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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Implementation and Planning: The Case for Theory |
Author: | Horton, Stephen |
Year: | 1987 |
Periodical: | Journal of Contemporary African Studies |
Volume: | 6 |
Issue: | 1-2 |
Period: | April-October |
Pages: | 61-83 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Transkei South Africa |
Subjects: | economic planning urban renewal Development and Technology |
Abstract: | This article examines a planning exercise that was actually implemented: the settlement upgrading of Mtumbane, a 'village' located some 3.5 kilometres to the south of Port St. Johns in Transkei, South Africa. In the first section, the nature of the problem, i.e. the planning process adopted and the implementation experience, is set out in some detail. Subsequently, a restricted analysis of the project's deficiencies is developed, in which the weaknesses of the 'consensus' model of periurban communities, that result in simplistic public interest development programmes, are examined. An alternative conflict-based perspective for community action is advanced. The final section adopts a wider perspective in order to examine the possibilities and limitations of planning under capitalism and to establish the necessity of sociopolitical analysis prior to plan development. Within this framework, the role of Transkei in the South African political economy is reviewed and areas in which planning action is possible are delineated. Progressive planners have two tasks: to seek the promotion of a black national bourgeoisie with its material interests grounded in production, and to ensure that such an emergent bourgeoisie is linked to the broader struggle of the marginalized groups. Notes, ref. |