has Abandoned the Freedom Charter: Numsa.” Accessed November 9, 2019. https://www.sport24.co.za/SouthAfrica/Politics/ANC-has-abandoned-the-Freedom-Charter-Numsa-20131220?cpid=1
Suttner, R. 2015. “The Freedom Charter @ 60: Rethinking Its Democratic Qualities.” Historia 60 (2): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-8392/2015/V60N2A1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-8392/2015/V60N2A1
Terre-Blanche, M., and K. Durrheim. 2002. Research in Practice. Cape Town: Cape Town University Press.
Van Diemen, E. 2019. “It’s Not His Dream, It’s the People’s Dream: Magashule Defends Ramaphosa’s SONA High Hopes.” Accessed October 10, 2019. https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/its-not-his-dream-its-the-peoples-dream-magashule-defends-ramaphosas-sona-high-hopes-20190621
Weeks, D. 2017. “Promise Theory and DevOps.” Accessed November 8, 2019. https://blog.sonatype.com/promise-theory-and-devops
Writer, S. 2019. “What Business Wants from Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address.” Accessed October 13, 2019. https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/324247/what-business-wants-from-ramaphosas-state-of-the-nation-address/
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright will be vested in Unisa Press. However, as long as you do not use the article in ways which would directly conflict with the publisher’s business interests, you retain the right to use your own article (provided you acknowledge the published version of the article) as follows:
- to make further copies of all or part of the published article for your use in classroom teaching;
- to make copies of the final accepted version of the article for internal distribution within your institution, or to place it on your own or your institution’s website or repository, or on a site that does not charge for access to the article, but you must arrange not to make the final accepted version of the article available to the public until 18 months after the date of acceptance;
- to re-use all or part of this material in a compilation of your own works or in a textbook of which you are the author, or as the basis for a conference presentation.
Accepted 2024-01-25
Published 2024-02-19
