Battlefield Gauteng: A need for sustained local action
Often characterised by property destruction and assault, violent protest action is threatening urban renewal in South Africa’s city centres. More forceful policing is not a lasting solution. Instead, we need a sustained effort to transform these crucial locations into more prosperous places and to strengthen their social assets and liveability, writes Prof Ivan Turok.
The recent violent looting of foreign-owned shops and burning of buildings and vehicles across Gauteng’s urban centres has prompted a security crackdown and mass arrests. The malicious damage to people and property has caused enormous distress and anger at home and abroad. But it has largely gone unnoticed that the disorder could set back a vital process of central city renewal and regeneration that is underway in many of the affected areas.
The mayhem is clearly related to the national economic crisis and deepening social malaise. Rising unemployment, hardship and perceptions of government inaction and impunity for wrongdoing are fuelling discontent and undermining confidence in political leaders and the state.
Yet conditions are obviously not the same throughout the country. The atmosphere is particularly volatile in the densest urban districts, where a potent cocktail of social pressure, raised expectations and frustration is being stirred by opportunists and purveyors of xenophobia and racial hostility.
The need to transform places'
These complex grievances and social dynamics won’t be rectified by more forceful policing and punitive action on the part of the justice system. Stopping the violent crime and restoring law and order are imperative, but a lasting solution to the unrest requires a more profound and sustained effort to transform these crucial locations into more prosperous places and to strengthen their social assets and liveability.
The important role of local action to renew and develop the crumbling physical infrastructure and fraying social fabric has been neglected in the media coverage of the turmoil, just as it was following previous outbreaks of anti-immigrant unrest. Locally based action should be in addition to, and not instead of, the national campaigns that are essential to tackle the scourges of xenophobia and gender violence.
Managing a diverse and transient population
It is no coincidence that the hotspots of strife are the epicentres of Gauteng’s cities and townships. These are rapidly-growing, well-connected places marked by intense human interaction, high aspirations and entrepreneurial dynamism. They function as powerful magnets of opportunity that attract diverse flows of domestic and international migrants searching for secure livelihoods and other ways of getting ahead. Vigorous competition for scarce resources puts extra stress on the environment and public facilities, and pressure on space to trade, to work, to live and to socialise.
The government needs to recognise that central cities are relatively open incubators of economic and social progress, but also cauldrons of competing interests.
More focused attention is required to bolster and maintain these accessible urban centres in the face of competition from exclusionary retail and business precincts in outlying areas. Facilitating the growth and regeneration of mixed-use districts in a way that is inclusive is inherently difficult and requires a more concerted and integrated local approach. The process cannot be managed from city halls or provincial headquarters, let alone from the Union Buildings. It needs the bureaucracy to have a physical presence on the ground, in the places where citizens and businesses can access officials and articulate their needs and problems directly.
Robust and accountable local institutions are fundamental for the state to work hand-in-hand with civil society in ways that break down barriers and build social trust. Municipalities need to engage meaningfully with different groups and communities to restore confidence and to strengthen their knowledge and capabilities. Partnerships with the private sector and non-profit organisations are also vital to mobilise additional capacity to address the multiple challenges. Sustained local action may not capture the news headlines, but it is far more likely to improve people’s lives.
Author: Prof Ivan Turok, the executive director of the HSRC’s Economic Performance and Development programme