For political commentators, South Africa's general elections in May 2014 were a watershed event in this country's more recent past because, about twenty years after the introduction of a non-racial democracy, members of the first generation born after the end of apartheid were among those voting. Mass media speculated about how South African political culture might be transformed under the growing influence of the so-called ‘bornfree generation’ which has no personal recollections of the apartheid era and which grew up at a time when neo-liberal policies were gaining momentum in South Africa. This generation can be said to be ‘born free’ not only in terms of being able to lead a politically liberated life, but also, figuratively speaking, with regard to the emergence of new forms of subjectivity created by neo-liberal ways of ‘governing through freedom’ (Rose 1999; see also Lacey & Ilcan 2006) that incite action and stress individual autonomy, self-responsibility and the necessity to employ one's own volition (see also Murphy & Throop 2010).

The latter point becomes evident when we look at the special importance given to volunteering in post-apartheid South Africa. For example, in his speech on the occasion of the Youth Day celebrations in June 2008, then President Thabo Mbeki expressed the view that ‘the nation expects the youth of today to follow in the footsteps of the 1976 youth and become agents of change, this time in the continuing struggle to achieve the goal of a better life for all our people’.1 While the young people involved in the Soweto uprising of 16 June 1976 had been campaigning against the apartheid regime, Mbeki was calling on the current generation to fight poverty, unemployment, crime and drugs. Further, and most important for the present chapter, he placed the emphasis on volunteering and morality: ‘The good role models among us … must be those who work with the community, who help the poor, who volunteer to help improve their neighbourhoods … and those who respect the values of Ubuntu and good moral conduct.’

Volunteerism is widely promoted in South Africa as a means to promote community and nation building, social welfare and postapartheid ‘development’.3 There is evidence of a rich and varied history of grassroots voluntary activities in South Africa, most particularly in the anti-apartheid struggle.4 We also find a vivid interest in volunteering among present-day South Africans.