Africana Periodical Literature 
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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | A Deepening of Democracy? Establishing Provincial Government in South Africa |
| Author: | Southall, Roger J. |
| Year: | 1998 |
| Periodical: | Africa Insight |
| Volume: | 28 |
| Issue: | 1-2 |
| Pages: | 5-18 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | regional government Politics and Government |
| Abstract: | The establishment of nine new provinces as a second level of government constitutes the most neglected aspect of academic commentary upon the transition to democracy in South Africa. This is remarkable because the issue of whether South Africa should remain a unitary State (the preference of the ANC) or adopt a federal system of government (the preference of other political parties) was one of the most contentious issues of the negotiation process to end apartheid. This article outlines the nature of the emergent provincial system, with particular attention to the Eastern Cape. The problems of reintegration have been most acute in the Eastern Cape, which was required to amalgamate the eastern segment of the former Cape Province with the inefficient and corrupt formerly 'independent' homelands of Ciskei and Transkei. The author links the trends and tendencies identified with the wider debate about the ANC's shift to neoliberalism and the consolidation of democracy in South Africa. He shows that South Africa is a decentralized unitary rather than a federal system of government. The provinces have extremely limited policy autonomy, and there is a substantial body of evidence accumulating that the central government is keen to keep them on a tight lease, especially financially. Notes, ref. |
