D.Litt. et Phil. (Public Governance) / South Africa’s negotiated revolution in 1994 was hailed by many observers as a beacon to other societies wracked by ethnic conflict. The Constitution adopted in 1996 was widely endorsed by most South Africans and by international commentators, as a model for building an equitable, developmental state, uniting the diverse aspirations of citizens. The author’s political and professional roles in recent decades has involved him in several dimensions of the democratic transition; and has made him acutely aware of the results-based urban governance debates, drivers and developmental dilemmas. Significant motivation for this thesis’ problem statement was that the constitutional vision, values and principles have been compromised by the processes of redefining the democratic state – exacerbated by the public governance caveats of political greed, managerial incompetence and systematic corruption of state power. Available evidence of systemic progress in the post-1994 public governance implementation and outcomes has been frequently negative, yet substantially inconclusive, in terms of the achievement of democratic equity and socio-economic development. The particular focus of the thesis is on the results-based co-operative government imperatives of rapid urbanisation and sustainable socio-economic urban development across the Cape Town City-region. Although the concept of a functional city-region is relatively new in South Africa, the significance of results-based urban developmental public governance has been internationally recognised and has been highlighted by the South African Cities Network, in its State of Cities reports. Expectations of effective community engagement and equitable services in the geo-politically heterogeneous, rapidly expanding Cape Town City-region, second most populous in South Africa, were the subject of the insightful Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Territorial Review (2008). This review, one of an international series of city-regional studies, has served as the thesis baseline for the Cape Town City-regional developmental governance assessment, analysis and formative evaluation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:7439 |
| Date | 10 April 2013 |
| Creators | Sewell, William James |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | University of Johannesburg |
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