Institutional matters: exploring the roles of the state and traditional councils in self-help housing in the peri-urban spaces of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
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Date
2020
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Abstract
The main aim of this thesis is to explore the roles of the state and traditional councils
in self-help housing in the peri-urban spaces of KwaZulu-Natal. This thesis primarily
explores the extent to which the roles and power relations of the local state and
traditional council impact on self-help housing in peri-urban spaces, considering the
history of institutional segregation and the contesting powers introduced by the crafting
of the post-apartheid state, land management and government functions in both
planning and housing development. The thesis develops an understanding of the
multiplicity of planning and housing policies as well as agencies converging around
housing development in the urban edge in order to gain insight into the historicity of
self-help housing and governmental practices in eThekwini Municipality. More
specifically, the thesis traces the historical narrative of housing and its effects on periurban
spaces in South Africa; investigates how the concept of self-help housing has a
bearing on the production of governable spaces in the context of rural spaces in
eMaphephetheni in South Africa; examines how the influence and powers of the state
and traditional councils contribute to the mass production of self-help housing in
eMaphephetheni; examines the role of peri-urban place-making in generating a culture
of suburbia, wealth, lifestyle and new African urbanity; analyses different role players
involved in self-housing within the peri-urban areas and their influence in housing
products; and develops a framework that will contribute to the sustainability of selfhelp
housing in the peri-urban spaces in South Africa. The thesis also interrogates the
application of various South African building laws, in particular the National Building
Regulations and Building Standards Act No. 17 of 2007, and their implications for the
self-builder.
This thesis has utilised the work of influential post-structural and critical theorists –
Foucault, Lefebvre and Gramsci, and that of institutionalists – Pierson, North and
Thelen, in order to gain a critical insight into the challenges of self-help housing
development at eMaphephetheni. The thesis adopts a qualitative research approach
and interpretivism paradigm which offer a research design suited to explore the
powers and roles of diverse institutions. Interviews were conducted with 50
respondents that were comprised of 30 local homeowners and the various
stakeholders in both the agency of the state and that of the institution of traditional
leadership, and documentary analysis from government sources and municipal
policies was carried out. These theoretical framing and methodological tools were
used in order to triangulate both secondary and primary sources of data.
The findings of this thesis reveal that self-help housing development is faced with a
variety of challenges of an institutional, economic, social, constructional and
architectural nature, among others. The thesis found that peri-urban spaces are
governed through constrictive normative planning practices and regulatory control on
the one hand, and a firm capture and control of land by the traditional institutions and
elites on the other. Overall, this thesis developed a framework that will contribute to
the sustainability of self-help housing in the peri-urban spaces in South Africa, while
also facilitating the institutional assemblage of the agency of the state and that of the
institution of traditional leadership. The essence of the framework is the introduction
of a digital platform that seeks to host and harmonise user friendly land data which
can be accessed and used by various stakeholders. It is an attempt towards advancing
hybridity in land governance using modern technology readily accessible to everyone.
The framework further suggests technical advisory support to self-builders through
localised housing support facilities. To give effect to the envisaged cooperative
arrangement suggested in the municipal SPLUM bylaw, the framework makes
suggestions about how the Service Level Agreement between the traditional councils
operating within eThekwini municipality and the municipality itself, could be
operationalised.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.