ABSTRACT
5.2. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE - HOW THE CASE STUDIES WERE SELECTED
In 1994, the provincial ministry for economic development and tourism announced the provincial Reconstruction and Development Programme, where all municipalities were invited to apply for funding to implement their local economic development plans.
The Regional Economic Forum12 was entrusted with the function of implementing that programme.Itwas stated in the Chapter One of this thesis that the researcher was appointed as the Regional Coordinator for this programme, therefore was privileged to information on those municipalities that had applied for the RDP funding.
From a list containing 12 selected municipalities, a shortlist of four was selected for detailed analysis, as case studies. These case studies were:
1. The Coal Rim region comprising of Dundee, Glencoe, Dannhauser and Hattingspruit 2. The Midlands region, mainly focusing on Howick, but also using available data on
Mooi River
3. The North Coast region, mainly focusing on KwaDukuza, but also drawing data from Kwa-Sithebe
4. Pinetown, but also drawing data from the broader Durban metro region
The basis for clustering as a sampling technique was that all the cluster localities had experienced some degree of homogeneity in economic decline. Spatial clustering on the basis of homogeneity in economic decline can be illustrated using the following framework:
12A body comprising of labour, business, government and civil society established as a forum to facilitate dialogue on economic development policies of the province of KwaZulu-Natal
Table 5.1: Sampling Frame
The Cluster Cluster Localities Value Proposition
The Coal Rim Dannhauser, Vryheid, The collapse of the coal mining Cluster Uitrecht, Newcastle and sector, and its impact in service
Hattingspruit industries of Dundee.
Sisonke Cluster Ixopo, Highflat and The collapse of the forestry
Richmond industry and its impact on the
small town of Ixopo
North Coast MandenilIsithebe Industrial The decline of sugar exports and
Economic Townshipand its impact on the small town of
Development KwaDukuza / Stanger KwaDukuza / Stanger Initiative
Midlands Midland towns of Mooi Service-based economy and the Investment River, Estcourt and decline of wood-processing based
Initiative Howick economy of Howick
Pinetown The Inner West Area of Pinetown industrial base as the key (eThekwini) Ethekwini Municipality growth node - a success story
A key characteristic of the selected small towns is that they are both rural and urban in spatial form. This may have resulted in a bias in the selection process, in favour of those regions whose spatial characteristics concurred with the values and beliefs of the researcher. For instance, the selection may have been based on logistical conveniences, where it may have been easier for the researcher to travel to some towns than to others.
To avoid this eventuality, all municipalities that appeared on the list provided were then chosen on the basis that there were already government interventions that were directed at reviving those regions. Inthis way, all identifying criteria were eliminated from the selection procedure and bias towards particular spatial forms was obviated.
5.3. ETHNOGRAPHIC ORIENTATION OF THIS THESIS
One umque aspect of this thesis is that research was undertaken through an act of participation. In another words, the researcher was an active participant in the local economic development initiatives funded through the RDP. It was therefore possible to describe what was going on, whom or what was involved, when and where certain things happened, and how and why they occurred in a particular situation.
The focus of the study was to investigate relevant variables of industrial behaviour in the context of globalization of the market place. As is described in this study, these variables had devastating effects on the economies of the small towns.
Participation in the RDP programme proved an indispensable exerCIse ID this regard, especially in terms of a strategy of engaging with various role players who were involved in local economic regeneration studies. The act of participation during the analysis was a process rather than an event, as relationship building with key opinion makers in local government, private sector and civic structures that were active in local economic development was a continuous process. These structures ranged from:
• Local government departments
• Political leadership in local government
• Organized labour, mainly represented by the civic organizations
• Business, mainly represented by the regional Business Chambers.
The focus of the investigation was on the local economy and economic activities within the locality as well as local responses to economic decline as the system tried to restore local equilibrium broken down by economic collapse.
In line with the sociological tradition of partICIpatory methodology, the underlying assumptions was that 'an understanding' or what Max Weber termed as'verstehen,13, could only be achieved through the process of participation and that insights could be gained by means of introspection
For this reason, the act of 'participation' characterized all the research processes and was the principal methodology of this study. Spending extended periods of time in each of the study areas, as part of the national and provincial policy research teams, the researcher became exposed to the effects of economic decline by witnessing the symptoms of economic decline such as rising unemployment and large-scale job losses.
13According Frediricks and Ludtke (1975: 27) "vestehen (which refers to the inner perspectives of the phenomena under study, from their point of view) generally belongs to the context of discovery, and not to the context of justification". The concept does not refer to observation itself or to description.Itis used to designate that which is to be used and described (the object under study)
The researcher was able to gain deeper insights into commonlytak~ for granted views of the world, from the point of view of the local municipal officials, due to his strategic positioning within the local opinion making structures (mainlywithinlocal government) and also because he was associated with the University of Natal, one of the known higher education institutions that has produced a number of leadership personalities in the province.
The University's involvement was already known, as it had been a participant in the local economic regeneration studies undertaken by the Department of Provincial and Local Government, and had a high level of credibility. The researcher was able to enjoy respect as an agent of change as new interventions were being debated as part of the research outcome.
The unit for analysis for this thesis was the locality or a municipality rather than socially isolated individuals. Therefore, it was not necessary to request special access to data banks from gatekeepers because the researcher was part of the process of government-driven economic regeneration plans.
During participation, the researcher had to find a balance between his involvement as a development specialist14 and also as an independent social scientist. The role of being a development economist was known and clear. This then enabled the researcher to move freely, observe directly and engage in informal interviews.
AsJorgensen (1989:37) predicted:
during participant observation, the researcher mustsustainaccess once ithas been granted and maintain relationships with peopleinthe field.
There, sustainability of access to key data sources and a prolonged period of observation was a key technique to getting authentic information that allowed the researcher to generalize on the findings.
14As the Regional Coordinator for the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Council.