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George Washington University

Publication Date

Fall 2011

Program Name

South Africa: Multiculturalism and Human Rights

Abstract

In many democratic nations around the world, a large degree of opinions exist in terms of the political parties and leaders. In South Africa, though, for the past 17 years since the end of Apartheid, the same party has ruled the national government, the ANC. In the most recent provincial elections, however, the citizens of the Western Cape voted to elect the DA to represent them. This study, therefore, seeks to explore the views of university students in the Cape Town area, which is the biggest city in the Western Cape, of politics in South Africa. More specifically, this paper investigates the contradiction between support for the ANC and for its Youth LeaguePresident Julius Malema. It also looks at specific support or opposition for Malema and his particular agenda goals. The main questions this paper looks to answer are: do students who like the ANC also like Malema? Also, do university students agree with his policy and agenda ideals?

The primary research for this project occurred at UCT, UWC, and CPUT-CT. The interviews of eleven students from the three schools, four at UWC and CPUT-CT and three at UCT, along with speeches and documents from both the ANC, ANCYL and Malema combined to make-up the primary research utilized in this paper. In addition, secondary sources were also utilized to obtain an understanding of the ANCYL and Julius Malema’s history, as well as for additional information.

This paper will illustrate a trend that was different from the one assumed by the researcher. Instead of finding that a large variety of opinions towards Julius exist, this research paper will show that not one of the participants actually like Malema even if they support the ANC. This shows the growing divide between the ANC party in general and the ANCYL. It also means more research should be done looking at educated youth’s views of politics.

Disciplines

Comparative Politics | Law and Politics | Political Science | Politics and Social Change

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