From People's Education to Neo-Liberalism in South Africa

Abstract

In his address at the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Foundation for Human Rights in Pretoria, 29 November 2006 Neville Alexander posed the following question:

Why is it that in spite of a constitution that was arrived at in a 20th century model of democratic bargaining and consensus building and in which are enshrined some of the noblest sentiments and insights concerning human rights, we are living in a situation where very few of those rights appear to be realised, or even realisable, in practice?

This paper attempts to answer this question through an analysis of the struggle to attain education rights in South Africa. This exercise it is hoped, will also allow us to further unravel the class nature of the South African state, the political economy of the transition (for extensive and excellent analysis of the latter see Marais, 1998; Bond, 2000 and Alexander, 2002) and the importance of the oppositional role of the new and independent social movements.

Notes

1. The demands for a review of funding came from a variety of civic and social organisations – chief among them were civil society groups, student and community organisations who were key in boycotting school fees; the Global Campaign for Education; the Education Rights Project; and the South African Democratic Teachers Union.

2. It is worth underscoring the role that social movements played in pressurising the government for a comprehensive review, particularly because their absence from the Review Committee and its deliberations is striking.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Salim Vally

Salim Vally is a Senior Researcher at the Education Policy Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; e-mail: [email protected].