Civic organizations and the local state in South Africa (1979-1993)

This study examines the nature and theoretical significance of the dialectical relationship between the black civic organizations (agency) and the apartheid local state (structure) in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. It emphasizes the role of the popular and disfranchised classes and the nature of their resistance in the transformation of the apartheid state towards a united, nonracial and democratic one.;Set within the political-economic framework on urban politics, it adopts the realist intensive single-case embedded design, with Pietermaritzburg as the strategic and critical case. Three adjacent locales within the historically black residential group areas in the city were selected as subunits for analyses. These included the Indian and colored areas of Northdale, Raisethorpe, Mountain Rise, Woodlands and Eastwood; the subeconomic public housing area of Happy Valley--a colored area; and the African township of Sobantu.;The study established that from 1978, the local regime embarked on a vigorous progrowth industrial and commercial development program. This involved the substantial commitment of the local state's resources in the establishment of large fully serviced industrial estates; the marketing of the city as an industrial center--both nationally and internationally; and the revitalization of the inner core area of the CBD. While clearly designed to enhance capital accumulation, the local regime tried to generate community boosterism for its programs by emphasizing job creation. However, given the racist structure of the apartheid local state and the city's relatively small property tax base, the black residents were subjected to property supertaxation and very high rentals on public housing. Consequently, they mobilized and established strong counterhegemonic alliances that challenged the ruling coalition and the state's apartheid policies. Also, the ruling regime attempted to restructure the local state in order to mediate the crisis of apartheid between the central state and the civic organizations. These proposals generated interstate conflict.;The study explains how the local state's progrowth policies served as the catalyst for community mobilization amongst the disfranchised black residents and contributed to the transformation of the apartheid state towards a nonracial and democratic one.