Gugu Mgwebi

Urban living is sometimes envied by those living in rural areas, because of the opportunities presumably available in cities and towns.

Armed with this presumption, hordes of impoverished rural dwellers make every effort to get into urban areas with the hope of a better life. Contemporary South African migration patterns include a significant shift of people from remote areas to informal settlements on the urban peripheries.

However, since 1994, there has also been an increase in the number of people coming from the rest of Africa in search of business and job opportunities or running away from conflict.

Census results reveal that the South African population increased from 40,5 million in 1996 to 44,8 million in 2001. A more recent community survey estimates the current population at 48,5 million, reflecting an overall increase of 8,2 million people since 2001. The largest percentage increase in population between 2001 and 2007 was in the Western Cape with 16,7%, followed by Gauteng with 13,9%. The Eastern Cape, Free State and North West experienced an increase of less than 5% (www. statssa.gov.za).

With the influx of more people into South African urban areas, a wave of discontent appears to be sprouting, with the general consensus that informal settlements are presenting the biggest challenge in this regard. Urban socio-economic realities such as unemployment, social dislocation, disease and inequality are fuelling conflicts in the poor neighbourhoods of the urban areas.

Government has over time attempted to implement transformation procedures and processes aimed at improving conditions in both rural and urban areas, and through initiatives such as the Urban Renewal Programme and the Integrated Rural Development Programme, tried to achieve sustainable development and poverty alleviation. These programmes involve investing in the economic and social infrastructure, human-resource development, enterprise development and local government capacity.

The Urban Renewal Framework seeks to mobilise people to become active participants in their own development, and attempts to ensure that the activities, initiatives and budgetary resources of the three spheres of government are co-ordinated and focused.

Moreover, the White Paper on Local Government, currently under review, has provided the foundation for a new developmental local government system committed to working with citizens, groups and communities to create sustainable human settlements which provide for a decent quality of life and meet the social, economic and material needs of communities in a holistic way (Government Gazette 13/3/98.p15).

Developmental local government is based on four characteristics:

• Executing municipal powers and functions in a way which optimises the potential for social development and economic growth;
• Managing development in a manner which ensures that it is integrated and sustainable;
• Promoting democratic values institutionally and within the community;
• Empowering the poor and marginalised and building social capital by providing community leadership and vision (Government Gazette 13/3/98).

During a planning workshop on 11 February 2002, the Minister for Provincial and Local Government, Sidney Mufamadi, pointed out that an integrated governance approach would need to be a collective agenda of all three spheres of government. Policy analysis and prioritisation would have to be done in an integrated manner while integrated planning systems would have to be put in place to guide the operational work of all government institutions.

In the envisaged approach, integrated policy priorities would inform resource allocations where there was effective evaluation and monitoring of performance. An overall development philosophy, including a national spatial development perspective, would guide government’s integrated work.

Critical to this is the improvement of the urban economy and making serious inroads into urban poverty. This of course cannot be achieved through the exercise of powers and functions of municipalities, but through close co-operation between cities and other spheres of government essential for sustainable development strategies.

However, seemingly the numerous initiatives are yet to make a substantive dent on the poverty situation in urban areas or even make rural areas more attractive to live in. In some cases supposedly remedial policies have had an adverse effect on the urban poor through reduced living standards, increased unemployment, the lowering of the real minimum wage, decreased public social expenditures and the removal of consumer subsidies (Burgess et al, 1997:27).

Quite clearly, much more needs to be done if we are to avert a more severe crisis in the urban areas.

References

• Community Survey 2007 www.statssa.gov.za
• (Government Gazette 13/3/98.p15)
• (Government Gazette 13/3/98)
• (Keynote input by Minister FS Mufamadi to a planning workshop 11 February 2002)
• Burgess, R; Carmona, M; and Kolstee, T. 1997 Contemporary macroeconomic strategies and Urban Policies in Developing Countries London
• Fine, D, 1998b, ‘Megacities a blueprint for disaster’ Business Day, 29 May 1998
• Maharaj, B. Urban Governance and Management of Cities in Post Apartheid South Africa, South Africa

Local Government Transformer June-July 2008