Is There Such a Thing as a Post-apartheid City?

Abstract

In an introductory section, this paper considers briefly the achievements and problems of urban governance in post-apartheid South Africa through an assessment of three categories: administrative reform, developmental issues and conflicts over service delivery issues. It then goes on to assess continuity and change in South African cities. Continuity is the norm in understanding urban history with change understood as a series of accretions and as a layering of features, unless major economic shifts or revolutionary political shifts are in place. Using the example of Durban, a series of changes is highlighted, which fit into what the deracialized growth path allows and encourages. The paper argues that thus far, the ANC government has shown little capacity or desire to discipline capital along the lines suggested, for instance, by the reconstruction and development programme's section on public transport. Larger changes are thus limited by the predilections and established discourses of the business world and the absence of more dynamic and structured public intervention.

Poverty Politics and Governance of Potable Water Services: the Core–Periphery Syntax in Metropolitan Accra, Ghana

“…In that respect, the universal commitment of governments to "save the planet", lift people out of poverty and advance sustainable and inclusive economic growth stands endangered. Ever since the government introduced Private Sector Participation (PSP) in water delivery in 1994 and established the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) in 1997, gains accrued towards reducing 'abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty' have been mixed and ambiguous (Igoe and Kelsall 2005;Freund 2010) particularly regarding "public goods" whose wholesale marketization can actualize a common societal risk -the Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin, 1968). The challenge seems to be the inability of the PURC to facilitate convergence among the interests of government, the private-profit motivated sector and civil society, making reliance on the PSP policy as a tool to achieve the SDG agenda controversial (UNEP, 2015).…”

Urban Land Restitution and the Struggle for Social Citizenship in South Africa

“…Moreover, despite fears and threats of ‘Zimbabwe‐style’ rural land invasions if land reform is not successful (Sihlongonyane, ), land invasions and ‘squatting’ have occurred with increasing frequency in urban areas — most significantly in Bredell on the periphery of Johannesburg in 2001. Freund thus suggests (: 296) that ‘the most important aspect of land reform policy ought to be the systematic making available of land for an incoming population through expansion on the edges of the city as it grows, but there is nothing of the kind’.…”

Urban imaginaries: funding mega infrastructure projects in Lagos, Nigeria

“…Mega projects have been widespread in Europe and the US in the last two decades where many cities have responded to the pressures of globalization by embarking on big, mixed-used development to attract multinational businesses (Fainstein 2008). Mega projects are increasingly becoming popular in African cities where current imaginaries reflect internationally circulating ideals that prioritize economic growth (Freund 2010) and the provision of infrastructure is intimately caught up with the sense of shaping modern society and realizing the future (Larkin 2013). There is little doubt that many of the mega cities in the global South face an increasing crisis in the provision of basic infrastructure (Gandy 2006).…”

“…As observed, cities in developing countries require far more financing for infrastructure than can be provided by domestic public institutions (Pessoa 2008). Like their counterparts across the globe, city governments in Africa are seeking to bridge the deficit through private capital (Freund 2010). However, amidst the growing demand and policy interventions, infrastructure development is complex and highly politicized.…”