After Apartheid: Civic Organizations in the ‘New’ South Africa

Abstract

One striking change in South African politics since 1990 has been the rise and decline of township-based civic organizations, or ‘civics’. Between 1990 and 1993, civics played an active role in local and even national politics. At the local level, civics were prominent in local government restructuring and development initiatives. At the regional and national levels, the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) was formed in 1992, with hitherto independent civic organizations becoming ‘branches’ of SANCO, although in practice most continued to operate with as much autonomy as before. In 1992–93 SANCO played a high profile role, taking the lead in the negotiated transformation of local government and in initiatives around urban housing and infrastructural development. Since 1993, however, the prominence and influence of both SANCO (as a whole) and individual civics (or SANCO branches) have diminished greatly.

This chapter summarizes research published in three other articles. The discussion of civics and the transition to representative democracy is summarized from Seekings (1996a); of the strategic dilemmas facing SANCO from Seekings (1997b); and of civics and the changing politics of development from Seekings (1997c). In addition, material on Cape Town (including all quotations with Cape Town civic activists) is from an unpublished paper (Seekings, 1997a). My interpretation of civics in the 1990s has been shaped through debate with Kim Lanegran, to whom I am indebted. Work such as mine is only possible through the generous assistance of civic activists, in Cape Town and elsewhere. Whatever the condition of civic organizations in general in the 1990s, I am impressed again and again by the commitment and integrity of many civic activists on the ground. I hope that my analysis might be of value to them.