Mediation in South Africa: Practice and Training

This paper will follow a two-thronged approach: Firstly a brief exposition and assessment of the need, extent and significance of mediation in South African society will be given and secondly, based on the first, the extent and appropriateness of training of mediators in South Africa will be discussed. The goal will be to try and ascertain whether training and practical societal needs in South Africa match as far as mediation is concerned. To achieve this, a brief exposition of South African social dynamics in political, economic and kinship contexts will be given to paint a picture of the extent to which a need for mediation exists or not.  Secondly the extent and content of training of mediators in South Africa in both tertiary institutions as well as non-educational contexts and will be sketched. In so doing it is hoped to make a case for extending the availability of mediation services in South Africa in general and introducing a course or courses in mediation in the Department of Sociology at the University of South Africa in particular.