Cherrel Africa | University of the Western Cape (original) (raw)
Papers by Cherrel Africa
The Afrobarometer project assesses attitudes and public opinion toward democracy, markets, and ci... more The Afrobarometer project assesses attitudes and public opinion toward democracy, markets, and civil society in several sub-Saharan African nations. This dataset was compiled from the studies in Round II of the Afrobarometer conducted from 2002-2004 in 16 countries including Botswana, Cape Verde, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and South Africa. Certain questions addressed country-specific issues, but many of the same questions were asked across surveys. Citizens of the 16 countries were asked their opinions about recent political and economic changes within their country. Respondents were asked about their current satisfaction with economic conditions in their country, how they currently obtained food to eat, what resources they relied on for safety, and how they obtained health care. They were also asked how often in the last 12 months they or their family had gone without food, felt unsafe in terms of...
Southern Africa Democracy Barometer at Idasa. Funds for this study were provided by the
Reflections on the 2019 South African General Elections
Small parties and independents play an important role in South Africa’s democracy. It is on the l... more Small parties and independents play an important role in South Africa’s democracy. It is on the level of the local that these small parties and independents have some chance to make indents in terms of winning a few wards that could turn them into council kingmakers, or at least represent some particular local constituency needs. This chapter examines the multitude of small and micro-parties, as well as independent candidates in the 2011 local government elections. It first features classification-based endeavours to ‘make sense of this multitude of often-neglected but crucial political players in South Africa’. The classifications use the number of contesting candidates and election outcomes as the two classificatory principles. The chapter also explores the increase in contestation by independent candidates. Thereafter it investigates the details of their results, and the reasons for their largely dismal displays in local election 2011. The chapter concludes that while these polit...
Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa, 1999
As South Africa headed into a campaign for its second democratic election, theonly real question ... more As South Africa headed into a campaign for its second democratic election, theonly real question in the eyes of most political commentators and analystsseemed to be the size of the victory that lay in store for the governing AfricanNational Congress. Would it manage to repeat its 1994 total of 62 per cent of thevote? Would it go even further and capture a two-thirds majority, enabling itto change the country's new constitution at will?But what reasoning underlay the foregone conclusion of an assured ANCvictory? Was it because South Africa is becoming simply another repetition ofthe 'African pattern' whereby liberation parties that win the first election obtainincreasingly larger margins of victory from voters who are either uncritical oruninformed? Or was it becoming another case study of a 'dominant partysystem' with voters deeply committed to political parties, no 'undecidedmiddle,' and thus little or no prospects for electorally induced change ingovern...
Politikon, Dec 22, 2017
The need for a new language? How historically disadvantaged institutions grapple with the effects... more The need for a new language? How historically disadvantaged institutions grapple with the effects of labelling in higher Education: the case of the University of the Western Cape. Politikon.
Politikon
ABSTRACT Election campaigns in democratic South Africa have been eventful affairs. Despite the el... more ABSTRACT Election campaigns in democratic South Africa have been eventful affairs. Despite the electoral dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994, political parties in South Africa have campaigned fiercely. At face value then, it would appear that election campaigns constitute an integral and valuable part of South Africa’s democratic system. Yet, at the same time, following the 1994 elections and given the racialized dynamics of South Africa’s electoral landscape, a view has emerged that does not regard South African voters as active agents consuming relevant political information. This view, which sees voters as guided primarily by symbolic or identity concerns, was strongly challenged by several analysts. However, the question as to whether election campaigns are relevant in the South African context still remains. In this article, I examine the relevance of campaigning in the South African context. I focus on the African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Party (DP)/Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the National Party (NP) /New National Party (NNP). I argue that campaign messaging and party credibility are important contributors of performance at the polls. Inconsistent and contradictory campaign messages, poor decisions and destructive behaviour had substantial repercussions for parties at the polls.
Journal of African Elections
The 2014 election in the Western Cape was once again a high-stakes, fiercely-contested affair. Po... more The 2014 election in the Western Cape was once again a high-stakes, fiercely-contested affair. Political parties saw the Western Cape as an 'open race' and the province became the centre of vigorous campaign efforts in the lead-up to the election. The African National Congress (ANC), which had lost control of the province because its vote share dropped from 45% in 2004 to 32% in 2009, hoped to unseat the Democratic Alliance (DA), which had won in 2009 by a very narrow margin (51%). The ANC felt that it had done enough to regain control of the province, especially in light of deep-seated disillusionment in many communities and the violent protests that took place prior to the election.While the ANC maintained its support base, winning votes from 33% of the provincial electorate, the type of identity-based campaign it pursued combined with other factors to work to the DA's advantage. Despite the fact that the DA also engaged in racebased campaigning it won 59% of the provincial vote. This was obtained at the expense of small parties, who received negligible support in the 2014 election. Only the Economic Freedom Fighters and the African Christian Democratic Party won enough votes to obtain a seat each in the provincial legislature. This article examines electoral dynamics in the Western Cape, which saw the consolidation of DA support in the province. It focuses on the 2014 election campaign and the extent to which the negative campaign cycle evident in previous elections continued during the 2014 election campaign.
the administration of elections in South Africa, including the 2011 local government elections (h... more the administration of elections in South Africa, including the 2011 local government elections (hereafter the 2011 elections), has widely been hailed as a resounding success. Yet competitive elections, an essential component of any democratic system, require more than smooth running administrative systems. competitive elections require competitive campaigns and an environment where voters can vote and express their opinions without fear of retribution. in this article, we conduct a systematic assessment of pre-election space in the 2011 elections. We present a unique coding scheme developed by the election monitoring network (emn) to grade individual instances of electionrelated intolerance and intimidation. the coding scheme provides a framework to quantitatively assess a given campaign and election. We also present data on instances of pre-election intimidation and violence gathered by the emn from 3 march until 13 may. the data reveal that whilst the vast majority of South Africans can vote and express their opinions without fear of retribution, there are underlying tensions which remain a cause for concern. When viewed in conjunction with the Afrobarometer survey data (2008) on perceptions of political space in South Africa, it becomes clear that pre-election campaign space is fragile and not given, and will therefore need to be nurtured in future elections.
The Afrobarometer project assesses attitudes and public opinion toward democracy, markets, and ci... more The Afrobarometer project assesses attitudes and public opinion toward democracy, markets, and civil society in several sub-Saharan African nations. This dataset was compiled from the studies in Round II of the Afrobarometer conducted from 2002-2004 in 16 countries including Botswana, Cape Verde, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, and South Africa. Certain questions addressed country-specific issues, but many of the same questions were asked across surveys. Citizens of the 16 countries were asked their opinions about recent political and economic changes within their country. Respondents were asked about their current satisfaction with economic conditions in their country, how they currently obtained food to eat, what resources they relied on for safety, and how they obtained health care. They were also asked how often in the last 12 months they or their family had gone without food, felt unsafe in terms of...
Southern Africa Democracy Barometer at Idasa. Funds for this study were provided by the
Reflections on the 2019 South African General Elections
Small parties and independents play an important role in South Africa’s democracy. It is on the l... more Small parties and independents play an important role in South Africa’s democracy. It is on the level of the local that these small parties and independents have some chance to make indents in terms of winning a few wards that could turn them into council kingmakers, or at least represent some particular local constituency needs. This chapter examines the multitude of small and micro-parties, as well as independent candidates in the 2011 local government elections. It first features classification-based endeavours to ‘make sense of this multitude of often-neglected but crucial political players in South Africa’. The classifications use the number of contesting candidates and election outcomes as the two classificatory principles. The chapter also explores the increase in contestation by independent candidates. Thereafter it investigates the details of their results, and the reasons for their largely dismal displays in local election 2011. The chapter concludes that while these polit...
Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa, 1999
As South Africa headed into a campaign for its second democratic election, theonly real question ... more As South Africa headed into a campaign for its second democratic election, theonly real question in the eyes of most political commentators and analystsseemed to be the size of the victory that lay in store for the governing AfricanNational Congress. Would it manage to repeat its 1994 total of 62 per cent of thevote? Would it go even further and capture a two-thirds majority, enabling itto change the country's new constitution at will?But what reasoning underlay the foregone conclusion of an assured ANCvictory? Was it because South Africa is becoming simply another repetition ofthe 'African pattern' whereby liberation parties that win the first election obtainincreasingly larger margins of victory from voters who are either uncritical oruninformed? Or was it becoming another case study of a 'dominant partysystem' with voters deeply committed to political parties, no 'undecidedmiddle,' and thus little or no prospects for electorally induced change ingovern...
Politikon, Dec 22, 2017
The need for a new language? How historically disadvantaged institutions grapple with the effects... more The need for a new language? How historically disadvantaged institutions grapple with the effects of labelling in higher Education: the case of the University of the Western Cape. Politikon.
Politikon
ABSTRACT Election campaigns in democratic South Africa have been eventful affairs. Despite the el... more ABSTRACT Election campaigns in democratic South Africa have been eventful affairs. Despite the electoral dominance of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994, political parties in South Africa have campaigned fiercely. At face value then, it would appear that election campaigns constitute an integral and valuable part of South Africa’s democratic system. Yet, at the same time, following the 1994 elections and given the racialized dynamics of South Africa’s electoral landscape, a view has emerged that does not regard South African voters as active agents consuming relevant political information. This view, which sees voters as guided primarily by symbolic or identity concerns, was strongly challenged by several analysts. However, the question as to whether election campaigns are relevant in the South African context still remains. In this article, I examine the relevance of campaigning in the South African context. I focus on the African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Party (DP)/Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the National Party (NP) /New National Party (NNP). I argue that campaign messaging and party credibility are important contributors of performance at the polls. Inconsistent and contradictory campaign messages, poor decisions and destructive behaviour had substantial repercussions for parties at the polls.
Journal of African Elections
The 2014 election in the Western Cape was once again a high-stakes, fiercely-contested affair. Po... more The 2014 election in the Western Cape was once again a high-stakes, fiercely-contested affair. Political parties saw the Western Cape as an 'open race' and the province became the centre of vigorous campaign efforts in the lead-up to the election. The African National Congress (ANC), which had lost control of the province because its vote share dropped from 45% in 2004 to 32% in 2009, hoped to unseat the Democratic Alliance (DA), which had won in 2009 by a very narrow margin (51%). The ANC felt that it had done enough to regain control of the province, especially in light of deep-seated disillusionment in many communities and the violent protests that took place prior to the election.While the ANC maintained its support base, winning votes from 33% of the provincial electorate, the type of identity-based campaign it pursued combined with other factors to work to the DA's advantage. Despite the fact that the DA also engaged in racebased campaigning it won 59% of the provincial vote. This was obtained at the expense of small parties, who received negligible support in the 2014 election. Only the Economic Freedom Fighters and the African Christian Democratic Party won enough votes to obtain a seat each in the provincial legislature. This article examines electoral dynamics in the Western Cape, which saw the consolidation of DA support in the province. It focuses on the 2014 election campaign and the extent to which the negative campaign cycle evident in previous elections continued during the 2014 election campaign.
the administration of elections in South Africa, including the 2011 local government elections (h... more the administration of elections in South Africa, including the 2011 local government elections (hereafter the 2011 elections), has widely been hailed as a resounding success. Yet competitive elections, an essential component of any democratic system, require more than smooth running administrative systems. competitive elections require competitive campaigns and an environment where voters can vote and express their opinions without fear of retribution. in this article, we conduct a systematic assessment of pre-election space in the 2011 elections. We present a unique coding scheme developed by the election monitoring network (emn) to grade individual instances of electionrelated intolerance and intimidation. the coding scheme provides a framework to quantitatively assess a given campaign and election. We also present data on instances of pre-election intimidation and violence gathered by the emn from 3 march until 13 may. the data reveal that whilst the vast majority of South Africans can vote and express their opinions without fear of retribution, there are underlying tensions which remain a cause for concern. When viewed in conjunction with the Afrobarometer survey data (2008) on perceptions of political space in South Africa, it becomes clear that pre-election campaign space is fragile and not given, and will therefore need to be nurtured in future elections.