| dc.description.abstract | Summary:
With the fall of apartheid Mandela and his Government expressed the need to commit itself to the Southern African region arguing that South Africa cannot prosper in a continuous underdeveloped region. Mandela s Government expressed the importance of not dominating or using power strength towards its neighbours. The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether South Africa can be said to act as a benevolent regional hegemon in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). For South Africa to be a benign hegemon political will, economic capacity, democratic stability and institutional capacity need to be present. To see if this was the case, I analysed South Africa s economic and institutional capacity, democratic stability and the motive forces that would make South Africa want to act in a benign manner.
According to Oden et al (1995) South Africa must have the capacity as well as the willingness to accept and maintain a mutually hegemonic regime. In order to measure South Africa s political will to act as a benevolent regional hegemon I will look at the motive forces that can create political will. The interdependence factors Migration and water will be treated as the motive forces.
Hegemonic Stability Theory and New Regionalism were reviewed to serve as an analytical tool for the thesis. Hegemonic Stability Theory was chosen with the aim to explain the hegemon s role and to clarify what exactly a hegemon is. New Regionalism on the other hand was specifically used with the aim to explain the importance of the existence of interdependence for South Africa to be willing to act as a benevolent hegemon.
In order for South Africa to be said to have the political will to act as a benevolent regional hegemon South Africa must solve the problems related to migration and water. To solve the problem with illegal migration one needs to address the causes. These are environmental degradation, political and economic instability, which lead to people leaving their homes in search of a better life. However I found that South Africa is fighting the symptoms, rather than addressing these causes. The way that South Africa so far has handled the migration problem is through extending and upgrading the electric fences on the Mozambican and Zimbabwean borders, intensifying the tracing, apprehension, detention and repatriation of illegal immigrants. As indicated in the white paper on migration, South Africa cannot afford to both finance domestic development and to help the region develop its democracy and economy. This is however self-contradicting to what South Africa has expressed through the African Renaissance and the NEPAD initiative. For instance in connection to the African Renaissance the South African parliament established a fund to provide loans and financial assistance in order to promote democracy and good governance; prevent and resolve conflicts; humanitarian assistance; and human resource development.
Water scarcity is a major problem in the region, and South Africa is one of the countries that are worst affected. In addition to being the most water scarce it is also the largest consumer of water. In order to fulfil its water needs South Africa must import water from its more water rich neighbours. At present South Africa is supplied with water from Lesotho, a water deal that was established during the apartheid era by means of power politics. Also it has been claimed that South Africa s military intervention in Lesotho in 1998, was partly to secure this deal and thus its water supplies. When this supply is ending South Africa already has plans to tap water from Zambezi, which is one of the most overused river systems in the world, thus is a potential water conflict in the region. South Africa also continues to build more water dams to prevent water coming to other countries. For instance South Africa and Zimbabwe have monopolised between them the Limpopo river system, denying both Mozambique and Swaziland further opportunities in the future. This has raised questions about South Africa s right to water and the development of water imperialism. In its White Paper on Water Policy South Africa states the importance to respect its neighbour countries right to water from the shared resource. From my study I have found this not to be the case.
Although water and migration as motive forces cannot be said to have created political will for South Africa to act benevolent. South Africa seems to be aware of the problems that these issues can create, but does not seem to address them to the benefit of other SADC members. In its white paper on migration it clearly stated that under present circumstances it is not possible for South Africa to deal with the causes of migration.
South Africa is democratic, and has functioning institutions. Economic capacity is however, not present to a full extent. South Africa has several domestic problems to deal with, putting a strain on its economy. South Africa acknowledges that there are several important issues to be dealt with, such as promoting good governance, democracy and economic development in the region. However as we have seen, at present it is unable to cope economically with these demands. This thesis has shown that South Africa has the intentions to act as a benevolent regional hegemon, but lacks the political will. South Africa cannot be said to act the role of benign regional hegemon, nor can it be said to act purely in malign manner. | nor |