Friends, enemies or "frienemies": development and civil society organisations relations with the state in a Democratic South Africa

Abstract: "In 2004 the then president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki referred to a number of civil society organisations (more commonly known as non-profit organisations or NPOs) as "enemies of the ruling party" because they were publicly extremely critical of the ANC government's neoliberal policies and development strategies (Mngxitama 2004). NPOs which work in collaboration with state agencies and act as conduits for delivering services were regarded as friends of the ruling party. This discourse has prevailed within the ANC until today. However, a third category of NPOs engages with the African National Congress (ANC) government. They sometimes characterise what Mbeki called enemies and at other times they behave as friends of the ANC government. One could call them "frienemies". In this paper the discussion of NPOs is situated in the context of civil society's relations with the state in a democratic South Africa. I briefly discuss the recent history of NPOs relations with the state. I the

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 23 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Working Papers in Development Sociology and Social Anthropology ; Bd. 370

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Politik

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Bielefeld
• (when): 2012
• Creator: De Wet, Jacques
• Contributor: Universität Bielefeld, Fak. für Soziologie, AG Sozialanthropologie

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-431205
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:51 PM CET