AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	34. Post-apartheid: ethnographies of the South African transition
Paper ID	136
Author(s)	Monaco, Sara
Paper	View paper (PDF)
Abstract	It is now almost 13 years since the ANC took office following South Africa’s first democratic elections. It is reasonable to believe that this major power shift fundamentally changed the opportunities for all actors in the South African political arena. This paper, part of an on-going PhD project, poses the overall research question how the interaction between actors in the civil society and state spheres has been affected by the introduction of democracy. More specifically the purpose is to study how residents’ associations, local government representatives and politicians interact in the urban political arena (i.e. the political decision-making process) over matters of common concern. The research problem relates to the classic dilemma concerning the relationship between the state and society, and the balance between autonomy and control (see e.g. Dahl 1982 and Migdal 2001). By using the framework of political opportunity structure (developed by e.g. McAdam 1996, Tarrow 1998 and Maloney et al 2000) the ambition is to show how changes in the political opportunity structure affect actors’ possibilities to advance their interests. The paper will use one of Cape Town’s suburbs, Hout Bay, as an illustrative example of the multifaceted reality of local politics in urban areas in the new South Africa. It demonstrates the complexity of civil society-state interaction in relation to one of the most crucial issues in South Africa today, namely housing. This complexity is further intensified because of the sensitivity of the matter – a poor black settlement in the midst of a white affluent area. Ever since the establishment of Imizamo Yethu in 1991, its expansion and development has been a highly contested issue, including a court interdict, party political antagonism and severe property damage. Among the main actors one finds a number of residents’ associations (representing different sectors of the heterogeneous Hout Bay population), political parties and politicians, and the City of Cape Town – all with different agendas and goals. The case study of Imizamo Yethu puts autonomy and control into the very centre of the analysis. It shows that the introduction of democracy has multiplied the number of stake holders, which has further complicated the prospects for a viable solution. Also, the process is path dependent in that although necessary, no authority has yet had the capability to remove people from Imizamo Yethu to offer them housing elsewhere out of fear of being associated with the policies of the previous apartheid regime. The belief is that the detailed narrative of Imizamo Yethu can give important insights in the dynamic power relations that are the reality in the new South Africa. 1) 1) The fieldwork was mainly carried out in September-November 2004 and February-April 2006, and includes interviews with leaders of different associations, local politicians and officials in Cape Town.

Cooperation and conflict in urban politics - the case of Imizamo Yethu, Cape Town