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The demise of a South African growth point, Butterworth in the Eastern Cape: A community development model as an alternative strategy for development
Abstract
Butterworth was chosen for this research as one of the growth points in the former Transkei under apartheid. Prospective and existing entrepreneurs in mostly manufacturing enterprises were entitled to various incentives, all of which were phased out by the mid-1990s, and factory closures ensued. Since then the economy of Butterworth has atrophied, leaving thousands unemployed. This paper suggests a community development model as an alternative strategy for resuscitating an ailing local economy, emphasising the imperatives of community participation at all levels of the developmental process. Kenya and Ghana are cited as examples of community development. With this international backdrop, three community-inspired projects in the Eastern Cape were used to test the model: the Umngazi Farming Scheme, the Philani Ncambedlana Farmers' Cooperative and the Tanga Village Masakhane. The paper shows that community development can provide an alternative livelihood in local economies.
... This was also argued a decade earlier by de Clercq (1994: 379), who emphasised that development agencies need to spend more time understanding the experiences and expectations of members of the community. Musampa (2006) also advocates community participation in all LED projects to ensure local buy-in and commitment. Bureaucratic, top-down development without community involvement in the planning process is likely to be unsustainable. ...
This article looks to investigate the practice of using the ‘sustainable livelihood approach’ in a multifaceted urban greening project, Trees for Homes. The urban greening project was implemented to improve the quality of life and help marginalised citizens of an informal settlement in South Africa to adapt to climate variability through tree planting. We explored the actual execution of the independent techniques being utilised in the implementation of the Trees for Homes project and how it can promote sustainable livelihood objectives in the Zandspruit informal settlement in South Africa. Using a qualitative approach, the study was able to effectively apply sustainable livelihood principles. It was also found, however, that the multi-level principle was limited by the lack of political muscle which is endemic to many disempowered poor citizens of developing economies. Although the project was successful in many ways, political vulnerability within the development cycle threatens the longer term sustainability of the project outcomes.
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/eA36IPXwZFBtjUZ7rRWB/full
The demise of South African Apartheid Planning in 1994 and subsequent lost of Umtata’s capital status when the Transkei was
subsumed into the new Eastern Cape Province resulted in the major political transformation of the Transkei state. Central
to the post-apartheid transformation was restructuring of Transkei bureaucracy which at the time of South Africa’s independence
in 1994 displayed abnormalities. This paper documents the restructuring of the Transkei bureaucracy focusing on Umtata since
1994. The study has brought to the forefront the following facts: Firstly, that at the time of the Transkei merger into South
Africa, employment in the government was ‘booming’ and to greater extent it was affected by Umtata’s role—being the capital
city of the pseudo-Transkei state. Secondly, the post 1994-political transformation of the Transkei Bantustan impacted negatively
on Umtata’s employment notably the civil service sector by ‘squeezing’ it during the early years of democracy (1994–2000).
Thirdly, since 2001, with Umtata serving as the major urban centre of both King Sabata Local Municipality and OR Tambo District
Municipality, employment in the civil service and municipality has been revitalized.
The responses to a postal survey by 81 industrialists located in the homelands are analysed. South Africa’s industrial decentralisation policy has been criticised on many grounds. Questioning the efficiency of the policy in terms of forgone growth and employment opportunities, information was sought from businessmen: particularly with regard to their motives for decentralising and their experiences. The underlying rationale being that the profitability of decentralised firms provides a means of assessing allocative efficiency. The nature of the sample dictates a simple tabulation of responses. These reveal a high degree of dependence on decentralisation incentives both in respect of the decision to decentralise and in terms of maintaining companies ‘profitability’. Some of the difficulties experienced by industrialists at their decentralised locations are examined. The importance of the incentives, particularly short term ones, calls into question the prospects for self-sustaining growth of the decentralised industrial base and its stability over time. Also implied are the adverse effects of the policy on growth and employment opportunities in general.
Community development in impoverished homeland communities like Winterveld is an important priority in this era of transition. Yet, it is rarely effective and self‐sustaining. Government, parastatals, NGOs and international development agencies have all tried to initiate their own versions of community development, but most have failed to get the full participation of the community as an equal and active partner. A community development project should not be seen as an end in itself, but as a means of promoting the development of local communities into key agents with control over their own lives. Before embarking on community capacity‐building exercises, development agencies will have to take more time and effort to understand, respect, and root their work in the experiences and expectations of community members.
A number of general constraints to the economic development of less developed countries are also to be found in Transkei. They include political fragility, conflict between traditionalism and modernization, shortage of skilled manpower, lack of clearly defined economic development strategies, inappropriate economic policies, and a shortage of capital.In addition, there are constraints particular to Transkei's development, such as recent socio‐political developments in South Africa, the absence of an organizational structure to facilitate the formulation of relevant policies, a decline in the inflow of private sector investment, and a shortage of technical and managerial expertise. The author proposes a number of principles to maximize manpower productivity in Transkei.
Over the past five years the World Bank has been engaged in an extensive investigation of the implementation of policies designed to recast the urban system of South Korea and, more especially, to constrain the expansion of the capital city, Seoul. The South Korean situation furnishes an example of an active employment decentralization policy pursued in a middle‐income developing country. The task of the paper is to synthesize the extant research material on Seoul, chronicling the unfolding nature of policy intervention, the directions of industrial policy in South Korea and suggesting the broader implications for decentralization planning in South Africa.
This paper identifies the main issues that development in Transkei must address. These are job creation, food production and the upgrading of manpower productivity through appropriate education and training.The first section gives statistical information on unemployment and food production. The second part discusses national development priorities and strategies as determined by the economic development planners and approved by the Government. The emphasis of the plan is small scale operations that can be operated and managed by the people themselves. The third section examines the development that is actually taking place against the approved national development priorities. Finally some of the policies and practices that are in conflict with what the country is seeking to achieve are highlighted.
This research deals broadly with the history and development of industrial decentralization in South Africa. It provides a basic analysis of a number of inseparable historic, political and economic issues, and is presented in two parts. This first part begins by tracing the economic forces that generated current concentrated patterns of economic activity in South Africa, and goes on to review the origins of the industrial decentralization policy. It concludes that despite a relatively rigid natural regional economic structure that developed historically, and despite the continued presence of the economic forces that brought this structure about, the government commenced with a policy of industrial decentralization in 1960. The second part of the research firstly assesses the development of the policy in an attempt to indicate reasons for major changes, and secondly discusses the impact of the policy with reference to current evidence. It concludes that the industrial decentralization policy may have had serious economic consequences to date, but may nevertheless have a continued role to play in the ongoing political development of the country. The approach throughout has been to provide a relatively compact chronology of the policy and its antecedents.
This article examines various local development initiatives pursued internationally. In spite of its obvious Western bias, there are lessons in the emerging process termed "urban entrepreneurialism' (Harvey, 1989). Stutterheim serves as an illustration of aspects of this process and is used to assess whether local development initiatives (LDIs) can provide a developmental alternative for the less favoured parts of the South African space economy. -from Author
Industrial decentralisation (ID) has been a central component of South Africa's regional strategy for over twenty years. Until recently, though, the programme has evinced little interest amongst industrialists. The fact that ID policy has been premised upon political rather than economic considerations has been thought to lie at the root of this failure. Following recent developments, however, this view is being reassessed. The reorganisation of ID policy in 1982 and the dramatic acceleration in the rate of industrial relocations that this reorganisation appears to have induced, has led theorists to revise their thinking on both the economic and political imperatives underpinning the programme. The purpose of this paper is to review the debates that are now developing concerning ID in South Africa, and to suggest where further research and analysis might be most profitably directed.
This paper is concerned with industrial decentralization in South Africa, specifically the impact of decentralization on industrialization in the bantustans. The paper begins by describing the evolution of decentralization policy and examines the results to date. Particular attention is directed towards the revised program introduced in 1982. Section 3 identifies the political imperatives that have underpinned the program since its inception and discusses the alternative thesis that a drive towards “spontaneous” decentralization may have emerged more recently. The fourth section, drawing upon the results of the authors' two surveys, focuses upon the factors that militate against the development of growth points in the bantustans. This shows that most are severely disadvantaged with respect to growth points established in “white” areas and may therefore be largely excluded from any “spontaneous” drive towards decentralization. Finally, Section 5 demonstrates that the supposed “developmental” impact of decentralization on the bantustan sub-economies is extremely limited, with most of the benefits draining back to the metropolitan centers.
Apartheid, decentralisation and spatial industrial change Living under apartheid. London: Allen & Unwin. ROGERSON, CM, 1986a. The decentralisation debate: The World Bank study on Sao Paulo
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ROGERSON, CM, 1982. Apartheid, decentralisation and spatial industrial change. In Smith, DM (Ed.), Living under apartheid. London: Allen & Unwin. ROGERSON, CM, 1986a. The decentralisation debate: The World Bank study on Sao Paulo. Development Southern Africa, 3(3).
- Blunt P
Paper prepared for the Conference on Political Transition and Economic Development in the Transkei. November28-30. Manufacturing industry in the Transkei: the case of Butterworth
- E K Sarpong
- Acheampong
- C M Musampa