Mobilizing the ethical consumer in South Africa

This paper presents a critical engagement with current initiatives for ethically-labeled goods in South Africa, thus offering an intervention in a literature on ethical consumption that has previously prioritized the global North. Through an interview-based methodology supported by focus groups in the Western Cape, the paper attends specifically to the strategies shaping recent forms of ethical consumption in South Africa on the part of business and civil society. Campaigns and strategies associated with three of the most prominent ethical labeling initiatives in South Africa—Proudly South African, Fairtrade Label South Africa and the Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI)—are evaluated. Barnett et al.’s (2011: 90) notion of “mobilizing the ethical consumer” is brought into conversation with ethical consumption literature on local embeddedness in order to assess the ways in which the organizations responsible for these initiatives combine globalizing business and political networks of responsibility with local institutions and values in South Africa. The role played by the discursive construction of a growing South African ‘middle class’ is also acknowledged as part of the process of encouraging ethical consumption on the part of these actors. In conclusion, it is suggested that understanding ethical consumption in South Africa, as elsewhere, requires sensitivity to both transnational networks of globalizing responsibility and localized expressions of ethical consumption.     

Government and urban management in the 20th century: policies,contradictions, and weaknesses of the New Right

Throughout the 20th century, government in the U.S. has gone through significant changes; initially responding to the disorder of early capitalism, and later, to the economic crisis of the 1970s. This article will explore the changes in the U.S. political landscape over the last century, as well as the recent rise of neo-liberalism. In addition, with the analysis of the model laissez-faire municipal government, the City of Houston, the article will illustrate how the basic weaknesses of neoliberalism at the national level are also evident at the local scale of government.

‘Bringing government to the people’: women, local governance and community participation in South Africa

This paper considers the ongoing political transformations in South Africa in the context of debates about good governance and participatory democracy. It first appraises the current transformations of local government in South Africa, focusing specifically on relationships between gender equality and citizenship on the one hand, and local government policy, legislation, and community participation on the other, and then explores meanings of participation and how they inform approaches towards local socio-economic development. The findings of primary research conducted with civil society organisations and black women in communities in the Cape Town metropolitan area are explored through three interrelated themes. First, the model of structured participation that is central to South Africa’s democratic transformation is assessed from the perspective of black women. Second, cultures of alienation, both within local governance structures and amongst black women and the extent to which recent restructuring is combating or contributing to these are explored. Third, how participation policies are dealing with conflict within and between target groups are analysed, whether stakeholder group politics obliterate important differences in interests and whether alternative structures might be more effective in terms of women’s participation and empowerment. Finally, the findings are interpreted in relation to theoretical concepts of good governance and participatory democracy, and the potential and problems of realising South Africa’s transformation process toward developmental local government are assessed.     

uTshani BuyaKhuluma––The Grass Speaks: the political space and capacity of the South African Homeless People’s Federation

The point of departure for this article is the contemporary tendency towards localisation of politics in the context of neo-liberal globalisation. Mediated through institutional reforms, political discourses and localised struggles, this localisation of politics produce new and transformed local political spaces. The purpose of the article is to examine the capacity of popular movements to use and transform such political spaces within the South African housing sector. This analysis is done through a combination of conceptual examination of political space and actor capacity and a concrete case study of the political strategies and capacities of The South African Homeless People’s Federation. The article argues that the Federation has utilised political relations at different scales to mobilise resources such as land and subsidies for housing for its members. It has also influenced the formulation of housing policies through its discourses and practical experiences with people-driven housing processes. In consequence the Federation’s ability to function as a civil/political movement has granted them a certain capacity to participate in the complicated process of turning de jure rights to adequate shelter into de facto rights for the urban poor as citizens of a democratic South Africa.     

Contested terrains: Cities and hinterlands in post-apartheid boundary delimitations

In South Africa attempts are being made to address the socio-spatial distortions of the apartheid era through a more equitable distribution of resources, and the re-drawing of municipal geographical boundaries. However, boundaries are not neutral geographic lines. Boundary changes are often associated with a redistribution of political power and resources. The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the contemporary territorial and administrative restructuring on urban dynamics in South Africa. More specifically, the focus is on how the process of territorial restructuring impacted on metropolitan areas as well as on secondary cities and their hinterlands. Examining and elucidating the manner in which various social, economic and political forces have manifested themselves in the process of boundary delimitation in a major metropolitan centre as well as adjacent rural areas is a central theme of this paper. There were considerable contestations over the delimitation of new local government boundaries. Affluent metro authorities like that in Durban were opposed to the spatial extension of their boundaries because of the costs of the providing services and infrastructure in the deprived margins. Similarly, there was concern that incorporation of rural areas will result in increased municipal service charges being imposed on these communities. Tensions were heightened between urban and rural regions because traditional leaders believed that their territorial jurisdiction and authority were being undermined. In other parts of the country, the merger of traditionally white and black fragments of secondary cities often resulted in many black locations continuing to be marginalized. There appears to be neither the political will nor the economic capacity to upgrade these zones of marginalized urban communities. While the Municipal Demarcation Board was largely successful in eliminating the political geography of apartheid at a macro- scale, this paper suggests that the greater challenge for government and policy makers is to reduce the socio-spatial and economic inequalities which appears to be still very high and perhaps increasing. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Language change in South Africa: A geographical perspective

In the changing multi-ethnic South African society of the nineties, language planning has become a top priority on the national agenda of reform. Comprehension of the territorial dimensions of language is crucial if we are to penetrate its true cultural, economic and political effect. South Africa's language policy, as defined in the interim constitution, focuses mainly on the fact that in future the country will accommodate eleven official languages with equal status. Obviously, the nine provinces do not each have eleven official languages. A provincial legislative may, by a two-thirds majority vote, declare any of the national languages a provincial official language for the whole province or a part thereof. In the light of this it is of vital importance that the country's regional language patterns be analysed on a geographical basis. A visual and statistical representation of the geolinguistic realities in South Africa could support the planning and transformation process currently taking place at all levels of government in this multilingual country. The aim of this paper is to address the following geolinguistic issues on a national scale:

• The spatial identification of the official language distribution on a macro level;
• The time-space pattern of language change between 1980 and 1991;
• The demographic and socio-economic profile of language speakers;
• The consequences of the findings for ethno-linguistic restructuring in a post-apartheid South Africa.

The analysis of the 37 million people's first home languages in South Africa has been accomplished by utilizing an ARC/INFO Geographical Information System linked with the 374 statistical districts. Although the country is ethnically and culturally very diverse, three language groups, namely isiZulu, isiXhosa and Afrikaans, dominate the linguistic scene. Their respective distribution patterns are fairly segregated within specific regions, while their relative change patterns are substantially influenced by urbanization trends and political restructuring.     

Pragmatic localism uncovered: The search for locally contingent solutions to national reform agendas

This paper analyses the complexity and attempted pragmatism of current practices surrounding the management of current local government policy reform in England. In particular, it focuses on the tensions and contradictions between a national policy dynamic which seeks to encourage locally contingent solutions to be developed for localised problems, and the centralising tendencies of the national state which result in ‘blueprints’ and ‘models’ being developed for local policy delivery and a requirement to meet centrally derived targets. These assumptions are explored through the experiences of local government attempts to introduce innovative and experimental praxis in line with the complex cultural and political changes of ‘modernisation’ agendas advanced by the UK government. This is being rolled out by an overarching project of ‘new localism’ - an attempt to devolve power and resources from the central state to front line local managers, sub-local structures and partnerships and to deliver ‘what works’. It is argued that new attempts at subsidiarity should be more flexible to local conditions rather than directed by national policy and that greater discretion and freedom should be given to local managers to achieve this task. Using the concept of ‘pragmatic localism’ and grounded examples from a recent initiative - Local Area Agreements - it is highlighted that there are signs that local state management of national policy could be becoming increasingly adaptable, enabling managers to deal with the fluid nature of ongoing public policy reform, although this is far from a completed project with many factors still constraining this change process.     

Spatial transformations in a “loosening state”: South Africa in a comparative perspective

This study explores the spatial transformation of urban South Africa since the ending of Apartheid rule two decades ago. It places this experience within the context of countries which have also gone through a “loosening” of political control and of related controls over spatial arrangements. The paper provides a discussion of South Africa’s spatial trends between 1996 and 2011, focusing on urbanisation; urban form; and socio-spatial segregation, and exploring the extent to which changes identified are shaped by the state, private sector investment, and the everyday actions of households and individuals. It shows that South Africa’s urban spatial transformation, post-Apartheid, is both idiosyncratic and comparable. The consequences of spatial controls, and of their loosening, have been diverse across countries, but also within countries. Loosening has led to differing relationships between state, citizenry and private enterprise, and to complex new crossing points between these groupings, affecting spatial change. In South Africa, significant trends have been: movement to the major cities where employment growth is stronger; levels of racial desegregation; and densification of parts of cities and towns, along with peripheral growth and employment decentralisation. Many of the changes however are differentiated across space and between settlements. While proactive state policies have had some impact (not necessarily in the direction of desired spatial transformation), and there are complex interrelationships, our empirical studies suggest that the major weight of evidence is towards the roles of private enterprise and people in shaping spatial change, enabled in part by forms of state loosening.     

Political transformation,urban policy and the state in London's Docklands

The contemporary restructuring of urban space in the United Kingdom can be understood in terms of much broader social, political, and economic changes. This paper provides an analysis of this experience in London's Docklands, as a way of highlighting the connections between these social relations. We can best understand these changes by drawing upon regulation theory, which posits a firm, but dynamic, link between economic and political processes. Through an analysis of urban policy changes, political struggles, and economic shifts in London's Docklands, I argue for a more central role for the state and social movements in the understanding of social regulation and urban change. Finally, the paper considers the establishment of an Urban Development Corporation in the area in 1981, which represents an attempt by the central government to establish a new regime of economic and political life in the area. This has produced important conflicts at a local level, which typify the conflictual nature of attempts to restructure the economic and political relations of urban locales.     

Peace Parks and jaguar trails: transboundary conservation in a globalizing world

An increasingly utilized strategy for expanding conservation in the developing world has been the promotion of protected areas that supersede national borders. Alternatively known as transfrontier biosphere reserves, transfrontier or transboundary conservation areas, or Peace Parks, these protected areas are aggressively advanced by conservation agencies for their purported ecological and economic benefits. This article provides a comparative assessment of two case studies to understand the various impacts of transboundary conservation. The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which unites protected areas in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, is contrasted with efforts to protect jaguars along the United States–Mexico border. We argue that while these cases are promising for the purposes of biodiversity protection, they demonstrate that transboundary conservation can minimize political context, contributes to the hegemony of international conservation agendas, and remains closely linked to economic neoliberalism and decentralization in the developing world.

Against ourselves – Local activists and the management of contradicting political loyalties: The case of Phiri,Johannesburg

In spite of continued mass urban protests in post-apartheid South Africa, few are the social movements or individuals which openly disengage from the dominant and former liberation party, the African National Congress. Many authors have analysed this paradox as a two-pronged strategy, ‘the brick’ and ‘the ballot’, to try and influence public policy. However, these two political positions become increasingly contradictory and difficult to hold together, as the ANC becomes more and more intolerant towards social movements. This paper, using the example of women’s contention about water commodification in Phiri (Soweto), examines how activists shape their opposition whilst still stating their affiliation to the ruling party. They manage these contradicting political loyalties through a variety of tactics exonerating the ANC from the blame of urban mismanagement: contrasting the current ANC with the ‘real’ ANC of the past – to which they remain faithful; and blaming the ‘deployees’ of the ANC at the local level for betraying the ‘real’ ANC at the national level. These tactics however may be short-lived as social movements upscale their action to the national level.     

Urban agriculture in Cameroon: an anti-politics machine in the making?

Urban agriculture in Africa is a growth area for development institutions and researchers. It is often portrayed as a coping strategy through which the urban poor have adapted to structural adjustment. It is enframed in an apolitical, ahistorical way because development institutions seek to create spaces into which development projects can be inserted in the future. This paper uses a case study from the town of Buea in south-west Cameroon to illustrate the differences between the international image of urban agriculture and its practice in one particular place. The increase in agricultural production in Buea in the 1990s initially appears to conform to the standard picture of urban farming as a recent, pragmatic and unplanned response to falling household incomes. However, such a portrayal neglects the history of urban farming, the pleasure that agriculture brings to farmers and the political consequences of expanding agricultural production. One of the concrete outcomes of increased urban agriculture in Buea in the 1990s has been to act as a `safety valve' against social unrest. It has acted as an `anti-politics machine'; a mechanism through which a sensitive political operation (reducing the salaries of civil servants) is achieved through apparently disconnected apolitical acts (enabling urban households to expand agricultural production). The Cameroonian government has opportunistically encouraged urban agriculture during a period of rapid economic change as one strategy for reproducing existing social relations.     

Party politics,civil society and local democracy – Reflections from Johannesburg

Party politics are generally absent from urban governance or urban politics theories or debates, or present only anecdotally or as a ‘black box’, whilst they are more and more described, especially in Cities of the South, as central to urban societies, access to resources and social dynamics. This paper attempts, through the case of the role of the ANC in civil society in Johannesburg, to uncover the place and the role of political parties in urban governance. It first argues that the party local branch is often crucial as a platform of mobilization, expression and debates around local needs, being more structured and able to access channels of decision than other civil society organizations or local government participatory structures. However, its strong embededness in urban local societies also means a form of social control restricting the ability of civil society to revolt and challenge urban policies more radically.     

The developmental impacts of backpacker tourism in South Africa

South Africa has recorded considerable growth in tourism activity over the past decade. In the light of the vast range of economic sectors that gain from tourism development, the national government has instituted a range of incentives and initiatives to stimulate tourism development, with the expansion of tourism infrastructure aimed at high-end tourists forming a key component of this strategy. Little investment has, however, been made in tourism infrastructure targeting those markets that prefer to avoid high-end tourism facilities. In this respect backpacker tourists and their preferred accommodation type, backpacker hostels, are a case in point. Despite backpacker tourism being largely ignored in national tourism development initiatives, backpacker tourism is increasingly popular in South Africa. This paper focuses on the recent proliferation of backpacker tourism in this country and seeks to convey the results of the first nation-wide exploration in this regard. The paper has two main objectives. Firstly, it seeks to present broad-ranging empirical data concerning this tourist cohort and their preferred accommodation type- backpacker hostels — in the South African context. Secondly, it aims to demonstrate why backpacker tourists and hostels hold much potential for local development initiatives in South Africa. In the light of the findings of this study, the paper concludes that the expansion of backpacker tourism to this country might form an appropriate means by which to achieve a range of local development objectives.     

Defense economic restructuring and conversion in South Africa

The aim is to examine issues of defence economic restructuring and conversion in South Africa. Under the new government, overall restructuring of the South African defence sector is occuring. With diminished defence expenditure, the military industry is encouraged to convert production capability to non-military products. The geographical implications of defence economic restructuring and conversion in South Africa are analysed in the context of international experience and debates. The Gauteng region emerges as the national gunbelt of South Africa and contains an incipient military industrial district. In this particular region, the question of defence conversion is critically important for local policy makers and should be linked to new local economic development initiatives.     

Political ecology of groundwater: the contrasting case of water-abundant West Bengal and water-scarce Gujarat, India

Three apparently disparate themes (groundwater, farmers and politics) interweave in this account of how groundwater-related policies in India have very little to do with the scarcity, depletion or quality of groundwater, and more to do with rural politics manifested, among other things, in terms of the presence or absence of farmer lobbies. Examples from two states of India, the water-abundant state of West Bengal and water-scarce state of Gujarat, were investigated using readily available data, analysis of the literature, interviews and fieldwork. In the case of West Bengal, although there is no pressing groundwater crisis, the government of West Bengal (GOWB) was able to successfully implement strict groundwater regulations along with a drastic increase in electricity tariff. More importantly, GOWB was able to implement these without any form of visible farmer protest, though these measures negatively affected farmer incomes. On the other hand, in Gujarat, where there is a real and grave groundwater crisis, the government of Gujarat has neither been able to implement strict groundwater regulations, nor has it been able to increase electricity tariff substantially. Thus, through the lens of ‘political ecology’ the contrasting case of these two Indian states is explained.

Problems of planning for urbanization and development in South Africa: the case of Natal's coastal margins

The growth of urban settlements along the Natal coast serves as a case study with which to evaluate the South African government's emerging concept of ‘planned urbanization’. Changing emphases in South African urban and regional policy are situated within the context of the contemporary legitimacy crisis of the South African state. Data on the experience of urbanization on the Natal coast, and particularly black perceptions of this experience, are presented. Recent government proposals dealing with urbanization—particularly the newly legislated Regional Services Councils—are assessed against this background.     

“Progressive port Elizabeth”: Liberal politics,local economic development and the territorial basis of racial domination, 1923–1935

The growth of state capacity with respect to African people in South Africa's cities, while an ambition of many local and central state managers, was secured only in the face of conflicts within the state and between the state and the people. This paper examines some of the specific social processes which shaped the segregated form of African settlement and administration in Port Elizabeth between 1923–35. The aim is to interpret how the unique configuration of social and economic conditions in Port Elizabeth both fed into and depended upon an as yet imperfectly implemented strategy for the government and control of the city's African populace. Issues of concern include the nature of the administration in the New Brighton Location, the influence of liberal politics on Location strategy and the impact of the local council's efforts at place entrepreneurialism on residential development and urban government.     

Interrogating the post-apartheid socio-economic transformation in Mdantsane,Buffalo City

While scholarly concentration has been given to the challenges and opportunities for urban transformation in democratic South Africa, there are still pockets of areas which fall short of intensive examination, particularly in the topic of transforming hidden urban communities. In order to interrogate the socio-economic transformation of the hidden urbanites in a post-apartheid policy regime, this paper draws heavily from empirical evidence of Mdantsane, the second largest township in South Africa. It triangulates data obtained through unstructured in-depth interviews with that gathered from census surveys and other government reports. The study indicates that despite notable policy strides to facilitate the much sought after transformation, Mdantsane’s urban landscape still suffers from development gaps that are largely reflected in socio-economic spatial inequalities. Although these findings generally resonate with scholarly evidence established in other urban areas in South Africa, we argue about the peculiarity of Mdantsane’s case, which is chiefly associated with a complex matrix of policy events and physiographic constraints that would need a revisit if the envisaged development plans are to become a reality.     

Making the cup run over — the challenge of urban water supply for South Africa's Reconstruction and Development Programme

The Reconstruction and Development Programme commits the government in South Africa to the provision of adequate access to water for all citizens. Severe backlogs in urban water supply, a growing urban population, and large capital requirements pose great challenges to South Africa's water supply authorities. The aim is to present recent research on the scale of the urban water supply problem and to provide a brief overview of the main issues in developing an economically and environmentally sustainable water supply approach while meeting basic-needs. A key concern is the level of cost recovery, and the setting of tariffs and income policy in the context of a very low-income consumer base.