The Case of Newcastle

RESTRUCTURING, MIGRATION AND REGIONAL POLICY IN SOUTH AFRICA: THE CASE OF NEWCASTLE By ALISON ELAINE TODES Submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree ofDoctor ofPhilosophy in the Department of Town and Regional Planning, University ofNatal , Durban. November 1997 ABSTRACT The thesis proposed to critique the neo-liberal perspective on regional policy in South Africa, and its emphasis on areas of strength and advantage, on two grounds. First, that it neglects processes of economic restructuring, and the possibility of place-specific decline or vulnerability. However, South Africa's increasing exposure to international markets, ongoing economic crisis, and political change, provide a context in which such conditions are likely. Secondly, these concerns are marginalised through the assumption that \ 1 households can and do move out of areas experiencing restructuring or decline, or from) places with weak economic bases. This assumption, however, ignores the limits to mobility in the current conjuncture, and the role ofplace in survival. The thesis critiques these arguments theoreticall y, and empirically - through a brief examination of the dynamics ofrestructuring and migration in KwaZulu-Natal, and a more detailed analysis ofthe case ofNewcastle . The study of KwaZulu-Natal shows broad patterns of restructuring over the century, and points to new forms of instability in the 1990s. The research demonstrates that Newcastle has experienced several rounds of restructuring. While aggregate employment was relatively stable by the end of the 1980s, there had been a significant shift in the nature of economic activity and the composition of employment. Further rounds of restructuring coupled with employment decline - occurred in the 1990s, and key industrial sectors are shown to be vulnerable. The study of migration shows that, while there is a relationship between urbanisation and economic development in KwaZulu-Natal, there are also exceptions to it, with people remaining in, and even moving to plac~ ~:wiJ,h1weak or declining economic bases. The . :;'1' J\., y l'-- 0/\../'-. ---- research did not find a complete, disjuncture ' between urbanisation and economic , Cl eve ~nt in Newcastle. However, as, a consequence---.of past .investments--------i;pyaee-aria- liiiiIted opportunitiese lsewhere, low-income households remained in Newcastle despite restructuring. ii The study therefore shows that restructuring and place-vulnerability are concerns in South Africa, and that migration canno~ied upon as a corrective. These findings underpin the need for a renewed consideration ofsocial concerns within regional policy, and for moving beyond the 'efficiency' versus 'equity' dichotomy. iii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has been some years in the making. My first research in this area began in the early 1980s, in a project examining urbanisation dynamics and the impact of apartheid regional and settlement policies, under the auspices of the Urban Problems Research Unit, University of Cape Town. At that time, when struggles against the apartheid state were growing, and controls on urbanisation were increasingly being challenged, it seemed appropriate to emphasise the irrationality ofapartheid policy - to use research as a part ofa broader attack on the legitimacy ofthe state. Moving to KwaZulu-Natal in the mid-80s gave me another perspective on the issues. I began to realise how deeply state regional and settlement policies had affected the region, and that the complex settlement patterns which had been created might not disappear as easily as the earlier research had implicitly assumed. Studies of urbanisation dynamics in the late 1980s and early 1990s seemed to confirm that view, and I became increasingly interested in understanding why the disjoint patterns ofthe past persisted. J By the mid-Sus, regional policy and planning were in serious decline. 'Yet work with town and regional planning students on projects in North-Western KwaZulu-Natal in the late 1980s suggested that even if old-style regional planning and policy was problematic, the issues which a reformulated approach could address were critical, and were being forgotten. The emerging literature on. spatial restructw:!ng _an-'L!lI1even_de.Yelopment-also~~~ ._ seemed.tqsuggest.that-older concerns of place vulnerability arid-decline were-If-anything. ; \~-- becom f~g . -more --important. North-Western KwaZulu-Natal provided a place where the arguments of the restructuring theorists were clearly evident. In 1989 and 1990, the Urban . Foundation and the Development Bank of Southern Africa's Panel of Experts published A their critiques of industrial decentralisation policy and their proposed alternatives. Both seemed wanting, and to lack an understanding ofdynamics on the ground. It was, however, some years before the bulk of the empirical work for this thesis began. Both a child and other commitments intervened, but some papers were written. Research conducted on urbanisation patterns as part ofa broader study of the Economy of Region E in 1993, confirmed that North-Western KwaZulu-Natal and Newcastle would be appropriate places for examining the dynamics of economic restructuring and the persistence ofapartheid settlement patterns. In 1994, the research on Newcastle began. My development through the thesis owes much to Professor Gillian Hart, University of California, Berkeley, who was at the time a visiting research fellow at the University of Natal, and with whom the industrial survey in Newcastle was undertaken. The association with Gill was fortuitous, the result of complementary interests, and a common reaction against what had by then become orthodoxy. In many ways, Gill acted as a mentor and an informal supervisor. I benefited from both her sharp critical intellect, and from her courageous and energetic approach to research. She encouraged me to develop my rather contrary views further, and helped me focus and define the thesis in this way. My thinking also developed through lengthy discussions on both the industrial survey, and the broader issues at stake. As indicated in the text, however, our research questions and interests differed, and the survey material has been developed in rather different ways. I would like iv to thank her for her constructive criticism and insightful comments on earlier papers, and on the draft ofthis thesis. I would also like to thank Dan Smit, my supervisor, for his supportive and facilitative supervision. Although extremely busy, and for part of the time taking responsibility for major innovative (and hence difficult) projects such as Cato Manor, and latterly, the leadership of Durban Metropolitan's Housing Authority, Dan made time to help me to define the topic, to discuss problem areas, and to make incisive comments on chapters and the draft of the thesis. I appreciate his openness and encouragement to explore the perspective developed - although it was not necessarily consistent with his own views - and the confidence he expressed in my work, even when my own at times waned. My husband, Adrian Masson has been a major source ofemotional strength in this process . He has done more than his fair share of child care, and has read and commented on the draft and several smaller edits. I want to thank both Adrian, and our son, Warwick, for their 'patience', and for putting up with an often preoccupied and distracted wife and mother. Engagement in the Swedish Agency for Research and Economic Cooperation's (SAREC) Southern African Programme on Gender Research on Urban Planning, Housing and Everyday Life II provided both funding for the qualitative migration study, and a forum in which to discuss findings. The South African research group comprising Nolulamo GwaGwa, Nomnikelo Fadane, Meshack Khosa, Miranda Miles, and Nonhlanhla Mjoli Mncube provided useful comment, as did a final workshop comprising participants in the entire programme at the National University of Lesotho, Roma, in November 1996. I would like to thank the Swedish coordinators, Anita Larsson and Ann Schlyter for their support, and also SAREC for a bursary at the end that helped to cover the production costs ofthe thesis. Funding for the costs of the research also came from the University of Natal's Research Fund (for the initial research and the work on economic restructuring) , and from the Human Sciences Research Council's Global Change and Social Transformation Programme (for the large scale social survey). In all cases, funding was not for the thesis, but for particular pieces of research. The views expressed here are my own and do not reflect any ofthe funding bodies. Engagement in an evaluation of the Regional Industrial Decentralisation Programme for the Board for Regional Industrial Development in early 1996 provided another forum for debating ideas, and helped to develop the research further. Research on dynamics in KwaZulu-Natal, jointly coordinated with Phillip Harrison, and with Gill Hart coming in as advisor, provided an insight into a broader set ofpatterns, and helped to locate dynamics in Newcastle. The research on Newcastle was greatly facilitated by some of the people working or living in the area. I would particularly like to thank Suliwe Mkhize, Dudu Nkabinde, Solomon Mtabela and Jabu Khumalo who acted as guides and interpreters in the area, particularly for the qualitative migration study. Sister Leo of the Rosary Clinic in Blaaubosch, and Cathy Ferguson, previously of De LeeuwCather, then planners for the area, provided v useful introductions

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