Since the South African Reconciliation Barometer’s (SARB) inception in 2003, most South Africans have indicated their preference for a united South African nation. The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation released the latest SARB findings in Cape Town this morning.
Over the past two years, the trustworthiness of political institutions across the globe have generally taken a hiding. Domestically, the South African polity continues to be plagued by multiple divisions. Not only does this sketch a society and social groupings that are divided amongst themselves, but it also highlights the lack of trust in a central authority that can act as a unifying, progressive and developmental force.
The eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is recognised as one of the world’s largest reservoirs of cobalt and significant quantities of diamonds, gold, coltan and copper. A fragile judicial and constitutional backdrop has created a space for illegal exploitation of Congo’s natural resources; a new form of “conquest”. It is this conflict that has seen Women’s rights be masked in silence and shame. Justice and peacebuilding programme volunteer, Mieille Tankana, explains how during armed conflict women are deliberately targeted as a strategy to intimidate communities while shedding light on how the exploitation of natural resources is often connected to that of sexual violence.
South Africa’s political system, especially at this point in time with the Gupta and state capture narrative surrounding the race ahead of the ANC’s elective conference in December, needs civil society voices like ours more than ever. Whether it is Ramaphosa, Dlamini-Zuma or a dark horse candidate, the systemic and structural factors like unemployment, impoverishment and wealth inequality won’t go away. IJR, together with the rest of civil and activist society, will continue to keep government accountable and do the hard work of healing woundedness through community building. IJR’s Executive Director, Stan Henkeman, writes on how you can lend a helping hand to help support civil society as an act of political justice.
Since SARB’s inception in 2003, most South Africans have indicated their preference for a united South African nation. In addition, optimism about the potential for a more unified society follows a similar trend to the desirability of greater unity. However, the IJR’s most recent South African Reconciliation Barometer (SARB) survey show that only 56,1% of South Africans agree that South Africa has made progress in reconciliation since the end of apartheid. Elnari Potgieter, SARB Project Leader in the Policy and Research programme, identifies some of the major sources of social division in South Africa.
At the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, we have always found it important to acknowledge fellow activists who work tirelessly towards achieving reconciliation in South Africa. Since the year 2000, the IJR has recognised a number of individuals, communities and/or organisations that contribute towards reconciliation. This year, the theme for the Reconciliation awards was Achieving Gender Justice and Reconciliation. There are countless organisations, social movements and activists working towards achieving gender justice and reconciliation in such a way that its complexities and nuances are represented and critically discussed. Gender Dynamix is one such organisation. Jodi Williams, project officer for the Communications and Advocacy programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, writes on why Gender Dynamix was this year’s award recipient.
On the 2nd of December 2017, a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Siyakha and the IJR to cement a working partnership between our two organisations. We hope that our relationship will increase our collective capacity for honest reconciliation and historical justice. IJR's relationship with Siyahka has grown from strength to strength and we look forward to further collaboration.
From 2012 through 2016, the IJR undertook a project, Building Integrated Communities, to test ways that reconciliation can be promoted and to develop a methodology from which anyone can learn. Its findings are now available in a single volume.
By measuring reconciliation in South Africa through public opinion surveying since 2003, the SARB captures progress and offers empirical insights. Join us as we launch and discuss the findings of the most recent SARB survey.
IJR confers the 2016/2017 Reconciliation Award to Gender Dynamix for their role in advancing, promoting and protecting the rights of transgender & gender nonconforming persons within and beyond the borders of South Africa.