URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

A demanding challenge for municipalities

In order to understand current urban development challenges in South Africa, as well as the Integrated Municipal Development component of the Urban Programme, it is useful to have some historical and political background on South Africa.

The apartheid city
The South African ‘apartheid city’, officially established by the Group Areas Act of 1950, is one of the lasting legacies of the apartheid regime. Urban structures and life during that era were controlled by legislation segregating racial groups.

The apartheid city was characterised by racially divided areas and a lack of services, infrastructure and development in the poor black townships. Local governance was minimal and imposed without democratic representation. Access to adequate housing, land, water, electricity, transportation and other urban services was limited for the majority of the population.

The struggle for transformation
The democratic movement that developed in the last century to end apartheid had significant roots in urban protests. It mobilised massive strikes and boycotts of both rent and service payments. Local authorities in black areas were rejected as unrepresentative and incompetent, and were actively undermined by the strategy to make the townships ungovernable.

In 1991 two legislative pillars of apartheid, the Group Areas Act (1950) and the Natives Land Act (1913) were repealed as part of a reformist strategy in the face of an intensifying struggle. This led to negotiations between the apartheid Government and the African National Congress (ANC). During the negotiation process the Local Government Transition Act was passed in 1993 and approved by a multiparty negotiating forum. This set out the phases of a transition process for local government and became a significant milestone in South African urban development.

In 1994 the ANC assumed power after a negotiated transition followed by the first democratic elections, and South Africa embarked on the road towards a non-racial, democratic society, redressing the inequalities entrenched by apartheid.

New priorities
Prior to 1994 the role of local authorities was limited to controlling technical processes and land use by regulations and restrictions. Municipal planning benefited privileged groups and areas, and environmental sustainability and meaningful public participation were neglected.

A Government document in 1995 noted: “The urban sector in South Africa produces over 80% of the nation’s GDP and houses sixty percent of the population, yet our towns and cities display the greatest disparities.” It went on to suggest that urban renewal was a top priority for the new Government.

The Sida supported Urban Programme thus aimed at municipal capacity building and sustainable development through comprehensive urban planning, where the key objective was to work for: physical, functional, social and economic integration, and poverty reduction. The four components described in this booklet address different aspects of urban and municipal development.