Addressing the Wounds of the Past: The Politics of Care in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This thesis explores how the legacy of apartheid has fundamentally shaped health care delivery in the South Africa. Furthermore, it seeks to answer the question: how has the geographic and socio-political landscape changed and how does this influence how the development sector must work? Fundamental to this is an understanding of how the right to health, a key component of the Constitution of the democratic regime, has been realized (or rather, failed to be realized) through all branches of the national government. The work draws largely on my own ethnographic field research and semi-structured interviews conducted during two separate visits to Johannesburg and it was inspired by my own experience working with a community development non-profit in a disadvantaged rural community. During these trips, I interacted with a variety of stakeholders from both the public and private sector and one goal of this thesis is to identify who is responsible for advancing social work, how individuals understand their role and how mutual cooperation amongst the stakeholders can dismantle apartheid-era structural inequalities.