Patrick Heller Amy Kracker Brown University
The end of apartheid brought with it unprecedented possibilities for addressing the history of spatial inequality that had characterized South African cities for well over a century. Efforts to create a more equitable distribution of resources have been spearheaded by capable and well-resourced municipal governments driven by a highly transformative agenda. However, recent theory has argued that in the context of global competition, municipal governments have become increasingly responsive to the needs of capital rather than citizens, thereby limiting the ability of the state to play an effective role in remedying social inequalities. The first phase of this research asks in this economic context, to what extent has the governments of Cape Town and Johannesburg been able to create a more equitable distribution of public goods such as schools, healthcare facilities, and household services than that which existed under apartheid? Geographic information systems (GIS) data will be used to examine changes in the spatial distribution of these public goods in each city and to evaluate the extent to which previously disadvantaged communities are seeing an improvement in access to public resources. Preliminary evidence suggests that Cape Town has been more successful in this effort than Johannesburg. Therefore, the second phase of this research asks why has Cape Town been more successful than Johannesburg. Prior research suggests that particular configurations of local governance regimes have the potential to generate a more equitable distribution of resources. This work, however, stops short of explicating what these regimes look like and the specific mechanisms by which they might mitigate a singular responsiveness to the demands of capital. Preliminary interviews conducted in Cape Town and Johannesburg suggest that a comparison of the configuration and composition of governance regimes in the two cities may provide insight into the particular characteristics that allow for a more equitable distribution of public resources in Cape Town than Johannesburg. In order to better understand the relationship between local governance regimes and the distribution of public services, municipal government officials as well as key informants in communities will be interviewed about processes of public resource distribution and community demand making in each city. Through a comparison of these two cities, the current research proposes to examine if and under what conditions municipal governance configurations can influence patterns of redistribution given an economic context that is theorized to undermine these efforts.
Broader Impact
Beyond informing theory in the fields of urban and political sociology, the current research will have important practical implications. An understanding of the forces that allow for the legitimatization of citizens' demands in contrast to a bias toward the demands of capital can enhance the ability of urban residents to interact with municipal governments in a manner that more effectively allows their needs of livability to be heard and met. Additionally, an understanding of how government actors in Cape Town have more effectively met residents' demands in the context of an emphasis on economic growth can provide insight into how to create municipal governments that are more responsive to the needs of their citizens. Finally, the products from this research, including maps generated using GIS as well as publications and reports, will be distributed to research institutions, communities, and municipal governments in both Cape Town and Johannesburg so that stakeholders in each city may have a better understanding of the needs of citizens and the dynamics of local government that allow those needs to be met.
Under apartheid, public investment in infrastructure and services such as healthcare, sanitation, and electricity was concentrated in those parts of South African cities reserved for white residents. This left many non-white urban residents living in desperate conditions, reinforcing the racialized inequalities of the apartheid system. Since the transition to democracy in 1994, the South African government has voiced strong support for ensuring that these inequalities be addressed and using public investment in infrastructure as a mechanism to foster local development in non-white communities. The first portion of this research explores whether substantial changes in public investment have occurred in the non-white communities in Cape Town and Johannesburg, two of South Africa’s largest and most globally connected cities. The findings suggest that there has been significant variation in the extent to which service and infrastructural inequalities inherited from apartheid have been addressed. Overall, Cape Town has seen larger improvements as compared to Johannesburg in terms of access to healthcare, sanitation, electricity, and other services in the city’s non-white communities. These dynamics have important implications in terms of poverty alleviation and quality of life for the residents of each city. While recognition of this divergence is important, the second, more policy relevant, goal of this research is to understand why Cape Town’s non-white communities are seeing larger improvements in access to services than Johannesburg’s. The results may then provide a better understanding, both within South Africa and in cities around the world, of more effective methods to address urban inequalities. In order to examine the processes that impacted upon improvements in service delivery, a large number of interviews were conducted with government officials, community activists, and NGO leaders in different communities in each city. These communities included non-white apartheid-era townships, informal settlements, and the central city in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. The results highlight the central role that engagement between the government and local communities plays in addressing issues of service provision. To the extent that community groups are able to organize and provide a voice for the community, they are in a better position to effectively make demands on the local government and ensure that the state is aware of local infrastructural needs. While these groups are important in voicing concern, it is also critical that the state be responsive to their demands and engage with them through productive channels. The extent to which this form of engagement exists varies both within and between the two cities studied. As a result of the configuration of the local municipal government, municipal strategies for addressing inequality, and local political dynamics, this ideal is more closely approximated in Cape Town, thereby enabling a more successful partnership between local government and communities and providing a relatively greater improvement in access to public investment for those groups that had experienced the most significant neglect under apartheid. Reports from this and related research will be made publically available at: www.s4.brown.edu/southafrica/homepage.htm
