INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION

It is evideut from this chapter that, with the application of apartheid, the South African city was physically divided according to race. Furthennore, local government development and managem.eot policies and practices governing the different parts of the city were conducted in teIIns of apartheid ideology. Moreover, in tenns of behavioural theory discussed in Chapter One, these occurrences in tum would have had an influence on environmental circumstances and experiences depending where in the city a person was to live. These experiences would .have influenced. a person's perception about the supply and payment for municipal services, which in twn would have had an influence on that persons behaviour in response to that environment (or system).

These factors .have therefore had an impact oo the perc.eptions and mmtal images formed by urban inhabitants liwig within a divided city. Attitudinal and perception surveys referred to in Chapter Two, show that variations in perceptions held by urban inhabitants associates strongly with the different environmeotal backgrounds creat:ed by apartheid in the city. The evidence further suggests that the lack of underqanding appear.; to be more pronounced. in the newly incorporated

townships, areas hitherto unserviced or underserviced. In these areas participatim levels with the local authority were minimal. not well developed or not politically acceptable at that time.

Inhabitants brought up in white controlled municipal areas would have bad an qiportunity to gain insi,ght and an understanding ofhow the city works. A person living in these areas would have had the opportunity to participate in local economic and political activity. The provision of nnmicipal services to business, commercial and residents, is provided an a supply and demand basis.

Generally, persons were able to take part in an unfettered economic system based on marlcet principles. Through this form of participation an inhabitant wou1d bave developed an underst:anding and appreciation of the supply and payment for municipal services. It rrmst be recognised though that discipline and roercion did come in the form of the threat of municipal services being tenninated due to non-payment, in other words, a user-pays principle bad been instilled by strict credit cartrol policy.

On the other hand, the researcli has revealed that, throughout the evolution of the South African city, nan-whites, particularly blacks, were purposefully and deliberately by design, marginalised.

and excluded from the world described above. Township inhabitants therefore, would bave had a different experience, only entering the world described above to work, if at all. For the most part, no market economy as described above existed and to all intense and purposes, was cootrolled by the state or agents an behalf of the state. For example, for the sake of political expediency, residents for many years may have only paid uneconomic flat rates for rent and municipal service charges. Furthermore, in response to the struggle, boycotts of rent and municipal service payments became the order of the day. The system was not accepted and any innovations were viewed with great suspicion. Therefore basic economic principles such as the provision of affordable municipal services were never engendered. Consequently an artificially fragmented apartheid system relayed mixed messages oflocal management and developmertt issues to various inhabitants of the city. Moreowr adult and school-based perception studies, indi.cate the need for the develqimmt of rmmicipal community structures which will enhance participation and connnunication within particularly newly-in_COiporated conmum.i:ties.

The preliminary chapters noted the fact that a great deal of research refurs to the reconstruction and develqiment of physical disparities of the South African city as a result of apartheid. It is evidart from this study that the behavioural dimension must not be overlooked. This is because spatially segmented mental images too are the result of an artificially divided city. Centuries of segregationist and more latterly apartheid, have created obtuse views of the world - spatiaJly

segmented images of geographic space. The attitude of entitlement and the behaviour of non­

payment for municipal services could well derail the reconmucticm and developmeat process in South Africa, unless addressed by considerations voiced within this thesis. Significantly the comprehoosion of the concept of affordable provision of municipal services by previously disadvantaged conununities and their le.aders is imperative. Local authorities will have to develop effective measures in order that these issues may be addressed as a matter ofurgency.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE RECONSTRUCTION, DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATION OF THE LOCAL AUfflORITY SYSTEM IN THE PIETERMARlTZBURG REGION

Pietennaritzburg, currently a dual capital of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, is located in the Natal Midlands some 80 kilorneteis inland from the coastal city of Durban, as shown in Figure 12.

According to census data people living within the city total approximately 380 000 (Department of Population and Devel_opment 1998). Pietennaritzburg bas been rec.ognized as a third-tier city in the South African mban hierarchy (Urban Foundatioo. 1990a). From its origins as a colonial, fortified town and a rural service centre, Pietennaritzburg has devel_oped into an educational and regional centre, and industrial city. The city has achieved regional, national and international ac.claim as host to events such as the Comrades Marathon, Duzi Canoe Marathon and the Royal Show (Coghlan 1988a; 1988b; Gordan 1981; 1984).

Pietermaritzburg has bad similar origins, growth, devel_opment, and resultant spatio-ethnic form as other South African cities descnl>ed. in Chapter Tree. Details concerning the growth and^h devel_opment of Pietermaritzb_wg and its surrounding region are included in, inter. alia: Ellis (1988), Haswell (1979; 1988a; 1988b; 1990), Laband and Haswell (1988), Meildejohn (1992), and Wills (1988; 1991a; 1991h). The following eras in its development have been recognised: the colonial town (1845-1910), the segregated city (1910-1950), the apartheid city (1950-1994) and latterly, the post-apartheid city from 1994 onwards. A significant consequeoce of Pietennaritzburg's spatio�liticaJ form is that the administration of the metropolitan region was fragmented and that the majority of the residems in the area were denied meaningful representation at the local government level until the political changes initiated in 1994. Chapter Three showed how the application of apartheid, with the implementation of the Group Areas Act in particular, detmnined where in the city people of different ethnic origin bad to live, which in tum determined the extent to which the devel_opment and management of municipal services took place in those areas. By the l 990's there were no fewer than nine agencies, besides the Pietermaritzburg municipality, all attempting to plan and manage the particular areas which fell under their jurisdiction, are shown in Figure 13.

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Chapter Three sketched a background to the evolution of apartheid and resistance to it. The emphasis in ttlis chapter will focus an die transition to democracy and the transformation process at the local government level .in gmeral, with specific reference to Pieterrnaritzburg where applicable. The discussian will provide a background for an analysis of the go'leJ'Dmellt�initiated Masalchane Campaign aimed at reversing the cc:mtinued non-payment for municipal services.

4.1 THE POST-APARTHEID ERA PROMOTES OPPORTUNITIES FOR fflE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY

The discussion in this section includes: the transition to post--apartheid democracy and the transfucmation of local governmmt. the Recoostructian and Development Programme. the development and implemeotatiCll of an Integrated Devel_opment Plan, a Local Develq,ment Plan, the Resource Cities Programme, and tile Ma.sakban.e Campaign.

4.1 .1 The Transition to Democracy and Peaceful Negotiations for the Transition of Local Government

By the end of 1991 the ANC-orieotated civic groups _formed the South African National Civic Organization (Sanoo). Towards the end of 1992, the two major con.flitting parties in South African politics, namely the National Party gove^rnment and the ANC, decided to settle matters by way of peaceful negotiation (Oode 1995; Friedmann and Atkinson 1994). During 1992 discussions with tllfl Minister of Local Gowrmru:ot regarding the restructuring of the local government arena were conducted. Eady in 1993 the Minister was persuaded to establish a formal national Local Government Negotiating Forum (LGNF). Th.is body served as the main negotiating forum.Cll localgovemment until agreement was reached bet\.wen. the negotiating parties in November 1993. The outcome of the agreement was the ratific.atian of the three documents mentioned. in this section. Over a tm-mcmtb. period, from April 1993 to January 1994, a bilateral sett.lemmt on the future of local govemmoot was forged (Loe.al Government Negotiating Forum 1993a� 1993b; 1993c). The principles whidi underlaid the negotiated agreement were contained in: the Local Oovemmmt:Transition Ad, Act209 ofl993 as amended, and the 1994 World Trade Centre Agreem� dealt with the provisim and financing of local servi�; and the 1993 Interim Coostitution Act,

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209 of 1993. The negctiations and subsequent constituticmal dewlopmeots paved the way for the first ewr democratic local governroeot elections to be coo.ducted in South

Africa, resulting in the formatiao of transitiooal local muctures in towns and cities as part of an interim process towards the transfotmatioo of local gowmment in South Africa.

4. l .1.1 Transitional arrangements for local government transformation

On 22 March 1993 the Local Government Negotiating Forum (LGNF) was established as a