FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1
Empowering communities to effectively participate in local developmental processes
Picture: Michael Walker / Cape Times
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 1 Contents
Editorial: 2011 Local government 3 elections
4 Making sense of municipal revolts
The service delivery myth 6 Foundation for Contemporary Research Physical address: Hangberg: A question of land denied Suite 802, 8th Floor, 8 SA Reserve Bank Building 60 St Georges Mall Cape Town Xenophobia: Looking back, moving 11 forward Tel: 021 422 3060 Fax: 021 422 3096 E-mail: [email protected]
Asset Based Community Association incorporated 16 under Section 21 Development (ABCD): An overview Registration number 90 06898-08 NPO registration number 011-732NPO PBO registration number 930007397
Vision
Communities in which capable leaders and strong civil society structures co-operate to promote community development and participation in development processes that address priority community needs. Mission
To build capacity in marginalised communities and civil society by enhancing leadership, strengthening structures and expanding networks that facilitate development and mobilise communities to participate in processes that address priority needs.
2 DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 editorial 2011 Local government elections
2011 is the year of 10 Years of Local Government local government What makes the upcoming fourth local elections. Hence government elections historically significant political parties such is that 2010 marked the anniversary of ten as the African National years of local government. Interestingly, Congress (ANC) in the same year government-sponsored and the Democratic research shows that local government is in Mandisi Majavu Alliance (DA) have shambles; many municipalities are simply already commenced unable to deliver services to communities. electioneering. As an Three articles explore some of the concerns organisation based in a politically contested faced by local government. The first, written province, we are interested to see how the by FCR’s Mandisi Majavu, puts municipal DA, the ANC, and the Congress of the People revolts in context. The second investigates (Cope) will perform in the Western Cape. the demolition of shacks by the City of Cape Town in Hangberg, and is co-authored by The Democratic Alliance Development Action Group’s Ardiel Soeker The DA in the Western Cape will enter the and Kailash Bhana. The third article, written 2011 local government election fray politically by Rhodes’ academic Richard Pithouse, strong. Last year, the DA joined forces with interrogates the concept of service delivery. Patricia de Lille’s Independent Democrats Monitoring Xenophobia (ID), and that on its own should give it a Also in this issue of Development in Focus is an competitive edge. Additionally, the DA article that presents an historical analysis of already controls the provincial and Cape the violent May 2008 xenophobia outbreak. Town city governments. And, according to It asks how local government might be newspaper reports, “the DA has won 12 new empowered to improve accountability as seats in by-elections around South Africa since well as monitor and counter xenophobic the 2009 general elections, with nine of those sentiments and violence. Entitled ‘Xenophobia: victories occurring in 2010. Eight of those 12 Looking back, moving forward’, the new seats were captured from the ANC…” article’s author is FCR’s Mandisi Majavu.
The African National Congress As simple as ABCD? On the other hand, the ANC in the Western The final article is authored by Community Cape is a divided and a weak organisation, Connections and shares their experiences riddled with racial tension. The Cape Times of working with poor communities in the recently reported that ANC’s Membathisi Western Cape. It argues for what it terms Mdladlana is “worried sick” at the divisions an ‘Asset Based Community Development’ within the Western Cape ANC before the (ABCD) approach because it provides local government elections. Further, the a holistic understanding of community organisation has not yet nominated their ward development and its complexities, arguing candidates in the province. The leadership for community-led development and battle between Marius Fransman and Mcebisi stimulating an opportunity-seeking mindset. Skwatsha is the source of the problem and at the core of it is the question of how to win In conclusion... over the average ‘coloured’ voter. It remains I trust that you will find these thought-provoking to be seen how the ANC resolves this issue. articles interesting. If you have any comments, ideas or stories you would like read or know more Cope about, kindly direct them to [email protected]. As for Cope, perhaps its main challenge is to come up with a strategy to overcome the Finally, remember that you can register debilitating power struggle between Mosiuoa for the upcoming elections at your local Lekota and Mbhazima Shilowa that has voting station between 8am and 5pm on plagued the organisation throughout 2010. either March, 5 or 6 2011. According to IEC website, the full timetable for the elections will be published once the election date The ANC and Cope have about three months has been proclaimed. Meanwhile, you to get their houses in order. Although the can access your voter registration details government has not announced the election by SMSing your ID number to 32810 (normal dates, it is expected that they will take place in rates apply) or by calling the following toll- May or June, according to newspaper reports. free number (from a landline): 0800 11 8000.
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 3 Making Sense Of Municipal Revolt By Mandisi Majavu
to deal with these challenges. Regarding violence, which the Committee was tasked to investigate among other things, the report simply states that the Cabinet has previously condemned the violent protests ‘whilst accepting the right to protest and the reality that some of these concerns are genuine…’
Richard Pithouse, an academic at Rhodes University, argues that as long as the state exists to advance the interests and agenda of the elite, the state’s legal right to declare popular forms of revolt illegitimate has no moral standing. Pithouse adds that when a The ‘Final Delivery Agreement – Outcome social system is not functioning, people have 9’ points out that 2010 marked the every right to challenge it directly and beyond anniversary of ten years of democratic the parameters that it sets for engagement: local government. The document further notes that many municipalities are unable “If blockading roads with burning tyres can go to deliver services to communities and some way towards turning the hidden crisis of further, the same municipalities fail dismally poverty, often experienced as an endless, private to engage in empowering public discourse and shameful disaster by the poor, into a public with communities. Hence, communities ‘feel and urgent crisis for elites that calls their right alienated and disconnected from decision- to rule as they do into question, then we must making processes and feel disempowered in recognise the road blockade as a potentially influencing the affairs of the municipality.’ social action and the automatic defence of business as usual as inherently anti-social.” 3 It is for the same reasons highlighted above that poor communities across South Africa People have learnt that the blockading of roads engage in municipal revolts. In 2009, the is an effective tactic to get a response from Mail & Guardian reported that ‘a wave government. For instance, the government of protests’ have erupted in townships has responded to municipal revolts by nationwide over the lack of public service establishing the Ad Hoc Committee on Co- ordinated Oversight on Service Delivery, as delivery1. On 26 October this year (2010), well as achieving a Final Delivery Agreement – the Sowetan reported that a four-week Outcome 9, a document which aims to improve services delivery protest in Khayelitsha had service delivery. Additionally, the government spread to Philippi, ‘with hundreds of residents has introduced what it terms the ‘Local 2 barricading busy roads with burning tyres’. Government Turnaround Strategy’ (LGTAS) to deal with factors undermining local government, In an attempt to understand why these as well as ‘to restore good performance in the protests tend to take on a violent character, country’s municipalities.’ The LGTAS document the government established an Ad Hoc further points out that the government’s Committee on Co-ordinated Oversight on goal is to turn municipalities around from Service Delivery to ‘specifically investigate struggling with failure to fully functioning the underlying reasons for the often violent government institutions that effectively protests over lack of service delivery.’ execute their service delivery mandates.
The Committee found that local government’s Neo-liberalism theory challenges vary from service delivery backlogs to capacity constraints and financial Academics such as Patrick Bond view neo- mismanagement. According to the Ad liberal policies that the post-apartheid South Hoc Committee, the Local Government African government adopted in the early 1990s Turnaround Strategy is an appropriate tool as the root cause of the socio-economic
1. Brooks 2009 2. Obose 2010 3. Pithouse 2010
4 DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 problems facing the country. Bond states The City did not stop there. It went to court that the post-apartheid government chose in to obtain its own court interdict against the 1994 to adopt a neo-liberal philosophy, ‘with movement. Consequently, the movement a small reform here and there, while posturing was interdicted for erecting structures in as if social democracy was on the horizon.’ Macassar Village and the City argued in court that people had invaded private land. Neo-liberalism is a theory of political economy practice that is based on the view that human “After their court interdict was served to wellbeing is best advanced ‘by liberating the people at Macassar Village, everyone individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills was upset because they had undermined within an institutional framework characterised our interdict and now they wanted us to by strong private property rights, free markets, be banned by their interdict. As a result of and free trade’.4 The role of a neo-liberal that people started to protest, barricading state is to create and maintain an institutional the New Road with burning tyres and framework that is consistent with neo-liberal stones. Immediately the guys from law policies. For instance, the state has to set up enforcement responded and moved people appropriate military structures, police, and off the road and cleared the road.” legal structures to secure private property rights and to guarantee, ‘by force if need be, One of the lessons that the movement learnt the proper functioning of markets’ (Ibid). from this experience is that the judiciary Harvey explains that under a neo-liberal system is not accessible to all, wrote Poni. state markets favour governance by experts and elites. In other words, there is a strong “We have questions about the independence preference for government by executive of certain judges. For instance, after we got order and by judicial decision rather than the interdict against the state to force the democratic decision-making. Hence state to obey the law and then the state went institutions such as the central bank tend ahead and broke the law and violated the to be insulated from democratic pressure interdict we went back to court to report this. under a neo-liberal state. Likewise, people So if the judge was fair he would have ordered are encouraged to seek solutions to their the arrest of the officials who ordered these social problems through the legal system. criminal acts. But the judge, Mr. Van Zyl, who is an acting judge and also an SC, dismissed A case in point... our application. Later, the same judge awarded an interdict to the municipality!”
Mzonke Poni, the Chairperson of the Abahlali Conclusion baseMjondolo (Shack Dwellers) in the Western Cape, wrote an article in 2009 about how the movement used the courts to advance their It is partly because of these experiences with struggles. In that article he pointed out that the courts that people resort to barricading the movement went to court to obtain a court roads with burning tyres and stones. interdict against the City of Cape Town (the Additionally, municipal revolts tend to take on City). The movement thought that the court a violent character partly because people interdict would help protect “the structures feel ignored by the powers that be; people that we have to build to shelter ourselves also feel dehumanised and oppressed by and our belongings and, also, to protect our the social conditions under which they live. building materials against theft by the state”. Perhaps it is also starting to dawn on people However, the movement was shocked when that we are not in the midst of an ongoing the City ignored the interdict and just carried National Democratic Revolution. Maybe on demolishing some of their structures in people are beginning to understand that the Macassar Village. “When I tried to stop them NDR is nothing but an illusion designed to drive from demolishing the structures and tried to them away from the arena of political debate show them the interdict so that they could see and action, and to reduce them to apathy and that their actions were illegal, I was threatened obedience, to borrow a phrase from Chomsky. by arrest and rubber bullets and the demolition went ahead without them having a court It is possible that this is the thinking order and in violation of the court interdict.” 5 behind the municipal revolts.
4. Harvey 2005 5. Poni 2009
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 5 The Service Delivery Myth By Richard Pithouse
The service delivery myth was not actually Defining the myth invented in South Africa, but has been embraced with great enthusiasm. Given that The service delivery myth tells us that justice one of its key assumptions is that development and compensation are largely a matter should be governed by expertise, and that this of technical efficiency on the part of the reinforces the rule of the few in the name of state; that progress is something that can be the many, we shouldn’t be too surprised. We charted. We don’t need to ask, “What is to should also recall that in the 1980s struggles to be done?” because that is obvious and a democratise society from below gathered real waste of time; we just need to do what must force, and that ideas like people’s education be done faster. At the heart of the myth is and practices like land occupations in order an idea of the people as passive consumers to found rent-free shack settlements became or beneficiaries who just need to be plugged commonplace in the anti-apartheid struggle. into the grid of serviced life by a benevolent state. The myth assumes that people who How did it evolve? aren’t yet plugged in are still wallowing in the legacy of apartheid and that, as backlogs In the 1990s the idea that development would are steadily overcome, they’ll join the rest of be put in the hands of ordinary women and us and enjoy a better life. It makes us assume men by extending democracy beyond the that patience is a virtue and that objecting to polling booth was rapidly abandoned. This was anything other than the pace and efficiency one consequence of the unstable truce forged of service delivery is counter-productive and between the ANC and older elites. What had probably the result of malicious conspiracy. been rendered as political, and therefore as subject to public discussion and action, Of course the state does need to be during the struggle against apartheid was efficient, statistics can give us important rendered, by mutual agreement, as technical information, some things are obvious and - and therefore a matter for experts - at the do need to be done with urgency and we dawn of parliamentary democracy in South do all need decent homes, clean water, Africa. “Depoliticisation,” Jacques Rancière sanitation, electricity, refuse collection, safe tells us, “is the oldest task of politics, the one streets and all the rest. But when we start to which achieves its fulfilment at the brink of its take the service delivery myth seriously, we end, its perfection at the brink of the abyss”. can make some ridiculous assumptions.
The service delivery myth is now so all- For instance, the idea that service delivery is pervading that it is often assumed to be the steadily chipping away at backlogs inherited natural measure for the performance of the from apartheid isn’t always true. Our current state. The result is that justice, dignity, lived social arrangements are producing new experience and the day-to-day practice of inequalities with the result that, for instance, the democracy fade into the background. The number of people living in shacks is growing myth is so powerful that it is simply assumed to despite the two million houses built by the post- be the root cause of most protest action. It apartheid state. The number of electricity and is a rare journalist who actually asks someone water connections that have been installed tells on a road blockade what she is protesting for us nothing about whether people can afford before writing about the latest service delivery these services. There are plenty of women with protest. So even when protest is, in fact, an electricity connection that have to get up rebellion against the way in which services at four in the morning to chop wood to make a are delivered rather than a demand for them fire to heat water to get their children bathed to be speeded up, it is often interpreted as and fed before school because they cannot a demand for the state to strengthen itself. afford to pay for electricity. The fact that a
6 DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 house has been built tells us nothing about its places, it is routine for delivery to be mediated quality, location, size or who actually lives in it through local party structures for the benefit of and how the decision to allocate that house local party leaders and their followers rather was made. Moreover, progress is not always than through any kind of rational allocation. delivered by the state. There are times when This doesn’t just produce inefficiency; it also an unlawful land occupation or connection to water and electricity will do much more for produces active exclusion that is defended people than the delivery on offer from the state. by an increasing authoritarianism at the base of society. It is not at all unusual to find that When service delivery is presented as the people live in fear of local councillors and their ultimate of what the state can do for the ward committees and the Branch Executive people and all protest is assumed to be a Committees of the local party structures. When demand for it, commentators are sometimes the technocrats point to the graphs in their puzzled by that fact that popular protests power-point presentations the numbers they often accompany actual service delivery. quote often chart real progress. But they will In some cases this apparent paradox leads people to conclude that these protests sometimes also refer to new forms of exclusion, are either the work of wicked conspirators sometimes backed by state and party violence. or that they are motivated by jealousy as some see delivery arriving for others. Conclusion
One reason why protest often accompanies Society is a lot more complicated than the the moment of delivery is that it can be service delivery myth is capable of recognising. a disaster for the very people it intends to The simplicity of the myth is part of its attraction benefit. When delivery means an eviction but while it may lead to elegant PowerPoint from a shack in a community of which you presentations and snappy newspaper are a valued member and which is near to headlines, it doesn’t reflect the complex your work and your children’s schools to a reality on the ground. It actually covers up transit camp filled with strangers in the middle of nowhere, it can be a catastrophe. When that complexity and blinds us to the fact that delivery means the installation of a water or the forms of development that we are pursing electricity meter to someone who previously, can often produce new forms of oppression. legally or illegally, had unregulated access to water or electricity it can also be more of Statistics can be useful tools, but they will only a curse than a blessing. Delivery, in the form be able to speak to the lived reality of ordinary that the state currently offers it to people, is people with more fairness if we challenge our fairly frequently refused and it’s not unusual for thinking about development and make the it to have to be implemented at gunpoint. state - and its experts - accountable to society.
Another reason why protest and delivery This article first appeared on The South African are often connected is that, at least in some Civil Society Information Service website.
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 7 HANGBERG: A Question of Land Denied
Hangberg residents respond to police with stones and homemade petrol bombs - September 2010
By Ardiel Soeker and Kailash Bhana
Reading about the demolition of shacks by struggles, as is illustrated by the case of the the City of Cape Town (the City) in Hangberg Hangberg community. and the comments made by the City on the issue could leave one thinking that newcomers Excluding the poor have illegally occupied land. However, this is an uprising by long-standing residents of the As with most South African cities and towns, community, their children and grandchildren there are two worlds operating in Hout Bay; who have grown desperate with an authority the world of the rich and the world of the that consistently applies temporary solutions to poor. Wealthy South Africans have the significant problems. resources to meet their housing and land needs through participating and transacting Background in a vigorous property market. This property market, however, excludes the poor by making In the 1940s the first state housing was provided property prohibitively expensive and beyond for workers near the Hout Bay harbour to ensure the reach of people with lower incomes. a supply of cheap labour for the fishing industry. As the industry expanded and the population National and local authorities have done grew, a shortage of housing developed. The nothing to address this market failure and municipality later allowed residents to occupy there is no legal systematic way to, within land behind the council flats, on condition a reasonable timeframe, obtain land or that they not erect permanent structures. This adequate housing if your council flat becomes was an ad-hoc solution applied by the local too small for your family. Instead, poor people authority to a growing problem in Hangberg. are simply expected to tolerate dismal living conditions and tenure insecurity while they This piecemeal approach, whether a result spend decades, often lifetimes on waiting lists. of lack of planning or as part of a deliberate Between 2007 and 2008 the Development strategy to prevent poor people’s access to Action Group (DAG) provided intensive support good land for housing, is the trigger for many to the Hangberg community, building the informal settlement and backyard dwellers’ capacity of community members to form a
8 DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 project steering committee to lobby the City to low-income housing, through taxes, if they upgrade the informal settlement. are assured that their taxes will deliver decent housing to the poor. The law makes provision for Although the City approved an in-situ upgrade such taxation through declaring special rating project, it has made slow progress. Unlike many areas, but the City has failed to use it in this way, other informal settlements where influx from demonstrating a lack of will to solve this problem. rural areas causes expansion, Hangberg is a cohesive community with the primary reason Communities like Hangberg, therefore, have for expansion being natural population growth. two options. The first option is to settle for living These are families who have always lived in in informal housing in order to be near to work Hangberg and who have, over generations, opportunities, their support systems and to built the local economy with their skills and public facilities such as schools and hospitals; labour. Understandably, they want to see the second option is to live in an ‘RDP house’ a housing development that allows them to which is generally only available by relocating remain within the Hout Bay community. to the edge of the city in places like Delft or Happy Valley, far from economic activity, The upgrade project is sowing division public facilities and amenities. among families in the community as the City expects the community to prevent any Instead of developing a comprehensive, expansion of the settlement while the project long-term plan for housing development for continues experiencing bureaucratic delays. the entire municipality which addresses both Undoubtedly settlement encroachment onto current and future housing needs of all Cape the firebreak of the slopes of the Sentinel does Town’s citizens, the City’s approach to low pose a disaster risk. This aside, the informal cost housing continues creating dormitory structures demolished on September 21, 2010 townships. The Organisation for Economic Co- were the community’s attempt to address operation and Development (OECD) drew natural population growth. It is also their attention to this trend in its recent regional response to the authority’s failure to implement review of Cape Town, which found that land an acceptable solution to their housing needs. use and planning regulations hamper housing delivery in Cape Town and that land use In taking a ‘tough stance’ the premier and planning continues to be shaped by apartheid mayor informed Hangberg residents that practices with cheap parcels of land on the the City would withdraw from the project urban edge, far from economic opportunities if community members continued to build still being used for low-cost housing. illegally. The City does not have the option of withdrawing and reneging on the principles of This is a simplistic response to a complex ‘developmental local government’- nor can it problem and one which creates further deal with citizens in a paternalistic manner. problems for the City and Western Cape Province to provide expensive new The City has not produced a plan for low-cost infrastructure and to make social services housing development in Hout Bay other than available. The City’s built environment the upgrade project, which will meet only and land use policies have failed to create a fraction of the housing need. Small-scale accessible and affordable neighbourhoods projects such as the Hangberg upgrade must and resulted in a highly segregated, sprawling be accompanied by an overall plan to address city that cuts off economic opportunities from the housing needs in Hout Bay. In the absence the poor. of such a comprehensive housing plan, there is little security for the people of Hout Bay, Poor families are only able to sustain their whether rich or poor. livelihoods because of their close proximity to jobs, social networks, transport and other The City’s actions beg the question of whether opportunities that a city offers. Location is it has the necessary will to address the divides therefore critical for poor families’ survival between rich and poor in Hout Bay. At the strategies in cities. Many will even give up moment the City is maintaining the status access to basic services like water, electricity quo by keeping the poor out of certain areas and sanitation to be closer to jobs and social where land is available. The conflict between networks that provide emotional, physical and residents and the police in Hangberg is financial support. unsettling for all, rich and poor alike. Unfortunately in South Africa well-located Internationally it has been demonstrated land is inaccessible to poor families because that wealthy citizens would gladly subsidise of its cost, which is driven up by market forces
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 9 and unregulated by the state. To improve their • The use of development levies, a common location poor people live in informal settlements, international practice, where the City could rent rooms or backyards. These are often recoup the cost of infrastructure provision expensive options but is evidence of poor people which is then redistributed to finance making rational choices when faced with the affordable housing on well located land. option of living on the city’s periphery with no The current practice is that the City is giving prospect of economic opportunities and where away public assets in the form of land, the costs of public transport exceeds income. infrastructure provision and development rights with very little return for the greater Frequently the state sells off well-located land public good. This is all done in the name and buildings while it continues to locate poor of development and pursuit of a world people in housing on the urban periphery. The class city which benefits only a few. gap between rich and poor is exacerbated when • The introduction of a tax on vacant land existing inner city land is developed for town as is being applied in Johannesburg houses and luxury apartments or yet another mall and Durban, which will increase much is built for the rich and the middle class. DAG is needed revenues for the City and concerned with the state’s failure to recognise help to curb soaring land prices by the social value of land, especially scarce urban bringing more land onto the market. land as its use can promote either social and • Zoning regulations. For example, inclusive economic inclusion or exclusion. housing can be used to bring about the best use of urban land and encourage Why do people have to be relocated to the low-income or mixed income housing periphery when well-located inner city land lies development. Again this will require vacant, unused, underused or misused? The political will from the City to get more value City argues that the land is just too expensive from the sale or lease of public land. and that they don’t have the budget to • Another strategy for increasing municipal purchase land but this argument addresses revenue and regulate land-use proactively the complex forces of the market place rather is through the lease of public land instead simplistically. South Africa is not the first country- of selling it off to developers. This allows for and Cape Town is not the first city to be faced far greater negotiations with developers with the challenges of gaining access to land in terms of the best use of land; and housing for low income earners. • The densification and optimal use of land are key principles that must be DAG’s proposals incorporated into land management practice in Cape Town. This can be Informed by best practice of similar cities realised by the development of housing internationally, DAG has consistently promoted for people of mixed-incomes on in-fill the following proposals to the City of Cape Town: land and other land parcels where higher densities would be environmentally, • An overall City or Metro wide settlement economically and socially sustainable. This plan encapsulating a medium to long-term is only implemented to a limited extent vision is required and which is developed in South Africa at present and achieving with the input of all the City’s citizens. this at a greater scale will require active • Immediate action is needed to develop engagement by affected citizens. a local area plan for the greater Hout Bay area which will encapsulate a medium to Conclusion long-term vision for the area. The key to this approach is recognition of the high levels These proposals should be implemented of inequality in our city regarding access using a participatory approach to to opportunities. The Hangberg in situ governance where citizens are informed, upgrade should be incorporated in such an allowed to share in decision-making and overall plan for the greater Hout Bay area. implementation and where the authorities • Such a plan should take advantage of operate with transparency. DAG believes all that is permissible under the law, such such a democratic, participatory approach as the special rating area as provided for to managing urban areas in South Africa will in the Municipal Property Rates Act. For facilitate social inclusion and greater equity example the City of Cape Town should amongst all citizens. introduce special rating areas in precincts like Hout Bay to increase revenues for Ardiel Soeker is programme director at the land assembly and housing development Development Action Group and Kailash for low-income earners in the area. Bhana is its chief executive officer.
10 DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 looking back, moving forward By Mandisi Majavu
Picture: Michael Walker / Cape Times
This article interrogates xenophobia from a of the City of Cape Town to the May 2008 local government perspective. It investigates xenophobia attacks highlights some of the institutional attitudes and practices at the challenges that local government had local government level that dehumanise to deal with when violence broke out. foreign nationals6. It argues that xenophobia in informal settlements is, inter alia, a Citizenship in post-apartheid South Africa has symptom of broader challenges of legitimate been reduced to indigenity8, meaning that and accountable local governance7. people born in South Africa are entitled to the country’s resources first before foreign Research shows that the May 2008 nationals. Only those who could prove a xenophobic attacks were orchestrated family connection with the apartheid formation by individuals and groups who wanted to of South Africa could claim citizenship at enhance their economic or political power liberation, writes Neocosmos, while others were by reinforcing communities’ resentment excluded and seen as unjustified claimants towards foreign nationals. Xenophobia is to national resources. Through defining who also partly rooted in the micro-politics of is a citizen and who is not, the post-apartheid South African townships - such as a high state plays a central role in this process; hence unemployment rate, lack of access to decent xenophobia is intimately linked to citizenship. It housing, electricity, water and resources. is therefore argued that, in order to effectively root out xenophobia, the state will have to The xenophobic violence of May 2008 is redefine the concept of citizenship. This contextualised within a general history of article also investigates strategies that local violence in South African politics. The response government might use to manage xenophobia.
6. Misago, Loren et al. 2009 7. Polzer 2010 8. Neocosmos 2010
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 11 Xenophobic violence in context weak, they struggle to apply the rule of law and consequently xenophobia tends to A study conducted in 2010 by Tara Polzer of be rife. It is observed that, in the absence the University of the Witwatersrand’s Forced of institutionalised, legitimate elected Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) argues leadership, other community structures tend that violence against foreign nationals to take over and operate as de facto local and migrant communities is an ongoing authority. In areas where this has happened, feature of post-apartheid South Africa. The these structures ‘completely appropriate most intense period of xenophobic attacks the authority that should belong to local happened in May 2008, in which foreign government, or alternatively operate as nationals and other ethnic minorities were ‘untouchable’ parallel leadership structures’. violently attacked in 138 sites nationwide. What some academics call ‘pogroms’ left 62 For example, the violent attacks on foreign people dead – and a third of those killed were national in De Doorns, Western Cape, took South African citizens. Polzer further points place within a context in which the authority of out that, in addition to the murders, over a local government was constantly undermined 100 000 people were displaced and millions of by commercial farmers in the area. According rands of property were damaged or stolen. to Misago there had been long-standing tensions in De Doorns between the municipality The May 2008 attacks are located within and commercial farmers in the area before the a general history of violence in informal May 2008 xenophobic attacks. The municipality settlements and townships in South Africa. lacked effective and legitimate authority over According to Misago et al9, the literature on farming areas and was not seen as a neutral this topic points to a ‘culture of violence’ in arbiter in farm-related matters. Hence it could the townships, where violence is endorsed and not resolve the labour-related tension which accepted as a socially legitimate means of informed the xenophobic violence in the area. solving problems and achieving both ‘justice’ and material goals. They point out that, during An example of the lack of municipal control the apartheid era, the security forces and other and authority was the establishment of a government agencies encouraged violence in temporary Department of Home Affairs satellite the townships and argue that the concept of office on private farming land without the ‘comrade-tsotsis’, who exploited violence for knowledge of the local authority, which labour personal gain, talks to the intertwined history brokers in the area and farmers used to issue of violence and politics in South Africa. The asylum papers to foreign nationals. These violence in the townships, which sometimes are the same asylum papers that migrant manifests itself through vigilante groups, could workers used to work on farms. The prevailing be a legacy of South Africa’s violent politics. sentiment among some labour brokers and community leaders in the area was that the Home Affairs satellite was attracting too many The fact that South Africans view foreign foreigners and Misago cites competition nationals as criminals compels them between groups of labour brokers in De to rationalise their attacks against Doorns as being conducive to xenophobic foreign nationals as a form of social-law sentiments in the area. According to some of enforcement. Building on the perception that the participants in Misago’s study, ‘...dissatisfied foreigners are an inherent social and political labour brokers pressured local leaders and threat, the most nefarious perspective codes incited local residents to attack and chase the May attacks as a form of control; a Zimbabweans away. Such mobilisation was legitimate form of vigilantism designed to facilitated by the fact that some contractors protect South African national territory. At are also ward committee members.’ a Community Police Forum in Alexandra the residents had, before initiating pogroms against Research10 further demonstrates that when foreign nationals, threatened to take the law xenophobic violence did break out, local into their own hands if the police could not leaders and police – nationwide - were effectively control the rising rates of crime initially reluctant to intervene on behalf of which they claimed foreign nationals were victims. In some cases this was because they responsible for. At the time, police allegedly supported the community’s xenophobic promised to deal with the ‘migrant problem’. attitudes, whereas local leaders feared Research further reveals that in areas where losing political legitimacy if they were seen the formal local government structures are as defending unpopular social groups.
9. Misago et al. (2009)
12 DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 This is the context in which the tragic events tents, which were provided by the City, or in May 2008 unfolded. At this juncture, mixed tents and chalets. Foreign nationals the discussion turns to assess specifically complained that most of the camps were how the City of Cape Town responded. located close to the ocean and so exposed to the Cape’s winter winds; also the tents The City of Cape Town’s response provided were not equipped for the cold, wet weather. Parents complained that their Although foreign nationals were also children’s schooling suffered because they subjected to violence in the Western Cape, were often without transport and far from their most foreign nationals either fled the Cape original schools. Some parents requested Town townships to escape imminent danger an on-site school, but the government or ran away as a pre-emptive strategy. In did not endorse such a proposal. many instances foreign nationals were directly threatened and told to leave the It was against this background that Ebrahim communities in which they were living.11 Rasool, then Provincial Premier, argued that ‘large camps were inhumane and the size of The humanitarian response to the violence their populations made them both difficult to and the displacement caused by the May manage logistically and prone to tensions.’ The 2008 pogroms against foreign nationals can Province further pointed out that re-integration be divided into three phases: an initial phase of foreign nationals into local communities was of emergency assistance, a second phase difficult to achieve when lastmentioned were of providing structured shelter and welfare located far from their original communities. assistance to the displaced, and a closing Thus, the Province requested an interdict from down phase aimed at ‘reintegrating’ the the High Court to direct the City to close the displaced. Igglesden et al show that despite CoSS and make available 18 community halls the fact that government authorities had the under the control of the City to accommodate luxury of forewarning through preceding events internally displaced people. The City’s in Gauteng, the first 48 hours of the response answering papers advised that 15 of the 18 to violence and displacement in the Western listed halls were already occupied by internally Cape was largely driven by civil society actors. displaced persons and suggested the Province should make available its own facilities. The In the initial stages, faith based organisations Province then retracted its application. played a key role in providing shelter for foreign nationals fleeing xenophobes The lack of co-operation between the City from the townships. Cape Town’s Disaster and the provincial government continued Risk Management Centre activated their until mid-June 2008. According to Igglesden et Operations Centre on May 22, 2008 and al., the ‘stand-off’ between Rasool and Helen the City of Cape Town (the City) further Zille, then Mayor of Cape Town, continued prepared six Centres of Safe Shelter (CoSS) until the two leaders were forced by civil at Harmony Park, Soetwater, Silverstroom, society to form a Joint Task Team. However, Blue Waters, Strand, and Youngsfield Military even with the Joint Task Team in place, Base.12 About 20 000 internally displaced foreign nationals continued to complain people were being accommodated in the about the living conditions at the CoSS. For Western Cape in over 80 locations – and instance, on 24 November 2008, the Cape 10 000 of these people sought shelter at Argus reported that volunteer paediatricians CoSS facilities. The rest sought sanctuary in had been refused entry into Blue Waters, community halls, churches, mosques, and upsetting women at the site, which housed 60 private accommodation across the city. malnourished children - some with ringworm, one with anaemia and four hungry newborns. The provincial government declared the Western Cape a disaster area on June 4, According to the Western Cape Civil Society 2008, and that led to the Province assuming Task Team’s September 18 report, the supply overall responsibility for the management and of food (particularly for children) and toiletries co-ordination of the response to xenophobic to people living in CoSS were inadequate. attacks. The City continued playing a Additionally, government and city officials supporting role by providing the day-to-day made off-the-record admissions that there was management of the CoSS and 14 community a deliberate cut-back on services to encourage halls sheltering internally displaced people. internally displaced people to leave the sites. Accommodation at the CoSS was either all On 29 October 2008, Zille gave a speech at
10. Igglesden et al. (2009) 11. According to Igglesden, Monson et al (2009)
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 13 a Council Meeting in which she said that “we of Cape Town website 2010). The figures are reaching the end of our programme to reveal where the City’s priorities lie. address the aftermath of May’s outbreaks of xenophobic violence, a programme which Further, it is also important to note that despite we have implemented in partnership with the spending this amount, it appears that the National and Provincial governments, the United City of Cape Town did not deem it important Nations and NGOs.” She said that four of the or necessary to implement a compelling five CoSS were closed, making it clear that the programme to prepare xenophobes in City had to close them because there were no townships for the re-integration of foreign resources nor capacity to keep them open. nationals who had fled due to xenophobic violence. Misago et al found no local or When the City wanted to close down the last national government initiative dedicated remaining site, Blue Waters, the Treatment to preparing potentially hostile communities Action Campaign (TAC) and AIDS Law Project for the return or re-integration of displaced threatened to interdict both the City and the foreign nationals to the townships. Province for ‘violating the constitutional rights of displaced people to dignity, security, food, The manner in which the city managed the health care, and shelter’ according to a report ‘closing down phase’ of the CoSS and the in the Sowetan. Although the Blue Waters ‘reintegration process’ compelled civil society site was officially closed in October 2008, the organisations such as the TAC to threaten to City evicted the people who had decided to indict the City for violating the constitutional remain there in April 2010. During the eviction, rights of displaced people to dignity, food a group of 39 refugees who refused to leave and shelter. Throughout the aftermath of the Blue Waters were arrested and dumped May 2008 xenophobic attacks, the City and at the Old Customs House building on the the Province squabbled instead of working foreshore, according to The Cape Argus. To together towards a common goal, fighting be precise, the group was dropped off after over the merits and viability of providing a court appearance, having spent two days accommodation for displaced people in in holding cells on a trespassing charge. community halls or in specifically constructed camps – as mentioned, at one point the The majority of the refugees in the group were Province even took the City to court over this 18 Somalis who demanded to be repatriated. issue. They had to be forced by civil society The reason that they demanded to be sent organisations to work together through a back to a war-torn country is partly because Joint Task Team; after the establishment of Somali businesspeople in the City are routinely which there was tacit accommodation of the intimidated by xenophobes in the townships. necessity for the two spheres of government Sometimes they are robbed and killed, and to co-ordinate their respective contributions in some cases, their shops are bombed to the humanitarian relief effort. This by xenophobes. Cape Town newspapers points to the need for the development of often report that xenophobic traders in the generally accepted norms and standards for townships deliver letters to Somali shopkeepers humanitarian service provision that different telling them they have to leave the area. levels of government can use in a similar crisis. The City has conducted research on this issue too, and found that there are indeed tensions between local and foreign spaza There was no document outlining South Africa’s shop traders in certain parts of the City.13 own levels of service provision standards, nor were widely accepted international This is consistent with previous research findings standards, such as the Sphere Handbook, on this topic, which show that the key trigger of known or used. Even most permanent disaster violence against foreign nationals in some areas management staff lacked knowledge of is localised competition for economic power. international standards, and there had been no regular training or even emergency Lessons learned training of other governmental officials or civil society actors in common standards. The City spent at least R108 million on relief The lack of common standards led to: to victims of xenophobia.14 Compare and inadequate levels of basic service provision contrast that amount with the estimated and protection of the displaced in some R500 million that the City of Cape Town places; different levels of service provision in contributed to the construction of the Cape different locations; difficulties in effectively Town Stadium which cost R4, 45 billion (City monitoring and co-ordination service
13. According to The Cape Times (Dolley 2009). 14. According to The Cape Times (Powell 2008)
14 DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 provision; and difficulties in communicating tends to be rife. Thus to counter xenophobic and justifying levels of service provision for sentiments, it is crucial that local government the displaced to the general population. be capacitated to monitor xenophobia and Furthermore Igglesden et al claim the South other political tensions that may escalate into African Disaster Management Framework widespread violence. Misago et al add that does not clarify how government departments it is the responsibility of the local government ought to respond to violent displacement to promote community leadership structures and which government department should that do not reinforce resentment towards lead in such cases. They add that the fact migrant and refugee communities. They that most of the displaced were foreign suggest that criminal charges should be laid nationals complicated the adoption of overall against any community leader who uses their responsibility and political dedication. authority to promote violence against foreign nationals. Additionally, they are of the view While it is obviously important to develop a that election-monitoring mechanisms should disaster management manual that could be put in place to ensure that councillors are assist local government to respond efficiently not elected on an anti-foreigner platform. in similar situation, the urgent task for local government is actually to deal effectively Most importantly, this article shows is that with xenophobia. Intervention to improve xenophobia is a very complex phenomenon the accountability and oversight of local - due to space constraints not all aspects government structures to monitor and counter have been explored. For instance, South xenophobic sentiments and violence needs to African xenophobia has a white supremacist take place. Moreover, local government ought logic built into it. In South Africa, xenophobia to conduct ongoing systematic research on does not only mean a fear of foreigners, but anti-immigrant sentiments and violence, as well a fear of certain ‘black foreigners’. ‘White as on the political economy of township life. foreigners’ are generally seen as tourists, whereas black foreigners are viewed as Conclusion criminals and drug dealers who ought to be violently expelled from the country. Thus blacks While the most intense period of xenophobic from outside of South Africa are regarded attacks took place in May 2008, similar patterns as being ‘too black’ - a physical marker of of violence began long before and have yet to shame in the minds of many xenophobes. stop. Polzer’s research shows that, since 2008, organisations that work with migrant communities Although we argue that the key trigger of regularly report threats of xenophobic violence against foreign nationals in some attacks. For instance, in July 2010 the Mail & Guardian newspaper reported that “families areas is localised competition for economic of Zimbabwean migrants have been fleeing and political power, we do recognise the South Africa because they fear xenophobic fact that even in those areas South African attacks now that the World Cup is over.” xenophobia is rooted inter alia in white In areas where the formal local government supremacist logic and a distorted conception structures are considered weak, xenophobia of what citizenship actually means.
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 15 NGOs & poor communities: An opinion
Asset Based Community Development (ABCD): An Overview By Community Connections
‘Using what you have to ABCD core principles: ensure what you have not’ Community-led development is one of Asset-based community development the main strategies to sustainable social has been going on since the beginning of development - development processes mankind and has been taking place all over driven by people who are directly affected the globe, often out of necessity but also by the challenges they seek to address. out of a natural inclination to collaborate Success stories: the starting point is the and utilise what is readily available. shared history of success stories in bringing about change in the community. Recently, the principles of ABCD have Acknowledging the power of collaboration been formulated into an approach to and social capital: the main resource in development, pioneered by the ABCD- communities is the strong social ties that institute (U.S.) and the Coady Institute exist between community members and the (Canada). ABCD builds on the principles of different types of organisations that are formed. the participatory approach to development. Appreciation and mobilisation of existing assets It is a response to the needs and problem- in the community: every community, no matter based approaches to development, which how poor, has access to different physical, assess communities in terms of what is lacking social, financial, human and natural assets, and is often conducted by outside agencies. which can be mobilised for community action.
16 DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 Stimulating an opportunity-seeking mindset: ABCD provides a comprehensive and holistic ABCD is about changing mindsets towards understanding of community development a ‘glass-half-full’ approach to life. and its complexities. Yet its simplicity (in Social entrepreneurship is about creating social understanding its principles and methods) and economic value with available assets. allows grassroots community members to grasp the framework that guides their Crucial to the ABCD approach is that the development processes, thus ensuring power over development processes is held more effective participation in decision- by the communities themselves. This is one making and implementation (community- of the main strategies to sustainable social driven development approach). development. Through an ABCD process, communities become empowered from • It proposes a flexible framework, the inside out, which is crucial in active methodology and tools, which makes citizenship and ensuring government it easy to implement its theoretical accountability. Also, communities become underpinnings. The tools ensure that better positioned to claim their rights. all existing assets in the community are assessed by the community and that NGOs’ role plans are developed and implemented to maximise those assets (social and The role of NGOs within this approach is economic entrepreneurship approach). one of facilitating and connecting to other • NGOs and other intermediary agencies stakeholders. The ABCD methodology become facilitators in the process and the supports the ABCD process by providing community becomes the driver. This is key tools to community members to map out to ensure sustainable development, as it all the existing assets in a community: affirms the power community members Appreciative inquiry: to draw out strengths have in determining their development. and successes in a community’s shared • The community empowers itself from history as its starting point for change. the inside out and mobilises itself into a Organising & mapping: identification comprehensive network, which generates of the human, social, natural, physical a strong collaborative energy and voice and social assets in the community. to keep government accountable Community economic analysis (by means (multi stake-holder approach). of the Leaky Bucket): helps a community • ABCD is a ‘breath of fresh air’ compared to examine its local economy and assists in to the needs-based approach whereby identifying ways to increase and strengthen it. community members are reduced to Linking & mobilising: after all the being ‘problematic creatures’ that need assets are identified, exploring what to be rescued and built up to become opportunities are available for the esteemed community members who have community to start or strengthen new the capacity to translate their political rights into future realities (rights-based approach). initiatives in support of the community. Monitoring and evaluation (significant change technique): a qualitative method that allows Thus ABCD brings together a variety of the community to share stories of the most different development approaches, which further attests to the thinking that one does significant changes that have taken place. not have to ‘reinvent - the - wheel’ but rather take elements of what is good to Implications come up with more effective mechanisms.
ABCD consolidates the complexities Challenges of community development into a comprehensive, holistic and yet simplistic The following are some of the challenges that concept. As a framework, it encompasses could be encountered in ABCD processes: many core principles crucial for sustainable • The foundation of ABCD is community- social development in an integrated manner. driven development. This threatens and challenges NGOs who are used to Community Connections’ perspectives driving development. As such, it could of the main contributions that ABCD complicate project planning, funder can provide to the sector are: commitments and project time frames.
DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 17 • NGOs need to be comfortable with Conclusion playing increasingly smaller roles than they have been used to, and be more Our organisation, Community Connections, conscious of working toward their own has from its inception made use of ABCD redundancy - as this is ultimately necessary principles. The opportunity for us to deepen for community-driven development. our understanding of this approach has been • The shift from a needs-based to immensely fruitful, as if the final pieces of the an asset-based approach doesn’t puzzle have been put in place. To engage happen overnight. It is a process. This with a development approach at such depth understanding presents a challenge for has allowed our organisation to get out of our community members who have been daily routines and observe the bigger context inundated with images of dependency in which we work with a ‘bird’s eye view’. This and now have to make the shift toward understanding of the bigger picture and its realising that they have the potential to co-create the future they espouse. dynamics has given added meaning to our • The whole development industry is based work and our existence as an organisation. on the notion that there is a sector of the world population that is deprived of basic ABCD asks for a shift in mental models - human needs. Donors predominantly give not only for NGOs and CBOs, but also at money where there is more of a proven the level of international donor agencies, need (prevalently desperate areas) and government, and other key development less to those that seem to be prospering. bodies like the UN. The wonder of it all is that This means the shift toward asset-based ABCD presents the opportunity to shift this thinking needs to spread throughout mental model from the ‘bottom-up’. It has the major players in the development the potential to position ordinary people as sector to avoid being ‘punished’ (by not ‘trail blazers’ when it comes to sowing the being funded) for addressing needs. seeds for a new, more just world order!
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DEVELOPMENT IN FOCUS l FEBRUARY 2011 VOL. 1 19 The Foundation for Contemporary Research (FCR) is a non-profit development NGO, based in the Western Cape Province (South Africa), focusing on development and empowerment at the interface between local government, communities, the broader civil society and the private sector.
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