tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/johannesburg-18086/articles
Johannesburg – The Conversation
2024-03-12T14:30:38Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/225433
2024-03-12T14:30:38Z
2024-03-12T14:30:38Z
Is my water safe to drink? Expert advice for residents of South African cities
<p><em>In early March 2024 the residents of Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city and the economic capital of the country, were hit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J57luR-r_R8">by extended cuts in water supplies</a>. This was a new low after months of <a href="https://theconversation.com/johannesburgs-water-crisis-is-getting-worse-expert-explains-why-the-taps-keep-running-dry-in-south-africas-biggest-city-223926">continuous deterioration</a>. Professor in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand Craig Sheridan sets out the risks this poses to drinking water in the city.</em> </p>
<h2>What can get into my water that will make me sick?</h2>
<p>Two things. </p>
<p>You can have chemicals in the water that are toxic, or you can have pathogenic organisms which can make you ill. These lead to different diseases and have different treatment strategies. </p>
<p>As a general rule, South Africa’s water works are able to remove almost all chemicals such that the water is safe to drink. The water treatment works also disinfect the water, killing harmful bacteria and viruses. This is primarily done with chlorine, but the water is overdosed slightly. This leaves a little chlorine in the water for “residual” disinfection. The residual chlorine travels with the water down the pipe to the reservoir and into your home, keeping the water pathogen free. Pathogens include viruses, bacteria and small animals such as worms and larvae. </p>
<p>This is why the water from taps sometimes smells a little like chlorine. This is a good thing. It means your water is safe. </p>
<h2>Is my tap water safe to drink?</h2>
<p>As a rule, the answer here is yes, <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/specialreports/water/weve-been-quietly-testing-drinking-water-quality-in-6-cities-for-a-month-heres-what-weve-found-20230810">but probably only if you live in a big city</a>. If there is a continuous supply of water, the pressure in the pipe prevents contaminants from entering the pipeline. And if the water has residual chlorine in it, that means the supply to your home is good. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this relies on drinking water treatment works functioning properly, which is not always the case. The department of water and sanitation runs an auditing process of the water treatment works and the water they supply. The results are released as <a href="https://ws.dws.gov.za/IRIS/releases/BDN_2023_Report.pdf">Blue Drop reports</a>. Johannesburg has been classified as having excellent quality of supply, both chemically and microbiologically. However, the overall scores in Gauteng, the province Johannesburg is located in, are dropping even though they are still high. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-crisis-in-south-africa-damning-report-finds-46-contamination-67-of-treatment-works-near-to-breaking-down-219350">Water crisis in South Africa: damning report finds 46% contamination, 67% of treatment works near to breaking down</a>
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<p>Across the country 46% of drinking water is classified as “unacceptable” and scores of towns and cities have <a href="https://ws.dws.gov.za/iris/releases/BDN_2023_Report.pdf">substantially declined in the last decade</a>. The <a href="https://ws.dws.gov.za/IRIS/releases/BDWR.pdf">latest Blue Drop report</a> shows a decreasing quality of drinking water supply across South Africa.</p>
<h2>My water supply has been interrupted a lot. Is my tap water safe to drink?</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, the answer to this question may not be yes, depending on a range of factors. </p>
<p>If there is no water in the pipe, and there is an underground sewage leak near the water pipe, or contaminated storm water near the pipe, there’s a real possibility that contaminated water can enter the pipe. Or, if maintenance work is done on a pipeline, as happens after any major leak, there is no real way to prevent soil and external untreated water entering the pipeline.</p>
<p>As water supply returns, this “first flush” down the pipe has the potential to contain contaminants. Because there is no way to know what it looks like underground around the pipe, it is sensible to protect yourself as water returns. You can protect yourself by flushing your taps until the water is fully clear. I would recommend that you wait until after the air has finished exiting the pipe and give it another minute or so, or until fully clear. Collect this water in a bucket for watering plants or flushing toilets. Once the water is clear, your quality should be similar to the bulk supply. </p>
<p>If you are worried, boil the water before use. </p>
<p>If your water remains brown or discoloured, report it and drink purified water.</p>
<h2>I get my water from a mobile water tanker. Is this safe to drink?</h2>
<p>Here the answer is supposed to be yes. But there are far too many instances of
unscrupulous, roaming water tanker suppliers selling water, especially in areas with <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2023-05-27-hammanskraal-residents-cautioned-against-buying-water-from-roaming-tankers/#google_vignette">no access to safe tap water</a>.</p>
<p>Since water supplies have become less dependable, the state has turned to businesses to supply water to communities. This has developed into a big business, as is clear from the size of one of Johannesburg’s <a href="https://www.johannesburgwater.co.za/scm/supply-chain/tenders/awarded-tenders/">tenders</a> for vacuum trucks (honeysuckers) and water tankers. As a result, <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/725620/a-new-type-of-mafia-is-thriving-in-south-africa/">fraud and collusion</a> are on the rise. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/johannesburgs-water-crisis-is-getting-worse-expert-explains-why-the-taps-keep-running-dry-in-south-africas-biggest-city-223926">Johannesburg's water crisis is getting worse – expert explains why the taps keep running dry in South Africa's biggest city</a>
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<p>Unfortunately having no access to piped tap water is the daily reality more than <a href="https://census.statssa.gov.za/assets/documents/2022/P03014_Census_2022_Statistical_Release.pdf">4 million South Africans</a>. If this is the case, it is sensible to purify the water. </p>
<h2>What are the diseases that make drinking water unsafe? How are they spread?</h2>
<p>There are a number of water-borne diseases that can cause very serious illness and death. </p>
<p>When water is sent to a laboratory for testing, the first test is for an organism called <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/e-coli"><em>Escherichia coli</em></a>, or <em>E. coli</em>.</p>
<p><em>E. coli</em> is found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded animals. It does not necessarily cause disease. But if it is found in the water, there is absolute certainty that the water has been contaminated with faecal matter which has not been properly treated. This is why it is used as a screening tool for more serious diseases which are also spread through faecal matter. </p>
<p>Not all water that has <em>E. coli</em> will have pathogens. But the presence of <em>E. coli</em> is a serious warning that there is a high chance of other pathogenic organisms in the water such as cholera. </p>
<p>Cholera is caused by a bacterium found in the faecal matter of sick people. It is highly contagious and can spread by contact mainly from drinking contaminated water, food or from unwashed hands. The symptoms of cholera are watery diarrhoea (runny tummy), vomiting and leg cramps. </p>
<h2>If I store water in bottles, how long before it’s unsafe to drink?</h2>
<p>This is a really tricky question to answer. There are too many factors that can cause your water quality to deteriorate. For example, is the cap of the bottle open? How warm is the water? Is the container very clean or just rinsed? Water safety cannot be fully assured without analysing the actual water. </p>
<p>At the Centre of Water Research and Development we are doing research partly funded through the <a href="https://www.wrc.org.za/">Water Research Commission</a> to develop test strips to give a rapid analysis of drinking water quality that can easily be understood by the general public. </p>
<p>But I’d recommend that you try not to keep water too long. Preferably not more than a day. And if you do, then boil or purify the water before drinking it.</p>
<h2>Is purifying water difficult?</h2>
<p>At the University of the Witwatersrand we commissioned a short animation in all of South Africa’s 11 official languages as well as French and Portuguese on how to prevent cholera transmission and how to purify your water to ensure you stay safe.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hrOEVCLIe2Y?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">There are eight videos in different languages on the University of Witwatersrand’s YouTube account, this is the English version.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We have also <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/general-news/2023/2023-05/cholera-what-is-it-and-how-can-you-avoid-getting-sick.html">shared guidance</a> on how to purify your water to make it safe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Sheridan receives funding from The Claude Leon Foundation, the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), The Water JPI, The BMBF, FORMAS and the Water Research Commission. Craig Sheridan is a member of the South African Institution of Chemical Engineers (SAIChE), the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), and the International Water Association (IWA).</span></em></p>
Water can make you ill for two reasons: it can contain toxic chemicals or pathogenic organisms.
Craig Sheridan, Professor, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217391
2024-01-29T13:07:34Z
2024-01-29T13:07:34Z
South Africa is failing people who aren’t poor, but aren’t middle class either
<p>Many South African households are trapped. They are neither poor nor middle class. As a demographic they hover above the indigence threshold financially. But they are not yet securely in the middle class. </p>
<p>This aspirant middle class – individuals whose income is above the indigent thresholds but too low to afford the middle-class lifestyle – <a href="https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeewdevel/v_3a60_3ay_3a2014_3ai_3ac_3ap_3a132-146.htm">is growing</a> in metropolitan areas globally. This class is financially vulnerable, with a higher risk of falling back into poverty compared to the established middle class. </p>
<p>We set out to understand the challenges faced by this aspirant middle class in South Africa and the key determinants of their progression. We <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2865">investigated</a> the salient factors that trap them in their progression towards a stable middle class. We used Johannesburg as our case study.</p>
<p>Our research found that several key factors affected this demographic. These include education, racial inequality, access to economic opportunities, entrepreneurship and proximity to amenities.</p>
<p>The findings have important implications for public policy in South Africa. They point to the need for hybrid policy frameworks that not only alleviate poverty but also sustain and expand the middle class. These policies should aim at ensuring social equity, reflecting the needs of the aspirant middle class and integrating them into broader economic and development strategies. </p>
<h2>The aspirant middle class and why it matters</h2>
<p>The middle class aspirants comprise <a href="https://www.datafirst.uct.ac.za/dataportal/index.php/collections/GCRO">about 30%</a> of the population based on the authors’ analysis of the 2018 Quality of Life Survey data released by the Gauteng City Region Observatory.</p>
<p><a href="https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeewdevel/v_3a60_3ay_3a2014_3ai_3ac_3ap_3a132-146.htm">Studies</a> have <a href="https://documents.worldbank.org/pt/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/530481521735906534/overcoming-poverty-and-inequality-in-south-africa-an-assessment-of-drivers-constraints-and-opportunities">suggested</a> US$10 per capita per day as the absolute minimum income in the developing world for a person to attain middle-class status.</p>
<p>In South Africa the upper-bound poverty line for individuals to benefit from the indigent policy is US$4.5 per capita per day. This leaves individuals with incomes between US$4.5 and US$10 per capita per day as neither poor nor middle class. </p>
<p>Middle class aspirants are important for several reasons.</p>
<p>Firstly, they often represent a significant consumer base, driving demand for goods and services. Secondly, they are likely to invest in education and healthcare, contributing to human capital development. Thirdly, their aspirations for upward mobility can foster a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. And lastly they play a key role in political and social stability. They often advocate for improvements in governance as well as social justice.</p>
<p>These households are not poor. But they aren’t secure financially. Their risk of falling into poverty is three times that of the established middle class, <a href="https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/za/UNDP---Socioeconomic-Impact-Assessment-Socioeconomic-Impact-Assessment-2020_FINAL_01-October-2020.pdf">according to a United Nations Development Programme report drawn up in 2020</a>. In terms of the South African municipal indigent policies, the aspirants are economically self-sufficient and could be classified as middle class.</p>
<p>However, the aspirants don’t earn enough to cover their bills and care for their households. Their desired economic, social and political life is the same as that of their middle class counterparts. </p>
<h2>Middle class factors</h2>
<p>Historically, education empowered individuals with skills and knowledge, enhancing their employability and earning potential. In South Africa, the quality of public education <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/2023-05-25-south-africa-sinks-to-the-bottom-of-the-class/">has become questionable</a>. Our analysis confirmed that completion of secondary education was no longer enough to sustain progression to middle class status. </p>
<p>Racial inequality can affect access to opportunities, thus affecting social mobility. In South Africa, racial disparities continue to play a significant role. Black Africans have the lowest probability of ascending into the middle class. This is indicative of persistent income and educational inequalities rooted in the country’s history.</p>
<p>Historically, race was a key determinant of ownership of assets in South Africa. And assets such as owning a house provide a buffer against economic uncertainties, an essential element for sustaining middle-class status. </p>
<p>Access to economic opportunities, such as quality jobs and entrepreneurship, is crucial for upward mobility and a stable middle class. Our research found that entrepreneurship could help the aspirant middle class to diversify income sources, enhancing their financial resilience.</p>
<p>Finally, proximity to amenities like healthcare, education and transport is vital for a quality of life consistent with middle-class standards. The absence or deficiency of these amenities can hinder the progression of middle class aspirants and their creation of a secure status.</p>
<p>Proximity is valued because of the overall comfort and time-saving aspects for all household members and its economic benefits, such as reduced transport costs.</p>
<h2>What next</h2>
<p>The solutions to the problem of growing the middle class aren’t the same as those for poverty alleviation. That’s because each socioeconomic segment – middle class aspirants and the poor – faces idiosyncratic challenges.</p>
<p>We therefore propose hybrid policy frameworks that integrate pro-poor policies and those designed to sustain the middle class.</p>
<p>The government must also design policies aimed specifically at easing the progression of middle class aspirants into a stable middle class. This will enable the aspirants to drive demand for goods and services, invest further in education and healthcare, and foster a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. They can also play a key role in political and social suitability by advocating for governance improvements and social justice.</p>
<p>Emphasising the role of local governments, the article calls for policies that maximise human potential, redress past imbalances, and ensure broad representation. This will facilitate the upward mobility of the aspirant middle class into a more stable and secure economic position.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217391/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Mangai receives funding from National Research Foundation, German Research Foundation, US Federal Government, UP Research Development Programme FUND and VC Congress Travel Grant.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrino Mazenda, Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, and Tinashe Mushayanyama do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
South Africa needs policies that look after households that aren’t poor, but are also not financially secure.
Tinashe Mushayanyama, Online Assistant Lecturer, University of South Africa
Adrino Mazenda, Senior Researcher, Associate Professor, University of Pretoria
Margaret Chitiga-Mabugu, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Pretoria
Mary Mangai, Senior Lecturer, University of Pretoria
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215610
2023-10-17T09:58:45Z
2023-10-17T09:58:45Z
South Africa’s 2022 census: has Johannesburg stopped growing, or are the numbers wrong?
<p>South Africa’s census is a vital source of information for policy making, planning and research, and so the Census 2022 findings released last week were eagerly awaited. It offers many insights on everything from marriage rates to language distribution. But as urban scholars and planning practitioners with decades of interest and experience in observing how post-apartheid settlements are being reshaped, our eyes have fallen particularly on what Census 2022 seems to be saying about changes in South Africa’s major towns and cities. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://census.statssa.gov.za/assets/documents/2022/P03014_Census_2022_Statistical_Release.pdf">first batch of results</a> produced a mix of anticipated as well as some surprising findings. This was particularly true for Gauteng province, the country’s economic engine, and its main city, <a href="https://census.statssa.gov.za/assets/documents/2022/Provinces_at_a_Glance.pdf">Johannesburg</a>.</p>
<p>If its numbers are to be believed, Census 2022 and <a href="https://www.gcro.ac.za/outputs/policy-and-other-outputs/">preliminary analysis</a> shows astonishingly low population growth figures for Gauteng, and especially for Johannesburg. </p>
<p>With an annual population growth rate of 2.0%, Gauteng is barely growing faster than the national average. It is falling behind the Western Cape at 2.4% and Mpumalanga at 2.3%. The greatest surprise was the figure for Johannesburg: only 0.8%. This means that the city lags behind the country’s other major cities and is no longer a rapidly growing city.</p>
<p>This result is entirely at odds with the popular perception of Johannesburg as a city that is overwhelmed by population growth, battling to keep pace with demand for housing, services and infrastructure. </p>
<p>There is, however, a caveat: the census data may be questionable.</p>
<p>We can’t conclude definitively at this time whether the 0.8% reflects a challenge with data or represents a startling new reality. There is a possibility that it could reflect a deep crisis in South Africa’s premier city – the outcome of a decade or so of weak economic growth and increased social insecurity. Stagnating numbers suggest a loss of appeal, bringing reduced prospects for business and cultural innovation.</p>
<p>In this piece we discuss the dual concerns we have: the implications if indeed the growth of Johannesburg has slowed down significantly, and the veracity of the data.</p>
<h2>Is Johannesburg stagnating?</h2>
<p>The censuses held in <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=3892">2001</a> and <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=3955">2011</a> confirmed a widely held view among urban scholars and planners that post-apartheid South Africa was urbanising rapidly. And that this growth was concentrating in the large metropolitan areas, especially in Gauteng province. </p>
<p>This made sense, as Gauteng makes up a <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=1854&PPN=D0441.1&SCH=73625">full third of the national economy</a>. As the world’s largest producer of gold for over a century, Johannesburg has attracted economic opportunity seekers throughout its history. When the barriers to movement under apartheid came down in the 1990s the pace of rural to urban migration accelerated. Johannesburg’s rapidly changing built environment reflected this, for example in the huge increase in informal dwellings.</p>
<p>But the latest census numbers suggest some dramatic changes could be underway.</p>
<p>If the census figures are correct, Cape Town ( with 4,772,846 people) stood just behind Johannesburg’s total of 4,803,262 in early 2022. But it is reportedly growing at double Johannesburg’s rate, which means that it will already have overtaken Johannesburg as South Africa’s largest city.</p>
<p>The census suggests that the white population of Johannesburg reduced by some 211,000 between 2011 and 2022, the Indian population by 49,000 and the coloured population by 18,000. These racial definitions were <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/race-and-ethnicity-south-africa">introduced under apartheid</a>, and are still in use today to measure post-apartheid population dynamics and development progress. These declines, and the associated increases in the Western Cape province in particular, are confirmed by the <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/D0160/D0160May2023.pdf">state of the property market</a> at both ends.</p>
<p>While this absolute decline is compensated for by the 665,000 rise in the number of black Africans, the surprise is that this represents an increase of only 1.7% per annum, no higher than the background growth rate for the country as a whole. This suggests that even black Africans may be leaving Johannesburg. </p>
<p>This may conceivably take many forms, like elderly people retiring early to rural areas, children being sent “home” to be raised by grandparents, and work seekers looking for economic opportunities elsewhere. It could be middle class “semigration” where residents move to preferred parts of the country instead of emigrating.</p>
<p><a href="https://spatialtaxdata.org.za/">Spatial tax data</a> indicates that Johannesburg still offers more jobs than, say, Cape Town. However its economic performance has been poor in recent years, affecting job growth. This may have had effects across the labour market, including whether lower-income households are willing to establish themselves in the city and whether the black middle class remains. </p>
<p>While we are yet to do a systematic analysis, we do note some hot spots of fast growth in small towns and rural parts of more rural provinces. For example Bushbuckridge, an extensive, historically rural settlement in the north of the country bordering the Kruger National Park, has traditionally been understood as a migrant-sending area, but now has a growth rate of well over 3% per annum.</p>
<h2>The veracity of the data</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-10-12-how-much-can-we-rely-on-census-2022/">Various opinion pieces</a> in the media have raised eyebrows at the exceptionally high undercount of some 31%, meaning that nearly a third of residents have been subsequently shown not to have been counted on census day. This figure is worryingly double that for the last census. The undercount in many countries, both developed and developing, is often <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-10-12-how-much-can-we-rely-on-census-2022/">less than 5%</a> so the results are arguably much more trustworthy. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-2022-census-missed-31-of-people-big-data-could-help-in-future-215560">contextual reasons</a> for this, such as nagging COVID transmission fears and the feelings of insecurity from <a href="https://mg.co.za/tag/2021-july-riots/">bouts of public violence</a>. These external factors may have constrained the efficient administration of the census, leading to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>uncounted foreign nationals</p></li>
<li><p>limited access of census officials to gated estates and suburban homes </p></li>
<li><p>the impossibility of counting the residents of inner-city buildings.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>External factors may also have been compounded by internal administrative challenges. There are many anecdotes of people trying, but failing, to submit their census returns via StatsSA’s <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=15029">new online facility</a>. </p>
<p>In theory these problems should have been resolved through <a href="https://census.statssa.gov.za/assets/documents/2022/How_the_count_was_done2022.pdf">post enumeration sampling</a> and adjustment. Nevertheless, questions may legitimately be asked of census officials, and we have done so. We are sceptical, and await further clarity. </p>
<p>Previous census figures have been restated following the first official release. It is conceivable that we may see revisions that correct statistical anomalies.</p>
<h2>What next</h2>
<p>It is still early days for analysis as we still await the intra-municipal data from Census 2022. Nevertheless, we have identified intriguing, and sometimes worrying, indications of shifting spatial patterns. </p>
<p>At this point, assuming for the moment that the numbers are correctly indicative of directions even if not precise, we can at least hypothesise that the socio-spatial trends revealed in Census 2022 are the outcome of a decade or so of weak economic growth and increased social insecurity in South Africa’s economic hub. </p>
<p>With the job market in large cities and some mining districts unstable or depressed, investment in “rural settlements” may be growing, with members of stretched households returning to these areas after job loss in search of family support and cultural comfort. Previous patterns of urbanisation and agglomeration may not be inexorable. </p>
<p>We can’t conclude definitively at this time whether the 0.8% population growth rate for Johannesburg reflects a challenge with data or represents a startling reality. And while reduced growth may seem to some as a positive trend, it could reflect a deep crisis in South Africa’s premier city. While growth brings pressure, it also offers opportunity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Harrison receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Todes receives funding from the National Research Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:darlington.mushongera@wits.ac.za">darlington.mushongera@wits.ac.za</a> is affiliated with Gauteng City-Region Observatory, University of the Witwatersrand </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Gauteng City-Region Observatory receives core grant funding from the Gauteng Provincial Government. </span></em></p>
If the numbers are correct, and it’s not certain that they are, Cape Town may have overtaken Johannesburg as the largest city in South Africa.
Philip Harrison, Professor School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand
Alison Todes, Professor, University of the Witwatersrand
Darlington Mushongera, Senior Researcher and Theme Leader at the Gauteng City-Region Observatory, University of the Witwatersrand
Graeme Gotz, Director: Research Strategy, Gauteng City-Region Observatory
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213095
2023-09-08T12:49:39Z
2023-09-08T12:49:39Z
Johannesburg fire: there was a plan to fix derelict buildings and provide good accommodation - how to move forward
<p>Thousands of Johannesburg inner-city residents occupy buildings in conditions like those that led to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/johannesburg-fire-disaster-why-eradicating-hijacked-buildings-is-not-the-answer-212732">fire at 80 Albert Street</a> that killed at least 77 people. They are living in derelict multi-storey buildings, former office blocks, sectional title buildings, tenements, warehouses and factories.</p>
<p>The residents are mostly informal, unsalaried or poorly paid workers. Some are unemployed or on welfare grants. They <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.18772/22019103849.16">can’t afford even the lowest priced formal rental</a> or social housing in the inner city. Even if they could, they would be excluded by high demand and low supply.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.18772/22019103849.20">The accommodation they can access</a> frequently lacks running water and sanitation, security, ventilation, lighting and formal electricity.</p>
<p>Rooms are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.18772/22019103849.21">subdivided</a> with wood or cardboard. Electricity cabling, candles, paraffin lamps and generators contribute to the ever-present pollution and risk of fire. Homes and families’ lives are carved in the shadows of failing or non-existent infrastructure.</p>
<p>We are academics in the fields of urban planning, architecture and housing. We’ve applied our expertise to questions of urbanisation, poverty, housing design and management, housing rights and the inner city over many years.</p>
<p>Various complex factors have led to the occupation of abandoned inner city buildings under precarious conditions. The city’s approach to this reality evolved into a sophisticated and nuanced <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/faculties-and-schools/-engineering-and-the-built-environment/architecture-and-planning/documents/jhb-innercity-housing-strategy2014-2021.pdf">housing plan adopted in 2017</a>. It was only partially implemented. While the city needs to refocus on this plan, immediate safety interventions are needed in occupied buildings. Many of them lend themselves to retrofitting or conversion. Existing management structures that involve residents offer lessons. </p>
<h2>Johannesburg’s intervention plans</h2>
<p>Constitutional jurisprudence protects what it calls “unlawful occupiers” from evictions that would lead to homelessness and requires the state to provide alternative accommodation. </p>
<p>Key to this jurisprudence, the 2011 <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/epdf/10.2989/CCR.2013.0011">Blue Moonlight case</a> put an end to the city’s policy of handing precariously occupied buildings to the private sector for profitable development.</p>
<p>The city has recognised that expansion of low-income housing is a critical part of the solution. In 2014 Mayor Parks Tau’s ANC administration <a href="https://www.gpma.co.za/news/ichip-presentation-2017/">commissioned a strategy and housing plan</a> which was approved by Herman Mashaba’s (DA-led) mayoral committee in 2017. The plan is concerned with the needs of the poor, though addressing all income groups. It takes an inclusive, contextual, practical approach that promotes choice.</p>
<p>The plan includes providing emergency services to critical buildings, and temporary emergency accommodation. It sets out strategies to increase supply of temporary and permanent housing by private providers, city entities and social housing institutions. This includes mechanisms for very low-income accommodation, including subsidised rental rooms.</p>
<p>The plan was well received but never adequately funded or <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-09-05-inner-city-housing-joburg-has-a-plan-it-just-hasnt-implemented-it/">carried out</a>. The projected budget for temporary emergency accommodation and alternative rental units for those evicted for 2017/2018 to 2021/22 was R561 million (US$29 million). Only just over one third was allocated.</p>
<p>In 2021, the city developed a <a href="https://joburg.org.za/departments_/Documents/Housing/TEAP%20Policy%20February%202021%20Approved.pdf">draft policy</a> for temporary emergency accommodation. It also reviewed the availability of such accommodation. Its housing department estimated it would need to provide 10,000 additional rooms or rental units to evicted communities. At the time under 2,000 units were already built, but mostly occupied or allocated. The city had projects to develop under 5,000 more units. Even if all current and future projects were fully funded and complete, which could take several years, they would cover less than half the existing need.</p>
<p>The approved plan acknowledged that criminals exploited residents by collecting rent in some buildings such as 80 Albert Street. The municipal-owned Johannesburg Property Company, which manages the city’s vast property portfolio, seemingly owner of several occupied buildings, has not released its inventory of properties.</p>
<p>Much of the housing plan’s analysis, approach and proposals remain relevant today. It has not been publicly available on the internet. We <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/faculties-and-schools/-engineering-and-the-built-environment/architecture-and-planning/documents/jhb-innercity-housing-strategy2014-2021.pdf">placed it</a> on the <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/cubes/publications/media-articles-podcast-and-popular-press/">Centre for Urbanism & Built Environment Studies website</a> to inform ongoing responses to the inner-city housing emergency.</p>
<h2>A way forward</h2>
<p>As government departments seek to make funds available, solutions must build on existing knowledge and plans, local insight, expertise, experience and ongoing dialogue. We recommend a multi-pronged and coordinated strategy.</p>
<p>Supply of emergency and temporary accommodation alone cannot solve the crisis. Similarly, militarised police solutions are unconstitutional and incapable of addressing housing and safety in the inner city.</p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic triggered <a href="https://www.newframe.com/lockdown-forces-ministry-to-address-shack-settlements/">innovative ideas for retrofitting interventions</a> in informal settings, including safe access to water. The roll-out of water tank to areas with insuffucient water supply showed a capacity to respond to crises. With this hindsight, relevant government departments should focus their budgets on providing basic safety for occupied buildings in the immediate term.</p>
<p>Immediate responses should not involve removing occupants but enhancing safety through fire hydrants and extinguishers, emergency exits and clearing blocked access routes. Climate funds should be used to retrofit occupied buildings with solar panels, rainwater harvesting and other “green” measures.</p>
<p>Temporary containers can be placed alongside buildings for secure storage of items. In time, alternative partitioning materials must be introduced. Where one-way fire doors and fire wells exist, emergency LED lighting and mechanical door closers can be fitted.</p>
<p>Several buildings and communities are ready for these incremental improvements. Occupying communities are organised. The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/p/Inner-city-federation-100069194417981/?paipv=0&eav=AfYM_UEIAaLdQqHtcbsI7GU7vCU8UVEhljOCeSUaUqwuOtFfXlAyGTH3eLsljeF6iv8&_rdr">Inner City Federation</a> already represents committees of over 70 buildings. They are mobilising to improve basic living conditions and to get rid of criminal syndicates. The <a href="https://icrc.org.za/">Inner-City Resource Centre</a> also has experience in community-based projects and engaging residents and the state. Collective tenure solutions such as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.18772/22019103849.18">community land trusts</a> can be considered.</p>
<p>Any accommodation with shared facilities requires high levels of management. Successful models include co-management with residents. These are already in place in several buildings. Where temporary shelters have become <em>de facto</em> permanent, urban management must adjust and not be abandoned, as at 80 Albert Street.</p>
<p>Opportunities for social housing and emergency shelter lie in the building register of the Johannesburg Property Company and other public entities. As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/may/25/spatial-apartheid-housing-activists-occupy-cape-town-gentrification">activists</a> and <a href="https://housingfinanceafrica.org/documents/urban-land-reform-in-south-africa-the-potential-of-public-property-and-impact-of-public-investments/">researchers</a> have pointed out, underused or vacant publicly owned land and buildings offer potential.</p>
<p>Private sector and social housing companies already respond in various ways with <a href="https://afhco.co.za/to-let/residential/">well managed low-income rental models</a>. However, qualification criteria and rents may just be <a href="https://developingeconomics.org/2021/11/10/inner-city-pressure-and-living-somewhere-in-between/">out of reach</a> for those in need. Faith-based organisations and non-profits have much to offer.</p>
<p>The challenges are global and responses in other contexts offer useful insights. Metropoles such as São Paulo have <a href="https://www.academia.edu/45033377/Ocupa%C3%A7%C3%B5es_de_moradia_no_centro_de_S%C3%A3o_Paulo_trajet%C3%B3rias_formas_de_apropria%C3%A7%C3%A3o_e_produ%C3%A7%C3%A3o_populares_do_espa%C3%A7o_e_sua_criminaliza%C3%A7%C3%A3o">extensive high-rise housing stock</a>, partly unused and informally occupied. In 2018, a building in São Paulo occupied by 171 families collapsed after a fire, killing seven people. In response, a multi-sector task force produced <a href="https://polis.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Situacao-das-ocupacoes-na-cidade-de-Sao-Paulo.pdf">a report</a> calling for measures to increase safety in occupied buildings. In some buildings, housing movements trained residents in disaster readiness – <a href="http://www.labcidade.fau.usp.br/brigada-de-incendio-do-prestes-maia-e-organizacao-das-familias-evita-tragedia/">preventing another potentially catastrophic fire</a>.</p>
<p>After <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40301289">London’s Grenfell Tower fire in 2017</a>, which killed 72 people, rules were amended governing surveys and plans, material flammability, fire safety equipment, signage and lights.</p>
<p>Architects have proposed <a href="https://normanfosterfoundation.org/?project=essential-homes-research-project">innovative</a> and just <a href="https://masteremergencyarchitecture.uic.es/blog/">solutions to crises</a> in other large metropoles. In Johannesburg, the current downturn in the building industry means new graduates are a potential workforce requiring practical experience. With state support, architects experienced in <a href="https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2013/05/20/marlboro_south.html">documentation</a>, <a href="https://docomomojournal.com/index.php/journal/article/view/167">renovation</a>, reuse of <a href="https://localstudio.co.za/architecture/multi-family-housing/">commercial</a> and <a href="https://savagedodd.co.za/Portfolio/slava-village-boksburg-johannesburg/">retail</a> space, and <a href="https://changebydesignjoburg.wordpress.com/change-by-design-2023-joburg/">participation</a> could mentor them.</p>
<p>We call for regular and institutionalised discussion forums in which academics, community leaders, NGOs and the private sector exchange insights with politicians and officials.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://affordablehousingactivation.org/experts/heather-dodd/">Heather Dodd</a>, a partner in Dodd + Savage Architects, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213095/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Huchzermeyer is a board member of the NGO Planact and a member of SACPLAN (the South African Council of Planners). She received funding from the NRF up until 2019. From 2016-2025 she receives funding from DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amira Osman receives funding from Amira Osman receives funding from The National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Tshwane University of Technology. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah le Roux receives funding from The National Research Foundation (NRF)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margot Rubin receives funding from the NRF through Off-Grid Cities project. I am also a visiting lecturer at the Wits School of Architecture and Planning and a visiting researcher at the GCRO.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon received funding from the Volkswagen Foundation "Knowledge for Tomorrow - Cooperative Research Projects in Sub-Saharan Africa" postdoctoral grant between 2013-2016</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>mfaniseni Fana Sihlongonyane receives funding from Gauteng City Region Observatory Board, Wits university. He is affiliated with South African Council of Planners and the Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies (CUBES).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Klug is a member of South African Council of Planners (SACPLAN) and the Centre for Urbanism and the Built Environment Studies (CUBES). He has worked for consultancies involved in low-income housing policy formulation, and contributed to the City of Johannesburg's Temporary Emergency Housing Provision (TEAP) policy as part of a consultancy led by Lawyers for Human Rights. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Harrison receives funding from the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Priscila Izar receives funding from the University of Witwatersrand Research Office and from the Urban Studies Foundation in Scotland. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Charlton has worked for consultancies involved in low-income housing strategy and policy, and contributed to the Inner City Housing Implementation Plan led by RebelGroup. She has received funding for research from the NRF, Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, British Academy and ESRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarita Pillay previously received funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF), IJURR Foundation and the Canon Collins Foundation for her PhD research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Zack consults in the field of low-income housing and informality strategy and policy development, and contributed to the Inner City Housing Implementation Plan led by RebelGroup.</span></em></p>
Armed police interventions are unconstitutional and incapable of addressing housing and safety in the inner city.
Marie Huchzermeyer, Professor, School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand
Amira Osman, Professor of Architecture and SARChI: DST/NRF/SACN Research Chair in Spatial Transformation (Positive Change in the Built Environment), Tshwane University of Technology
Hannah le Roux, Associate professor of Architecture, University of the Witwatersrand
Margot Rubin, Lecturer in Spatial Planning, Cardiff University
Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon, Writing fellow at the African Centre for Migration Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
Mfaniseni Fana Sihlongonyane, Professor of Development Planning and Urban Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
Neil Klug, Senior Lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand
Philip Harrison, Professor School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand
Priscila Izar, Centennial Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Architecture and Planning, Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
Sarah Charlton, Associate Professor, University of the Witwatersrand
Sarita Pillay Gonzalez, Lecturer in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand
Tanya Zack, Visiting senior lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212715
2023-09-07T13:28:04Z
2023-09-07T13:28:04Z
Why mothers and babies will suffer more as Africa grows hotter
<p><em>As Africa gets hotter, mothers and babies are most at risk. Why is this and what can be done about it? Matthew Chersich, a specialist in climate change and maternal health, explains the reasons to health editor Nadine Dreyer.</em></p>
<h2>What makes pregnant women particularly vulnerable to extreme heat?</h2>
<p>Many women in Africa have little or no protection against extreme heat events, with pregnancy being an particularly vulnerable period. High ambient temperatures may overwhelm the capacity of the maternal thermoregulatory mechanisms to dissipate heat in pregnancy.</p>
<p>Foetal metabolism generates considerable heat in the mother’s body. Then there is the strain from additional weight gain in pregnancy, fat deposits that retain heat, and the major exertion of labour and childbirth. </p>
<p>The foetus remains around 0.5°C warmer than the mother and thus if a mother has heat stress or a fever, the foetal temperature quickly reaches dangerous levels. </p>
<p>The most dangerous period is likely during <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ijgo.14381#:%7E:text=Extreme%20heat%20can%20overwhelm%20thermoregulatory,%2C%20preterm%20birth%2C%20and%20stillbirth.">childbirth</a>, when women generate remarkable levels of heat from the labour process. If this occurs during a heatwave it can increase complications, such as prolonged labour, increased emergency caesarean sections and maternal haemorrhage.</p>
<h2>What makes babies particularly vulnerable?</h2>
<p>Infants are dependent on their carers for protecting them against heat exposure. Some practices, such as over-swaddling, pose considerable risks as global temperatures rise. </p>
<p>Dehydration is also a major concern for young children, due to water loss through sweating or from gastroenteritis, which increases as food- and water-borne pathogens replicate more frequently and survive longer during warm weather.</p>
<p>Mothers may also supplement breastfeeding with water. In many areas, water is unsafe because of poor infrastructure. </p>
<p>Infants may breastfeed for shorter periods during hot weather as feeding can be uncomfortable for baby and mother in the heat. </p>
<p>In one of our studies in <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/10/e061297">Burkina Faso</a>, breastfeeding duration was about 25 minutes shorter on hot days compared to cold days.</p>
<h2>It is possible to quantify the effect of climate change on pregnant women and newborn babies?</h2>
<p>We are able to calculate the relative risk of adverse birth outcomes, such as preterm birth, which increases about <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10087975/">1.15 fold during heatwaves</a>. The key gap in the field is quantifying the absolute number of additional adverse outcomes that are occurring because of climate change. </p>
<p>Those figures would help people to appreciate the implications of climate change for maternal and child health. There are real concerns that extreme heat may reverse the previous gains made in maternal and child health, from childhood vaccines, for example.</p>
<p>In some of our work we estimated how many additional child deaths occurred in Africa from heat exposure. We showed that there were between 7,000 and 11,000 deaths from heat exposure in children in Africa annually that could be attributed to climate change. Unless we curb carbon emissions dramatically, <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac7ac5">heat-related child mortality</a> in Africa may reach over 38,000 a year in 2049. </p>
<p>A study of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935122009239">pregnant women in Johannesburg</a> showed that rates of severe hypertensive disorders in pregnancy increase by as much as 80% when temperatures exceed 23°C in early pregnancy. </p>
<h2>Do different health issues affect mothers and children?</h2>
<p>While the harms of exposure to extreme heat in pregnancy are well known, we do not yet have easy ways of calculating how much of that additional burden of disease is due to climate change, as opposed to natural variations in temperature. The methods for doing so are improving rapidly, however. </p>
<p>What is clear is that if South Africa experiences the kinds of temperatures that were seen in Europe and North America in 2023, there will be many thousands of additional pregnancy complications, all of which will be directly attributable to climate change.</p>
<h2>What are some practical solutions?</h2>
<p>There are a number of relatively simple, low cost <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/full/10.18772/26180197.2022.v4n3a7#:%7E:text=Then%2C%20during%20actual%20heatwaves%2C%20interventions,also%20may%20have%20high%20e%EF%AC%83cacy.">“cooling” interventions</a> which could be implemented at scale if countries in the global north kept to their funding commitments. </p>
<p>Each year high-income countries make major promises about climate financing, but have yet to deliver. They committed US$100 billion a year in the 2015 Paris Agreement and have delivered only a <a href="https://www.greenclimate.fund/about/resource-mobilisation/irm">tiny fraction</a> of that amount. </p>
<p>Low-cost interventions include painting roofs of houses or health facilities with white reflective paint, fans with evaporative cooling, providing cool water for women during labour and making “cooling centres” where women could go during a heatwave.</p>
<h2>What can pregnant women and communities do to reduce risks?</h2>
<p>On a local level there are behavioural changes that can benefit maternal health. Many pregnant women continue physical work even late in pregnancy, including walking long distances to collect water and firewood. A <a href="https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/abs/10.1289/isee.2021.O-SY-049">project</a> in Burkina Faso and Kenya tested a community-mobilisation intervention that aimed to reduce heavy workloads during pregnancy and early motherhood. Results of the project are promising.</p>
<p>Major changes must be made to built environments. The temperatures in many informal settlements are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32832385/">higher indoors</a> than they are outdoors, which can be devastating for expectant mothers. Higher night-time temperatures are especially concerning. Many healthcare facilities are similarly ill-equipped to provide pregnant women with cooler environments. </p>
<p>All the interventions mentioned above can provide some degree of protection against the current level of heat exposure women face, but will be poorly effective against the kinds of temperatures that we will experience in five to 10 years’ time. </p>
<p>We know almost nothing about what could be done to prevent mass mortality events at temperatures around 50-55°C in settings where air conditioning is not feasible and the population is not accustomed to those temperatures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Chersich receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, US National Institutes of Health and the European Union </span></em></p>
Africa has made good progress towards reducing maternal mortality and newborn deaths over the past decade. But climate change is reversing the gains.
Matthew Cherisch, Associate Professor at the Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Institute, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212732
2023-09-02T09:29:19Z
2023-09-02T09:29:19Z
Johannesburg fire disaster: why eradicating hijacked buildings is not the answer
<p>The fire that killed at least 76 people in a five storey building <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/joburg-fire-dying-in-agony-in-a-city-owned-deathtrap-20230901">in Johannesburg</a> on 31 August is not an isolated incident, and has elicited the usual unhelpful response from some city officials and politicians.</p>
<p>They <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=561932315&rlz=1C1FKPE_enZA996ZA996&sxsrf=AB5stBgsuLcpby9TilRBTN3Gns0ydPwoyg:1693575557197&q=herman+mashaba&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiVpvLLxImBAxX1SPEDHTxoD4YQ0pQJegQIChAB&biw=1707&bih=762&dpr=1.13#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:3cd64a0c,vid:WiQrZI9EwjY">have placed the blame</a> on the informal occupation of abandoned buildings, a phenomenon known as “hijacking”. They have also blamed immigrant populations who, they say, are the primary residents of such buildings. To solve the problem, they argue, hijacked buildings should be expropriated and redeveloped by the private sector.</p>
<p>A politician in the city council <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2023-08-31-joburg-inferno-raises-questions-over-citys-service-delivery-failures/">has also called</a> for “mass deportations” of “illegal foreigners”.</p>
<p>Based on my work as a researcher on how cities are built and transform at the <a href="https://www.gcro.ac.za/">Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO)</a>, I argue that all of this is a distraction from the urgent work of reducing risks in the living environments of the poor, and reducing the risk of fire more generally. The observatory, a partnership between the Gauteng provincial government, the universities of the Witwatersrand and Johannesburg, and the South African Local Government Association, builds the data and analysis to help inform development in the Gauteng City-Region.</p>
<p>The rhetoric by politicians and city officials treats the latest tragedy as a freakish problem of hijacked buildings occupied by migrant populations. Yet as human geographer <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351261562-16/catastrophe-usual-nigel-clark">Nigel Clark</a> sadly notes, it is important to acknowledge the way in which catastrophes are a normal part of life – particularly for vulnerable groups – rather than exceptional or unusual events. </p>
<p>In Johannesburg, fires are not limited to “hijacked” buildings. They have also occurred in legally occupied buildings. Furthermore, fires are not a specific risk to inner city populations. They are a regular occurrence in shack settlements across the city. The use of this tragedy by some politicians to argue in favour of removing hijacked buildings is part of a longstanding pattern of blaming the poor for the conditions and justifying further suffering that they wish to heap on them. </p>
<h2>A pervasive problem</h2>
<p>There is no doubt that unscrupulous or negligent informal landlords bear much responsibility for failing to ensure basic fire safety. Yet this problem is not limited to hijacked buildings.</p>
<p>In 2018, emergency services were unable to contain a fire at the <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/bank-of-lisbon-fire-das-jack-bloom-accuses-govt-of-covering-up-findings-20221125">Bank of Lisbon Building</a> in downtown Johannesburg because there was insufficient water pressure in the building and no fire suppression systems had been installed. </p>
<p>Three firefighters died, and the building itself was subsequently demolished. The building had not been illegally occupied; it was rented by the Gauteng provincial government, which <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/joburgfire-firefighters-leave-building-due-to-low-water-pressure-16915344">was aware</a> that the building was non-compliant in advance of the incident. </p>
<p>Three years later, emergency services were hampered in their efforts to contain the fire at a public hospital, <a href="https://www.medicalbrief.co.za/what-really-happened-in-the-charlotte-maxeke-hospital-fire/">Charlotte Maxeke</a>, by incompatible fire hydrant couplings. As these cases show, eradicating “hijacked” buildings would not have solved failures to comply with fire regulations in legally occupied buildings in the city.</p>
<p>Nor would eradicating “hijacked” buildings remove the risk of fire posed to low income groups across the city as a whole. In Johannesburg more than one in ten households lives in an informal dwelling outside the city centre, either in shack settlements or in back yards. This is calculated from the Gauteng City-Region Observatory’s <a href="https://www.gcro.ac.za/research/project/detail/quality-life-survey-vi-202021/">Quality of Life 6 survey 2020/21</a>. </p>
<p>These kinds of settlements are also prone to fires as a result of the materials used to construct dwellings, the density of settlements and the risky sources of energy for heating, cooking and light. </p>
<p>Once again, some politicians and officials have arrived at the idea that since these settlements are not fit for human habitation, they should be eliminated. In 2006 the elected representative responsible for housing in the KwaZulu-Natal province announced <a href="https://abahlali.org/files/KZN%20Slums%20Act.pdf">legislation</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>to provide for the progressive elimination of slums. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It would have forced private land owners to evict shack dwellers. But the shack dwellers movement <a href="https://abahlali.org/">Abahlali Basemjondolo</a> successfully <a href="https://abahlali.org/node/date/2009/10/">challenged</a> this initiative in the Constitutional Court.</p>
<h2>Disposable lives</h2>
<p>According to the geographer <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2009.00835.x">Martin Murray</a>, shack fires underscore the disposability of the lives of the poor. South Africa’s acute levels of inequality and poverty mean that some people can afford to buy their way out of risks while others cannot. </p>
<p>Inner city occupations and shack settlements alike are the inevitable consequence of the fact that huge populations of people have to get by without a living wage. If these households earned higher wages, they would not choose to live in places that were at risk of fire, flooding and other potential disasters. </p>
<p>As with the push to evict shack dwellers, the impulse to evict the residents of hijacked buildings conflates unsafe living conditions with those who live in them. A similar conflation occurs on the imagined solution: eradicating the problem means eradicating communities of people in which the problem manifests. In other words, the language of eradication blames the victims of social inequality for their own suffering, and sets the stage for exposing them to further risk.</p>
<h2>Helping without eradicating</h2>
<p>Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s president, <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2023/08/31/joburg-cbd-fire-wake-up-call-for-govt-to-provide-habitable-housing-ramaphosa">stated</a> that the fire was a wake up call for the government to provide habitable housing. Government does indeed have a vital role to play in promoting the right to decent housing for all. It needs to do so in a way that takes into account the full complexity of the structural conditions at play, providing giveaway housing, or working with other stakeholders to correct for failings in the housing market that leave poor and working class people without affordable options. </p>
<p>A good example is the City of Johannesburg’s recent <a href="https://housingfinanceafrica.org/app/uploads/City-of-Johannesburg-Inclusionary-Housing-2019.pdf">inclusionary housing policy</a> that obliges developers to include affordable housing in all projects. Much more should be done by the state to provide housing. </p>
<p>Yet informal settlements and illegal occupations of inner city buildings will not be eradicated – no matter how many houses the state builds – as long as <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southafrica/overview">acute levels of unemployment and poverty</a> continue. Rather than abandoning residents of such places until they can be formally accommodated, or rendering them homeless through eviction, they need to be supported where they live or provided with alternative accommodation. </p>
<p>The living environments of the poor can be made less risky. The epidemic of shack fires can be reduced with fire breaks and fire fighting infrastructure. Similarly, the risk of fire in inner city buildings can be reduced by enforcing tried and tested fire regulations: ensuring that fire escapes and fire fighting infrastructure are functional. Authorities should compel landlords – whether informal or formal – to implement them. </p>
<p>These and many other measures – rather than the impulse to “eradicate” – are the basis through which society cares for vulnerable people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) is primarily funded by the Gauteng Provincial Government. </span></em></p>
Inner city occupations and shack settlements alike are the inevitable consequence of the fact that huge populations of people have to get by without a living wage.
Richard Ballard, Chief Researcher: Gauteng City-Region Observatory, Wits University and University of Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207317
2023-06-22T08:45:54Z
2023-06-22T08:45:54Z
Cities are central to our future – they have the power to make, or break, society’s advances
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530867/original/file-20230608-3016-2sh956.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dharavi slum in India. Billions of people live in terrible conditions in the world's cities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Punit Paranje/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We live in tumultuous times. In the space of just a few years, we have witnessed a surge in <a href="https://ppr.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/lseppr.4">populist politics across the world</a>, a <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">global pandemic</a>, a spike in <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/weather-related-disasters-increase-over-past-50-years-causing-more-damage-fewer">environmental disasters</a> and a fraying of geopolitical relations demonstrated by the <a href="https://www.ft.com/war-in-ukraine">tragic war in Ukraine</a> and <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-taiwan-relations-tension-us-policy-biden">escalating tensions over Taiwan</a>.</p>
<p>That has all occurred against a backdrop of dramatic technological changes that are fundamentally altering the way we work and relate to one another. </p>
<p>Our future is in the balance. Cities will be central to our fate, for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, they are now home to <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview#:%7E:text=Today%2C%20some%2056%25%20of%20the,billion%20inhabitants%20%E2%80%93%20live%20in%20cities">over half of the global population</a>, a share that will rise to <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html">two-thirds by 2050</a>. That is something never before seen in human history, and means that the forces shaping life in cities now also shape our world as a whole. </p>
<p>Second, cities throughout history have been the engines of human progress. Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.</p>
<p>This article draws on a book I co-authored with Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together</a>, which has just been published by Bloomsbury. As the book’s subtitle highlights, we need to ensure that we create more inclusive and sustainable cities if all our societies are to thrive. </p>
<h2>Cities as seats of populist revolt</h2>
<p>The great paradox of modern globalisation is that declining friction in the movement of people, goods and information has made where you live more important than ever. Appreciation of the complexity of globalisation has come a long way since the early 2000s, when American political commentator Thomas Friedman’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-History-Twenty-first-Century/dp/0374292884">The World is Flat </a> and British academic Frances Cairncross’s <a href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/the-death-of-distance-how-the-communications-revolution-is-changing-our-lives-distance-isn-t-what-it-used-to-be">The Death of Distance</a> captured the public’s imagination. </p>
<p>We now know that, far from making the world flat, globalisation has made it spiky. </p>
<p>The growing concentration of wealth and power in major urban metropolises is toxifying our politics. The wave of populist politics engulfing many countries is often built on anger against cosmopolitan urban elites. This has been given expression through <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887">Brexit in Britain</a>, and in support for anti-establishment politicians in the US, France, Italy, Sweden and other countries. </p>
<p>A common thread of all these populist movements is the notion that mainstream politicians, business leaders and media figures cocooned in big cities have let the rest of their countries down and lost interest in “left behind” places and people. </p>
<p>These populist revolts against dynamic cities are rooted in real grievances based on stagnating wages and soaring inequality. </p>
<p>A transformational effort to spread economic opportunity is long overdue. But undermining dynamic cities is not the way to do that. Cities like London, New York and Paris – and in the developing world Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Shanghai, Cairo, Johannesburg and Lagos – are engines of economic growth and job creation without which their respective national economies would be crippled.</p>
<p>What’s more, many of these cities continue to harbour profound inequalities of their own, driven by wildly unaffordable housing and broken education systems, among other things. They are also in a state of flux, thanks to the rise of remote working.</p>
<p>In places like San Francisco, offices and shops are suffering, municipal taxes are declining and businesses that depend on intense footfall – from barbers to buskers – are under threat. So too are public transport systems, many of which depend on mass commuting and are haemorrhaging cash.</p>
<p>All countries, therefore, are in dire need of a new urban agenda, grounded in an appreciation of the power of large cities – when designed properly – to not just drive economic activity and creativity, but also bring together people from many different walks of life, building social cohesion and combating loneliness. </p>
<p>But our focus must extend beyond the rich world. It is in developing countries where most of the growth in cities and the world’s population is taking place. Overcoming poverty, addressing the Sustainable Development Goals and addressing climate change, pandemics and other threats requires that we find solutions in cities around the world. </p>
<h2>Dangers posed for cities in the developing world</h2>
<p>Developing countries now account for most of the world’s city-dwellers, thanks to decades of dramatic urban growth.</p>
<p>In some cases, such as China, rapid urbanisation has been the result of a process of economic modernisation that has lifted large swathes of the population out of poverty. </p>
<p>In others, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, urbanisation and economic development have been disconnected, with rural deprivation and the flight from danger playing a greater role in the migration to cities than urban opportunity. </p>
<p>Either way, cities are now where the world’s poor are choosing to live. And many of their cities are giant and overcrowded, with residents too often living in appalling conditions. </p>
<p>Appreciating what is happening in the cities of the developing world is essential if poverty is to be overcome. It also is vital if we are to understand why contagious diseases are making a comeback. Modern pandemics, from HIV to COVID-19, have their origins in these cities. </p>
<p>Crowded conditions are coinciding with a number of other trends in poor countries, including rapid deforestation, intensive livestock farming and the consumption of bushmeat, to increase the risk of diseases transferring from animals to humans and gaining a foothold in the population. </p>
<p>From there, connectivity between the world’s cities, particularly via airports, makes them a catalyst for the global dissemination of deadly diseases. That means that dreadful living conditions in many developing world cities are not only a pressing humanitarian and development issue, but also a matter of global public health. </p>
<p>Tremendous progress has been made in the past two centuries in <a href="https://wellcome.org/news/reforming-infectious-disease-research-development-ecosystem">combating infectious diseases</a>, but the tide is turning against us. Cities will be the principal battleground for the fight ahead. </p>
<p>Cities are also where humanity’s battle against climate change will be won or lost. Ocean rise, depletion of vital water resources and urban heatwaves risk making many cities uninhabitable. Coastal cities, which account for nearly all global urban growth, are particularly vulnerable. </p>
<p>While rich cities such as Miami, Dubai and Amsterdam are threatened, developing world cities such as Mumbai, Jakarta and Lagos are even more vulnerable due to the cost of developing sea walls, drainage systems and other protective measures. </p>
<p>At the same time, cities, <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/cutting-global-carbon-emissions-where-do-cities-stand">which account for 70% of global emissions</a>, will be at the heart of efforts to mitigate climate change. From encouraging public transport use and the adoption of electric vehicles to developing better systems for heating and waste management, there is much they need to do.</p>
<p>In 1987, Margaret Thatcher is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-quotes">reported to have declared</a>: “There is no such thing as society”, only “individual men and women and families”. In fact, <em>Homo sapiens</em> is a social creature, and our collective prosperity depends on the strength of the bonds between us. If we are to survive the turmoil that lies ahead, we must rediscover our ability to act together. Since their emergence five millennia ago, cities have been central to that. We cannot afford to let them fail.</p>
<p><em>Ian Goldin and Tom Lee-Devlin, <a href="https://linktr.ee/ageofthecity">Age of the City: Why our Future will be Won or Lost Together, Bloomsbury, June 2023</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207317/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Goldin receives funding from Citibank, and the Allan and Gill Gray Foundation.
</span></em></p>
Cities are where solutions are found – but also where perils are amplified when we fail to act.
Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development; Director of the Oxford Martin Programmes on Technological and Economic Change, The Future of Work and the Future of Development, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201716
2023-05-07T08:28:51Z
2023-05-07T08:28:51Z
Mental health: almost half of Johannesburg students in new study screened positive for probable depression
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522267/original/file-20230421-15-slnlgo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wesley Lazarus/Shutterstock </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Depression is a mental health disorder characterised by a persistently low mood or loss of interest in activities. It causes significant impairment in daily life. Possible causes include a combination of biological, psychological and social sources of distress. </p>
<p>It’s a major mental illness that largely goes undiagnosed. Survey <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.187.6.495">estimates</a> put the lifetime risk of depression at 10%. This makes depression one of the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression#:%7E:text=Approximately%20280%20million%20people%20in%20the%20world%20have%20depression%20(1)">most common mental illnesses</a>. In 2019, the World Health Organization estimated that <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression#:%7E:text=Approximately%20280%20million%20people%20in%20the%20world%20have%20depression%20(1)">280 million</a> people in the world – about 3.8% of the population – had depression. </p>
<p>Projections for South Africa are alarming, with research suggesting that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4038770/">one in three people</a> will experience depression, anxiety or a substance use disorder in their lifetime. </p>
<p>University students are particularly at <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30211576/">high risk</a> of depression. One South African study estimated that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2016.1178120">24.2%</a> of university students have mild depression, and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07448481.2016.1178120">12.4%</a> have moderate to severe depression. Globally, an average of about <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/manuscript/2018-44951-001.pdf#page=17">21%</a> of university students have major depressive disorder.</p>
<p>This is concerning because students with depression face very specific challenges. These include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>worse <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7793438/">academic outcomes</a></p></li>
<li><p>low productivity</p></li>
<li><p>more likely to struggle with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15060400/">alcohol abuse</a> in their adulthood </p></li>
<li><p>and high <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21823951/">rates of suicide</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>It is clear that this population group needs targeted interventions. Up-to-date research on the prevalence and drivers of depression among students is crucial to inform potential interventions in this group.</p>
<p>The studies that have been done in South Africa do not cover the student population across the country. There’s a lack of data on the prevalence and drivers of depression among students in Johannesburg. Johannesburg is South Africa’s main commercial city and has the country’s highest population of students. To address this gap, we recently conducted an <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1018197/full">online survey</a> among undergraduate students at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.</p>
<p>Almost half of the study participants screened positive for probable depression. Probable depression was associated with socio-demographic factors such as economic status, and modifiable behavioural factors such as substance use. These two factors are commonly identified correlates of depression in this group. The prevalence of probable depression among undergraduate students in this study was high relative to the general population. Our findings are an important step towards helping universities tailor mental health programmes to students’ needs.</p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>We used the <a href="https://aidsetc.org/sites/default/files/resources_files/PHQ-2_English.pdf">Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2)</a> to assess the prevalence of probable depression. We also identified factors associated with probable depression. These factors included age, marital status and substance use (alcohol, cannabis, tobacco and other substances). </p>
<p>We had a response rate was 8.4% (1,046/12,404). Though low, such response rates are common in online surveys. While our survey should be interpreted with caution, the key findings are similar to other <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32664032/">studies elsewhere</a>.</p>
<p>Forty-eight per cent (439/910) screened positive for probable depression.</p>
<p>Certain socio-demographic factors were associated with lower odds of screening positive for probable depression. Students who identified as white were 36% less likely than black students to screen positive for depression. Those who could afford the most important things – but few luxury goods – were 50% less likely to screen positive for depression than those who had enough money for food and clothes, but were short of many other things.</p>
<p>Students with enough money for luxury goods and extra things were 56% less likely than those who had enough money for food and clothes, but were short of many other things, to screen positive for depression. These findings are similar to a recent <a href="https://sajp.co.za/index.php/SAJP/article/view/1795">study</a> among undergraduate physiotherapy clinical students. </p>
<p>Students who reported substance use had higher odds of screening positive for probable depression. But the probabilities varied based on the substance used. </p>
<p>Those reporting using cannabis were 29% more likely than students who didn’t use cannabis to screen positive for probable depression. It’s important to note that the global <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/association-between-cannabis-use-and-depression-a-systematic-review-and-metaanalysis-of-longitudinal-studies/B144B7AE5A3D973289DBDD99ADE21E58">findings</a> on the <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2723657">association</a> between cannabis use and depression <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17662880/">vary</a>. But our finding is an important consideration given the legal use of cannabis in South Africa.</p>
<p>Reported alcohol use was common in our study. But it was not associated with screening positive for probable depression. This is contrary to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.14935">findings</a> from other <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31733662/">studies</a>. Our study did not find an association between tobacco use and screening positive for probable depression. But other <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2458-9-356">researchers</a> have reported a strong association between smoking and depression in adolescents and adults. While we did not find significant associations between alcohol and tobacco use and screening positive for depression, we believe these are important correlates. Alcohol and tobacco are often used as coping mechanisms for individuals with depression. </p>
<h2>Recommendations</h2>
<p>The odds of screening positive for depression were associated with specific sociodemographic and selected behavioural factors. </p>
<p>Mental health professionals working with undergraduate students at the University of Witwatersrand should strengthen mental health (including depression) and risk factors (substance use) screening and referral for treatment services. </p>
<p>In addition, these findings call for strengthening the awareness and use of existing counselling services among undergraduate students at the campus and other services out of the university campus, such as the South African Depression and Anxiety Group’s <a href="https://www.sadag.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11&Itemid=114">help line</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201716/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Msafiri Francis receives funding from the South Africa National Research Foundation (NRF) and the University of the Witwatersrand. </span></em></p>
University students are particularly at high risk of depression. One global study suggests 21% of students have major depressive disorder.
Joel Msafiri Francis, Senior Researcher, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200842
2023-03-06T15:01:22Z
2023-03-06T15:01:22Z
The real Johannesburg: 6 powerful photos from a gritty new book on the city
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513197/original/file-20230302-29-6rlu6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An abandoned gold mine in Johannesburg, South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/wake-up-this-is-joburg">Wake Up, This is Joburg</a> is a collaboration between photographer Mark Lewis and urban planner and writer Tanya Zack. Striking images and beautiful texts follow 10 stories the team discovered in urban Johannesburg, South Africa. Each chapter captures many overlapping stories that come together around a character, a place or an activity. The book is an ethnographic portrait of one of Africa’s most vibrant and intriguing cities. We asked for the stories behind six of its images.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Chopping s'kop</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Several men chop and handle meat on makeshift tables, animal parts strewn on the floor." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513187/original/file-20230302-18-ot9q1p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chopping cowheads in Kazerne parking garage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The most marginal of the activities and spaces the stories explore is the informal butchers who chop up cow heads in a disused parking garage in the heart of the inner city. The condemned building is next to formal structures and within view of banking head offices. </p>
<p>The cow heads, or s'kop, are bought for R10 (US$0.55) each by nearby formal butcheries and delivered to them in shopping trolleys. Every part is sold in this marginal economy. Flesh is stripped off the skull, bones are taken to be crushed for bone meal, and skins enter a unique processing operation in invisible spaces in the city and transformed into an edible form. </p>
<p>Andile Nkomo from KwaZulu-Natal province is the most muscular of the six butchers on the day we first visit and, we soon discover, the most active. But he admits his output varies. On mornings after he’s worked as a bouncer at a <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/10-things-to-know-about-hillbrow-johannesburgs-notorious-neighbourhood/">Hillbrow</a> nightclub, he is not in peak form. “On a good day I chop 60 heads,” he says as he slams his axe repeatedly into skulls on the wooden industrial cable spool that is the butchers’ block.</p>
<h2>2. Breakfast on the run</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands in a dark space under a bridge in a beam of bright light, taking bread from a bag behind a table used for food preparation." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513182/original/file-20230302-28-jk5p08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Monica Chauke serves customised breakfasts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Competition within the informal economy is tight. At the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-minibus-taxi-industry-has-been-marginalised-for-too-long-this-must-change-142060">minibus taxi</a> binding point Zola, micro-entrepreneurs offer barber services and sell food, snacks, socks, window wipers, mobile phone accessories and bumper stickers.</p>
<p>Stallholder Monica Chauke, originally from Limpopo province, is unperturbed by the competition for the appetites of the 600 taxi drivers. She knows that by midday she will have sold out of her unique offering and made her US$16 daily profit. Her niche is simple: she serves only breakfast. But there’s nothing simple about it. Monica has, over four years, worked out who likes what and caters to the specific tastes of her customers. This means making six egg-and-tomato, three cheese-and-tomato and four chicken-mayonnaise sandwiches, as well as six cheeseburgers each morning. And baking scones, frying balls of dough called <a href="https://theculturecook.com/recipe-afrikaner-vetkoek.html">vetkoek</a>, preparing a soup of beans and bones and making a meat stew. Her commitment to providing variety no matter how small the quantity has earned her loyal customers.</p>
<p>Monica wakes at 2am to prepare and package the food and the equipment she brings here. “I want to work here because no one is controlling me. It’s for myself,” she says. “My boyfriend brings and fetches me each day.” In his car? “No, in my car. He drives it.”</p>
<h2>3. Bed room</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An older woman rests in bed, looking directly at the camera without smiling, papers stuck to the wall above her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513185/original/file-20230302-14-irnppr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Birthial Gxaleka runs a shelter in a one-bedroom apartment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From her bed in a small Hillbrow apartment, Birthial Gxaleka – a nurse from the Eastern Cape province – runs a non-governmental organisation and shelter. Her tenants share her one-bedroomed space, sleeping and living on a large raft of beds that leaves only a narrow corridor of standing room. At any one time, there are up to 34 residents, because it is rare for Birthial to turn anyone away. </p>
<p>Each person wants to make their way in the world: find a job, reconnect with lost family, get access to healthcare or simply secure a decent place to sleep. </p>
<p>In the inner city’s high-rise flatland, at human densities 10 times greater than Hong Kong, people find ways to get on with things.</p>
<h2>4. Under the city</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with a spry expression leans against a broken balustrade, his tattered clothes covered in dust." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513188/original/file-20230302-24-3c9y13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nandos Simao digs for gold in abandoned mines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“This park is closed until further notice. Entry strictly forbidden.” This is the sign at the entrance to the place where the metal that would make this the wealthiest gold-producing city on the planet was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Johannesburg-South-Africa/History">first discovered</a>. It does not deter anyone. Least of all those with the grit to seek a living or a fortune in the abandoned mine shafts of the Witwatersrand reef.</p>
<p>Known as zama zamas (those who keep trying), they work the dumps and cavities underneath the city. We visit the Langlaagte belt, which contains more unmined gold than any other vein in Johannesburg’s gold reef. They call it FNB (First National Bank). Here zama zamas of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicity use the same ancient pick and shovel method to wrestle with the rock face. </p>
<p>It is Nandos Simao, leaning in elegant repose against the remains of a concrete wall, who catches our attention. The 23-year-old Mozambican lives in the Orange Farm informal settlement with two fellow miners, his cousins. The youngest is 17.</p>
<p>There are many ways to die underground. But it’s a livelihood on which whole settlements depend. Indeed, MaLetsatsi Mamogele is digging for gold under her shack in Fleurhof, a working class suburb west of Johannesburg. </p>
<h2>5. Good riddance</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="In dim light, men pull trolleys with shiny containers loaded with cardboard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513191/original/file-20230302-28-6nw65j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lucas Ngwenya recycles cardboard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Young Mozambican Lucas Ngwenya and his two South African friends have lined up. It’s 6am. There’s a cold wind blowing on this open piece of land suspended between the private estate of the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/nicky-oppenheimer/?sh=604e34ce3b93">Oppenheimers</a>, South Africa’s wealthiest family, and the headquarters of Hollard Insurance. It’s 4°C as the men begin their 5km trip to the recycling depot in Newtown to sell the materials they’ve collected from suburban dustbins over a fortnight. It will take two-and-a-half hours to drag their gargantuan loads.</p>
<p>Lucas seemingly has the lightest burden, but points out that the cardboard, which occupies double the capacity of his plastic quilted bag, will weigh in at over 150kg. The plastic bottles and white paper will bring this to 265kg. His body mass is 61kg. When he arrives at the depot he will be asked for R10 “for cool drink” as he cashes in his load. Because, the cashier says, she has been generous with the amounts she has recorded.</p>
<h2>6. Tony dreams in yellow and blue</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A visually rich exterior of a house with vintage cars, a mural of a town near water, a windmill, a statue of a tower, concrete wagon wheels and creepers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513192/original/file-20230302-17-c8ng8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tony Martins creates a palace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tony Martins built his first house in Madeira, Portugal, in his early 20s – because his wife’s mother “wouldn’t let me take her until I had a house to live in”. Some 30 years later he’s transforming his modest home in Johannesburg’s “old south” into a veritable castle – using objects he finds at waste dumps. Tony is an outsider artist.</p>
<p>He admits he cannot stop himself. “I sleep for two or three hours, and then I wake and think what else I can do. Then I have to do them in the day.”</p>
<p>The house is a wonder of lights and murals, of manikins in domes and on motorbikes on the roof, of a traffic light and windmill and of multiple staircases with balustrades fashioned from found tennis racquets and bicycle wheels. It is the sort of delightful outcome of a city not intervening in the authentic expression and private worlds that are possible in urban spaces where excess, waste and cosmopolitanism collide.</p>
<p><em>The book is <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/wake-up-this-is-joburg">available</a> from Duke University Press</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200842/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Zack does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From butchers to hawkers, and shelters to miners, this book reveals the informal economy and texture of the city.
Tanya Zack, Visiting researcher, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/197952
2023-01-23T14:52:01Z
2023-01-23T14:52:01Z
Power cuts in South Africa are playing havoc with the country’s water system
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505843/original/file-20230123-12-lq4erj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ethembeni informal settlement near Cape Town covered in sewage water after a pipe burst in August 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africans had to deal with the worst ever series of power cuts in 2022. All in all the country lost a record <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/18/energy/ramaphosa-davos-south-africa-blackouts/index.html">205 days</a> of electricity due to constant breakdowns at the coal-fired power plants run by Eskom, the state-owned electricity utility. The plants are old and have not been sufficiently maintained. </p>
<p>The country’s energy crisis has been escalating since <a href="https://www.myggsa.co.za/when-did-load-shedding-first-start-in-south-africa/">April 2008</a>, when scheduled power cuts were first implemented. </p>
<p>One of the biggest casualties of more than a decade of severe power outages has been the country’s water processing and distribution networks. The most recent, and escalated, <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/south-africas-electricity-crisis-four-full-months-of-power-cuts-fuelling-violent-crime-12773561">blackouts</a> have led to water utilities in parts of the country issuing <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/657023/metros-hits-with-water-outages-due-to-load-shedding/">warnings</a> about damage to water supply infrastructure and operations. </p>
<p>The negative effects on water supply are far-reaching. Energy and water are intertwined. The water reticulation system – the transport of water from source, the treatment of water and sewage and the distribution and delivery of water to <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/EJC115383">consumers</a> – all require electricity. </p>
<p>A number of cities, including <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/Pages/Media/Media%20Statements/2020%20Media%20Statements/September%202020/Load-shedding-affects-water-supply.aspx">Johannesburg</a> and <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/trending/637723/does-south-africa-have-a-water-crisis-or-simply-a-water-problem/">Nelson Mandela Bay</a>, as well as smaller towns, have had drastic water cuts. </p>
<p>These experiences – as well as the growing frequency of <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/features-analysis/sewage-pollution-at-cape-town-beaches-exacerbated-by-loadshedding/">sewage spills</a> – have given South Africans a glimpse of what the future might hold if the energy crisis isn’t properly addressed. <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/trending/637723/does-south-africa-have-a-water-crisis-or-simply-a-water-problem/">Water shortages</a> and prolonged <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/Pages/Media/Media%20Statements/2020%20Media%20Statements/September%202020/Load-shedding-affects-water-supply.aspx">cuts in supply</a> are likely to become increasingly common.</p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>A typical piped water supply system consists of the following:</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505715/original/file-20230122-7807-6w3eay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505715/original/file-20230122-7807-6w3eay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=116&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505715/original/file-20230122-7807-6w3eay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=116&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505715/original/file-20230122-7807-6w3eay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=116&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505715/original/file-20230122-7807-6w3eay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505715/original/file-20230122-7807-6w3eay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505715/original/file-20230122-7807-6w3eay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Water Reticulation System.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Water processing and distribution networks require electricity to pump water, for example, to water towers and reservoirs and then to consumers. Prolonged power cuts halt this process if no suitable back-up pumps are in place. </p>
<p>The same applies to water treatment plants. Prolonged power outages can cause sewage spills if no working back-up pumps are in place. </p>
<p>The power cuts have:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>further damaged already dilapidated and aged water infrastructure. The City of Cape Town is a case in point. The city’s systems are in danger of collapsing unless new investments are made to avoid or <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/load-shedding-threatens-city-of-cape-towns-r800m-investment-in-electricity-infrastructure-20221217">limit further damage</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>slowed or cut off water distribution and delivery as the water reticulation system requires energy (for example working pumps). Without a continued required level of pressure in a pumping-based transmission and distribution system, water can’t be distributed and delivered to the <a href="https://www.hydroserv.com.au/water-reticulation/">consumer</a>. In Johannesburg, reservoirs have been unable to recover during severe power cuts. Some have reached critically low levels, leading to intermittent water supply, low water pressure and in some instances <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/Pages/Media/Media%20Statements/2020%20Media%20Statements/September%202020/Load-shedding-affects-water-supply.aspx">prolonged water outages</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>affected reticulation infrastructure. This is because sewage pump stations have broken due to old age and non-maintenance causing <a href="https://www.esi-africa.com/features-analysis/sewage-pollution-at-cape-town-beaches-exacerbated-by-loadshedding/">sewage spills</a>. Multiple beaches have been closed in <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/news/ongoing-sewer-spills-affect-false-bay-beaches-b814b4cb-515d-48b8-8fa8-8bd3ebe571d9">Cape Town</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/durban-coastline-sewage-polluted-beaches-pose-threat-to-holiday-makers-and-the-environment-196244">eThekwini</a> municipalities due to unacceptable E. coli levels, attributed to pumps either not working or breaking, leading to sewage spills. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The problems triggered by the power cuts have been made worse by the fact that the country’s water infrastructure <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-biggest-cities-are-out-of-water-but-the-dams-are-full-whats-gone-wrong-192762">has been deteriorating for decades</a>. Water losses have been increasing as a result of decaying infrastructure such as old pipes which haven’t been replaced. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-increasing-water-stress-requires-urgent-informed-actions-189659">South Africa's increasing water stress requires urgent informed actions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The country also suffers from unsustainable water demands – there isn’t enough water available to meet increasing water demands from various sectors and consumers. Continued water pollution also decreases the amount of water that’s fit for use or consumption, contributing to water stress.</p>
<p>In addition, allegations of corruption and misappropriation of funds have also plagued the sector. </p>
<h2>Some solutions?</h2>
<p>Water utilities have recognised the increase in water disruptions and outages. </p>
<p>Consumers have been urged to:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>use less water during prolonged outages to decrease the risk of limiting water <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/Pages/Media/Media%20Statements/2020%20Media%20Statements/September%202020/Load-shedding-affects-water-supply.aspx">supply</a>. Decreasing water consumption assists municipalities in dealing with <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/city-of-cape-town-warns-of-water-supply-limitations-caused-by-load-shedding-20230115">operational challenges</a> such as water towers and reservoirs reaching critically low levels.</p></li>
<li><p>ensure they have water to last through the power outage (4 hours or more). </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Other steps have been taken too:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Water restrictions have been imposed to decrease <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/load-shedding-likely-to-have-impact-on-water-supply-in-joburg-says-water-utility-20220919">consumption</a>, for example in the City of Johannesburg. </p></li>
<li><p>The City of Johannesburg is establishing contracts to lease mobile generators, specifically for prolonged <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/Pages/Media/Media%20Statements/2020%20Media%20Statements/September%202020/Load-shedding-affects-water-supply.aspx">power outages</a>. </p></li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/18/energy/ramaphosa-davos-south-africa-blackouts/index.html">National Energy Crisis Committee</a>, a body run out of the president’s office, has proposed various measures such as importing energy from neighbouring countries, buying excess energy from private producers and developing emergency legislation to speed up approval and development of power plants.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The country needs a clear way forward to address both the energy and water crises. These will not be solved overnight. They will require political will, making use of the knowledge and skills of experienced individuals within the various sectors, to collectively develop a realistic and clear plan. It will require specific timelines and deliverables to address both crises: energy and water.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197952/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anja du Plessis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
South Africa’s energy crisis has far-reaching negative effects on water supply. Energy and water are intertwined.
Anja du Plessis, Associate Professor and Research Specialist in Water Resource Management, University of South Africa
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/190781
2022-10-12T14:04:10Z
2022-10-12T14:04:10Z
Johannesburg’s informal traders face abuse: the city’s ‘world class’ aspirations create hostility towards them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488496/original/file-20221006-22-msr6cl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Street vendors ply their trade in Johannesburg.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Kim Lubrook</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Unemployment and the rising cost of living force many people to make a living in the informal economy, particularly street trading. While it is difficult to measure the size of the informal economy, some studies show that <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_626831.pdf#page=5">more than 60% of employed people in the world work in the informal economy</a>. It’s <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/supporting-africas-urban-informal-sector-coordinated-policies-social-protection-core#:%7E:text=Accounting%20for%2080.8%25%20of%20jobs,economic%20activity%20in%20urban%20Africa">over 80% in Africa</a>, and the trend is increasing. </p>
<p>But many governments discourage informal trading, considering it the <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12132-005-0013-0.pdf">antithesis of development</a>. In their view, informal trading causes street congestion, contributes to crime and grime and threatens public order.</p>
<p>This is often the case in major cities, such as Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic engine, which aspires to be a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/johannesburg-world-class-city-advert">“world-class city”</a>. “World class” is equated with formality and orderly streets. This aspiration, which is about maintaining an image of a city that is orderly and well managed to attract investments, is unsympathetic to street trading. </p>
<p>But the activity is burgeoning in Johannesburg. This poses urban management challenges for authorities. These challenges include overcrowding in busy streets, trading in non-demarcated spaces as well as the obstruction of foot and vehicular traffic and waste management.</p>
<p>The city’s street trading management approach is mainly restrictive. This is manifest in the <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39675492.pdf">limiting</a> of the number of legal trading spaces – through evictions, relocations, harassment of traders and confiscation of their stock.</p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/faculties-and-schools/-engineering-and-the-built-environment/research-entities/cubes/documents/Strategies%20used%20by%20Street%20Traders%20Organisations.pdf">Some studies</a> have found that there was a growing number of organisations that seek to represent the interests of street traders and influence policy and practice. </p>
<p>These organisations engage with the government at various spheres and participate in urban governance to influence the management of street trading. They employ a number of strategies to put pressure on the government to include them in decision making processes. </p>
<p>My recent PhD research focused on <a href="https://cdn.gcro.ac.za/media/documents/2022-01-12_Matjomane_MD_Thesis_10Dec2021.pdf">the role and influence of street trader leaders in urban governance</a> in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane, the three major metropolitan cities in Gauteng Province, the country’s economic hub. I wanted to understand their role in urban governance. </p>
<p>Understanding the role street trader leaders play in street trading management is crucial to informing the development of appropriate, practical and inclusive management approaches. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-portal-designed-specially-for-informal-businesses-could-be-a-game-changer-133246">A portal designed specially for informal businesses could be a game-changer</a>
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<p>For my study, I reviewed media articles and government documents, and conducted in-depth interviews with city officials as well as street traders and their leaders. </p>
<p>In the case of Johannesburg – the metro least “friendly” to street trading – I interviewed one former city official, eight trader leaders and eight street traders between 2017 and 2018.</p>
<p>Respondents were asked about everyday management of street trading, the relationship between street trader leaders and authorities, and the extent to which the leaders participated in managing trading. </p>
<p>I found that leaders of street traders represented traders in different ways and interact with the government in various ways. There are leaders who operate on the margins, with no institutionalised relationship with authorities and quasi-state bureaucrats who have been formally included in the everyday management of street trade (they have the power to allocate trading spaces together with officials and manage waiting lists for spaces). </p>
<p>The leaders on the margins of the state that have been excluded from formal processes find other ways of inserting themselves into the management processes (allocating trading spaces in areas not demarcated for trade). These findings matter because they show what is really happening on the ground in terms of street trade management. Some of these practices can inform the adoption of an inclusive management approach. </p>
<h2>Street trading policy and practice</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/documents_/Documents/POLICIES/COJ_%20Informal%20Trading%20Policy%20April%202022.pdf">Johannesburg’s informal trading policy</a> generally acknowledges street trading as a feature of the urban landscape – at least in rhetoric. This, amid the triple challenge of high poverty, unemployment and inequality. <a href="https://databankfiles.worldbank.org/data/download/poverty/33EF03BB-9722-4AE2-ABC7-AA2972D68AFE/Global_POVEQ_ZAF.pdf">Over 50%</a> of South Africans live in poverty, unemployment <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0211/Media%20release%20QLFS%20Q2%202022.pdf">is over 30%</a>. The country is one of the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2022/03/09/new-world-bank-report-assesses-sources-of-inequality-in-five-countries-in-southern-africa#:%7E:text=South%20Africa%2C%20the%20largest%20country,World%20Bank%27s%20global%20poverty%20database">most unequal in the world</a>. </p>
<p>Despite the inclusive nature of the city’s informal trading policy, authorities tend to adopt restrictive and punitive approaches. The translation of the policy into technical tools such as bylaws and authorities’ management practices create an environment that is inimical to street trading. </p>
<p>The restrictive management practices manifest in various ways. One is the <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39675492.pdf">creation of scarcity</a> of trading spaces – by limiting the number of legal, demarcated spaces for street trading. This makes most traders in the inner city “illegal”. It criminalises them and fuels competition for lucrative trading spaces. (The city does not publicise information about the number of legal traders). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/informal-economies-are-diverse-south-african-policies-need-to-recognise-this-104586">Informal economies are diverse: South African policies need to recognise this</a>
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<p>Evictions and relocations of street traders from their sites are another manifestation of the city’s restrictive management approach. For example, in 2013, thousands of street traders in the inner city were evicted in a large-scale operation, dubbed <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/news/operation-clean-sweep-a-dirty-game-1604801">Operation Clean Sweep</a>.</p>
<p>The street trading management approach in Johannesburg relies heavily on enforcing bylaws. This results in ongoing harassment of street traders considered “non-compliant”, and the (often unlawful) confiscation of their stock. Intimidation and harassment by city police occur daily. </p>
<h2>Intimidation and corruption</h2>
<p>The city’s approach has opened space for abuse of power and corruption by the authorities. When law enforcement officers confiscate the traders’ stock, they sometimes issue <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/faculties-and-schools/-engineering-and-the-built-environment/research-entities/cubes/documents/Strategies%20used%20by%20Street%20Traders%20Organisations.pdf">high fines</a>, which are more than the value of the stock.</p>
<p>This is often a strategy to get the street traders to pay bribes to avoid their stock being confiscated. In other instances, city police do not issue confiscation receipts. So, traders have no way of claiming their stock back.</p>
<p>All this has given rise to <a href="https://cdn.gcro.ac.za/media/documents/2022-01-12_Matjomane_MD_Thesis_10Dec2021.pdf">alternative forms of management by street trader leaders</a>. </p>
<p>For instance, the leaders have forged informal partnerships with authorities to manage trading. Some leaders assist authorities in the everyday management of street trading, such as maintaining order on the streets and allocating trading spaces. This alternative form of management strengthens the capacity of the state to govern street trading, and helps provide pragmatic solutions to complex issues.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/zimbabwes-informal-sector-plays-a-key-role-in-skills-development-but-gets-no-recognition-189178">Zimbabwe's informal sector plays a key role in skills development but gets no recognition</a>
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<p>But, there is also a dark side to this alternative form of management. It has in some instances opened a window for extortion of fellow traders by the leaders. </p>
<p>There are instances where they collect <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/faculties-and-schools/-engineering-and-the-built-environment/research-entities/cubes/documents/Strategies%20used%20by%20Street%20Traders%20Organisations.pdf">“protection fees”</a> from traders, promising to protect them from law enforcement officers who harass and confiscate their stock. </p>
<p>Some of the leaders even have the power to evict “non-compliant” traders and take away their officially allocated trading spaces.</p>
<h2>Looking forward</h2>
<p>The vicious cycle of street trading management in Johannesburg manifests in various ways, from evictions to limiting legal trading spaces. This is despite policies that acknowledge the role of street trading. </p>
<p>Such punitive practices criminalise the efforts of poor people to earn an honest living, and drives corruption. There is, therefore, an urgent need to find better approaches to street trading management that value the role the activity plays in job creation, poverty alleviation and mitigation of the high cost of living.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mamokete Modiba previously received research support funding from NRF and TISO Foundation. </span></em></p>
The city’s street trading management approach is mainly restrictive. Relocations, harassment and confiscation of of traders’ stock are common.
Mamokete Modiba, Researcher, Gauteng City-Region Observatory
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/187873
2022-08-14T08:07:38Z
2022-08-14T08:07:38Z
South Africa doesn’t need new cities: it needs to focus on fixing what it’s got
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476515/original/file-20220728-28742-9v621.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province. A village until 1980, it's a rare new city success story. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Jade Gao / AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa is a dominantly urban country, with almost <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/455931/urbanization-in-south-africa/">70%</a> of the population living in cities and towns. But urban services and infrastructures are coming under increasing strain from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/small-towns-are-collapsing-across-south-africa-how-its-starting-to-affect-farming-162697">collapse of infrastructure</a> in many smaller and medium sized towns and <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-06-19-more-than-quarter-of-sas-municipalities-are-on-brink-of-financial-collapse-warns-ag/">deteriorating levels in the large cities</a>. </p>
<p>A common response to a gathering urban crisis is to imagine starting afresh with new cities. The impulse crosses the political spectrum. </p>
<p>In his 2019 state of the nation address, <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/2SONA2019">President Cyril Ramaphosa envisioned the construction of a new smart city</a>. He has since announced new cities at <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/property/560744/government-announced-plans-for-3-new-cities-in-south-africa-what-you-should-know/">Lanseria</a> (north of Johannesburg), Mooikloof (east of Pretoria), and along the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape. </p>
<p>In April 2022, former opposition leader Mmusi Maimane argued that <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2022-04-24-we-need-new-cities-now-to-address-urbanisation-and-its-housing-and-poverty-crises/">South Africa should be building many new cities</a>, doubling the number of metros from eight to 16. </p>
<p>New cities are a catchy idea. But that doesn’t make them a good one.</p>
<p>What would it take to create a sustainable new city without bankrupting the national fiscus? Are they a viable prospect or white elephants in the making? </p>
<p>There is, fortunately, a history of new city thought and practice that we can draw lessons from. </p>
<p>New cities may be appealing since newer, smarter, more sustainable infrastructure can be put in place. But in South Africa, this expenditure competes with the need to improve the deteriorating infrastructure of existing cities, which do in fact have the capacity to accommodate projected urban growth for decades to come. </p>
<p>While carefully planned new city development may play a role in South Africa’s urban future, it would be a critical error to divert attention and resources from the country’s primary urban challenges. </p>
<h2>New cities</h2>
<p>Most large cities globally have evolved over long periods of time, responding to growth in the local economy. But there are cities that have been consciously designed from scratch for many different reasons – including political egos, land speculation, colonial expansion, post-colonial developmentalism, and attempts to relieve existing cities of over-population and congestion. </p>
<p>In modern times, there was a surge of <a href="http://transformationjournal.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/T95-6-Harrison-and-Todes.pdf">new city (or, rather, new town) development in Europe after the second world war</a>. This was done to decentralise development from heavily bombed large cities and to create better living environments for working class families as part of a larger welfarist programme. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/may/15/sterile-or-stirring-britains-love-hate-relationship-with-new-towns">British new town programme</a> was the most extensive and well known, but new towns were also built in France, Italy, Sweden and elsewhere. </p>
<p>Western countries turned away from new town development but, from around the 1990s, new city development gained momentum in other parts of the world, including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2019/jul/09/cities-from-scratch-100-and-counting-new-cities-rise-from-the-desert-jungle-and-sea">East Asia and the Middle East</a>. </p>
<p>In China, for example, new cities were built to accommodate some of the additional 590 million people in cities from the 1980s. Saudi Arabia has an astonishing plan to build a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/27/saudis-unveil-eye-popping-plan-for-mirrored-skyscraper-eco-city">100-mile-long megacity called Neom</a> which would be only 200 metres wide.</p>
<p>In Africa, Egypt has a long history of new city development. </p>
<p>Elsewhere there were three recent waves of new city development. Just prior to the <a href="https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great-recession-and-its-aftermath">2008/09 financial bust</a>, an ambitious first wave was launched (for example, Konza Tech which is 64km south of Nairobi, Eco Atlantic on land reclaimed from the sea outside Lagos, Cité du Fleuve on an island in the Congo River outside Kinshasa, and Kigamboni across a large estuary north of Dar es Salaam).</p>
<p>Most faltered. The late South African academic Vanessa Watson called them “<a href="https://www.africancentreforcities.net/african-urban-fantasies/">urban fantasies</a>”. </p>
<p>The second wave was initiated by property developer <a href="https://www.rendeavour.com/">Rendeavour</a>, which targeted the rising black African middle class (for example, Tatu City outside Nairobi, King City near Takoradi port in Ghana, and Appolonia City near Accra). The developments were more modest in size and have had some market-based success. </p>
<p>The third, most recent wave is diverse, ranging from Lanseria Smart City in South Africa to Akon City in Senegal, an attempt by an African American rapper to recreate the fictional Wakanda. Most recently, in May 2022, <a href="https://elonmuskpower.com/elon-musk-is-building-a-20b-city-in-africa/">Elon Musk made an extraordinary announcement</a>. He intends to build a US$20 billion new city, called Neo Gardens, outside Gaborone in Botswana. </p>
<p>This international story offers many lessons, but so does an earlier South African history which includes the establishment of nearly 80 new towns under apartheid for ideological reasons. These included Welkom, Vanderbijlpark, Sasolburg and Secunda, which were created to support new single-industry economies.</p>
<p>These did well for a time. But they did not diversify substantially and their industries have suffered in recent years from international competition. </p>
<p>These patterns mirror those evident internationally, where the picture is more often economic vulnerability and instability over the long term. </p>
<h2>Conditions for success</h2>
<p>There are some places where new town economies have thrived – such as Shenzhen in China, Abuja in Nigeria, and Milton Keynes in the UK. These are quite specific cases: Shenzhen was one China’s first initiatives to open up to the private sector in the 1980s and is close to Hong Kong; Abuja is a national capital; Milton Keynes houses a major university and a cluster of dynamic industries. </p>
<p>New places do sometimes develop around new or emerging economic activities, although often the attraction of existing economic cores remains strong. </p>
<p>New towns have had a better track record in places of rapid economic and population growth such as in east Asian countries, where large-scale resources have been available for infrastructure development and growth is rapid enough to divert some economic activity into new cities. </p>
<p>So the prospects for new cities depend significantly on the context in which they are developed. </p>
<p>New cities are costly as new infrastructure must be developed from scratch. And they have high risks in terms of outcome. At the same time, they do not replace existing cities, which continue to grow.</p>
<p>In our view, South Africa needs to engage with the realities of existing towns and cities and make them work better for their residents and the country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187873/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Harrison receives funding from the National Research Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Todes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
New towns have had a better track record in places of rapid economic and population growth, such as east Asian countries.
Philip Harrison, Professor School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand
Alison Todes, Professor, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/184682
2022-07-25T16:03:40Z
2022-07-25T16:03:40Z
How COVID-19 lockdown measures — and their outcomes — varied in cities around the world
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472884/original/file-20220706-21-970rb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C0%2C5375%2C3607&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In Toronto, lockdown measures asked residents to remain at home.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese cities have repeatedly imposed lockdowns following their <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202205/1266838.shtml">central government’s stubborn pursuit of Zero-COVID</a>. But lockdowns weren’t limited to authoritarian regimes such as China. Many democracies also imposed some form of lockdowns to curb the virus transmission. </p>
<p>How effective were they? Was it worth it? And who was the most adversely affected? </p>
<p>These are meaningful questions to reflect on, especially as drastic COVID-19 measures <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/01/covid-pandemic-end-vaccinated-countries-disease">have been lifted as the severity</a> of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00396-2">virus’s impact has waned</a>.</p>
<p>We’ve been studying the disparate responses to COVID-19 undertaken by three major cities: <a href="https://euc.yorku.ca/research-project/the-city-after-covid-19-comparing-vulnerability-and-urban-governance-in-chicago-toronto-and-johannesburg/">Johannesburg, Toronto and Chicago</a>.</p>
<p>We examined the nature and impact of public health measures on various populations in these cities. We found “lockdown” to be an imprecise description for the range of restrictions put in place. Lockdown meant different things in different places, but regardless of the context, they disproportionately afflicted those who are and the disadvantaged.</p>
<h2>Johannesburg: Traumatic impact</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.gcro.ac.za/outputs/occasional-papers/detail/johannesburg-and-its-epidemics-can-we-learn-from-history/">South Africa’s hard lockdown in 2020</a> — lasting from March 27 to April 30 — was modelled on Wuhan’s. Strictly enforced by the announcement of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/safricas-covid-state-disaster-end-midnight-president-ramaphosa-2022-04-04/">a National State of Disaster, which gave government extraordinary powers</a>, it banned all outdoor activities except for essential services. It was a blunt instrument applied uniformly across the country, although patterns of infection varied widely by region and locality. </p>
<p>The lockdown had a devastating impact on the economy, people’s livelihoods and <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=15273">food security</a>. On May 1, 2020, South Africa introduced a <a href="https://sacoronavirus.co.za/covid-19-risk-adjusted-strategy/">five-level risk-adjusted strategy</a>. The response remained national in scope, with the <a href="https://www.gtac.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SA-COVID-19-Report_Final_Online.pdf">National Coronavirus Command Council</a> issuing directives to the provincial governments, which manage health care, and local governments, which provide services in distressed communities.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473029/original/file-20220707-18-f598gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two armed soldiers patrolling a dusty street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473029/original/file-20220707-18-f598gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473029/original/file-20220707-18-f598gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473029/original/file-20220707-18-f598gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473029/original/file-20220707-18-f598gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473029/original/file-20220707-18-f598gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473029/original/file-20220707-18-f598gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473029/original/file-20220707-18-f598gv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Soldiers patrol the streets of Soweto, a township in Johannesburg, during a lockdown instated to combat the spread of the coronavirus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)</span></span>
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<p>The lockdown may have delayed the first wave by a month or so, but its <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-28-its-such-a-botch-sas-vaccine-delays-and-covid-lockdown-proved-deadly-prof-alex-van-den-heever/">economic impact was more traumatic</a> than the impact of the illness. This was especially so for those who did not have the option of <a href="https://cramsurvey.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2.-Benhura-M.-_-Magejo-P.-2021-Who-cannot-work-from-home-in-South-Africa_-Evidence-from-wave-4-of-NIDSCRAM..pdf">home-based work</a>. There was a <a href="https://citylockdowndiaries.wordpress.com/publications/">difference between how the lockdown was experienced</a> by, for example, households in informal settlements and middle-class households in the suburbs. </p>
<p>Social disparity in South Africa, one of the world’s most unequal societies, increased throughout the pandemic. There was a shadow pandemic of violence against women, with South African police reporting a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-021-01146-w">37 per cent increase in gender-based crime</a>. Children in poor communities <a href="https://resep.sun.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Van-der-Berg-Spaull-2020-Counting-the-Cost-COVID-19-Children-and-Schooling-15-June-2020-1.pdf">lost more than a year of schooling</a>, while those from affluent communities moved online. </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lockdown-didnt-work-in-south-africa-why-it-shouldnt-happen-again-147682">Lockdown didn't work in South Africa: why it shouldn't happen again</a>
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<h2>Toronto: Swift and decisive</h2>
<p>Toronto’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07078552.2022.2047483">early response to COVID-19</a> was swift and decisive, but not as restrictive as in Johannesburg. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsac022">Subject mostly to provincial oversight in public health management</a>, the city <a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/03/11/timeline-a-year-of-pandemic-life/">closed schools and restaurants, cancelled professional sporting events and restricted most public life</a>, leaving intact only emergency and essential services. </p>
<p>Throughout subsequent waves of surges, Toronto oscillated between opening up and shutting down. This gave the city a reputation of imposing lockdowns that were <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57079577">longer and stricter than most</a>.</p>
<p>The lockdown had <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsac022">uneven impacts across Toronto</a>. There were <a href="https://www.utoronto.ca/news/researchers-probe-covid-19-s-uneven-impact-racialized-and-immigrant-communities-peel-region">significant differences</a> between rich and poor, office and essential workers, households saddled with caregiving responsibilities and those without. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/17579759211038258">Community responses</a> varied across the region as the <a href="https://blackhealthalliance.ca/wp-content/uploads/Perspectives-on-Health-Well-Being-in-Black-Communities-in-Toronto-Experiences-through-COVID-19.pdf">impact of the pandemic intensified</a> in <a href="https://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/The-Impact-of-COVID-19-on-Mental-Health-and-Well-being-A-Focus-on-Racialized-Communities-in-the-GTA.pdf">health and economic terms</a>.</p>
<p>There was a visible <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-how-the-pandemic-is-highlighting-canadas-class-divide/">class divide</a> in Canada’s urban communities. <a href="https://www.vawlearningnetwork.ca/docs/Systemic-Racism-Covid-19-Backgrounder.pdf">Racialized and lower-income people</a> experienced the lockdown measures as an additional, often existential, burden, while residents in higher-income households experienced temporary inconvenience.</p>
<p>Eventually, restrictive measures were enacted across all three levels of government. These restrictions contributed to the so-called “freedom convoy,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/20/canadian-police-ottawa-truckers-protest">which occupied parts of Ottawa in protest in 2022</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-vax-protest-or-insurrection-making-sense-of-the-freedom-convoy-protest-176524">Anti-vax protest or insurrection? Making sense of the 'freedom convoy' protest</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Chicago: Softer measures</h2>
<p>Comparatively, Chicago had a soft lockdown. The city issued a stay-at-home order from March 20 to April 30, 2020, but exempted many essential activities, including exercising outdoors and shopping for groceries. It closed restaurants, offices and public schools, <a href="https://www.chicagobusiness.com/crains-content-studio/lessons-learned-private-schools-adopt-best-practices-stay-open-during">but many resource-rich private schools remained open and offered in-person instruction</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473034/original/file-20220707-24-ngb99k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="two people stand behind a podium, in the background a graph titled FLATTEN THE CURVE" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473034/original/file-20220707-24-ngb99k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473034/original/file-20220707-24-ngb99k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473034/original/file-20220707-24-ngb99k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473034/original/file-20220707-24-ngb99k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473034/original/file-20220707-24-ngb99k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473034/original/file-20220707-24-ngb99k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473034/original/file-20220707-24-ngb99k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a shelter-in-place order to combat the spread of COVID-19 on March 20, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The stay-at-home order had a devastating impact on the economy (especially the service sector) and on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/869074151/chicago-tackles-covid-19-disparities-in-hard-hit-black-and-latino-neighborhoods">Black and Latino neighbourhoods</a>, where many residents who worked in essential services lived. For higher-income households, the stay-at-home order brought some inconvenience, but many also enjoyed the benefit of working from home — a trend that continued even after the city lifted all restrictions in 2022.</p>
<h2>Weighing the pros and cons</h2>
<p>Our preliminary research suggests that the experience of COVID-19 should at least give authorities pause before introducing lockdowns as a blanket strategy. We accept that they were generally intended to “flatten the curve,” providing time to prepare for the anticipated waves of infection. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 lockdowns were understandable as a public health measure in a time of insecurity and ignorance of the emerging disease threat. But we now know that they most deeply affected the poor and other vulnerable groups, worsening social inequalities. They were often a blunt measures, relying on quickly dated information on virus transmission and implemented at geographic scales that didn’t account for how the disease spread. </p>
<p>The negative impacts of hard lockdowns may have exceeded their benefits. They intensified social conflict, eroded democratic practice and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07078552.2021.2000210">undermined trust in politics and governance</a> at a time when they were most needed. </p>
<p>Lockdowns should be a measure of last resort but, if they are unavoidable in future pandemics, governments must consider more targeted approaches, put in place a support system to cushion the impact on vulnerable citizens and keep democratic ground rules in place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger Keil receives funding from the Urban Studies Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Harrison receives funding from the Urban Studies Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Xuefei Ren receives funding from the Urban Studies Foundation. </span></em></p>
Examining how COVID-19 lockdowns and stay-at-home orders were implemented in Toronto, Johannesburg and Chicago reveals the impact they had on vulnerable communities.
Roger Keil, Professor, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Canada
Philip Harrison, Professor School of Architecture and Planning, University of the Witwatersrand
Xuefei Ren, Professor, Sociology and Global Urban Studies, Michigan State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/179246
2022-03-21T15:17:40Z
2022-03-21T15:17:40Z
Johannesburg’s first woman mayor speaks on effective coalitions and fighting corruption
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453001/original/file-20220318-21-h2fzmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mpho Phalatse, mayor of Johannesburg.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo: City of Johannesburg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>South Africa’s nationwide local government elections held on <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/pw/Elections-and-results/Municipal-Elections-2021">1 November 2021</a> saw a continuing trend of no outright winners in some key cities, resulting in coalition governments. This is a relatively new phenomenon in South Africa, resulting from the decline in support for the African National Congress, which has dominated politics since democracy in 1994. The coalition governments have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/marriages-of-inconvenience-the-fraught-politics-of-coalitions-in-south-africa-167517">marred by volatility and instability</a>, owing to posturing and power plays. Research specialist Joleen Steyn Kotze talks to <a href="https://www.da.org.za/get-to-know-mpho-phalatse">Mpho Phalatse</a>, from the opposition <a href="https://www.da.org.za/">Democratic Alliance</a>, the first woman to be elected the mayor of the economic powerhouse of Johannnesburg.</em></p>
<h2>Local government councils are often political theatres. How do you manage this?</h2>
<p><strong>Mpho Phalatse:</strong> Multi-party governance requires a high level of political maturity and a full understanding of our role in society. It can be brought into focus through the Kenyan proverb, when two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. Meaning that our political disagreements leave communities without services such as healthcare, safety, security, housing as well as job opportunities.</p>
<p>While as partners we have agreed on certain principles and values, which are non-negotiables, there are matters that we may not agree on and that require negotiation, which play into processes like budgets. Without the budget there can be no government. Ultimately it is the people that suffer.</p>
<p>So, we cannot be ideologically rigid or stubborn. All parties <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-03-09-da-eff-actionsa-joburg-council-set-for-showdown-over-city-manager-appointment/">must compromise</a>. </p>
<h2>What are the interventions you will advance to ensure meaningful change?</h2>
<p><strong>Mpho Phalatse:</strong> Before we can start hoisting up cranes and rolling out capital projects, we need get the basics right. These are the foundation on which we are going to build the city we desire.</p>
<p>These basics align with our priorities. When we table the <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/documents_/Documents/2020-21%20Integrated%20Annual%20Report/City%20of%20Johannesburg%20Annual%20Intergrated%20Report_1st_Council%20version.pdf">state of the city address in April</a>, followed by the <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/documents_/Documents/IDP,%20Budget%20Process%20Plan/IDP,BUDGET%20-PROCESS%20PLAN.pdf">budget in May</a>, these will signal the start of the multi-party government’s full control of the city and its direction.</p>
<p>Some basics include establishing good governance as the gold standard. This means playing by the book, identifying corruption and acting against it. This way, we can stop financial leaks in the system and direct those funds to their intended service delivery programmes.</p>
<p>Through operation <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/MediaStatements/Pages/2018%20Press%20Releases/National-and-Provincial-Government-embrace-Operation-Buya-Mthetho.aspx">Buya Mthetho</a>, a campaign aimed at restoring rule of law and creating safe communities, as well as a <a href="https://sandtontimes.co.za/operation-buya-mthetho/">revenue collection programme</a> we have identified that our revenue collection is not where it ought to be. So, we have embarked on a campaign to collect as much of the <a href="https://www.joburg.org.za/media_/Pages/Media/Media%20Statements/2022%20Media%20Statements/February/R38-billion-in-unpaid-bills-could-build-a-well-run,-safe,-and-business-friendly-Joburg.aspx">R38-billion</a> owed to the city in outstanding rates, taxes and levies. Those who have the means to pay but simply refuse to, have their service suspended until they pay what is owed. </p>
<p>For those who are unable to pay, we have reopened the <a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/debt-rehabilitation-programme-for-citys-customers-to-be-reinstated-johannesburg-mayor/">debt rehabilitation programme</a>. It assists financially distressed ratepayers and defaulting customers to bring their outstanding municipal accounts up to date.</p>
<p>We have also accelerated maintenance projects. Our service delivery teams from City Parks and Zoo, the Johannesburg Roads Agency, Joburg Water and City Power are conducting region-by-region blitzes to fix potholes, clean open spaces and curbs and cut trees, paint lines on the roads, fix traffic signals, repair leaking pipes and taps, and so on. This is part of getting the basics right.</p>
<p>We have deployed an additional <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/city-of-joburg-unleashes-1-800-metro-cops-to-curb-crime-in-the-city-centre-20220119">1,800 city police officers</a> to supplement existing patrols to prevent and fight crime in the Central Business District (CBD) and other business nodes. We will be deploying 150 park rangers to safeguard the city’s open spaces.</p>
<p>The rejuvenation of the CBD is important. We have begun taking back <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/city-of-joburg-target-hijacked-buildings-returns-47-properties-to-lawful-owners-20220210">hijacked buildings</a> – buildings, mostly in the CBD, which were either shuttered or abandoned by their owners and taken over by criminal syndicates who then rented out without paying rates and taxes – and returning them to their owners. If the owners can’t be traced, we will convert the buildings into affordable housing, among other things, to bring more people closer to economic opportunities.</p>
<p>And we recently launched a site and services project in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcEWagkt1KI">Zandspruit informal settlement</a> that will bring decent housing to communities that have been left behind. </p>
<h2>Your term will be five years. What legacy would you like to leave?</h2>
<p><strong>Mpho Phalatse</strong>: The administration of the city must work, regardless of who leads it politically. This means having professional, skilled and dedicated staff at all levels who appreciate what it means to work for local government.</p>
<p>One can have the best political and policy intentions but, without a working administration, making ones’ priorities reality becomes difficult. This is why I am obsessed with getting the basics right.</p>
<p>In short, governments come and go, so we must leave the administration stronger than we found it so that there is smooth transition between governments as well as lasting and equitable development.</p>
<h2>How will you ensure balanced consultation in the volatile context of coalitions?</h2>
<p><strong>Mpho Phalatse:</strong> Consultation and implementation are not mutually exclusive. It is understanding what we need to consult on. For example, we consulted extensively ahead of the adjustment budget. We will also consult ahead of the budget in May.</p>
<p>The budget is a key policy and implementation document. Once we pass it, we’ll get on with the job of delivering services.</p>
<p>There was wide consultation on the appointment of board members to serve the municipal entities. Thus, we have highly qualified board members who must now be given the space to do their jobs. Likewise, we will again consult on appointing the right city manager. </p>
<p>All multi-party partners understand what needs to be done. </p>
<h2>What are the lessons from the previous coalition governments?</h2>
<p>In many ways we are writing the multi-party government playbook as we go. But, key to the success of this project is working together, mutual respect and abiding by the <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/da-signs-five-year-agreement-with-coalition-partners-dreams-big-for-2024-20211216">coalition agreement</a> all partners have signed.</p>
<p>In a nutshell the rules of engagement must be clear, understood and followed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179246/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joleen Steyn Kotze receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>
Parties must forego ideological rigidity and compromise for the common good, says Mpho Phalatse about making coalitions work.
Joleen Steyn Kotze, Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Citizenship at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169295
2021-10-17T08:39:09Z
2021-10-17T08:39:09Z
How Johannesburg’s suburban elites maintain apartheid inequities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426438/original/file-20211014-13-1dr49qx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Braamfontein in central Johannesburg has benefited from the city's urban renewal programme in recent times.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Days before his <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2021-07-09-joburg-mayor-geoff-makhubo-dies-of-covid-complications/">death</a> in July, the African National Congress (ANC) mayor of Johannesburg, Geoff Makhubo, wrote <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-06-30-johannesburg-is-not-falling-apart-it-is-in-the-process-of-rebirth-after-the-demise-of-a-white-city/">an article</a> responding to critics of the city’s managers. The critics say Johannesburg is in decline and <a href="https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/joburg-is-dying">falling apart</a>. He emphasised the legacies of apartheid in the continuing inequality in South Africa’s “city of gold”.</p>
<p>His short essay envisioned a future Johannesburg as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a site where one tax base for one city will be used to ensure that people … know they have as good a chance of success regardless of whether they are from Diepsloot or nearby Fourways.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It would be absurd to argue against the view that apartheid bequeathed South Africa a <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/09/23/unpicking-inequality-in-south-africa">highly unequal society</a>. But to identify the historical roots of injustice is quite different to identifying how it is reproduced or reduced. </p>
<p>Makhubo’s reference to Diepsloot and Fourways, respectively among the poorest and richest areas in Johannesburg’s north, was curious. These neighbourhoods have <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Diepsloot/k_hyuQAACAAJ?hl=en">grown primarily in the post-apartheid era</a>. </p>
<p>What Makhubo did not mention is that the aspiration for <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/09/the-struggle-to-govern-johannesburg/376455/">“one tax base for one city”</a> is long-standing. It’s been held by successive ANC governments – and social movements – in the city since the early 1990s, as talks to end apartheid got off the ground. </p>
<p>The idea was for the wealthy and overwhelmingly white areas of the city’s northern suburbs to subsidise the development of the poor, and overwhelmingly black areas of the city’s southern and northeastern peripheries.</p>
<h2>Weapons of the strong</h2>
<p>In the early 1990s, South Africa was considered ripe for transformative change. This meant undoing the racialised structure of wealth and the highly divided geography that rationed access to the benefits of city life.</p>
<p>The ANC government entered power at all levels with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/09/the-struggle-to-govern-johannesburg/376455/">extremely high degrees of political legitimacy</a>. It was verboten to attack the basic tenets of social transformation it placed on the political agenda.</p>
<p>At the national level, there were critical successes in building the kinds of state capacity normally seen as fundamental to reducing inequality.</p>
<p>Tax collection has largely tracked or even beaten averages of countries <a href="https://www.oecd.org/ctp/revenue-statistics-in-africa-2617653x.htm">in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development</a>. A third of South Africans receive <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-social-grants-matter-in-south-africa-they-support-33-of-the-nation-73087">one of three major social grants</a>. </p>
<p>But the structure of apartheid-era cities has largely been reproduced. It is this structure that, in many ways, was the <em>raison d’être</em> of the apartheid state — <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520206519">to serve the white urban minority</a>. </p>
<p>In my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1535684121994522">newly-published research</a> conducted between 2015 and 2018, I examined why Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest and richest city, has reproduced spatial inequalities since 1994. In particular the distribution of housing, sanitation and transport remains unequal.</p>
<p>I tried to answer this question through 115 semi-structured interviews with local politicians, bureaucrats, activists and private developers in the city.</p>
<p>I augmented the data with hundreds of documents collected through archival research in government and NGO publications, the <a href="https://www.saha.org.za/">South African History Archive</a> and newspaper articles.</p>
<p>I identified two relatively hidden strategies that traditional white elites – property developers and property owners – used to undermine the capacity of Johannesburg’s black majority local government to redistribute urban goods. I call these strategies “weapons of the strong”.</p>
<p>Strikingly, these hidden strategies top the political agenda ahead of the <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/pw/">November municipal elections</a>. They speak precisely to the unfinished work of realising “one city with one tax base”.</p>
<h2>Echoes of the 1990s in 2021</h2>
<p>Mpho Phalatse, the Johannesburg mayoral candidate of the official opposition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has emphasised her <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-09-09-relooking-at-city-improvement-districts-as-a-key-way-to-revitalise-johannesburg/">desire to expand City Improvement Districts</a>. Through these, individual neighbourhoods contribute to funding urban management services that are only for their specific areas.</p>
<p>This echoes the first of the strategies that undermined municipal state capacity. I categorise this strategy as “ring-fencing” – area-based hoarding of taxes for local infrastructure improvement. </p>
<p>By “ring-fencing”, wealthy neighbourhood associations undercut attempts at municipal unification. Revenues are taken out of a general municipal funding stream, and put towards investments that reproduce disparities in the provision of public goods. </p>
<p>The founder of one of the first City Improvement Districts in the suburb of Illovo in the mid-1990s described the motivation for establishing them: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We definitely weren’t going to give our contributions to the city, because there would be no guarantee that it would be spent in the area (p. 200).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This strategy became a key means by which wealthier suburbs could ensure a much higher standard of urban management than that in poorer areas. The tax payments were held by the <a href="https://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu26ue/uu26ue0h.htm">interim municipal “sub-structures”</a> in the first years after apartheid.</p>
<p>Another key strategy I identified was “venue-shopping”. This is a process by which property developers sought construction approvals from the Gauteng provincial government - under which Johannesburg falls - to undercut the <a href="https://doi.org/10.18772/22014107656.8">“urban development boundary”</a> that the City of Johannesburg was attempting to enforce. </p>
<p>The relatively austere capital expenditures of the city throughout the 2000s, and the lack of institutional capacity to enforce both land use regulations and inter-agency coordination, meant that private developers were still able to shape the spatial trajectory of the city.</p>
<p>The terms of this year’s mayoral debate in Johannesburg therefore expose battles that were once subterranean. </p>
<p>The ANC imagines that a redistributive agenda for the city can be built on references to the apartheid past, and top-down delivery through the state. The DA de-emphasises redistribution altogether, adopting strategies for fragmenting urban management. This will only benefit the largely white wealthy homeowners and property developers.</p>
<h2>The missing protagonist: movements</h2>
<p>What is missing is a role for housing movements to challenge the growing power of developers and wealthy property owners. These were once so militant they <a href="https://doi.org/10.3406/cea.1985.1735">helped bring down apartheid</a>.</p>
<p>These movements have been demobilised and cast aside under the ANC. Government is supposed to deliver, and to do so alone. But, without a social movement base, municipal government has struggled to mobilise the bureaucratic power necessary to deliver housing, sanitation, and spatial transformation.</p>
<p>This is because city authorities don’t have political allies who can counter the often hidden power of homeowners and property developers. As a result, this group’s “weapons of the strong” undercut local government authority.</p>
<p>As I <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1535684121994522">found</a> in my research, housing movements are extremely fragmented and localised. To move beyond the highly unequal urban stalemate will require a long-term political project to reconnect movements to the local state in a way that has not happened since the dawn of democracy in 1994.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin H. Bradlow has received funding from the National Science Foundation, American Council of Learned Societies, and the Fulbright Program, for research related to this article.</span></em></p>
The city’s government wanted the wealthy and overwhelmingly white areas of the city to subsidise the development of the poor and overwhelmingly black areas.
Benjamin H. Bradlow, Lecturer on Sociology, Harvard University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/163897
2021-07-07T15:06:09Z
2021-07-07T15:06:09Z
Water, power cuts and neglect are taking their toll on South Africa’s top hospitals
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409962/original/file-20210706-23-vn8zs9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://rekord.co.za/373419/several-patients-transferred-to-tshwane-hospital-following-a-fire-at-a-johannesburg-hospital/">fire</a> at one of the biggest public hospitals in Johannesburg, the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, and <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/wits-faculty-of-health-sciences-calls-for-the-reopening-of-charlotte-maxeke-hospital-20210609">the delay in reopening the facility</a> has brought infrastructural issues into sharp focus. The fire broke out in mid-April. Only now is a phased re-opening of the hospital <a href="https://www.702.co.za/podcasts/415/the-john-perlman-show/526762/sections-of-charlotte-maxeke-hospital-not-affected-by-fire-to-reopen">being undertaken</a>. </p>
<p>Reopening was delayed due to fire safety issues. A host of compliance measures weren’t in place. These included fire hydrants without a water supply, fire hydrants without correct couplings, non-functional fire doors and a lack of emergency lighting in the stairwells. These deficiencies had been longstanding.</p>
<p>I am extremely familiar with conditions on the ground in hospitals in the area. I interact daily with doctors and students in the different academic hospitals on the circuit of the University of the Witwatersrand. These include the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital and Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital. I also visit different institutions in the region. </p>
<p>I completed both my undergraduate and postgraduate training at these hospitals and worked for more than 30 years in the neonatal-paediatric intensive care unit and neonatal unit at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. </p>
<p>During this time I’ve observed many changes in the healthcare sector in general, and in these hospitals in particular.</p>
<p>South Africa’s healthcare system compares favourably on a global level. Both the medical schools of the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town are ranked in the <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/university-subject-rankings/top-medical-schools-2020">top 100 in the world</a>. Over the years, the region has produced many eminent healthcare workers. And the country is quite capable of delivering world-class healthcare to all its citizens.</p>
<p>But this is constantly being hampered by an increasingly unconducive environment. </p>
<h2>Massive strain</h2>
<p>The public sector hospitals in Gauteng, South Africa’s economic hub, are generally in bad condition. <a href="https://www.chrishanibaragwanathhospital.co.za/">Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital</a> is the third largest largest in the world, with almost 3200 beds and more than 6000 staff. <a href="https://address001.com/Address-of-Johannesburg-General-Hospital-031214">Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital</a> has 1088 beds and more than 4000 staff. </p>
<p>These large public sector hospitals provide tertiary and quaternary services to more than 250,000 inpatients and almost <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/gauteng-health-chris-hani-baragwanath-hospital-patient-overload-23-jan-2017-0000">1 million outpatients every year</a>. </p>
<p>Most were built more than 50 years ago and have been poorly maintained. The crumbling infrastructure results in flooding, sewage leaks, lack of water, problems with the supply of medical air and oxygen, and electricity blackouts. Leaky plumbing creates a damp environment that favours pests such as cockroaches and rodents. Inadequate air conditioning results in working conditions that are unbearably hot or freezing cold. Both are harmful to patients. </p>
<p>Doctors and nurses are having to deal with a shortage of hospital beds <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/south-african-province-faces-shortage-of-hospital-beds-amid-pandemic/2275101">on a daily basis</a>. </p>
<p>Gauteng provides healthcare to many patients from other provinces, as well as surrounding countries, particularly Zimbabwe. The provinces of North West and Mpumalanaga do not have medical schools and therefore send patients for specialised tertiary and quaternary care, such as cardio-thoracic surgery and renal dialysis, to the Gauteng academic hospitals. </p>
<p>In addition, under-resourced regional and district hospitals result in primary and secondary patients receiving treatment in the tertiary or quaternary institutions because there is nowhere else for them to go.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/overcrowded-gauteng-hospitals-raise-concerns-about-services-disease-spread/">Overcrowding</a> and infrastructural issues negatively affect patient care. Hospital acquired infections with “super bugs” resistant to almost all known antibiotics <a href="https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/health/2233645/baby-killing-superbug-highlights-health-crisis-in-gauteng/">are a major health challenge</a>. Sewage leaks and inadequate plumbing increase the risk of infections.</p>
<p>Ongoing <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2019/03/21/chris-hani-baragwanath-hospital-power-cuts-placing-strain-on-equipment">power cuts</a> and <a href="https://dagauteng.org.za/2021/06/water-security-needed-as-joburg-hospitals-suffer-from-water-cuts">water shortages</a> compound the internal infrastructural issues at each hospital. There have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-south-africas-electricity-blackouts-are-set-to-continue-for-the-next-five-years-155233">rolling electricity blackouts</a> in the country as the government struggles to keep the power utility, Eskom, operational. </p>
<p>Each hospital has a diesel generator. But this emergency back-up does not always kick in during blackouts and load shedding. Patients in intensive care and the operating theatre are particularly at risk. </p>
<p>Water infrastructure, which has not been maintained by local authorities, is in a state of disrepair resulting in a growing number of water outages. In recent weeks, three of the largest hospitals in the province– the Helen Joseph Hospital, Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital – all experienced a water outage that <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-05-24-fire-and-no-water-johannesburgs-hospitals-are-in-critical-condition-and-need-urgent-help/">lasted several days</a>.</p>
<p>Surgeons were scrubbing for theatre using buckets, people could not flush toilets, and patients were issued with bottled water and could not wash. </p>
<p>On top of all this, the COVID-19 pandemic is <a href="https://www.biznews.com/inside-covid-19/2021/07/01/gauteng-highest-excess-deaths">now raging</a> in the province. This is proving to be the last straw for a buckling health system. Shortages of hospital beds, lack of oxygen supplies, inadequate ICU facilities are <a href="https://www.sapeople.com/2021/06/21/gauteng-hospital-shortages-endangering-lives-with-tsunami-of-new-cases/">a few of the problems being faced</a>. </p>
<p>Healthcare workers are <a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/gauteng-healthcare-workers-buckle-under-pressure-as-covid-19-patients-fill-available-hospital-beds/">exhausted and burned out</a>.</p>
<h2>How it got to this</h2>
<p>There are multiple reasons for the current debacle. These include a lack of preventative maintenance, poor administration, corruption, poor forward planning, lack of financial resources, and a lack of strong governance at both municipal and provincial level.</p>
<p>The governance of the hospitals is complex and falls between different government departments. The Department of Infrastructure and Development, or Public Works has been tasked by the Department of Health to take care of the hospital infrastructure. This means that a hospital CEO isn’t directly responsible for maintenance of the building.</p>
<p>In turn this means that the system for responding to maintenance issues is not agile. </p>
<p>Bureaucratic processes designed to minimise corruption result in long delays. Management at all levels tends to put out fires rather than implement a long term strategy to improve the situation.</p>
<p>Facilities have also been affected by strikes about wage disputes. In some cases hospital facilities <a href="https://www.enca.com/south-africa/striking-workers-trashing-of-johannesburg-hospital-unacceptable-da">have been damaged</a> during the industrial action. </p>
<p>Criminality is also a problem. Theft is common with wall mirrors, bathroom tiles, soft furnishings, even large potted plants disappearing. Most recently copper plumbing pipes were stolen from Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital while it stood empty. </p>
<h2>The fallacy that South Africa has two healthcare systems</h2>
<p>There is a perception of an “us and them” among many South Africans. People with medical aid feel relieved that they have access to private healthcare, which does not have all these problems. </p>
<p>This is a fallacy. The country has one healthcare system – the public academic institutions train the healthcare workers who work in both the private and public sector. If the public healthcare sector collapses, the private sector will follow.<br>
The solution is proper management and accountability at all levels. South Africa <a href="http://www.treasury.gov.za/comm_media/speeches/2021/Budget%20Vote%20Speech%20by%20the%20Minister%20of%20Finance%20Tito%20Titus%20Mboweni,%20MP%20%20-%20National%20Treasury%20The%20Pillar%20of%20the%20State%20-%2020%20May%202021.pdf">spends enough money on healthcare </a>(just over 10% of GDP), but there is terrible waste at many levels. <a href="https://www.gov.za/about-government/government-programmes/national-health-insurance-0">The government is pursuing</a> a National Health Insurance scheme, with the aim of pooling resources to provide “quality affordable personal health services for all South Africans, based on health needs, not socio-economic status”.</p>
<p>If implemented and governed properly, the new scheme is most likely the best solution to all the many problems facing country’s healthcare system. And it will allow South Africa to reach its full potential of providing excellent healthcare to all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163897/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Daynia Ballot is affiliated with the Wits Paediatric Fund. </span></em></p>
South Africa is quite capable of delivering world-class healthcare to all its citizens. But this is constantly being hampered by an increasingly unconducive environment.
Professor Daynia Ballot, Head, School of Clinical Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/163554
2021-07-05T15:52:27Z
2021-07-05T15:52:27Z
Jacarandas in parts of South Africa are flowering earlier: why it’s a warning sign
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409118/original/file-20210630-13-qswydt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jacaranda trees in Pretoria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September each year, South Africa’s Gauteng province turns purple. The cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria are well covered with trees – and jacarandas (<em>Jacaranda mimosifolia</em>), with their purple blooms in late spring, are a prominent part of this urban forest.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800912002212?casa_token=IQt2bGs52LgAAAAA:nwhD_j28bxXZ4L8C0Y6l-KOmdf7bZ3SQapB6MOLhc32_tb_Ju2sfVDu-ea0bMufu8vMItVcPdw">About 16%</a> of the land in the Gauteng City Region is planted with trees, forming one of the world’s <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-43314-1_16">largest and most densely</a> vegetated man-made urban forests. Johannesburg alone <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/87a4/5b2fa68df1065fb73d2bca54d5566c170bc2.pdf">is recorded</a> to have over 10 million trees. Jacarandas were introduced to Pretoria and later Johannesburg in the early 1800s, specifically as ornamentals to line the streets of the suburbs and central business districts. </p>
<p>Octogenarian residents who have lived in Gauteng their whole life might remember that jacarandas did not always flower in September. In the <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dKCh5m5d7s1IC">1920s and 1930s</a>, the trees only started to bloom in mid-November. Gradually over the decades, the date of bloom has advanced through October <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dKCh5m5d7s1IC">to the early weeks of September</a>. This is referred to as a phenological shift, and is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0309133315578940?casa_token=D172E9XVC5YAAAAA:oYg6OSV___zHcI88qeQgqSBnAxOqdyTtKvO2lQV6FLcovVdY0YbIHeIIjps6VdBwvwMecxanYMOQ">being observed</a> across a range of species globally <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01286">as a result</a> of climate change.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-phenology-is-key-in-tracking-climate-change-123783">Explainer: why phenology is key in tracking climate change</a>
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<p>The most notable example is the Japanese cherry blossoms. Not only are the cherry blossoms a key tourist attraction, and the cherry festivals important cultural events, but this also represents the world’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320709001517?casa_token=c2JXqIw7oRMAAAAA:R7T2fqzspYdJn_Ix5ds8ZDxuHYgoJ30Lzf5MhswY6K0mIIiaixi-qi8Qf3HSaXRUPnbYSg09VQ">longest phenological record</a>. Phenological analyses show that current cherry blossoming is occurring earlier than any time in the last 1,200 years. </p>
<p>We explored this change in the timing of jacaranda blossom in our <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dKCh5m5d7s1IC">paper</a> published in the Journal of Urban Forestry and Urban Greening. Phenological shifts are species and location specific – in some areas, and for some species, events are even being delayed as a result of specific climate drivers. There is very little phenological data for South Africa, and so very little phenological research has been conducted compared to the work in countries across Europe, Asia and North America. </p>
<p>Because jacaranda blossoms result in such a dramatic change in the urban landscape each year, they are often reported on in the news and, more recently, in social media posts. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CLGWwOPJ-1V","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>We mined these sources to compile a list of flowering dates of jacaranda trees spanning 1927-2019. This record allowed us the chance to contribute to the global attempts at recording phenological shifts.</p>
<p>The records confirmed the advance in flowering dates, and from these we quantified a mean rate of advance of 2.1 days per decade.</p>
<p>We then explored the climatic drivers of this advance, by comparing the flowering dates to <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dKCh5m5d7s1IC">meteorological data</a> from across Gauteng. The advance in flowering took place against a backdrop of warming temperatures, ranging from 0.1-0.2°C per decade for daily maximum temperatures and a more rapid 0.2-0.4°C per decade for daily minimum temperatures. Rainfall changes during this time were less uniform.</p>
<p>If plants flower too early in the year, they are at risk <a href="https://idp.springer.com/authorize/casa?redirect_uri=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00484-013-0778-0&casa_token=gny_cZSrb5cAAAAA:b87pp44s7f36vNgVxQWdiYODUGV39HB151wMiapA5ZDP9iN5zj_7bFyFXDVgTeRC6nFWOs5R4pZog5PT">of frost damage</a> during the late winter months, and often do not complete their dormancy. Therefore, although phenological shifts represent an adaptation in plants and animals, these advances in flowering dates cannot continue indefinitely. At a critical threshold, the flowering season will become unsuccessful. </p>
<h2>Understanding the role of climate</h2>
<p>While phenological shifts are highly species and location specific, the broad climate drivers are well understood. Spring blossoms are triggered, in most cases, by temperatures warming above a certain threshold, following the completion of a dormant period. That dormant period often requires a certain number of days below a threshold temperature, or an accumulation of chilling units. </p>
<p>For some plants, the onset of rainfall is also important in triggering blossoms. While factors such as soil moisture, temperature and composition, sunshine hours, and the health of the tree can affect the mean flowering date, the shifts in flowering are driven by climate. The biometeorological science of phenology has developed over the past five decades, with methodologies to determine the climate drivers responsible for phenological shifts.</p>
<p>The strongest climatic driver of the phenological advance of jacaranda blossoms in the Gauteng city region was found to be daily maximum temperatures during the month of June – falling within the dormant period of the tree. This is not uncommon, as the dormant period is critical for resource management in the tree. It does mean that by the time the spring months of September and October come around, day to day temperature and rainfall will have less impact on when the trees flower. Over the period 1918-2019, June mean maximum daily temperatures have increased <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dKCh5m5d7s1IC">by 0.2°C a decade</a>, while mean minimum daily temperatures have increased <a href="https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dKCh5m5d7s1IC">by 0.2-0.5°C a decade</a>. </p>
<p>Jacarandas occupy a peculiar position in South Africa: they are well loved and noticeable trees but they are invasive aliens. Due to their status as invasive species, replanting of jacarandas is <a href="http://www.waterafrica.co.za/index.php/news-events/news/59-to-tree-or-not-to-tree-that-is-the-question">currently prohibited</a>, although the species has certain urban areas <a href="http://invasives.org.za/legislation/item/265-jacarandajacaranda-mimosifolia">in which restrictions</a> are less strict. This means the population of trees is ageing. The trees can live for <a href="http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/29144/1/Jacaranda%20trees%20HIA.pdf">over 100 years</a>, but for some of the original trees, their centenary has already passed.</p>
<p>Phenological shifts represent an adaptation strategy for the plant – they cannot move on their own to a cooler climate that more closely matches what they are traditionally accustomed to, and so they alter their annually recurrent biological events. This cannot happen indefinitely, and as temperatures continue to increase, a more general risk of heat stress to the tree is heightened. This could mean that the years of purple spring seasons in Gauteng are limited. </p>
<p>The rate, direction, and climatic drivers of phenological shifts are specific to individual species. Therefore, we cannot extrapolate these results to all flowering trees in Gauteng, or even to all invasive species in the city-region. However, the results of this study do provide a warning for the urban forest, and an urgent call for future research. Collating data from a range of sources, including traditional and social media, can contribute to better understanding and modelling these changes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Fitchett receives funding from the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Palaeoscience. </span></em></p>
Climate change is causing jacarandas to flower earlier. If this trend continues, they could be at risk of flowering when it’s too cold and become dormant.
Jennifer Fitchett, Associate Professor of Physical Geography, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/161611
2021-05-27T10:38:23Z
2021-05-27T10:38:23Z
Growing human embryos in the lab and why scientists just tweaked the rules – podcast
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402947/original/file-20210526-21-1u5rsa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C52%2C4865%2C3540&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Illustration of an early stage human embryo. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">nobeastsofierce via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In this week’s episode of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/the-conversation-weekly-98901">The Conversation Weekly</a>, as new scientific guidelines are released on embryo research and the use of stem cells, we talk to experts about what’s changed – including a recommendation to relax the 14-day time limit for human embryo research. And we hear about a wave of romantic comedy films emerging from South Africa that are re-imagining the city of Johannesburg. </p>
<iframe src="https://embed.acast.com/60087127b9687759d637bade/60af6da2a7e7e20012444626?cover=true" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay" width="100%" height="110"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-561" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>It’s been five years since the last set of guidelines from the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) were published. Since then, scientists have made significant developments in stem cell and embryo research – including the creation of <a href="https://theconversation.com/researchers-have-grown-human-embryos-from-skin-cells-what-does-that-mean-and-is-it-ethical-157228">human embryo models</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-human-monkey-embryos-created-a-small-step-towards-a-huge-ethical-problem-159355">first human-monkey embryos</a>. </p>
<p>Now, <a href="https://www.isscr.org/policy/guidelines-for-stem-cell-research-and-clinical-translation">new ISSCR guidelines</a> have just been published. One of the most significant shifts concerns what’s called the 14-day rule. This has prohibited researchers – by law in some countries, <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/22">such as the UK</a> – from growing human embryos in the lab for more than 14 days. The revised guidelines no longer strictly prohibit this, rather they recommend that a panel of experts should approve research proposals on a case-by-case basis. And they also call on countries to start national conversations about the issue and whether such research should be allowed.</p>
<p>The ISSCR guidelines are not international law, but their recommendations are used by countries around the world to guide their own national regulations and legislation. And also by countries that don’t have laws governing this kind of research using embryos and stem cells. </p>
<p>For this episode, we talk to Megan Munsie, deputy director for the Centre for Stem Cell Systems at the University of Melbourne and one of the scientists who sat on the panel that reviewed the guidelines. She tells us there have been advances that mean that we can now grow sperm-egg embryos for more than 14 days, “and the guideline is calling for consideration about whether we should”. She says that in a very small number of cases there may be justification for doing so.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-global-guidelines-for-stem-cell-research-aim-to-drive-discussions-not-lay-down-the-law-161578">New global guidelines for stem cell research aim to drive discussions, not lay down the law</a>
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<p>The guidelines stress that doing research using human embryos should be a last resort – only turned to if there is no other way to get the same information. And this is where human embryo models come in. We speak to Jun Wu, assistant professor in molecular biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, whose lab recently <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03356-y%C2%A0">made a breakthrough</a> by creating a human embryo model, called a blastoid, using human pluripotent stem cells. He explains how he did it and why this kind of research is so important to help understand what happens in the earliest stages of pregnancy, when the embryo implants into the womb lining. “This process of implantation is essentially a black box,” Wu says. “We don’t know much about it.” </p>
<p>And we speak to César Palacios-González senior research fellow in practical ethics at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, about some of the moral dilemmas that the 14-day rule and research using human embryos provoke. “Philosophers like myself love thinking about these things,” he told us. “The main ethical question that people have in mind is the moral value that human embryos have, and if actually we should even be carrying out this particular type of research.” He explains the arguments on both sides. </p>
<p>In our second story (at 25:20), we head to South Africa, where a wave of romantic comedies has hit the big screen in recent years. Many of these films are set in Johannesburg – a city that’s had a violent portrayal in film. Pier Paolo Frassinelli, professor of communication and media studies at the University of Johannesburg has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533952.2021.1899734?journalCode=rsdy20">just published new research</a> looking at the way Black South African filmmakers are now portraying Joburg in a different light through these romcoms. “Even though the films try to present a certain image of upper-middle-class Johannesburg, the films cannot quite push away the tensions, the contradictions, the complexities of the city,” Frassinelli tells us. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-romcom-revolution-and-how-it-reimagines-joburg-159255">South Africa's romcom revolution and how it reimagines Joburg</a>
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<p>And Wale Fatade, commissioning editor at The Conversation in Lagos, Nigeria, gives us his recommended reading. </p>
<p>The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/?hl=en">theconversationdotcom</a>. or via email on podcast@theconversation.com. You can also sign up to <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter?utm_campaign=PodcastTCWeekly&utm_content=newsletter&utm_source=podcast">The Conversation’s free daily email here</a>.</p>
<p>A transcript of this episode will be available soon. </p>
<p>News clips in this episode are from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1ZoSLMZVo">ABC News Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9V3mqswbv0">AP News</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMDMXDftnM">Rififi Pictures Trailer: Tell me Sweet Something</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teS_BiLulVs">Showmax, Trailer: Happiness is a Four Letter Word</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gcty69_R74">Mrs Right Guy Official, Trailer: Mrs Right Guy</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyLUwOcR5pk">Sony Picture Entertainment: District 9 - Official Trailer</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6EohBg3QoY">Movieclips Classic Trailers, Trailer: Jerusalema</a>. </p>
<p><em>You can listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a>, or find out how else to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">listen here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161611/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Plus, how a new wave of South African romcoms is reimagining Johannesburg. Listen to episode 17 of The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Gemma Ware, Head of Audio
Daniel Merino, Associate Breaking News Editor and Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/159255
2021-05-02T07:49:34Z
2021-05-02T07:49:34Z
South Africa’s romcom revolution and how it reimagines Joburg
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397868/original/file-20210429-13-1a9om3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Detail from a poster for the romantic comedy Happiness is a Four-Letter Word.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> © Junaid Ahmed/Happiness is a Four-Letter Word</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Netflix went <a href="https://www.news24.com/fin24/tech/news/breaking-netflix-goes-live-in-south-africa-20160106">live</a> in South Africa on 6 January 2016. The arrival of the subscription-based content streaming service was a game changer for the country’s film and television industry, as it had been for other countries.</p>
<p>At about the same time – in 2015 and 2016 – there was another turning point for South Africa’s film industry: the arrival of a new, commercially successful genre, the black romantic comedy. </p>
<p>For the first time, the country’s black filmmakers were able to make an impact at the box office – and go on to licence their films to streaming platforms.</p>
<p>In South Africa, Netflix signalled the turn to streaming for watching films and television series. Despite a recent slowing of subscriber growth, Netflix has over <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/20/netflix-q1-2021/">200 million</a> paid subscribers worldwide. These numbers – and the way streaming services are reshaping content production, distribution and consumption – represent the most radical change in the film industry in recent years. </p>
<p>On the African continent, this expansion has had to face the challenges of lack of affordability, uneven connectivity and the cost of data. These keep Netflix beyond the reach of the majority of the population. According to <a href="https://business.inquirer.net/309352/netflix-doubles-down-on-efforts-to-tap-african-market">data</a>, in 2020 Netflix still had only 1.4 million subscribers across the continent. Still, in a growing number of African countries, content acquisition and production for online streaming is a <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/netflix-ups-the-ante-in-africa-11608744867416.html">fast growing</a> industry. </p>
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<hr>
<p>And it’s not just about Netflix. South Africa-based Multichoice – owner of digital satellite television service DStv and online subscription video on demand service Showmax – has put up an effective fight for this market. Before the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, Multichoice was planning to produce 52 local movies and 29 dramas in 2020. </p>
<p>The company claimed that DStv and Showmax doubled South African users between 2018 and 2019 and are now locally <a href="https://www.businessinsider.co.za/multichoice-netflix-showmax-dstv-dtsv-now-local-movies-streaming-service-naspers-2019-6">bigger</a> than Netflix – though it did not disclose the exact numbers. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oBMDMXDftnM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The 2015 romcom Tell Me Sweet Something was a breakthrough.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The African romcom seems a perfect fit for the streaming market. Versions of it are still being produced and made accessible via streaming platforms today. South African romcoms <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5702884/"><em>Mrs Right Guy</em></a> (2016), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5827360/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>Catching Feelings</em></a> (2017) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11010144/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>Seriously Single</em></a> (2020) are currently available on Netflix. They rub shoulders with a selection of Nollywood takes on the genre, including hits like <em><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5978822/">The Wedding Party</a></em> (2016). </p>
<p>My <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02533952.2021.1899734">recent article</a> on this genre explores what some of these popular films reveal about urban middle and upper-class lifestyles and aspirations. It also considers how they reimagine Johannesburg, the city where most black South African romcoms are set. </p>
<h2>The romcom revolution</h2>
<p>In 2016, the highest grossing local film was Jaco Smit’s Afrikaans-language romantic drama, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4768926/"><em>Vir Altyd</em></a> (Forever), which made over R15 million (over a million USD) at local theatres. It was followed by Thabang Moleya’s Johannesburg northern suburbs’ bling-saturated romcom <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5174974/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word</em></a>. This made an impressive <a href="https://www.nfvf.co.za/home/22/files/2017%20files/Box%20office%20report%202016%20reviewed%202.pdf">R13.2 million</a> in a box office previously dominated by Afrikaans films and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0776856/">Leon Schuster’s slapstick</a> comedies. In fourth place was Adze Ugah’s <em>Mrs Right Guy</em>, which took in over R4 million by rehearsing one of the genre’s standard plots.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t12fp8XU1pA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Happiness is a Four-Letter Word passed R13 million at the South African box office in 2016.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The year before, Akin Omotoso had directed <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4573706/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1"><em>Tell Me Sweet Something</em></a>, a romantic comedy set in Johannesburg’s downtown hipster hangout <a href="https://mabonengprecinct.com">Maboneng</a>. It was one of the few black South African films since 1994 to <a href="https://www.nfvf.co.za/home/22/files/2016%20Files%20Folders%20etc/South%20Africa%20Box%20Office%20Report_Final%202015.pdf">gross</a> almost R3 million. South African audiences, commentators concluded, had had enough of highbrow, socially engaged films and were turning to genre flicks. In the words of journalist Lindiwe Sithole, “It seems that South Africans are leaning towards the lighter offerings.”</p>
<p>To understand their appeal, it is worth asking what these films say about the time and place where they are set.</p>
<h2>The end of the rainbow</h2>
<p>South Africa’s black romcoms break with the tales of racial reconciliation and the rainbow intimacies of a prior generation of English-language romantic comedies. Think of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213929/"><em>White Wedding</em></a> (2009), where Elvis and Ayanda’s interracial wedding in Gugulethu is joined by right wing Afrikaners ready to embrace racial diversity. Or <em><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1683879/">I Now Pronounce You Black and White</a></em> (2010), where a groom and bride transcend the conflict between their Jewish and Zulu parents – or <em><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2181941/">Fanie Fourie’s Lobola</a></em> (2013) where a couple must also overcome their families’ cultural differences.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BagGDvbVK9A?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Most black South African romcoms, like Catching Feelings, are set in Johannesburg.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By contrast, <em>Tell Me Sweet Something</em>, <em>Mrs Right Guy</em> and <em>Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word</em> are conspicuously “black” films. In contrast to the previous generation of English-language romcoms, they all have black directors (a sign that the South African film industry is slowly transforming). </p>
<p>Set in Johannesburg’s middle and upper-class cityscapes, they portray mostly young, hip, affluent, good-looking, heterosexual black characters falling in love with each other – with the occasional split and disappointment to add spice to the quest for happiness, real passion and true love.</p>
<h2>Joburg as glamorous global city</h2>
<p>The emergence and mainstreaming of the black South African romcom is also part of a broader trend in the cinema of the global south, where the appropriation of western commercial genres is accompanied by images of the “global city”.</p>
<p><em>Tell Me Sweet Something</em>, <em>Mrs Right Guy</em> and <em>Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word</em> reimagine Johannesburg by <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02533952.2021.1899734">aligning it</a> with an imagery of global urbanism that is associated with visual and narrative repertoires of contemporary African cinemas, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-nollywood-to-new-nollywood-the-story-of-nigerias-runaway-success-47959">New Nollywood</a> comedies in Nigeria. This challenges discourses and stereotypes of “African backwardness” and is often captured in aerial or high angle shots of skylines made up of tall buildings, or through images of glossy, gentrified and glitzy urban landscapes. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jj0JiEs3lj8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The 2016 romcom Mrs Right Guy came fourth at the South African box office.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there is more to this, I argue. By representing a globalised version of Johannesburg, these films are throwing up their own contradictions. They cash in on the aesthetic of an African global city even as they unavoidably continue to remind us of the city’s social conflicts and socioeconomic inequalities. They do this in their storylines as well as their images.</p>
<p>All three films repeatedly reference a more authentic version of the city as an object of love and desire. This is evoked not only through the high angle shots of some of Johannesburg’s most densely populated urban areas, but also through images of some of its newly gentrified downtown neighbourhoods and via their characters’ desire for loving, inhabiting and being part of “the city”.</p>
<p>These films are not simply a celebration of consumerist lifestyles. They also represent the tensions and dislocations that accompany the black majority’s occupation of affluent urban spaces and its embrace of the consumptive practices from which it had so long been excluded. It is no surprise they have turned out to be popular, boosted by the demand for streamed content.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159255/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pier Paolo Frassinelli receives funding from University of Johannesburg University Research Council for a project on African Cinemas.</span></em></p>
The rise of the black romantic comedy in South Africa dovetailed perfectly with the advent of streaming services - creating a box office phenomenon.
Pier Paolo Frassinelli, Professor, Communication and Media Studies, University of Johannesburg
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/157113
2021-04-19T15:56:14Z
2021-04-19T15:56:14Z
There’s a disconnect between research and urban planning in Africa: how to fix it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391674/original/file-20210325-19-zciqvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cairo</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo credit should read PATRICK BAZ/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The African continent is fast on its way to becoming one of the <a href="https://population.un.org/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2018-Highlights.pdf">world’s largest urban hubs</a>. This has spawned growing interest in African urbanisation by both researchers and policy makers. But a great deal of the knowledge – and policy that stems from it – doesn’t adequately respond to the challenges faced by those who govern and are governed on the ground.</p>
<p>We address this problem in our new book <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Reframing-the-Urban-Challenge-in-Africa-Knowledge-Co-production-from-the/Marrengane-Croese/p/book/9780367442200#sup">Reframing the Urban Challenge in Africa</a>. Contributions are from various members of the <a href="https://africanurbanresearchinitiative.net/">African Urban Research Initiative</a>, a pan-African interdisciplinary research network. It is made up of 21 universities, think tanks, research institutions and practitioner agencies concerned with urbanisation and its impact across the continent. </p>
<p>The objective of the initiative is to develop a collaborative network that relies on – and actively nurtures – African expertise and research agendas. The idea is for the network to serve as a platform for both innovation and strategic thinking for Africa’s urban challenges and opportunities.</p>
<p>The book is a concrete attempt to put this approach into practice. Each chapter is based on research that’s been done collaboratively in cities, towns and small settlements across the continent. </p>
<p>One of the major learnings that comes through from the chapters is the importance of close relationships between researchers and people on the ground.</p>
<h2>The gaps</h2>
<p>Africa’s urban challenges are increasingly well known and documented. But the amount of data produced on urban Africa still pales in comparison to other parts of the world. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/user/identity/landing?code=5gC39csbPaHaTnb2sL58zwoWmhgiIgqBaLpre2gU&state=retryCounter%3D0%26csrfToken%3D52c8ee03-eb41-4c14-8392-1d46c17aa8ac%26idpPolicy%3Durn%253Acom%253Aelsevier%253Aidp%253Apolicy%253Aproduct%253Ainst_assoc%26returnUrl%3D%252Fscience%252Farticle%252Fpii%252FS0962629817302184%26prompt%3Dnone%26cid%3Darp-3b1e609a-2a12-4243-a10a-4d5b7b8c3962">Researchers have shown</a> how most data and research available in global urban databases is produced outside the continent. </p>
<p>In addition, because of the way research is funded and conducted most existing work doesn’t find its way back to prospective users. This includes policymakers and local communities. </p>
<p>This has resulted in a growing call for more applied research that bridges the gap between science/research and policy, especially in the field of cities and urban sustainability.</p>
<p>One way of doing this is through the co-production of knowledge.</p>
<h2>Reframing</h2>
<p>Knowledge co-production <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0448-2">has been described as</a> collaborative processes involving diverse types of expertise, knowledge and actors “to produce context-specific knowledge and pathways towards a sustainable future”. </p>
<p>In our book we demonstrate that this is an appropriate approach to urban research into solutions to the challenges facing Africa’s cities. It’s true that there are common urban trends across the continent. Nevertheless, local dynamics, needs, systems, actors and priorities remain highly specific to local contexts. Most of these are undocumented, and are often contested and in flux. </p>
<p>Knowledge co-production represents a way to include voices typically absent in research. In the process new relationships between key stakeholders can be fostered. This generates new knowledge about societal problems. It also renders actionable knowledge for problem-solving.</p>
<p>Contributions to the book are based on research done by researchers and practitioners working in cities across the continent. These range from large metropolitan areas such as Cairo, Johannesburg and Luanda to mid-sized cities (Kumasi, Lusaka, and Alexandria), small cities (Minya, Egypt), and peri-urban spaces (Thika, Kenya).</p>
<p>The research underpinning each chapter was done in collaboration with local communities, governments and other relevant stakeholders on issues that were directly related to local challenges. The result is that chapters cover a range of issues as entry points into wider discussions on urban governance and development in Africa. These range from urban inequality to climate change, the urban food economy, land and housing.</p>
<h2>Lessons and learnings</h2>
<p>Taken together, the chapters provide insight into the diverse set of actors, practices, and experiences involved in urban governance and development across the continent. This means that knowledge co-production takes on different forms and dynamics depending on the city, neighbourhood and settlement.</p>
<p>One of the major learnings is the importance of close relationships between researchers and representatives from local governance structures. In most of the cases these have been fostered and built over long periods of time. In a context where levels of trust – in public institutions as well as among different members of urban communities – are generally low, the importance of these cannot be underestimated. </p>
<p>However, even with these relationships in place, the chapters also demonstrate the challenges of working with local leadership structures, including traditional authorities or local party cadres. These are vital for access to local communities, but also function as gatekeepers. Often, day-to-day cultural and political practices and dynamics, as well as competing agendas or interests determine the scope, availability, and willingness of local leaders and communities to participate in research projects and knowledge co-production. This is true even when projects are aimed at community participation. </p>
<p>Overcoming these hurdles requires a deep understanding of the complexity and workings of local governance structures, as well as the factors, systems, and dynamics that can contribute to building trust and collective action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sylvia Croese has received funding from the Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa 2030 programme, implemented by the International Science Council (ISC) in partnership with the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), as well as from the PEAK Urban programme, funded by the UK Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund, grant reference ES/P011055/1.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ntombini Marrengane received funding from the Ford Foundation to support urban knowledge networks in Africa as part of the work she did previously with the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. </span></em></p>
Africa’s urban challenges are increasingly well known and documented. But the amount of data produced on urban Africa still pales in comparison to other parts of the world.
Sylvia Croese, Senior research fellow, University of the Witwatersrand
Ntombini Marrengane, Senior Manager, Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Cape Town
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/157830
2021-03-25T18:55:54Z
2021-03-25T18:55:54Z
Can social housing help South Africa overcome its legacy of apartheid?
<p>South African cities are among the most unequal and segregated in the world. In an effort to address chronic housing shortages, the government has delivered more than 3.5 million free homes since 1994. While the programme has been successful, it has also perpetuated spatial divisions because of the peripheral location of most projects. </p>
<p>To reverse this trend, the government launched a social-housing policy in 2006 to boost affordable rental accommodations in well-located urban areas. In a study financed by European Commission, we evaluated some of the impacts of this programme, revealing mixed results.</p>
<h2>Post-apartheid housing policy</h2>
<p>Housing was a cornerstone of South Africa’s post-apartheid efforts to redress the legacies of racial discrimination and segregation. The <a href="https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv02039/04lv02103/05lv02120/06lv02126.htm">Reconstruction and Development</a> (RDP, 1994) and <a href="https://www.gov.za/about-government/sustainable-human-settlements-breaking-new-ground">Breaking New Ground</a> (2004) programmes provided more than 3.5 million houses for poor black households. However, the focus on free-standing, individually owned units resulted in most new developments taking place on the urban periphery, far from economic and social opportunities. </p>
<p>The policy tended to reinforce spatial divides and economic inequalities. Some beneficiaries sold their houses and decided to rent closer to central cities, even if it meant living in poorer quality, unsanitary buildings or <a href="http://www.hsrc.ac.za/en/review/hsrc-review-january-2015/backyard-schaks-and-urban-housing-crisis">“backyard shacks”</a>. Moreover, despite this massive construction of public housing, supply has fallen far short of demand. Thus, in large metro areas such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Ekurhuleni, <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=11241">one out of five</a> inhabitants lives in precarious accommodation.</p>
<h2>Renewed hope with social rental housing</h2>
<p>While the focus of South Africa’s housing policy was on homeownership, social rental housing programmes began as early as 1995. The government made subsidies available to third-sector organisations to build and manage affordable rental accommodation. At the same time, private property developers recovered abandoned, sometimes squatted, buildings, <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2018/12/06/a-la-reconquete-du-centre-ville-de-johannesburg_5393519_3210.html">especially in Johannesburg</a>, and converted them into inexpensive rental apartments. From these early initiatives emerged a new social housing policy in 2006, which tied subsidies to the delivery of medium-density rental units in <a href="http://www.dhs.gov.za/sites/default/files/documents/publications/Social_Housing.pdf">“restructuring zones”</a>, similar to <a href="https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/1521317">“urban free zones”</a> in France. The goal was to bring working-class black citizens closer to areas with access to economic and social opportunities.</p>
<p>The programme delivered fewer than 2,500 units in its first phase (2008 to 2014) but then accelerated to more than 12,800 units constructed by the end of 2018. This was a considerable improvement, but the number was still below the target of 27,000. Today there are only about 35,000 social-rental units despite huge demand. Among the factors constraining production were subsidies that did not keep pace with inflation, lack of investment in capacity-building of social housing organisations, and weak support across government. Changes in 2017 corrected some of these shortcomings and brought renewed energy and investment to the sector.</p>
<h2>Spatial drift of projects</h2>
<p>We developed a unique database comprising all social rental housing projects in the country, which we analysed for the seven largest metros. Our study, <a href="https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/role-social-housing-reducing-inequality-south-african-cities">“The role of social housing in reducing inequality in South African cities”</a>, reveals a spatial drift of projects toward peripheral locations. Between 1995 and 2005, most pilot projects were located within city centres. After the new scheme of 2006, more than half of the projects were still located within city centres or inner suburbs. However, from 2011 onward, a growing number of projects were moving to the outskirts and even to townships, including those where the black population was relegated during apartheid.</p>
<p>The map below shows the distribution of social housing projects in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni and the periods when they were constructed.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391483/original/file-20210324-23-101sdfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391483/original/file-20210324-23-101sdfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391483/original/file-20210324-23-101sdfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391483/original/file-20210324-23-101sdfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391483/original/file-20210324-23-101sdfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391483/original/file-20210324-23-101sdfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391483/original/file-20210324-23-101sdfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391483/original/file-20210324-23-101sdfc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social housing projects distribution in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andreas Scheba, Ivan Turok, Justin Paul Visagie</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several factors were behind this spatial drift. The first was the <a href="https://ideas4development.org/financiarisation-immobilier-tri-social/">rise of real estate values</a> within the private property market. This meant that social housing institutions could no longer find central land at affordable prices. The second was the stagnation of government subsidies. The third was that very few public land parcels were made available for social housing projects.</p>
<h2>Do tenants experience upward mobility?</h2>
<p>Social housing aims to promote social and racial mixing by targeting households that earn between R1,500 and R15,000 per month. A <a href="https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/social-housing-and-upward-mobility-south-africa">survey of 10 social housing projects</a> showed that a quarter of the tenants received less than R2,500 per person per month which is close to the poverty line. Rent level are distributed according to income levels, but inflation and rising utility costs make them increasingly unaffordable to poor households, heightening the risk of evictions. </p>
<p>Most tenants in the surveyed projects previously lived within a 5km radius of the project, suggesting that urban restructuring and racial integration have been limited (see graph). Greater racial mixing has been difficult to achieve because of neighbourhood segregation, and was not a major expectation for residents, according to <a href="https://www.afd.fr/en/ressources/social-cohesion-and-inequality-south-africa">opinion surveys</a>. Social integration, as measured by income, was also modest.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391484/original/file-20210324-15-m91unk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391484/original/file-20210324-15-m91unk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391484/original/file-20210324-15-m91unk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391484/original/file-20210324-15-m91unk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391484/original/file-20210324-15-m91unk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391484/original/file-20210324-15-m91unk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391484/original/file-20210324-15-m91unk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391484/original/file-20210324-15-m91unk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Racial mix before and after moving to the social housing project (SHIP).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andreas Scheba, Ivan Turok, Justin Paul Visagie. SHRA 2019, Census 2011</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Interviewed tenants benefited from the lower rental charges, which can be much less than the private market. Another benefit is the perception of better safety in the generally secure and institutionally managed complexes. The buildings are often equipped with protection systems and monitored by a guard. Collective facilities are set up such as computer facilities, childcare or secure playgrounds for children (photo). Social development programmes such as healthcare and professional training are also offered. The feeling of safety usually stops at the exit and does not continue into the immediate neighbourhood.</p>
<p>While social housing has impacted positively on households, benefits related to employment, education and access to opportunities appear to be modest rather than transformative. Considerable differences exist between projects depending on their location and the social housing organisation managing the complex. </p>
<p>As South Africa’s social housing policy has arguably ambitious objectives, monitoring and regular impact assessments are needed to develop a stronger evidence base about the impact of projects on household mobility. Specific attention should be paid to adequate financing and making well-located land available, including reforming “restructuring zones”, which have tended to cover the whole metropolitan area.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390955/original/file-20210322-21-wvo0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/390955/original/file-20210322-21-wvo0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390955/original/file-20210322-21-wvo0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390955/original/file-20210322-21-wvo0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390955/original/file-20210322-21-wvo0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390955/original/file-20210322-21-wvo0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/390955/original/file-20210322-21-wvo0bl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children’s playground on the roof of a social-housing complex, Johannesburg (2016).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Irène Salenson</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157830/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is the result of a research programme on inequalities, led by the French Development Agency and funded by the European Commission (DEVCO).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Scheba receives funding from the European Commission through a research facility on Inequalities. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ivan Turok receives funding from the European Commission through a research facility on Inequalities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin Visagie Ivan receives funding from the European Commission through a research facility on Inequalities.</span></em></p>
Despite millions of free homes built since 1994, spatial inequality in South Africa remains high. A study evaluating a programme to boost rentals in well-located areas found mixed results, however.
Irène Salenson, PhD, chargée de recherches, Agence française de développement (AFD)
Andreas Scheba, Senior Researcher in the Inclusive Economic Development Programme, Human Sciences Research Council
Ivan Turok, Executive Director, Human Sciences Research Council
Justin Visagie, Research Specialist: Human Sciences Research Council, Human Sciences Research Council
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/152786
2021-01-20T13:59:19Z
2021-01-20T13:59:19Z
South African internal migrants fare better in the job market in two regions
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377990/original/file-20210111-21-mke2w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Johannesburg is the most preferred destination for jobseekers from other provinces, followed by Cape Town. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Labour migration is an essential – and potentially beneficial – part of all economies, regions and countries in the 21st century. One of the main reasons for migration is to enjoy better employment and earnings prospects.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/1813-9450-3915">usual flow of people</a> is from developing to developed countries at the international level, and domestically from rural to urban areas or from poorer areas to richer ones.</p>
<p>In South Africa two provinces – Gauteng and Western Cape – stand out among the full complement of nine – as the most attractive destinations for labour migrants. They contribute most to the economic success of the country, accounting for 49% of the gross domestic product in <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0441/P04414thQuarter2019.pdf">2019</a>. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://sihma.org.za/journals/02%20The%20Impact%20of%20Inter-provincial%20Migration%20on%20the%20Labor%20Market.pdf">study</a> used the South African Census 2011 data to examine the impact of inter-provincial migration on the labour market in the Western Cape and Gauteng. Our specific focus was on whether the inter-provincial migrants fared relatively better in the labour market in the destination provinces. </p>
<p>Our key finding was that migrants from other provinces were more likely to be employed than the permanent residents of Gauteng and the Western Cape. But, the intra-provincial migrants – people who moved from one area to another within the same province in search of better job prospects – remained the best-performing group with the lowest unemployment rates, especially in the formal sector.</p>
<p>As not all inter-provincial migrants find work in the destination provinces, the provincial unemployment statistics should be interpreted with great caution, as they can be distorted by these migrants.</p>
<h2>The study</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://sihma.org.za/journals/02%20The%20Impact%20of%20Inter-provincial%20Migration%20on%20the%20Labor%20Market.pdf">study</a>, we used the <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=3839">Census 2011 data</a> – the most recent – to examine the personal, socioeconomic status and labour market characteristics of eight groups of people aged 15 to 64 years.</p>
<p>The categories were, in the case of the Western Cape:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>permanent residents, </p></li>
<li><p>intra-provincial migrants, </p></li>
<li><p>long-term migrants from other provinces,</p></li>
<li><p>short-term migrants from other provinces.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In the case of Gauteng:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>permanent residents,</p></li>
<li><p>intra-provincial migrants,</p></li>
<li><p>long-term migrants from other provinces,</p></li>
<li><p>short-term migrants from other provinces.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Short-term and long-term migrants were distinguished from each other based on the time periods before and after 2006. The short term refers to those who migrated within the last five years. Long-term means they migrated more than 5-10 years earlier.</p>
<p>The findings point to the need for the national government to consider inter-provincial migration when allocating the national budget to provinces, districts and municipalities. More of the budget should go to the Western Cape and Gauteng, given their ever-growing populations because of migration from other provinces.</p>
<h2>Key findings</h2>
<p>The majority of migrants into the Western Cape came from the Eastern Cape (53.64%) and Gauteng (20.95%). In contrast, migrants into Gauteng were more evenly spread. They came mostly from Limpopo (30.92%), KwaZulu-Natal (19.30%), the Eastern Cape (14.22%) and Mpumalanga (11.15%) provinces.</p>
<p><em>Inter-provincial migrants’ previous province of residence and current province of residence</em></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=237&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377367/original/file-20210106-15-pxsxoz.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Note: intra-provincial migrants and immigrants from overseas are excluded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sipplied by author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The statistics also indicated that the majority of migrants from other provinces into the Western Cape settled in the City of Cape Town (over 70%). On the other hand, nearly 90% of migrants into Gauteng resided in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni districts. </p>
<p>The results suggest that these popular destination districts are most likely associated with better living conditions and labour market prospects.</p>
<p>Furthermore, both short and long-term migrants into Gauteng and the Western Cape were likely to be young, aged 15-34 years. They were mostly unmarried <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/race-and-ethnicity-south-africa">African</a> urban residents with 11 to 12 years of education on average.</p>
<p>These migrants into Gauteng and the Western Cape enjoyed lower unemployment rates than the permanent residents. One interesting finding was that the intra-provincial migrants had the lowest unemployment rate, compared with the inter-provincial migrants and permanent residents.</p>
<p><em>Labour force participation rates and unemployment rates of the eight groups of individuals</em></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377735/original/file-20210108-21-1jmozkk.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied by author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The figure below shows that the proportion of workers involved in skilled occupations was the highest for the intra-provincial migrants. More short-term and long-term inter-provincial migrants were in skilled work compared to the permanent residents.</p>
<p><em>Percentage share of employed in each skills level by migration status</em></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377736/original/file-20210108-19-zvtneq.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied by author</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lastly, after controlling for differences in other personal and household characteristics, the econometric analysis found that, compared to the permanent residents, both short and long-term inter-provincial migrants into the Gauteng and the Western Cape enjoyed a significantly greater probability (of 3%) of finding work. Migrants within a province enjoy the lowest unemployment rate and probability of engaging in skilled occupations.</p>
<h2>Policy implications</h2>
<p>Job-seeking migration into Gauteng and the Western Cape will certainly continue for as long as these two provinces are associated with better economic conditions and job prospects than the migrants’ home provinces. In particular, these migrants are most likely to cluster in certain districts with more lucrative job opportunities; namely Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane.</p>
<p>Gauteng and Western Cape provincial governments will continue to face important challenges in addressing the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10800379.2010.12097213">increased burden</a> on providing basic services, housing, health, education and social service systems because of the flow of migrants.</p>
<p>The findings indicate that not all the inter-provincial migrants eventually find work. This adds to the unemployment burden for Gauteng and the Western Cape. This has implications for the provinces’ job creation and entrepreneurship development strategies. </p>
<p><em>Joseph Kleinhans, an Economics Masters graduate at the University of the Western Cape, collaborated on the research on which this article is based.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152786/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek Yu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Labour migrants from other provinces into Gauteng and the Western Cape are more likely to be employed than the two provinces’ permanent residents.
Derek Yu, Professor, Economics, University of the Western Cape
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/147517
2020-10-12T14:34:59Z
2020-10-12T14:34:59Z
Anxiety in Johannesburg: new views on a global south city
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362431/original/file-20201008-20-16a7azi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">iStock/Getty Images Plus</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within the media and popular culture of the global north, cities like Johannesburg, South Africa, are often presented as a site of trouble. They’re the source of the immigrants, drugs, violence, poverty, disease and environmental crisis that worry nervous citizens of more “developed” cities. </p>
<p>Even when they take centre stage in international media production, global south cities like Johannesburg are laden with fear or fantasy. Think of the films <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/18121?show=full"><em>District 9</em></a> with its slavering Nigerian gangsters, the homeless genius of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01436591003701117"><em>Slumdog Millionaire</em></a> or <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/fq/article-abstract/72/4/46/42347"><em>Roma</em></a>’s contentedly familial domestic worker. In so many instances, these urban spaces – vibrant, changeable, challenging, new – appear as nothing more than locations for the fluffy imaginaries or collective fears of the north.</p>
<p>In his book <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Liquid+Times%3A+Living+in+an+Age+of+Uncertainty-p-9780745639864"><em>Liquid Times</em></a>, the philosopher Zygmunt Bauman calls fear “arguably the most sinister of the demons nesting in the open societies of our time”. He writes of fear as a palpable monster that stalks the lives of late modern subjects in a world where the centres of power are diffuse and remote. </p>
<p>Fear is, indeed, one way of describing this condition. But anxiety is perhaps more useful, suggesting a feeling that is persistent, low-level and even, in psychologist <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.2001.9675996">Kopano Ratele</a>’s term, “objectless”. Anxiety is ever-present. It does not depend on particular triggers. It is easily spread and shared, passed around on the wind, like a rumour, like a virus.</p>
<h2>The elusive metropolis</h2>
<p>Anxiety in Johannesburg is nothing new. Despite its intermittent glamour, the city has always felt unstable for those who live in it. South Africa’s largest and wealthiest urban centre, it is also deeply unequal and striated by the spatial markers of apartheid. According to urban planning professor <a href="http://witspress.co.za/catalogue/city-of-extremes/">Martin J. Murray</a>, it </p>
<blockquote>
<p>leads a double life. The city is a paradigmatic exemplar of first world glamour and excess and third world improvement and degradation. It is simultaneously a global marketplace of speculative investment integrally linked to the world economy via globalising space of flows. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Black migrants who were once forced into urban labour by law now face the same conditions because of poverty, unemployment and rural underdevelopment. Fears of hunger and violence mesh with a neoliberal fear of failure, of being left behind in a rapidly changing world, painfully symbolised by the city’s “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00020184.2017.1285670">branded skyline</a>”. White suburbanites who once quailed from imaginary communists now invest enthusiastically in <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/pa7nek/smart-cctv-networks-are-driving-an-ai-powered-apartheid-in-south-africa">security technologies</a> and report passers-by to <a href="https://suburbanfear.tumblr.com/">armed private guards</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DyLUwOcR5pk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">District 9 (2009) presents a fearful image of Johannesburg and of Nigerians.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In all parts of the city, from malls to taxi ranks to alleys, <a href="http://www.csvr.org.za/pdf/Gender%20Based%20Violence%20in%20South%20Africa%20-%20A%20Brief%20Review.pdf">women</a> worry whether they will make it home safely – or if at <a href="https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrvv/24/4/546">home</a>, whether they will make it through the night. From <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02723638.2014.988057?casa_token=s9QI3p_pcWwAAAAA%3A6j18Fc0kHj5niV8BTfT1tQ-OmMIzjk5Ge9eURk5g1ADairxvlI_AfHT_C1a7JhPwfcZ1pe2IJktwSg">hawkers</a> in the central business district to <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org.za/site/wp-content/uploads/Final-ReportOpenSecrets_Bankers_Reduced.pdf">grifters</a> in the banking malls, nothing seems entirely fixed or reliable in this elusive metropolis. And yet conditions of anxiety <em>within</em> Johannesburg are seldom discussed by scholars. </p>
<h2>Anxious Joburg</h2>
<p>Like any other city of the south, life in Johannesburg is fraught with the feelings that are central to modernity. What then does it mean that a city like Johannesburg so casually connotes anxiety to the north? And more importantly, if fearful emotion is the base layer of the modern age, as Bauman argues, what does it mean that we think more of anxiety <em>about</em> southern cities than <em>in</em> them? </p>
<p>In order to properly understand city life we need to account for its emotional landscapes. We must ask what it means to be an anxious modern citizen, subject to the same epistemological insecurities as people elsewhere, in a location that is often represented as inherently unstable.</p>
<p>These are some of the question that we asked of contributors to our new book <em><a href="http://witspress.co.za/catalogue/anxious-joburg/">Anxious Joburg</a></em>, a set of essays and reflections that consider the intimate inner lives of Johannesburg. Rather than classifying it as a list of developmental and economic problems to be solved, these scholars, artists and storytellers consider what it <em>feels like</em> to live in this complicated city. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-covid-19-inspire-a-new-way-of-planning-african-cities-145933">Can COVID-19 inspire a new way of planning African cities?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A broad range of people and experiences are explored, among them inner-city religious communities, young women who navigate perilous taxi mobility, nervous white middle classes, transgender migrants coping with South Africa’s aggressive border regime and people scraping a precarious living on the city’s outskirts. </p>
<p>From the gated community of Dainfern in the north to the township of Soweto in the south, from the liminal suburbs of Melville and Yeoville to the back rooms of Cyrildene and the apartment buildings of Hillbrow and the central business district, <em>Anxious Joburg</em> investigates the city’s complex affects from multiple positions. It invokes a range of theoretical approaches – among them visual art, cultural studies, psychology and anthropology – to argue for the central role of emotion in understanding urban life in the global south.</p>
<h2>Emotion and urban life</h2>
<p>When city forms are lumped together as merely the source of dangers that worry the north, it becomes difficult to grasp the current shape of the urban, which is likely to reach its ultimate expression in the expanding mega-cities of the south. As academics Sarah Nuttall and Achille Mbembe <a href="https://witspress.co.za/catalogue/johannesburg-the-elusive-metropolis/">argue</a>, we must develop ways of reading African cities that are no longer “dominated by the metanarrative of urbanisation, modernisation and crisis”. </p>
<p>Part of this work requires us to consider intimate experiences of daily life. After all, as cultural theorist <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Cultural-Politics-of-Emotion/Ahmed/p/book/9781138805033">Sara Ahmed</a> explains, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Emotions should not be regarded as psychological states, but as social and cultural practices. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In southern cities, as elsewhere, emotions are performative and collective and have social and political consequences.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362443/original/file-20201008-14-1k1g6p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362443/original/file-20201008-14-1k1g6p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362443/original/file-20201008-14-1k1g6p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362443/original/file-20201008-14-1k1g6p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362443/original/file-20201008-14-1k1g6p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362443/original/file-20201008-14-1k1g6p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362443/original/file-20201008-14-1k1g6p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/362443/original/file-20201008-14-1k1g6p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wits University Press</span></span>
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<p>Johannesburg is not the most anxious or the most dangerous city in the world. It is not unique or uniquely terrifying. However its global reputation, spectacular racist history and propensity for siege architecture make it a hugely valuable site for thinking about how anxiety structures contemporary life for denizens of the southern city. </p>
<p><em>The new book <a href="http://witspress.co.za/catalogue/anxious-joburg/">Anxious Joburg</a>: The Inner Lives of a Global South City is available from <a href="http://witspress.co.za">Wits University Press</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147517/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicky Falkof receives funding from the Mellon Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cobus van Staden is affiliated with the non-profit China-Africa Project and a think tank, the South African Institute of International Affairs.</span></em></p>
Johannesburg is not the most anxious or dangerous city in the world, but its global reputation, history and architecture make it a valuable site for thinking about how anxiety structures our lives.
Nicky Falkof, Associate professor, University of the Witwatersrand
Cobus van Staden, Senior Researcher: China-Africa: South African Institute of International Affairs, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/135072
2020-04-01T12:50:13Z
2020-04-01T12:50:13Z
South Africa’s response to COVID-19 worsens the plight of waste reclaimers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324263/original/file-20200331-65495-1i1fypt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An unemployed man in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, collects trash for resale before South Africa went into a Covid-19 lockdown. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Lockdowns to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus are dramatically transforming people’s daily lives across the world. One thing that remains unchanged is that we continue to produce massive amounts of waste each day. </p>
<p>South Africa generates <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=11527">59 million tonnes of general waste a year</a>. As <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=11527">only 10,8% of urban households separate their waste</a>, most of the recyclable items get thrown away. Yet the country has recycling rates <a href="https://www.plasticsinfo.co.za/2019/08/28/plastic-recycling-south-africa-versus-europe/">comparable to European countries</a> for some materials. </p>
<p>This is thanks in large part to reclaimers who, through what I call their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10455752.2019.1700538?journalCode=rcns20">‘separation outside source’</a> system, separate people’s recyclables, just outside their homes and at landfills. After salvaging the recyclables, the reclaimers haul them great distances, sort and clean them. They sell the materials to small buyback centres, who sell them to larger buyers. The recyclables are subsequently resold for export or as inputs for production. </p>
<p>South Africa’s 60,000 to 90,000 reclaimers collect an astonishing <a href="https://www.wasteroadmap.co.za/download/informal_sector_2016.pdf">80% to 90%</a> of used packaging and paper that are recycled, providing crucial inputs for production and saving municipalities <a href="https://www.wasteroadmap.co.za/download/informal_sector_2016.pdf">up to R750 million a year</a> (US$41.7 million) in potential landfill costs.</p>
<p>Despite their significant contributions, reclaimers in South Africa (as in most countries) are not paid for the service they provide. Instead, they earn a pittance when they sell what they collect. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-waste-pickers-in-the-global-south-are-being-sidelined-by-new-policies-132521">How waste pickers in the global South are being sidelined by new policies</a>
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<p>South Africa’s measures to flatten the COVID-19 infection curve are making reclaimers’ situation even worse. Since the country went on lockdown at midnight on <a href="http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/speeches/statement-president-cyril-ramaphosa-escalation-measures-combat-covid-19-epidemic%2C-union">March 26, 2020</a>, reclaimers have been locked out of landfills and <a href="https://www.groundup.org.za/article/our-entire-livelihoods-are-coming-standstill-says-waste-picker/">cannot work</a> in the streets. They have also been excluded from all forms of government support. </p>
<h2>A history of exclusion</h2>
<p>That the measures announced by the government leave reclaimers out should come as no surprise. Current government policies on waste and recycling do not meaningfully include reclaimers. Their central role in the sector is overlooked by an economic model that assumes that a part of the economy can be hived off as “informal” and deemed irrelevant to policy development. </p>
<p>This has enabled municipalities to completely ignore the separation outside source system and implement recycling programmes that <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0263775815600058">dispossess reclaimers</a>. This is <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-waste-pickers-in-the-global-south-are-being-sidelined-by-new-policies-132521">not unique to South Africa</a>.</p>
<p>The exclusion of reclaimers continues through the government’s responses to COVID-19. Waste management was declared <a href="https://www.gov.za/Coronavirus/essential-services">an essential service</a>, allowing workers in this sector to keep working. Not so reclaimers. This, despite their crucial role in municipal solid waste management systems. Like <a href="https://lrs.org.za/media/2020/3/02da98c3-c905-469b-aadb-d7e646928871-1584784593430.pdf">millions of other workers considered informal</a>, they are not eligible for government financial support programmes.</p>
<p>Many governments are disseminating information on how long the virus remains on different materials so that people can protect themselves when they purchase and use them. But, there are no public service announcements on how to dispose of the same products to <a href="https://www.wiego.org/waste-pickers-essential-service-providers-high-risk">minimise risks for reclaimers</a>. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://iono.fm/e/835177">South Africa</a>, as in countries like <a href="https://www.wiego.org/cuidar-project">Brazil</a> and <a href="https://globalrec.org/2020/03/24/fight-the-battle-against-the-coronavirus-covid-19-swach-pune-india/">India</a>, this burden has fallen on reclaimers.</p>
<h2>An essential service</h2>
<p>According to information gathered by the <a href="https://globalrec.org/covid19/">Global Alliance of Waste Pickers</a>, reclaimers in a number of countries have been affected in similar ways by government responses to COVID-19 that ignore them. Some core demands are emerging. These include permission to continue working; personal protective equipment, soap and washing stations; free rapid testing and health care; a basic income; and food parcels.</p>
<p>In addition, reclaimers in South Africa are demanding inclusion in the R500 million (US$27.8 million) <a href="https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/unpacking-the-smes-funding-procedure/">government fund</a> to cushion small businesses from the ravages of the virus. The <a href="https://globalrec.org/organization/south-african-waste-pickers-association-sawpa/">South African Waste Pickers Association</a> and the <a href="https://web.facebook.com/africanreclaimers/?_rdc=1&_rdr">African Reclaimers Organisation</a> want a declaration that they are essential service providers, a simple process to obtain permits, and protective equipment.</p>
<p>The reclaimers’ demands are in line with the “Guideline on Waste Picker Integration for South Africa”, which recognises and values reclaimers’ role in the sector. Although it must still be published, the guideline was agreed by all stakeholders. The pandemic creates an opportunity for the government to implement the guideline and support reclaimers. </p>
<h2>No time to waste</h2>
<p>Whether and how industry and municipalities that rely on reclaimers for profits and savings will assist them is unclear. But the clock is ticking: reclaimers earn their incomes daily and are already struggling. In the absence of government support, not being able to work means they don’t have money to buy food. </p>
<p>It is crucial that the government designate reclaimers as essential service providers without delay, and give them masks, gloves, protective gear, sanitisers and access to health care. They need access to public spaces and buildings to store their materials, as well as trucks to transport them. Reclaimers need public washing stations, food packages, rapid testing and income support needed by millions of other South Africans. </p>
<p>Many livelihoods are at risk. Resources must be made available to fund reclaimers, along with other essential activities, <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Opinion/read-a-letter-from-76-economists-says-govt-can-do-more-to-limit-the-economic-harm-of-covid-19-20200330">vulnerable workers and the unemployed</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-world-leaders-face-mega-covid-19-crises-how-ramaphosa-is-stacking-up-134682">All world leaders face mega COVID-19 crises: how Ramaphosa is stacking up</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Samson led the national stakeholder process to develop the Department of Environmental Affairs' Guideline on Waste Picker Integration for South Africa. She also accompanies and provides support to the African Reclaimers Organisation and the South African Waste Picker Association. </span></em></p>
The clock is ticking: in the absence of government support, not being able to work means waste reclaimers don’t have money to buy food.
Melanie Samson, Sr Lecturer in Human Geography, University of the Witwatersrand
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/128489
2019-12-10T14:08:27Z
2019-12-10T14:08:27Z
Local council turmoil shows South Africa isn’t very good at coalitions
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305645/original/file-20191206-90592-gudof3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters Julius Malema (C) addresses the media after local elections in 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Kim Ludbrook</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa entered the world of coalition politics in earnest three years ago. In the local election in 2016 three major cities found themselves without a majority party in charge. This forced the <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africans-come-off-second-best-as-politicians-play-havoc-with-coalitions-102671">formation of coalition governments</a> in Johannesburg, the country’s economic capital; Tshwane, the capital city; and Nelson Mandela Bay, a port city in the southeast of the country.</p>
<p>Over the past month all three have fallen apart spectacularly. The African National Congress <a href="https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-election-of-new-joburg-mayor-to-take-place-20191204">“took back”</a> the City of Johannesburg, the United Democratic Movement’s Mongameli Bobani was <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-12-05-mongameli-bobani-voted-out-as-nelson-mandela-bay-mayor/">unceremoniously booted out</a> as executive mayor in Nelson Mandela Bay, and Stevens Mokgalapa was deposed as mayor of Tshwane following an alleged <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2019/12/05/stevens-mokgalapa-voted-out-as-tshwane-mayor">sex scandal, corruption allegations and a water crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Each of the developments has been triggered by different events. In Johannesburg, the resignation of <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-10-21-mashaba-resigns-i-cannot-reconcile-myself-with-a-group-who-believe-that-race-is-irrelevant/">Herman Mashaba as executive mayor</a>, in protest at the return of Helen Zille as leader of the Democratic Alliance’s federal council, opened the space for the African National Congress to take the reins of power in the city. </p>
<p>In Tshwane, a cloud of controversy over the Democratic Alliance’s Mokgalapa created an opening for the <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-12-05-stevens-mokgalapa-voted-out-as-tshwane-mayor/">African National Congress and the Economic Freedom Fighters</a> to push for his removal as mayor. Through this move, the two parties demonstrated their control over council decisions. </p>
<p>In Nelson Mandela Bay, Bobani – who is a member of the small United Democratic Movement – created a governance crisis. He took far too long to manage the impact of a <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-11-11-nelson-mandela-bay-water-shortage-becomes-crisis-as-second-largest-dam-is-close-to-running-dry/">severe drought</a>. And he was embroiled in fighting<a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/hawks-swoop-on-bobanis-home-over-nmb-tender-fraud-20552250"> allegations of corruption</a>. His tenure created a political problem for the African National Congress, which had helped get him into power. The party could no longer turn a blind eye to serious allegations of corruption against him. </p>
<h2>Balancing act</h2>
<p>Coalitions are notoriously difficult. Governing by coalition requires individuals, and the parties they represent, to cooperate and compromise. It requires developing a set of informal rules that enable the day to day business of governing to take hold.</p>
<p>It is a delicate balancing act between advancing party goals and creating administrative and political stability to govern with the people in mind. </p>
<p>A key element for a successful coalition government is the rationale for working together in the first place. Was it merely to get the governing party out? Are parties <a href="https://za.boell.org/sites/default/files/background_paper_-_7_may_symposium_-_political_party_cooperation_and_the_building_and_sustaining_of_coalitions.pdf">working together</a> with the aim of bringing administrative and political stability? What did political parties <a href="https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/1ee35e7f-5643-4b16-8423-cb83a71ecf7e.pdf">bargain for</a> when the coalitions were formed?</p>
<p>Looking at coalition dynamics in South Africa, it is clear that the rationale for “working together” was to get the African National Congress out of power in local councils. The aim of the coalition governments was not necessarily to create administrative and political stability. It was to prove that any party could do a better job than the African National Congress. </p>
<p>This is problematic because it undermines the principles needed to make coalitions work: cooperation, compromise and managing diverse policy agendas. </p>
<p>It’s no surprise that cracks quickly began to emerge.</p>
<h2>Smaller parties can wreck the show</h2>
<p>Smaller parties are the kingmakers in coalitions because they hold the reins of power in councils. They can hold councils hostage by using their vote to support or undermine the coalition government. </p>
<p>We have already seen this dynamic play out in Nelson Mandela Bay. The Patriotic Alliance, a small political party that ran on a ticket of representing South Africa’s marginalised and poor, flexed its political muscle by <a href="https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1662715/patriotic-alliance-pulls-out-of-nelson-mandela-municipal-coalition-government/">pulling out of a coalition</a> with the Democratic Alliance when it did not get the deputy mayorship. </p>
<p>Similarly, after <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2018-08-27-breaking-athol-trollip-removed-as-nelson-mandela-bay-mayor/">Athol Trollip was ousted</a> as executive mayor in Nelson Mandela Bay, the Patriotic Alliance <a href="https://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/politics/2018-09-13-just-in--patriotic-alliance-pulls-its-support-from-the-da-and-coalition-partners/">pulled out of the legal bid</a> to challenge council’s decision that removed him from the post. </p>
<p>And, having gained no <a href="https://www.polity.org.za/article/patriotic-alliance-committed-to-nelson-mandela-bay-coalition-until-2021-2018-04-11">significant political benefit</a> under a Democratic Alliance coalition, the Patriotic Alliance used its position to “negotiate” the deputy mayorship with the African National Congress, but <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/patriotic-alliance-seeks-to-oust-nelson-mandela-bays-bobani-19522139">initiated motions of no confidence</a> against the mayor for sidelining smaller parties in council.</p>
<p>Similar dynamics played out in <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2019-07-02-eff-will-no-longer-vote-with-da-and-anc-in-municipalities/">Tshwane and the City of Johannesburg</a>. Flexing its political muscle, the <a href="https://effonline.org/">Economic Freedom Fighters</a>, a radically populist party and the third largest in the country, decided it would no longer vote in the two councils because it was “denied” an executive political seat in the name of power-sharing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…the Democratic Alliance don’t want to vote for us but they want us to vote for them. We cannot keep on voting for people who can’t vote for us, power sharing means give and take. From 2016, still the Democratic Alliance doesn’t appreciate that (we voted for them).</p>
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<p>In both these situations, the action of a small party rendered the councils hung. This meant that that couldn’t make decisions. Over time this will affect ordinary citizens as service delivery and developmental projects grind to a standstill.</p>
<h2>Political trust</h2>
<p>These examples show that, in South Africa’s case, party interest – rather than governing for the good of the people – shapes coalition politics. More importantly, these dynamics show that the country’s political leaders do not have the political maturity to look beyond party interests for the greater good of the people.</p>
<p>The showdowns in the three metropoles show parties are interested only in gaining as much as possible, and that they are willing to bring governance and development to a standstill. The behaviour of all the parties involved speaks of an all-or-nothing approach in a situation that requires compromise, building relationships, negotiation and cooperation. </p>
<p>Events to date show that coalitions are about <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-is-learning-the-ropes-of-coalition-politics-and-its-inherent-instability-96483">acquisition,</a> at the cost of sharing and building.</p>
<p>South Africa will hold another round of <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-06-27-cabinet-sets-up-committee-to-prepare-for-2021-municipal-election/">local government elections in 2021</a>. Political mistrust in the country is high. Last time round the country’s two biggest parties, the African National Congress and Democratic Alliance, were unable to mobilise their voters to win an outright majority in Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane and the City of Johannesburg.</p>
<p>Playing a zero-sum game within councils and turning local government into a political theatre has further undermined political trust. This is bound to lead to increased apathy among voters, threatening to place both parties at even greater risk to smaller ones in the next round of polling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joleen Steyn Kotze receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>
Political mistrust is high as the country looks to the next municipal elections in 2021.
Joleen Steyn Kotze, Senior Research Specialist in Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.