Aspects Of Black Housing In South Africa

6. The Contest for Hegemony

What can South Africa learn from Botswana, arguably Africa's most successful democracy, and Zimbabwe, one of South Africa's closest neighbours? In this comparative study, the author explores these southern African countries with the aim of highlighting those factors that appear to ensure a successful transition to democracy.

The legislative and administrative framework, established by the nationalist government after 1948, provided the basis for the large-scale construction of racially segregated townships for African workers throughout South Africa. Direct state intervention in the production of housing partially resolved the housing shortage which had existed since before the Second World War. The thesis seeks to explain why state intervention in the sphere of housing assumed this particular form and how township policies were actually implemented. It also seeks to understand the role of these spatial forms within the social formation It is, therefore, an analysis of policy formulation and implementation within the context of political, economic and ideological relations and conditions existing in South Africa over the period 1945 to 1965. The thesis argues that the origins of townships policies, which were legitimised by the ideology of 'apartheid', are to be traced, on the one hand, in the relations within the state - between central and local authorities around the question of housing subsidy, for example - and, on the other hand, in the relations between other organisations with interests in housing, such as building employers and trade unions around conditions of housing production. The study utilises a wide range of primary source material - in particular, a collection of unpublished memoranda, minutes and correspondence of a board created by the state, the operations of which were central to the implementation of the township policies from the mid-1950s, which is not yet available for public inspection.

Apartheid as legislated racial separation substantially changed the South African urban scene. Race group areas' remodelled the cities, while the creation of homelands', mini-states and the pass laws' controlling population migration constrained urbanization itself. In the mid-1980s the old system - having proved economically inefficient and politically divisive - was replaced by a new policy of orderly urbanization'. This sought to accelerate industrialization and cultural change by relaxing the constraints on urbanization imposed by state planning. The result was further political instability and a quarter of the black (or African) population housed in shanty towns. Negotiations between the Nationalist government and the African National Congress are working towards the end of the old apartheid system. Yet the negation of apartheid is only the beginning of the creation of a new society. The vested interests and entrenched ideologies behind the existing pattern of property ownership survive the abolition of apartheid laws. Beyond race, class and ethnicity will continue to divide urban life. If the cities of South Africa are to serve all the people, the accelerating process of urbanization must be brought under control and harnessed to a new purpose. The contributors to this volume draw on a broad range of experience and disciplines to present a variety of perspectives on urban South Africa.

Originally published in 1982, this book covers the unique spatial structure of society which was South Africa under apartheid. It brings together a cohesive set of research-based contributions to the understanding of this system which was without contemporary parallels. The book considers issues such as industrial location and migrant labour at a national scale. The case studies, which are fully illustrated, deal with problems associated with work and housing for blacks, set in the 3 major metropolitan areas of Cape Town, the Witwatersrand and Durban. Of particular importance is the emphasis given to so-called ‘spontaneous’ (or ‘squatter’) settlement and to informal-sector work for blacks in the emerging apartheid city – something which links directly with central issues of development studies.