Mobilising social justice in South Africa
Subtitle: perspectives from researchers and practitioners
By: Jeff Handmaker & Remko Berkhout (editors)
Publisher: Pretoria University Law Press (PULP)
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Pretoria
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9780986985706; 9789869857062
Subjects: Civil society; Social justice
Description: South Africa grapples with serious social and economic inequalities, including inequality in access to basic services. At a time of rising social tensions, the country’s institutions are in danger of losing the legitimacy they gained in the wake of democratic dispensations of the 1990s.

Faced with these challenges, civic actors in South Africa form alliances at different levels, combining legal and non-legal strategies to try to address massive and growing disparities between rich and poor, as well as large-scale inequality and injustice. They aim to mobilise social justice through various and innovative means.

There are many dimensions to understanding the dynamics of civil society, the potential for civic actors to contribute to structural changes in unequal power relations, and the roles of external actors in supporting them. This book presents the findings of five research projects that address these key areas in partnership with practitioners, which were presented at an international conference organised by the Hivos-ISS Knowledge Programme on Civil Society in November 2009 in Johannesburg.
Notes: "This book is based on the results of a conference held in South Africa in November 2009. Its basis is a number of research projects that mostly took place under the banner of the Hivos/ISS Civil Society Building Knowledge Programme" -- T.p. verso.

First published: Hivos/ISS Civil Society Building Knowledge Programme, June 2010.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available online.
Table of contents: title: A critical historical context on Mobilising social justice / Liepollo Lebohang Pheko and Edward Sebastien; title: Introduction to Mobilising social justice: critical discussions on the potential for civic action and structural change / Remko Berkhout and Jeff Handmaker; title: Civic-state interactions and the potential for structural change / Jeff Handmaker; title: The budget process and strategic civic interventions / Frank S. Jenkins; title: Civic action and legal mobilisation: the Phiri water meters case / Jackie Dugard; title: Resistance and repression: policing protest in post-apartheid South Africa / Marcelle C. Dawson; title: Migrant mobilisation: structure and strategies for claiming rights in South Africa and Kenya / Zaheera Jinnah with Rio Holoday; title: Unlocking the potential for civic action and structural change: reflections on mobilising social justice / Jeff Handmaker and Remko Berkhout; title: Transforming our society / conference address by Yasmin Sooka; title: A journey of personal discovery / conference address by Shakrukh Alam.