The COVID-19 pandemic and the government-imposed lockdown measures temporarily restricted several constitutionally protected rights, and as such, the rights of all of those living in South Africa experienced unprecedented limitations to some of their human rights. These restrictions had significant socioeconomic and psychosocial consequences. Yet, despite this, data from the UJ/HSRC COVID-19 Democracy survey, a cross-sectional online survey conducted between 2020 and 2021, demonstrate that over three-quarters of the adult population were willing to make these sacrifices. This article uses Ubuntu as a sociological concept and constitutional value to demonstrate how Ubuntu values of a people-centred approach, which includes interconnectedness, care, collective values, harmony, respect, and responsiveness, and a concern for the sanctity of life, can be seen to inform the willingness of the population to sacrifice their human rights. The article demonstrates that when analysed by gender, age, and class, there were high levels of social solidarity with little variation in the support for human rights sacrifice. However, there are some important variations by race, as white adults demonstrated lower willingness to sacrifice human rights in comparison to other groups, reflecting a stronger emphasis on individualism over collective well-being. Despite this variation, the article demonstrates that Ubuntu values were central to how citizens navigated the pandemic and demonstrates the utility of deploying Ubuntu as a sociological concept and constitutional value as reflected in the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

The 2024 general election in South Africa was one of the most contested elections in the country's history. Though the Electoral Commission was steadfast in support of its electoral systems, aggrieved parties disputed election results and questioned the efficacy and fairness of the Commission. Reports of malfunctioning voter management devices and voters' roll issues exposed vulnerabilities in voting technology infrastructure. These issues call for the Electoral Commission to consider implementing more modern, secure and resilient electoral systems, such as electronic voting. This consideration of new technology falls in line with a global trend towards e-voting adoption, which has the potential to increase the efficiency of elections, simplify the voting process and nurture democracy if implemented successfully. Recent public opinion data indicates a positive view of the potential for e-voting in South Africa, with the prevailing perspective that e-voting could make elections freer, fairer and more effective. This study mainly employ secondary data analysis of the Electoral Commission Voter Participation Survey (VPS) conducted from 2013 to 2023 to assess public preferences of e-voting and whether the South African government should consider implementing it. Additional data from the 2024 IEC e-voting online survey are included to clarify South Africans' perceptions of e-voting. With careful consideration of public attitudes towards electronic voting innovation in future elections, South Africa can strengthen its democratic process and serving as a model for free, fair and credible elections in the region and globally.

We examine the psychological foundations of public support for vigilantism in South Africa. According to system justification theory, people are motivated to defend and legitimise the status quo, especially when they are psychologically or materially dependent on it. System-justifying individuals uphold the state’s authority in part by recognising the legitimacy of institutions to resolve conflict and impose legal punishment. Logically, people who justify the system should oppose vigilante violence because it threatens the state’s monopoly on legitimate force. Yet, does this hold in South Africa, a context in which crime is politicised and foreignness is frequently framed as a societal threat? Using nationally representative survey data, we show that system justification is positively associated with support for vigilantism against criminals, and that this association is stronger among respondents who report prior participation in anti-immigrant violence. Our findings complicate the standard view of system justification as inherently stabilising: they suggest that when perceived threats are symbolically tied to outsiders, defending “the system” may involve endorsing exclusionary rather than restraining violence.

During the 2024 National and Provincial Elections, the newly established uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) performed unexpectedly well, leading to a national coalition and raising concerns about a rise in ethnic identity in electoral politics. This article explores the relationship between electoral outcomes, attitudes toward democracy, and identity politics (class, race, and ethnicity), using South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) data combined with electoral results at voting district level. It investigates whether voter dissatisfaction with the status quo influenced MKP support as a form of protest vote, or if the party's success was more reflective of identity politics. Regression analysis shows that MKP support was most strongly predicted by ethno-racial identity and provincial residence. Regime evaluation effects on MKP support, such as political trust and satisfaction with democracy, lost significance once identity and geography were considered. This suggests the MKP's electoral success was driven more by identity-based mobilisation than protest sentiment.

The advent of democracy in 1994 promised South Africans a ‘better life for all’ and the so-called ‘born free’ generation hoped for better education and job opportunities than those of their parents and grandparents, who had lived under apartheid. In focus group discussions, township youth living in a small university town in the country’s poorest Eastern Cape Province had the opportunity to express what hopes they had for their future in the post-Covid-19 era and confirmed the important role of hope in their lives as a useful tool that motivated them to aspire to fulfil their dreams. In response to select items from the Snyder hope scales, youth discussed their life goals, optimism, agency, and pathway thinking to realise their dreams. Youth recognised hope could be both harmful as well as useful. The discussions provided an opportunity for youth to share and compare with others their experiences of disappointment and failure, of times when they had felt hopeless, with the worst cases of hopelessness resulting in alcohol and substance abuse, which was reportedly widespread among township youth. Family, neighbours and significant others provided support and advice that assisted youth to recover from hopelessness, and to find new direction in life. Results from this qualitative study point to the importance of providing township youth with a platform to share their experiences of hopelessness. Policy and practical interventions are needed to support and guide hopeless youth to regain their mental health, well-being, and hope for the future.

BackgroundThe 2021 World Health Organization study on the impact of COVID-19 on older people (≥60 years) in the African region highlighted the difficulties they faced as the virus spread across borders and dominated the way of life. These difficulties included disruptions to both essential health care services and social support, as well as disconnections from family and friends. Among those who contracted COVID-19, the risks of severe illness, complications, and mortality were highest among near-old and older persons.ObjectiveRecognizing that older persons are a diverse group including younger- and older-aged individuals, a study was conducted to track the epidemic among near-old (50–59 years) and older persons (≥60 years) in South Africa covering the 2 years since the epidemic emerged.MethodsUsing a quantitative secondary research approach, data for near-old and older persons were extracted for comparative purposes. COVID-19 surveillance outcomes (confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths) and vaccination data were compiled up to March 5th, 2022. COVID-19 surveillance outcomes were plotted by epidemiological week and epidemic waves to visualize the overall growth and trajectory of the epidemic. Means for each age-group and by COVID-19 waves, together with age-specific rates, were calculated.ResultsAverage numbers of new COVID-19 confirmed cases and hospitalizations were highest among people aged 50–59- and 60–69-years. However, average age-specific infection rates showed that people aged 50–59 years and ≥80 years were most vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. Age-specific hospitalization and death rates increased, with people aged ≥ 70 years most affected. The number of people vaccinated was slightly higher among people aged 50–59 years before Wave Three and during Wave Four, but higher among people aged ≥ 60 years during Wave Three. The findings suggest that uptake of vaccinations stagnated prior to and during Wave Four for both age groups.DiscussionHealth promotion messages and COVID-19 epidemiological surveillance and monitoring are still needed, particularly for older persons living in congregate residential and care facilities. Prompt health-seeking should be encouraged, including testing and diagnosis as well as taking up vaccines and boosters, particularly for high-risk older persons.

Coinciding with a trend of rising economic divides within many countries, scholarly interest in the subject of inequality has grown significantly in the twenty first century. Since its creation in 1987, the Social Inequality module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) has evolved into an exceptionally comprehensive country-comparative individual-level database on public beliefs about inequality and socioeconomic conditions. The module stands out among international surveys due to its extensive thematic depth and breadth, along with the long timespan it covers. This provides unique opportunities for charting and monitoring longitudinal trends in social inequality, as well as for conducting comparative analyses aimed at advancing theories that incorporate the national context as an integral part of the explanatory framework. This article describes the content, coverage, and history of the fifth wave of the Social Inequality module (2019). This survey wave was conducted in 34 countries and combines previously fielded topics with new ones that speak to current debates in different areas of inequality research. The fifth wave introduces new questions focusing on anger and unfairness, reducing inequality by market actors, government inefficacy, lived experience of inequality, economic insecurity and deprivation, and social trust.

ABSTRACT The 2021 South African local government elections continued a trend of dissipating turnout among young voters. The youth, aged 18–34, constitute nearly a third of SA's adult population, and their voting decisions could have a decisive influence on electoral politics. Youth voter behaviour - including that of the ‘born-free’ generation - has been an area of critical interest. However, this interest has mostly yielded an image of young people as disillusioned, consistent abstainers. We argue that youth electoral behaviour should be approached not as a binary of voter/abstainer, but be placed along a voting-behavioural continuum. Our analysis of UJElection Survey and the South African Social Attitudes Survey data, supports concepts that function as markers along this continuum, including ‘loyal voters', ‘casual voters', ‘party-loyal abstainers' and ‘consistent abstainers', each with different underlying motivations. Ultimately, this dispels static notions, providing a more nuanced and complex picture of youth voter behaviour.

In this final chapter, we reflect on progress made in achieving basic needs and better living conditions in sub-Saharan Africa since independence and the prospects for future well-being for the people living there. We speculate on possible development trajectories and on how citizens and their leaders can advance happiness for all south of the Sahara. The region has plentiful valuable assets, in the form of its material resources and human capital, on which to build its future well-being. The health and economic crisis created by the Covid-19 pandemic should be used as an opportunity to respond to the call for action to realise the region’s potential.

The world’s population is not only growing faster, but also becoming considerably older, and South Africa is no exception. To provide insight into the needs and challenges of its ageing population, this chapter explores the patterns and determinants of personal wellbeing among 5006 South Africans aged 60 and older using the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI). Use is made of pooled data from nine rounds of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) conducted between 2009 and 2017. Testing reveals that the PWI has satisfactory psychometric properties among older persons in this heterogeneous society. Bivariate and multivariate analysis points to significant differences in PWI score among older persons, especially along class lines. Other factors significantly influencing wellbeing include perceived self-efficacy, subjective health status, depressive mood, and strain and conflict within social relations. The chapter concludes by maintaining that ageing issues need to be effectively integrated into programmatic and policy interventions to ensure that the dignity and quality of life of older people is protected and sustained progress made towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

For centuries the African continent was isolated from the rest of the globe. In pre-colonial times only the coastal regions were involved in trade and exchange of new ideas. The colonial era introduced new laws and regulations that were foreign to local people and indigenous customs. The era of structural adjustment, which called for new democracies to cut back on health services, infrastructure and education, are regarded by respected African scholars as decades lost to development. In the new millennium, a digitally connected Africa is embracing new ideas from around the globe and is producing its own innovations to enhance the well-being of the current generation and future generations. In this chapter we report on select ideas and innovations that have made everyday life in Africa more pleasant and productive. We also reflect on daring scientific enterprises, which have captured the imagination, and may foretell a future African century.

This volume presents an account of how people in sub-Saharan Africa have fared under changing life circumstances.