Book Reviews 101
The authors also recommend that much more respect should be paid to the rights,
safety and dignity of all Africans and that refugees should be accorded much the same
treatment as nationals wherever possible. On a practical level they recommend the
production of handbooks detailing basic information regarding refugee' rights and
obligations, which at limited cost could add stability and confidence to their lives.
A final point that is stressed throughout the book is that, in the interests of equity
in development, the local population must be involved in the development initiative,
as indeed refugees themselves should. Development is seen as consisting of three
essential factors: direct, practical assistance, the participation of people at every stage,
and finally guarantees for their safety and dignity. In general, we are informed that a
genuine respect for human, or people's, rights is essential if 'development' is o> be
worthwhile, either for local people or refugees. It is difficult to be at odds with such
worthy sentiments.
Although a short volume (123 pp including appendices), I consider that this book
is a very useful addition to the literature on the African refugee problem. Its contribution
is also timely in reminding us diat there is indeed an African Charter on
Human and People's Rights which deserves more careful scrutiny than perhaps we
have given it to date.
Reviewed by N Hall, School of Social Work, Harare.
State, Resistance and Change in South Africa, Philip Frankel, Noam Pines and
Mark Swilling (eds), Croom Helm, London, 1988 (325pp, £30 hbk)
In recent years, the dialectics of popular protest and state repression in South Africa
have spawned a plethora of conventional literature seeking to analyse the cause(s)
and to predict possible outcomes of the apartheid quagmire. For the most part the
resulting literature has remained within the confines of liberal skepticism, failing to
foresee possibilities for paradigmatic political change in South Africa.
The authors of State, Resistance and Change in South Africa are liberal skeptics
in that, while seemingly recognising the magnitude of the apartheid problem, they
nevertheless see no meaningful political development beyond the apartheid state.
The authors postulate a dual thesis which sees South Africa in the grips of a
Gramsci type of an interregnum consisting of a social stalemate where 'the old'is
dying and the new cannot be born'. The old is dying because the apartheid state
does not have die requisite ideological and political resources required to reestablish
its racial dominance without recourse to more and more coercion. On the
other hand, the new cannot be born because the various organisations and movements
that represent the interests of the oppressed majority do not possess the
organisational capacity and political power or coercive strengdi to overthrow the
state and bring about meaningful political change.
According to one of the authors, Mark Swilling (p 16), the capacity of black resistance
organisations to oppose state policy directly affects the relationship between
the reformist and repressive apparatus: the more opposition there is, the more
repression is used, which in turn destabilises conditions for reform; whereas when
opposition diminishes, repression becomes increasingly functional to reform, and
so the resulting greater unity of purpose within the state reinforces the chance of
success of reformist strategies; although the former possibility is more probable.
102 Book Reviews
The authors develop their dual thesis by focusing on the asymmetrical interplay
between repressive state action and popular opposition, which leaves the business
community vacillating between the two extremes. In this interplay, state action is
seen through the changing, and sometimes conflicting, roles of the South African
Defence Forces (SDF) and the South African Police (SAP); while popular opposition
is seen through the increasing political mobilisation in the black townships of the
Transvaal, which has triggered a breakdown of state inspired local government; the
politicisation of the black trade union movement; the 'civil war' between Inkatha
and the United Democratic Front; and the changing strategy of the African National
Congress (ANC), among many more loosely defined black forces. Within this
scheme, the authors present a somewhat detailed journalistic treatment of such
issues as the current history of reform strategies in South Africa, the role of business
in reform, the crisis of local government; the role of the SDF in intensifying civil
war; Inkatha as a wild card in contemporary black politics, the black trade union
movement, the mobilisation of black townships and some historical review of
the ANC.
One of the co-authors, Philip Frankel, concludes the book by examining some
pathways for transition beyond apartheid. These include: state reform negotiation,
closure and revolution. Because of the Gramsci type of interregnum, which the
authors say characterises contemporary South Africa, all of these pathways are
found wanting in terms of their immediate viability in encapsulating what die
authors see as the dynamic reality of contemporary South Africa.
While this conclusion smacks of understandable liberal skepticism, State Resistance
and Change in South Africa fails to grapple analytically with die consequences
of the increasing ungovernability of the apartheid state. Excessive repression does
not diminish opposition, radier it serves as a dynamic catalyst for ungovernability,
as happened in the Shah's Iran, Marcos' Philippines and recendy in Pinochet's Chile.
A credible work is yet to be produced on the revolutionary possibilities of
ungovernability is South Africa.
Reviewed by Jonathan N Moyo, Department of Political and Administrative Studies,
University of Zimbabwe, Harare.
Doing a Feasibility Study, S Kindervatter (ed), OEF, Washington DC, 1987 (US$15,
171pp).
Marketing Strategy, S Kindervatter with M Range (eds), OEF, Washington DC, 1986
(US$12,50, 96pp).
These two books, particularly the second, in a series on appropriate business skills for
Third World women, cover topics of relevance to anyone involved in small economic
projects. Both books begin with notes'on how to use die materials and participatory
training.
The first book covers the following:
— what a feasibility study is, and its importance
— choosing a product or service to sell
— finding out if people will buy the product
— determining how the business will operate