THE BAROMETER OF SOCIAL TRENDS M E M B E R S MAJOR DONORS Anglo American & De Beers Chairman's Fund Education Trust First National Bank of Southern Africa Ltd Human Sciences Research Council South African Breweries Ltd AECI Ltd * Africa Institute of SA * Amalgamated Beverage Industries * Barlow Limited * BP Southern Africa * Chamber of Mines of SA * Colgate-Palmolive (Pty) Ltd * Data Research Africa * Durban Regional Chamber of Business * ESKOM * Gencor SA Limited * Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Co Ltd * Johnson & Johnson * S. C. Johnson Wax * Konrad Adenauer Stiftung * KwaZulu Finance & Investment Corp * Liberty Life * Malbak Ltd * Nampak * Pick 'n Pay Corporate Services * Pretoria Portland Cement Co * Rand Merchant Bank * Richards Bay Minerals * Sanlam * SA Sugar Association * Southern Life * Standard Bank Foundation * Starcke Associates * Suncrush Limited * University of South Africa (UNISA) * Vaal Reef Exploration & Mining Co Ltd * Wooltru Ltd INDICATOSOUTH AFRICRA ! L-0 LIFE SOUTHERN LIFE Life tends to be two steps forward, three steps back. To keep you going forwards, Southern Life is geared to helping you manage your future better. Our wide range of inflation-beating investment opportunities, coupled with R30 billion SOUTHERN in managed assets, is guided by more than a century of financial management Together, we can do more advice. We can help you cut a clear path to success. to manage your future better SUMMER 1995 EDITORIAL Journalists are an excitable and over stretched group prone - INDICATOR SOUTH AFRICA by nature or through training - to instant judgements, drama and errors in their endless, time pressured search for new and interesting 'angles' for their articles. I know this about Quarterly Report VOLUME 13 NUMBER 1 journalists, because I am one. Faced with the complex and dispersed activities surrounding CONTENTS South Africa's first local government elections in November, it is thus not surprising that many of the really important aspects of the voting and results were missed by the media. Graeme Gotz, Jeremy Seekings and John Seiler write in their Putting the Local into Government 33 Building Blocks: 65 assessments of the election in this edition that media coverage REGIONAL MONITOR Two Finger Exercises in Analysis Logjams in Housing Delivery papered over many problems which bode ill for local John Seiler Mary R Tomlinson democracy, government and development in South Africa. Understanding the local government election results A host of problems are holding up housing delivery in Cultural Faultlines: requires insight into community dynamics and politics, South Africa. But the key problem is a housing policy underpinned by conflicting principles included to fudge As Gotz points out, it was not enough to excuse low turnout at which differ substantially from one area to the next. This South Africa's New Provincial Boundaries article hones in on the politics of two towns, in the differences between the key stakeholders. the polls - only around 33% of all eligible people voted - by Richard A Griggs Western Cape and North West. comparing it to similar disinterest shown in local elections in Contestation along South Africa's new provincial other democracies. It is deeply worrying that people perceive boundaries is being exacerbated by the lack of a local government to be unimportant and impotent, and thus do mechanism for local communities to participate in the decision making process. This could result in instability not support it. Local level government is crucial to vibrant 37 democracy, and to effective development. along these cultural faultlines. Citizenry and Local Government: A New Political Subject? If local governments carry no weight, Gotz writes, they will Ivor Chipkin DEVELOPMENT MONITOR probably be unable to call on people to support community Continued non-payment of rents and services could The Skweyiya Commission: indicate that South Africans have a differentiated notion endeavours in the future and the transformation of cities, towns 13 of what national and local citizenship means. Local and rural areas will likely be slow and conflictual. And as Ivor Lessons for a Democratic South Africa governments will have to deliver in a way that Improves Chipkin argues, lack of identification with local government John Seiler arid Brendan Seery the visibility of the democratic state. Democracy and Development 71 may well be a reason behind continued non-payment of rents The Skweyiya Commission of Inquiry into former Sue Rubenstein and services in many townships. Bophuthatswana uncovered an extraordinary web of corruption and misuse of public money by Lucas The idea of a formal role for civil society in development Mangope and top government officials. has become a sacred cow. But elevating often self Wide misinterpretation of the election results has also led to Manufacturing Legitimacy: 41 appointed civil society organs to positions in which they incorrect perceptions about the performance of political The Truth and Reconciliation Commission have veto rights is to give them the authority of elected parties. In local elections, the Indicator SA analysts point out, bodies without the concomitant accountability. Richard Wilson results can only be accurately applied to each area individually. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is poised to provide a full record of our authoritarian past. But Perhaps the greatest media mistake was interpreting the ultimately the creation of a 'rights culture' will depend results countrywide, leaving out 25% of the electorate in more on the realisation of Constitutional rights. Planning for AIDS: 75 opposition areas of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, and HIV/AIDS and Town and Regional Planning concluding that there had been a significant swing to the ANC. POIITICAL MONITOR Alan Whiteside In fact, support for the party in the areas which voted declined AIDS will have a devastating impact on KwaZulu-Natal. from 72% in April 1994 to around 67%. Waiting for Utopia: 47 Aside from the human costs, the epidemic will alter the Local Elections 1995 demand and supply of services and the ability of people 23 Quality of life in the 1990s to pay for them. Planners need to build these factors Misrepresenting party support may not in itself be a problem, Graeme Gotz Valerie Moller into their plans. but it may have masked the real feelings of South Africans interpretation of the results of the local government Immediately after the April 1994 elections black and about government and, more importantly, obscured the local elections glossed over many problems that bode ill for white people registered similar levels of happiness and dynamics which produced the results and which will influence the operation of local democracy — among them the satisfaction. Now the post-election euphoria bubble what new councils will be able to achieve in each area. low voter turnout, what produced the results and what has burst, with one in two people registering life the real balances of power will be. satisfaction compared with 82% post-election. Aids and the Highways: 80 Also missed in most media analyses were the implications of Sex Workers and Truck Drivers in KZN the 50:50 rule for local governance, the strong performance of Tessa Marcus, Karen Oellermann independents, the capacity of new councillors to run local and Nonceba Levin government, and the tensions likely to emerge between them, What 'Swing'? 29 Commercial sex workers and long distance truck Local Elections in the Western Cape drivers have been identified as core groups in the established institutions and powerful 'informal' local players. spread of HIV and AIDS in KwaZulu-Natal. There is an Jeremy Seekings urgent need for a prevention and education These are real issues which could impact crucially on South The local government election results have been widely ECONOMIC MONITOR intervention. misinterpreted in terms of a 'swing' to the ANC, Africa's democracy and development. They need to be widely- especially in the Western Cape. A close look at the understood, but they have not been properly explained. results points instead to a low turnout and a complete RDP Focus collapse in the National Party vote. Karen Mac Gregor A Lifelong Task: 57 Universities: 85 Editor The RDP in Perspective Responding to the 'Global Challenge' Chris Heymans Raphael de Kadt INDICATOR SOUTH AFRICA produces Quarterly Reports and INDICATOR The RDP could be successful if it genuinely became How South Africa relates to global systems will be PRESS publishes investigative books. Both are based in the Centre for Social the flagship of government, was openly debated, the crucial to its prospects in many spheres. and Development Studies at the University of Natal, Durban. Opinions roles of levels of government and sectoral Universities must think about how best to respond expressed are not necessarily those of the Editorial Committee and should not arrangements were clarified, partnerships assumed to this reality. There are important gaps in what our be taken to represent the policies of companies or organisations which are Cover painting by Lola Frost real meaning and planning was properly done. universities do. donor members of Indicator South Africa, © Copyright for all material herein is held by INDICATOR SOUTH AFRICA. Editor Karen Mac Gregor Production/Design Rob Evans Permission to republish or reproduce any part of this publication must be Editorial Committee Simon Better, Mark Bennett, Rob Evans. Mervyn Frost obtained from the publisher. Admin/Marketing Pal Fismer Crime and Conflict Editor Antoinette Louw Richard Humphries, Myrna Kaplan, Meshack Khosa. Karen Mac Gregor. Repro Multigraphics Printing Robprint Julian May, Mike McGrath, Valerie M0ller, Lawrence ScMemmer ""SHBHI•SsisgS You might think they are worlds apart WOOLTRU committed to the Future of South Africa. Ingenuity. Craftsmanship. 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