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The South African National Civic Organisation: a Two-Tiered Social Movement

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The South African National Civic Organisation: a Two-Tiered Social Movement THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL CIVIC ORGANISATION: A TWO-TIERED SOCIAL MOVEMENT NDANDULENI B. NTHAMBELENI A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in Sociology Supervisor: Professor Peter Alexander Johannesburg, October 2008 ABSTRACT This dissertation expands our understanding of South African social movements through a study of the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), a body formed in 1992 as a national co-ordinating structure of regional and local civic associations. It contends that SANCO can only be understood as a ‘two- tiered social movement’. The study draws on a Human Sciences Research Council survey, to which I contributed as a team member, on participant and non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews and primary literature and a case study of one SANCO branch, Alexandra. The focus of this survey was on the experience of SANCO’s leadership both at national and local level. Social movement literature reviewed in this study ignored the issue of tiers or levels in social movements. The study demonstrates that it would be worth re-looking at the analyses of social movements with an eye to assess whether distinct levels exist elsewhere. Whilst tiers are likely to be absent from small movements, there is an inherent tension for organisations that have both local units focused on immediate day-to-day concerns and also national structures that represent broader issues within political circles. The findings of the study defy the dominant view of South African social movements, which emphasise a demobilisation in the post-apartheid period. In the case of SANCO, its demise was substantiated by examining the organisation at a national level, largely ignoring local realities. A two-tiered approach demonstrates that even though local civic organisations experienced difficulties, particularly in the period immediately after the end of apartheid, they continued to thrive. 1 My findings are in line with the cycles of protest paradigm, which argues that social movements rise and fall and rise again. I have supplemented this approach by adapting Manuel Castells’ threefold typology of identity: resistance, project and legitimising. The thesis is that South Africa’s civic organisations originated as part of the resistance movement in the early 1980s; became increasingly concerned with a national democratic project in the late 1980s’ notably through their involvement with the United Democratic Front, and then in the early 1990s, at a national level, served to legitimise ANC rule through SANCO. Since the end of apartheid there has been a return to an emphasis on resistance at a local level. This is a ‘cycle’ but not a repetition of history. This new resistance excludes upwardly mobile former leaders and has different political implications. This study shows that, since the first general elections in 1994, activism has been instigated and sustained by local concerns, rather than the larger loyalties of national, political struggles. In the past year, in the period since the fieldwork for the dissertation was completed, it has become apparent that SANCO branches, and to some extent SANCO at national level, are part of a broader movement, one in which resistance to policies and practices associated with President Thabo Mbeki have fed into a new project that calls for support for Jacob Zuma as the next president of South Africa. This development lends credence to the thesis developed in the dissertation. It remains to be seen whether, if this project succeeds, SANCO, at national and/ or local level, will begin to assert a new legitimising identity. 2 DEDICATED TO NDALAMO AND ANDANI 3 CONTENTS Acknowledgements and Declaration 10 Abbreviations and Acronyms 12 Table 17 Figures 18 CHAPTER ONE THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL CIVIC ORGANISATION: A TWO-TIERED SOCIAL MOVEMENT 1.1 Introduction 19 1.2 Problem Statement 22 1.3 Thesis Statement 25 1.4 Scope and Limitations of the Thesis 26 1.5 Definitions of Terms and Concepts 27 1.6 Breakdown of Chapters 28 4 CHAPTER TWO THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 2.1 Introduction 31 2.2 Collective Behaviour Theory 33 2.3 Resource Mobilisation Theory 34 2.4 New Social Movement Theory 37 2.5 Cycles of Protest 42 2.6 Leadership and Social Movements 46 2.7 Social Movements in Africa 51 2.8 Social Movements in South Africa 55 2.9 Conclusion 62 CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH DESIGN 3.1 Introduction 65 3.2 Research Design 65 3.3 Constructing the Narrative 67 3.4 Background and Depth 70 3.5 Case Study 76 3.6 Phases in the Research 78 3.7 Conclusion 81 5 CHAPTER FOUR FROM RESISTANCE TO PROJECT IDENTITIES: CIVICS AND THE ORIGINS OF SANCO 4.1 Introduction 82 4.2 Townships 83 4.3 Black Politics and Community Consciousness 85 4.4 The emergence of Civic Organisations in South Africa 87 4.5 The rise of the United Democratic Front and Mass Democratic Movement 93 4.6 Moses Mayekiso and the Civic Association of Southern Transvaal 103 4.7 Conclusion 107 CHAPTER FIVE SANCO 1992-2000: ROWS, RUPTURES AND A LEGITIMISING IDENTITY 5.1 Introduction 109 5.2 SANCO’s 1992 Founding Conference 110 5.3 Lechesa Tsenoli and the Reform of SANCO in 1994 118 5.4 The impact of Democratic Rule on SANCO 121 5.5 Human Science Research Council studies and the New mood 127 5.6 Mlungisi Hlongwane, the Third President of SANCO 130 5.7 SANCO, ANC Summit in 1997 131 5.8 SANCO’s 1997 National Conference 135 5.9 The formation of a new National Civic Organisation 137 5.10 SANCO and the Congress of South African Trade Union 142 5.11 SANCO and the 2000 Local Government Elections 145 5.12 Conclusion 148 6 CHAPTER SIX SANCO’S RETURN TO A NEW RESISTANCE IDENTITY 6.1 Introduction 151 6.2 The rise of the New Social Movements 152 6.3 Electricity Cut-Offs 156 6.4 SANCO’s Local Activism 163 6.5 SANCO and the 2006 Local Government Elections 166 6.6 Mlungisi Hlongwane’s Suspension from SANCO 167 6.7 SANCO-Gauteng Provincial General Council 170 6.8 SANCO’s 2006 National Conference 174 6.9 Ruth Bhengu, the Deputy President of SANCO 176 6.10 Strong at Local level and Weak at National level 181 6.11 SANCO and the 2007 ANC Polokwane Conference: A New Project 184 Identity 6.12 Conclusion 189 CHAPTER SEVEN A CASE STUDY: ALEXANDRA TOWNSHIP 7.1 Introduction 191 7.2 Background and History of Alexandra Township 193 7.3 SANCO activity in Alexandra Township 202 7.4 Membership Survey 208 7.5 Views from Alexandra Township 219 7.6 Conclusion 224 7 CHAPTER EIGHT CONCLUSIONS, SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 226 REFERENCES Secondary Sources 234 Primary Sources 259 Interviews conducted by the Author 259 Interviews conducted by other Researchers 263 Newspapers and Periodicals 265 Other Primary Sources 268 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A: Constitution of SANCO as amended and adopted by the 3rd National Conference – April 2001 270 APPENDIX B: List of SANCO Office Bearers 306 APPENDIX C: List of Researchers who took part in the HSRC Surveys 314 APPENDIX D: Initial schedule of Questions for SANCO branches in Alexandra 316 8 APPENDIX E : Selection of Photographs of Alexandra 318 Photograph 1. Showing the streets 318 Photograph 2. Streets in the informal settlement 318 Photograph 3. Young people preparing coal for heating 319 Photograph 4. Informal settlements 319 Photograph 5. Informal settlements next to the main Road 320 Photograph 6. Informal settlements with electricity connections poles 320 Photograph 7. Spaza Shop in the street 321 Photograph 8. Shacks on the pavement of street 321 Photograph 9. Shacks on the banks of Jukskei River 322 Photograph 10. An old house 322 Photograph 11. Conditions during rainy seasons 323 Photograph 12. Residents inspecting damages 323 Photograph 13. Playing ground outside the men’s hostel 324 Photograph 14. Old houses 324 Photograph 15. RDP houses in Stwetla Camp 325 Photograph 16. Conditions of M2 men’s hostel 325 Photograph 17. New houses in Far Bank Extension 7 326 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DECLARATION In presenting this thesis, I wish to express my sincere gratitude and deep sense of appreciation for the help received from each of the following: My supervisor Professor, Peter Alexander, Director of the Centre for Sociological Research at the University of Johannesburg. Prof Alexander’s intellectual leadership and mentorship has benefited me greatly in this research project. His comments on the research have helped tremendously, and for this I am deeply grateful; Dr Dale Mckinley, an Independent Researcher, and an activist with the Anti Privatisation Forum and Social Movements Indaba, for his valuable inputs and constructive criticism; A special word of thanks to Professor Tina Uys, Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg, for her encouragement and assistance throughout my study; Dr Marcelle Dawson, Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg, for reading the thesis; My dear wife, Rudzani, without her support I would not have achieved what I set out to do; her willingness to accommodate my studies sacrificing quality family time in exchange of my long hours of absence from home. I look forward to many more years of friendship and marriage; 10 My parents, Pastor Nthovhedzeni Edwin and Matamela Sophie Nthambeleni, for their constant inspiration, words of encouragement and prayers; The leadership of SANCO, both at a local and national level’ who went out of their way rendering me their time to attend to my interviews; I am grateful to Deon van Tonder for proof reading this dissertation.
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