ACTA UNIVERSITATIS UPSALAIENSIS Skrifter utgivna av Statsvetenskapliga föreningen i Uppsala, 168 Neighbourhood Politics in Transition Residents’ Associations and Local Government in Post-Apartheid Cape Town Sara Monaco Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Brusewitzsalen, Department of Government, Gamla Torget 6, Uppsala, Friday, March 7, 2008 at 13:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Abstract Monaco, S. 2008. Neighbourhood Politics in Transition. Residents’ Associations and Local Government in Post-Apartheid Cape Town. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Skrifter utgivna av Statsvetenskapliga föreningen i Uppsala 168. 223 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-7084-5. This study focuses on the changing practices of South African residents’ associations and their relationship with political parties and local government from 1990 to 2006, with the aim to examine how associations in Cape Town respond when they are confronted with a new democratic institutional and political context. Two empirical questions guide the analysis: How do residents’ associations perceive that the changing political context has affected them in their attempts to influence agenda-setting and decision-making? And how can we understand the process in which they decide to act, or not act, in response to important changes in their political environment? Drawing on social movement theory, most importantly the notions of political opportunity structures and framing processes, an analysis is made of the most significant changes in Cape Town’s post-apartheid institutional and political context. The empirical findings – based on questionnaires, interviews and an in-depth study of the township of Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay – show that associations in socio-economically distinct areas have different perceptions of their prospects of affecting agenda-setting and decision-making. Because of the close links with political parties, many associations interpret the political and institutional changes as either threats or opportunities depending on which party controls the City Council. In pre- dominantly white affluent areas associations generally seem to underestimate their chances of being influential, whereas those in black poor areas tend to overestimate their ability to influ- ence decision-making when the ANC is in a government position. The study contributes to the development of social movement theory by its systematic ap- plication of the framework of political opportunity structures in a local urban context outside the US and Western Europe. The pattern suggested by theory, that movements choose their action repertoire according to the rule “as moderate as possible, as radical as necessary”, is largely confirmed by the findings. Keywords: post-apartheid civil society–state relations, the dilemma of pluralist democracy, neighbourhood politics, social movements, residents’ associations, political opportunity struc- tures, framing processes, South Africa, Cape Town, Hout Bay, Imizamo Yethu Sara Monaco, Department of Government, Box 514, Uppsala University, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden © Sara Monaco 2008 ISSN 0346-7538 ISBN 978-91-554-7084-5 urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-8434 (http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-8434) Cover photo by the author: Election campaign in Cape Town, 2006 local elections Cover design: Ulf Andersson Printed in Sweden by Edita Västra Aros, Västerås 2008 Distributor: Uppsala University Library, Box 510, SE-751 20 Uppsala www.uu.se, [email protected] To Anders Contents Acknowledgements.......................................................................................11 1. A study of neighbourhood politics in Cape Town: introduction...............13 Aim and contributions .........................................................................14 Specifying the research problem: why residents’ associations?..........17 The structure of the thesis....................................................................22 2. How to conceptualise civil society–state relations: theoretical and analytical framework ....................................................................................25 Institutionalised versus non-institutionalised politics and organisations........................................................................................25 Specifying the political context: the political opportunity structure framework............................................................................................27 Political opportunity structures and democratisation...........................36 The link between context and practice: framing processes .................37 Specifying the practices of neighbourhood associations .....................40 Summarising the analytical framework ...............................................45 3. Methodological considerations .................................................................47 Case selection and research design......................................................47 To search for mechanisms: the method of process tracing..................53 Measuring change in the political opportunity structure .....................55 Material and data .................................................................................58 4. From apartheid to democracy: a local political opportunity structure in transition .......................................................................................................65 Cape Town and South Africa ..............................................................65 The apartheid years: a political opportunity structure of racial segregation...........................................................................................67 Liberalisation and the transition to democracy....................................71 The political opportunity structure in democratic Cape Town.................76 The institutional and legal structure – towards a more open decision- making process ....................................................................................76 The political power structure – shifting political alignments ..............87 Cape Town’s changing political opportunity structure: summary.......92 5. The political opportunity structure of residents’ associations in Cape Town .............................................................................................................95 Civil society and residents’ associations in a historical perspective....95 Residents’ associations in democratic Cape Town............................100 The case of Langa..............................................................................110 The case of Rondebosch ....................................................................114 Comparing the political opportunity structure of Langa and Rondebosch .......................................................................................119 The political opportunity structure of residents’ associations in Cape Town: concluding summary ..............................................................121 6. A process study of Hout Bay and Imizamo Yethu..................................125 The case of Hout Bay – an anomaly? ................................................125 The conflict in brief and the main actors ...........................................129 Opening up political access: signs of liberalisation and the transition to democracy, 1990–1996..................................................................130 The early years of local democracy: an NP-controlled Cape Metropolitan Council, 1996–2000.....................................................140 Change of power in the new Unicity: the DA, 2000–2002................147 Power shift without elections: the ANC-NNP alliance, 2002–2004..155 Absolute majority on the City Council: ANC, 2004–2006 ...............167 Local elections and the return of the DA: 2006.................................176 The process study of Hout Bay and Imizamo Yethu: concluding overview and discussion....................................................................181 7. Neighbourhood politics in transition: summary and conclusions...........184 Summary of the main empirical results .............................................184 Applying the notions of political opportunity structures and framing processes in a South African local context ........................................192 The dilemma of pluralist new democracies revisited ........................194 Epilogue: Hout Bay beyond 2006...............................................................200 Appendix 1. List of associations responding to the civic surveys 1996 and 2004......................................................................................................203 References...................................................................................................205 Abbreviations ANC African National Congress BLA Black Local Authority COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions CPA Cape Provincial Authority CPF Community Police Forum DA Democratic Alliance DP Democratic Party ID Independent Democrats IDP Integrated Development Planning LAC Local Affairs Committee LGNF Local Government Negotiating Forum MC Management Committee NNP New National Party NP National Party R South African Rand RCID Rondebosch Community Improvement District RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme SACP South African Communist Party SANCO South African National Civic Association WLA White Local Authority Figure i. Map