Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (ETDs)

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    The role of local government in achieving spatial equity through the realisation of the right to housing in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Mudau, Fungai Paul; Pieterse, Marius
    This Thesis deals with the role of local government in overcoming spatial inequalities in South African cities, with a particular focus on housing and access to well-located urban land. The primary focus is on whether the legal role of local government in housing matches its rights-related responsibilities and its role in achieving spatial equity. Municipalities have limited legal powers, policy scope, and budget for housing. With overstretched programmes and fiscus, certain municipalities are reluctant to assume housing delivery roles. However, numerous court cases bind municipalities by assigning them increased rights-based responsibilities which they may not be adequately equipped or empowered to implement. The problem which therefore unfolds relates to the inevitable need to address the obligations to realise the right of access to adequate housing of the urban poor within the limited legal, institutional, and structural role that local government plays in housing delivery, as well as with the limited resources at its disposal. The challenges associated with the realisation of local government’s housing-related powers, functions, and responsibilities become simultaneously more complicated and less insurmountable when viewed together with local government’s legal powers and functions pertaining to spatial planning. As a result, this Thesis investigates the articulation between housing and planning-related legal competencies and responsibilities of local government, in seeking to ensure that local government can fulfil its constitutional developmental role and contribute to the achievement of spatial equity. Selected case studies of the metropolitan municipalities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, and eThekwini are utilised to explore the emerging trends, issues, and challenges in practice
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    Towards a legal model for decentralised renewable energy planning and determination
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Mohlala, Lehlogonolo Mamanyake
    South Africa has collectively with the global community made net zero pledges through a number of treaties1 and as such, it is important that the country sheds itself from any legal and implementation bottlenecks that make the uptake of renewable energy difficult. The aim of this research is to provide a perspective on how, from a legal standpoint, having decentralised themes of regulation in respect of the planning and determination of renewable energy will accelerate the uptake of renewable energy production by the private sector, and increase new generation capacity needed to ameliorate the energy crisis in South Africa. Through a qualitative analysis of energy related legislation including secondary and tertiary sources of law, the research found that having the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources (DMRE) be responsible for the drafting and updating of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)2 and being its custodian, has allowed the technology energy mix of South Africa to be a highly politicised process, and has thus derailed the uptake of renewable energy. The research finds that having the DMRE as the entity that solely undertakes the section 34 determinations3 is a flawed process to introducing new generation capacity that South Africa requires. The paper posits that the formulation of the IRP needs to be an open process that allows energy stakeholders such as industry, academia and communities participate and not merely provide comments as outsiders. As such, the paper concludes that regulation of renewable energy in South Africa needs to be decentralised to be efficient
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    Decentralisation in Cameroon and the Anglophones’ Struggle for Autonomy
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Epongo, Emmanuel Makia; Van Nieuwkerk, Anthoni
    In Cameroon, decentralisation was introduced in 1996 to promote development, democracy and good governance at the local level. However, decentralisation exacerbated conflicts between the Anglophone minority and the Francophone-majority government, resulting in a civil war in 2017. Therefore, this research explores how the implementation of decentralisation in the two Anglophone regions exacerbated conflicts between the Anglophone minority and the Francophone-majority government. Despite the growing literature on decentralisation and conflicts, very little research has been conducted on conflicts arising from former independent colonial territories that reunited under a federal system and later evolved to a decentralised unitary system, a shortcoming addressed by this research. This study used qualitative methodology and a case study design. The research was conducted at the Kumba and Bamenda city councils in the Southwest and Northwest regions, respectively. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling techniques for semi-structured interviews. Data from interviews, observation and archival documents were merged and analysed through thematic analysis. The findings suggest that decentralisation in the Anglophone regions is more of deconcentration than devolution. Understanding how decentralisation increased intrastate conflict between the Anglophone minority and the Francophone-majority government could have a broader significance for researchers, governments and policymakers seeking to mitigate conflicts, particularly in Africa, with diverse societies prone to intrastate conflicts
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    The role of decentralisation in managing intra-state conflict in South Africa
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Fourie, Reneva Esther; Van Nieuwkerk, Anthoni
    This research study investigates the imperatives that led to the formation of South Africa’s post-apartheid decentralisation model and the conditions that enabled it to relatively appease the key role-players in South Africa’s pre-1994 conflict, as well as to critique the contribution of the model to state legitimacy. It is set in the context of decentralisation and intra-state conflict on the African continent in an endeavour to contribute to the African Union’s efforts to ‘Silencing the Guns’ by 2030. Regardless of its form, decentralisation is profoundly controversial, yet it is crucial to transitional governments and post-conflict reconstruction debates. However, current literature does not sufficiently enable us to understand the conditions under which a country can devise a decentralisation model that responds to the drivers of conflict. South Africa’s unique historical experience in the development of its post-apartheid model of decentralisation provides an opportunity to critique and discuss these debates through a fascinating case study. Qualitative data collection methods, analysed through a specially constructed three dimensional framework, underpin this interpretive case study. The data collection method for dimension one of the decentralisation framework of analysis is semi-structured interviews with persons who either participated directly in the design of the decentralisation model, or influenced, or observed the process. It responds to the research question, ‘What is the role of decentralisation in managing intra-state conflict in South Africa?’ The sub-questions relate to the context, formation process, and design of the decentralisation model and its perceived effectiveness. Furthermore, document analyses are applied to critique the model’s contribution to state legitimacy. In this regard, primary sources are analysed in dimension two to demonstrate how regulatory prescripts support the decentralisation model to facilitate a reciprocal interrelationship between power and authority; to promote compliance, trust, accountability and innovation; to drive the interplay between these former two aspects; and to enable citizen influence and oversight and social reciprocities. Additionally, document analyses of domestic and international quantitative secondary sources are applied in dimension three to critique governance effectiveness concerning economic management, social development, government orientation and citizen participation. The research study provides new insight into the conditions that preceded and surrounded South Africa’s transition and the different challenges and interests to which the negotiations over decentralisation tried to respond. In South Africa, the depth of the conflict had attained such severity that it had reached a point where there was mutual agreement that some accommodation had to be found. The collectively agreed, unitary post-apartheid decentralisation model, which has significant federal features, sustained the peace for almost three decades. The research study, by applying the three-dimensional framework of analysis, also provides theoretical insights into the relationship between a given decentralisation model and state legitimacy as part of managing intra-state conflict. However, by focusing only on the intrinsic aspects of managing intra-state conflict, the study does not deal with the complexities that arise from adverse external interests and interferences. Furthermore, so many factors shape state legitimacy, which cannot be addressed by a decentralisation model only. Accordingly, the study finds that despite the post-apartheid decentralisation model’s effectiveness in relatively appeasing all the negotiation participants, it was an incomplete arrangement in that it could not contribute to stemming poverty and inequality or empowering local communities. The conclusion flowing from this research is that decentralisation is an eminently political process that, at its best, is dynamic and elastic in responding to changing times and that its application in conditions of conflict is relative.