18.02.2014 Views

Integrating Poor Populations in South African Cities - Agence ...

Integrating Poor Populations in South African Cities - Agence ...

Integrating Poor Populations in South African Cities - Agence ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

8. The Limits of the Government’s Actions<br />

elects a ward councillor. Then, ten Ward Committees are elected. They make up the<br />

political level closest to the people. Each Ward Committee can represent a community<br />

of <strong>in</strong>dividuals (women, employers, etc.), a sector of the municipality (hous<strong>in</strong>g, water,<br />

transportation, etc.), or more rarely a geographic area. The Ward Committees make<br />

up the primary participation mechanism. The IDPs are, for example, discussed with the<br />

Ward Committees. These mechanisms function relatively well as a source of <strong>in</strong>formation<br />

but one must note that the Ward Committees have little <strong>in</strong>fluence on the Ward Councillor<br />

and that the Ward Councillor has no real operational power. The municipalities also<br />

implement other participation mechanisms: IDPs are often available on l<strong>in</strong>e and, <strong>in</strong> Cape<br />

Town, comments on the IDP can even be made on l<strong>in</strong>e by all <strong>in</strong>habitants. Development<br />

projects such as Cato Manor <strong>in</strong> Durban or Alexandra <strong>in</strong> Johannesburg have specific<br />

Internet forums to allow for discussion and participation by <strong>in</strong>habitants.<br />

The Social Movements<br />

118<br />

Historically, the manifestations of civil society have played an important role. The<br />

civics, which correspond to civil society associations that emerged <strong>in</strong> the townships,<br />

played a considerable role <strong>in</strong> the struggle aga<strong>in</strong>st apartheid. However, at the end of<br />

apartheid, many of the important figures <strong>in</strong> the civics were hired by the government.<br />

There are still civics today — neighbourhood associations. The most powerful<br />

associations are social movements, fairly large associations group<strong>in</strong>g together<br />

militants around specific themes (evictions, AIDS, etc.) that have considerable protest<br />

power.<br />

Complex Implementation and Management of Urban Projects<br />

Local representation structures exist and are relatively well constituted. However,<br />

succeed<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> hav<strong>in</strong>g balanced and representative participation <strong>in</strong> the design and<br />

then implementation of urban projects is still difficult and not systematic.<br />

Numerous hous<strong>in</strong>g projects have been undertaken to re-house the <strong>in</strong>habitants of<br />

various shantytowns, without <strong>in</strong>-depth consultation of the populations concerned<br />

and with wait<strong>in</strong>g lists for the allocation of hous<strong>in</strong>g managed <strong>in</strong> an opaque manner<br />

and at different levels (prov<strong>in</strong>ces, municipalities, neighbourhood associations, etc.).<br />

In <strong>South</strong> Africa, it is not habitual to consider an urban project <strong>in</strong> regard to the<br />

territory concerned and populations affected. Projects are seen, rather, from the angle<br />

<strong>Integrat<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>Poor</strong> <strong>Populations</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>African</strong> <strong>Cities</strong> © AFD 2009

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!