Faculty of Humanities
School of Basic Social Sciences
Department of Political Sciences
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
Psephology is a growing field of interest in the post-apartheid South African context. Demographically speaking, with regard to the age and gender structure of the population, South Africa is in a transition. In spite of occupying this intermediary position, a sizeable proportion of the electorate is young. Slightly more than a quarter of all voters on the Electoral Commission’s registration and voters’ role for 2009 was younger than 30 years of age. Within this age category, university students are of particular interest, as they constitute, to a large extent (albeit not exclusively), the future leaders in the social, political and economic spheres of society.
This study is part of a long-term pilot project that charts the voting behaviour and political preferences of the youth at university during an election year. A great degree of speculation preceded the run-up to the April 2009 election with regard to the way the youth would vote. Key trends observed in society are reflected in the outcome of the survey.
A comparison drawing on data recorded in surveys following the May 2006 local government election and April 2009 national election revealed that a considerably larger proportion of students sampled indicated that they were registered for the April 2009 election. While the registration gap between male and female had shrunk, reported registration of females still lagged slightly behind that of males in 2009.
Although almost two-thirds of all students sampled indicated that they had voted in the April 2009 elections, this constituted almost nine out of ten registered students. This result indicates that political parties were successful in mobilising the youth to vote. National elections generally yield higher rates of participation, and are deemed more important. However, an overwhelming majority surveyed expressed their intention to vote in the 2011 local government elections.
Only a minority of students reported political party membership. Proportionately more males belonged to a political party, worked (volunteered) for one and indicated that they had an interest in politics. These reported differences in behaviour between the genders are statistically significant. There was no statistically significant gender difference in the attendance of political rallies or meetings or in the belief that voting can make a difference.
Slightly more than half the white students indicated that they had an interest in politics, compared to almost three-quarters of the black students. Proportionately speaking, considerably more black students than white students indicated that they attended rallies or meetings during the election campaign. Only slightly more black than white students volunteered during the election campaign. However, slightly more than four-fifths of the white students indicated they supported a political party, while only slightly more than two-thirds of the black students did so. Three-quarters of the white students were supportive of the idea that smaller parties should collaborate to form a stronger opposition, while less than half the black students supported such an idea. All these differences were statistically significant. There was no statistically significant difference between the racial categories in political party membership or the importance attributed to voting. For both categories, party membership was low, while voting was recognised as being important.
It was noteworthy that slightly more than half the students chose to describe the outcome of the election as a victory for Jacob Zuma rather than a victory for the African National Congress (ANC). Although slightly more men opted for describing it as an ANC victory, the difference in the response of the genders is not statistically significant. An overwhelming majority of white students chose to describe the outcome of the election as a victory for Jacob Zuma rather than an ANC victory. In contrast, slightly more than two-fifths of the black students described the election in this way. This difference between the racial categories is statistically significant.
In conclusion, slightly more than a quarter of the sample indicated that they preferred the ANC “most”. Almost an equal proportion indicated they liked it “least”. In contrast, almost a third of the sample indicated that they preferred the Democratic Alliance (DA) “most”, while slightly less than one-tenth disliked it “most”. In contrast the Freedom Front (VF+) attracted slightly more than a quarter that liked it the “least”. Nelson Mandela is recognised in both surveys as an admired leader. Whereas, Jacob Zuma hardly figured in the 2006 survey, he is more prominently mentioned in the 2009 survey. In contrast, the popularity of Thabo Mbeki decreased considerably in the 2009 survey. Helen Zille received more support in the 2009 survey than Tony Leon had garnered in the 2006 survey. Overall, these research findings appear to confirm that the perceptions of the youth on matters of voting mirror general trends evident in the broader society.
Contact person: Prof MME Schoeman.
In 2009, South Africa celebrated ten years of participation in international peacekeeping operations. Its first, and long-standing, involvement was in Burundi, but since then the country has contributed to peacekeeping operations in several countries, mainly in Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan. Currently, South Africa is the 13th biggest troop contributing country (TCC) to peace missions, with the largest women contingent deployed in peace support operations (PSOs). South Africa is also one of only a handful of countries incorporating women into combat positions in its military and has committed itself to gender mainstreaming in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), in line with Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) – the so-called women/gender, peace and security resolution, which calls, among others, for the full inclusion of women in all aspects of peace-related activities, including peacekeeping.
The research project explored the experiences of these women soldiers during their deployment, focusing on specific challenges related to debriefing and the harvesting of knowledge and experience for the improvement of future PSOs. Data was gathered by means of questionnaires (male and female participants) and focus group discussions, as well as a series of unstructured interviews with senior SANDF decision-makers and consultants involved in gender mainstreaming training for PSOs. A second phase of the project, funded by the High Commission of Canada, has commenced in cooperation with Prof Elrena van der Spuy, Vice-dean, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town.
The findings include the following: Women soldiers still suffer from stereotyping of the roles men and women are supposed to play in society. Women soldiers are often perceived as being “weak” and “in need of protection” by their male colleagues, and considered not to be “mentally strong enough” to handle the often difficult and dangerous situations they face. Women soldiers, on the other hand, overwhelmingly believe that they handle such situations professionally and much evidence for this was provided by the participants. Nevertheless, women soldiers are often confined to support positions in the military base “for their own protection”.
Women soldiers believe that, in addition to their responsibilities as soldiers, they also contribute to community-building in the areas to which they are deployed. They tend to organise various events, become involved in education campaigns and, interestingly, believe that their mere presence as women in uniform serve as an incentive and symbol of hope for women victims of civil war and violence, showing these women that a better life is possible and that “women can do it”.
Despite these differences, male and female peacekeepers have a lot in common. They suffer from boredom during their deployment, they worry about their families back home, they often return home to face marital problems due to their long absences and they all believe that there is too little opportunity for debriefing once they are back home.
Several challenges need to be addressed by the SANDF (and the defence forces of all TCCs). The most important are the following: More attention needs to be paid to gender mainstreaming and gender awareness training in pre-deployment training. A concerted effort should be made to recruit more women peacekeepers and more women to the SANDF. More senior women officers should be included in PSOs. A media campaign should be launched to make South Africans aware of the sterling contribution that peacekeepers make to improve security on the continent. A debriefing model should be instituted that would allow not only for stress relief, but also to capture invaluable experience and insight for the planning of future PSOs. More research should be conducted on the topic of women peacekeepers and regular interaction should take place between researchers and senior SANDF personnel.
Contact person: Prof MME Schoeman.
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