Being South African and belonging: the status and practice of mediated citizenship in a new democracy

Democratic South Africa, with its highly inclusive constitution and embrace of all races, creeds and colours, could be understood as having an ideal form of citizenship to be emulated by other nations. At the heart of the 1996 constitution is the eradication of apartheid separation and the provision that all South Africans have shared humanity (‘ubuntu’). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission entrenched three founding critical ideas in public life: the right to talk, the recognition of shared humanity and the impulse to speak out about the horrors of the past. As a result the public sphere is filled with a great outpouring of personal stories and experiences in both the mainstream and popular forms of media. But South Africans continue to be preoccupied with the status of their citizenship; who a South African is and who belongs is uppermost in many public conversations