Browsing by Author "Donaldson, Sybrand Eloff"

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    Restructuring in a South Africa city during transition : urban development and transformation in Pietersburg during the 1990s
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1999) Donaldson, Sybrand Eloff; Van der Merwe, I. J.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Geography and Environmental studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The effect of apartheid on the spatial form, administrative functions, economic disparities, and social composition of South Africa's cities and towns shows remarkable consistency. Yet, each urban area has its own historic character, bureaucratic and political composition, internal civil structures, and diversity of attitudes to a changing society. This dissertation focuses on how four urban restructurings are reshaping and reordering the former conservative city of Pietersburg in the 1990s. This is done within the framework of broader national political processes and legislation. Given the broad scope of research themes ~n the study data collection methods have been applied within an eclectic approach. First, however, is an analysis of the historiography of Pietersburg setting the scene for interpreting the spatially fragmented urban settlement system that developed during the apartheid city period. Contemporary linkage patterns between Pietersburg and the proclaimed former Lebowa towns are explored in using data obtained in a questionnaire survey conducted in Seshego, Mankweng, Pietersburg and Lebowakgomo. How this dispersed settlement pattern should be restructured in the future - seeing that they are administratively separated - is interpreted in finding a different form of governance. Local government restructuring in Pietersburg and Seshego is investigated in covering each of the transitional facets of local government changes (i .e. from formation of LGNF to election outcomes). The city's performances are evaluated in terms of certain criteria. The White Paper on Local Government is placed in the context of the above findings and a proposal. At the dawn of 1990, Pietersburg had achieved its apartheid aims. An empirical investigation of the spatial evolution of residential desegregation in Pietersburg between June 1991 and May 1997 shows how residential spaces have changed. Residential mobility trends that occurred and new residential groupings emerging after apartheid are identified. An analysis of the housing market is also provided. Qualitative (residents' perceptions of residential integration) and quantitative data (statistical measurements of segregation) are used in analyses. Understanding processes involved in deregulation and re-regulation of street trading during a period of transition are discussed within a conceptual framework. The investigation sheds light on how successful street trading policy formulation and its implementation during urban transition have transformed the former apartheid city. Aspects explored include a concise historical overview of business space segregation under apartheid rule and the resulting spatial effects of it; an analysis of post-apartheid integration and the restructuring of urban business space, chiefly illustrating the distinction between desegregation and deracialisation processes of urban business space transformation; a discussion of the deregulation and subsequent re-regulation of informal street trading as an example of informal urban development; and some planning suggestions regarding the process of desegregating central business space are advocated. The most important policy documents developed during the 1990s to redress the current urban realities conclude the empirical analysis. A discussion of the Land Development Objective process and policy formulation in Pietersburg with the implementation of their Urban Development Framework scrutinises restructuring in spatial terms. A synthesis provides a conceptual framework for understanding urban restructuring phases in Pietersburg. A concept 21st-century South African city model is also proposed. Keywords: Urban restructuring, Pietersburg, informal sector, local government, spatial restructuring, 21st century South African city, urban linkages.