Abstract
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.