Review
Bill Freund and Vishnu Padayachee (eds)
(2002) (D)urban Vortex: South African city
in transition. Pietermaritzburg: University of
Natal Press.
Jeremy Grest
This book is the edited product of a much larger body of papers presented
at the City of Durban Project Conference, held in July 1998 at the
University of Natal, Durban, under the auspices of the Economic History
department. The project brought together many, if not most, of the leading
social science researchers working on Durban, for a conference that was
most impressive for the depth and breadth of discussion on the challenges
confronting a city undergoing multiple transitions.
   As is often the case with the publishing of conference proceedings, there
has been some delay between the presentation of papers and their publication
in edited book form. Nevertheless, the volume is a timely addition to the
growing body of work devoted to Durban. It makes the research accessible
to a general readership and stands as a benchmark for work being done at
a particular moment in Durban's history. It also builds on a long tradition
of urban studies emerging from the University of Natal, the last general
volume on Durban being the Maylam and Edwards collection, published in
1996.'
   The book has 11 chapters and an introduction by the editors. The
chapters are grouped into four main themes, each of which is prefaced with
some useful introductory comment aimed at unifying the individual
contributions. These are generally of a high standard and provide a range
of materials which, when taken together, make for a significant body of
intellectual work. In their introduction the editors outline the parameters of
their project: a political economy of a changing Durban, whose focus is on
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problems of economic and social development, rather than on urban
culture or urban living in general. As the editors note, the emerging urban
literature tends to fall into two broad categories of analysis - one that deals
with problems faced by cities in the 'developed world' and another that
focuses on the challenges for cities on the periphery. Since Durban, along
with other South African cities, displays characteristics from both worlds
it presents itself as a fascinating laboratory for the analysis of social
change. This work aims to look at Durban in the context of some global
trends affecting cities in general, namely the declining importance of
secondary industries for city economies, and the changing relationship of
cities to national states. At the same time the editors note that Durban's own
growth path has given rise to a very specific set of social forces that will,
in large part, determine its future possibilities for economic and social
development, and these are to be fully explored.
   Part One of the book deals with the local state. In an important first
chapter entitled 'City Hall and the Direction of Development', Bill Freund
provides an overview of the changing role of the local state in economic
planning and development. The first section tells the story of how the city
council intervened in the local economy from its inception in the mid 19th
century until the modern period of municipal government, highlighting
what came to be its characteristic features. City growth in the colonial
period depended heavily on the development of the port as a point of
connection between the world economy and the mines of the Witwatersrand.
But the port's management lay with the national South African Railways
and Harbours administration, and was not within the purview of the city
council - a problematic disarticulation of control, from the local point of
view, that has been an enduring feature of Durban's development and is
more fully treated by Trevor Jones in a later chapter.
   However, the dominant merchant interests managing the colonial city
also made strategic investments in land, which enabled them to provide
attractive conditions for the development of industry in the 2O'h century.
The city council became a major property owner and speculator in its own
right, and strategic investments and tactical budgetary decisions laid the
foundations for a financial system that gave Durban substantial capital
reserves and made it the most solvent municipality in the country at the
time of the transition from apartheid. The other side of the financial com,
so to speak, was the notorious 'Durban system' of Native Admin.stration,
emulated elsewhere in South Africa, based on a separate Native Revenue
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 Account and fuelled by revenues from the municipal monopoly on the
 brewing and sale of beer to Durban's growing African working class.
     Bill Freund provides an analysis of a city administration that over the
 years developed considerable financial and administrative expertise, and
 developed a system of 'racial Fordism' which, by the 1960s, had ensured
 Durban's place as the second most important manufacturing centre in the
 country. His interviews with a wide range of key administrators and
 officials, some of them very long-serving, give richness and texture to his
 description. Of note too, is his analysis, in the second part of his chapter,
 of the impact on city management of 'the liberal hour' - the decade from
 the late 1970s when councillors aligned with the Progressive (later
 Progressive Federal) Party came to exercise a dominant influence at a time
 of considerable political and economic change. Racial segregation was
 increasingly challenged, the business community more directly engaged
 on social issues, key urban developments initiated, and a start made to the
business of reorganising the city administration into more business-oriented
units designed to operate on a cost-recovery basis. The 'liberal moment' in
 Durban's administration proved quite fragile and gave way to new players
in the 1990s - National Party councillors negotiating with the Inkatha
Freedom Party and an unbanned ANC at a local level, and a business
community now mobilised to secure its interests in an increasingly fluid
political situation.
    The final section of the paper, 'the democratised city in an era of
globalisation', describes the most recent phase of spatial, political and
economic restructuring in Durban. Freund ends with several cautions
regarding the future. Perhaps the greatest challenges are posed by shifts in
the whole economic order, in which the city must function just as its
management has come under the political control of groups that carry a
mandate to represent the interests of poor and marginalised citizens and to
deliver to them services previously denied by the old order. At the same
time the local state is being downsized, the centre of gravity of new
economic activities is moving northwards, and the future viability of the
city centre remains an open issue. The 'growth coalitions' favoured by the
new alignment of dominant interests may well end up reinforcing the
power of interests that are already privileged and may not lead to the widely
distributed development, both spatially and socially, that Durban needs.
   The second chapter, by Peter Hall and Glen Robbins,2 examines economic
development strategies adopted by Durban's local government since 1994.
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  The authors stress that the new, post-apartheid place of economic
  development in local government thinking is not merely the consequence
  of traditional activities, such as regulation, service provision, infrastructure
  maintenance and planning, but in fact the guiding rationale for existing and
  new responsibilities. Their aim in this chapter is to make a contribution to
  the literature on the local state and economic development in South Africa,
  which explores the specificities, and importance, of local responses to
 national policies. They describe how economic development strategies
 emerged in the Durban Metropolitan Council and discuss their context -
 the unification of weak and highly fragmented local government systems,
 the creation of a single tax base and its spatial extension into peri-urban
 areas. There is an interesting theoretical discussion on different approaches
 to understanding the complex interplay of interests that come together in
 policy making, where sectional interests, the macro-economic context and
 complex political and institutional pressures all come into the equation.
 What the authors provide is a nuanced picture of how the formulation and
 implementation of development strategy in Durban is conditioned by
numerous factors, not least of which are those relating to the interests of the
most powerful local government agencies and sectors of the local business
constituency, including emerging black business interests.
    There are three chapters in the second section which is devoted to
Durban's economy. Trevor Jones writes on the Port of Durban, Mike
Morris, Justin Barnes and Nikki Dunne look at Industrial Restructuring,
and Vishnu Padayachee analyses the financing of Durban's development
between 1970 and 1999. Jones's detailed and lucid chapter argues that the
port is currently at something of a crossroads. Having become established
as the major general cargo port in Africa, the container hub of the western
Indian Ocean, and the dominant port in the southern hemisphere it now
faces challenges at both national and global levels. The diversification of
the port at Richards Bay, the completion of the Maputo corridor, the
development of Coega in the Eastern Cape, environmental issues in
Durban's southern industrial basin and management problems at the port
have all combined to complicate decisions about future options. Perhaps
even more crucial is the state of flux in the international sea transport
industry, where a globalised container industry can make cargo routing
decisions that directly affect the fortunes of ports across the world.
    Jones provides an overview of the historical development of the port,
and a careful and detailed analysis of the impact of the port's activities on
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  the local economy. He shows how the port is absolutely central to Durban's
  existence as a major source of employment, expenditure and investment,
  and how key planning and operating decisions are taken outside of Durban,
  causing tensions between local authorities, commerce and industry and
  national government departments and the centralised Transnet management.3
  He concludes that any diversion of traffic from Durban, especially container
  traffic would have a devastating effect on the local economy, and that the
  present and future comparative advantage of the port lies in the realm of
  containerised cargoes, conventional general cargo and liquid-bulk petro-
  chemicals. Exploiting these advantages within the complex and changing
  economic and policy environment is the real challenge for the future,
  necessitating that difficult decisions will have to be made about investment
 and capacity building.
      The Morris, Barnes and Dunne chapter addresses the question of how
 well Durban's industrial economy is responding to a rapidly changing
 domestic and international environment. Historically, Durban has been
 more dependent on manufacturing industry than other major South African
 cities. Hence the post-apartheid government policy shift from Import
 Substitution Industrialisation to trade liberalisation and export promotion
 has presented particular challenges as well as some opportunities. The
 authors assess the strengths and weaknesses of the inherited industrial
 structure in the light of global manufacturing trends.They argue that the
 competitive potential of Durban's industry is weakest in those sectors
 (such as clothing, textiles, automotive and food) developed under a regime
 of tariff protection. However, the paper, printing and publishing, and
 chemicals sectors are expected to benefit from liberalisation, while some
of the city's leading manufacturing sectors (including food, chemicals and
paper) are already considered internationally competitive. Job losses are a
major preoccupation but with skilled labour and management as a critical
component in the new industrial economy, Durban does have a comparative
advantage because of the presence of its large Indian population.
     The authors contrast the responses to changing conditions of competition
in the clothing sector with those in the automotive industry. They argue that
the weakness in the clothing sector has been caused by a failure to
reorganise production. Firms have responded to increased competition
from imports by attempting to reduce costs rather than improving other
areas of competitiveness. Some companies have migrated to the upper end
of the market to avoid the competition from cheap imports. The question
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of illegal imports touches directly on the capacity of the state to police the
port, while improvements in the management and organisation of production
in the industry could allow for exports as a strategy, given the proximity of
the port to the main areas of production. The automotive industry in Durban
has in recent years become uncompetitive internationally and has been
losing domestic sales to foreign imports. It has responded aggressively to
this situation and there are signs of improved competitiveness brought
about by the creation of competitive benchmarking structures, in turn a
response to supply-side government sector partnership initiatives, and to
the gradual adoption of advanced information technology infrastructures
and export strategies.
   Vishnu Padayachee's chapter is an innovative description of some
aspects of Durban's financial scene over the past 30 years, and of the kinds
of industrial, commercial and infrastructural development made possible
by investors in the city. His main argument is that access to finance
depended largely on whether - and how - potential borrowers were linked
into the larger structures of the South African corporate world dominated
by the mining, industrial and finance networks. Those that were directly
connected, such as the Tongaat-Hulett group and other large corporations,
did not experience problems raising finance. Those outside the charmed
circle - the small and medium-sized companies - experienced the greatest
difficulties in raising loans, especially when interest rates went up and
growth slowed or declined from the mid-1980s. His analysis first examines
Durban as a financial centre, and then looks at the main new sources of
finance available to borrowing institutions in the city. There is also
description of the activities of the major financial institutions that have
been based in Durban since 1970, as well as a consideration of the role of
the city council in financing development.
   A number of important points emerge from Padayachee's detailed
chapter: Durban's 'branch economy' status - most national companies are
headquartered in other cities; the critical developmental and spatial effects
of strategic investment decisions taken by dominant local companies such
as the Tongaat-Hulett group; the graduation of some Indian businesses out
of their 'corner shop' culture into the world of the stock markets and large-
scale bank borrowing the success of the city of Durban in raising finance
for infrastructural development through its Capital Development Fund.
Padayachee concludes by suggesting that Durban will remain a secondary
branch economy and financial centre. Opportunities were lost for financial
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  Jeremy Grest
  reforms during the 1990s that might have opened the door for a more active
  involvement of financial institutions in a more rapid transformation of the
  industrial, commercial and financial life of the country. Durban could well
 have benefited more than other cities from reforms because of its distinctive
  location, human resources and other advantages.
     Part Three of the book, 'Society and Governance', has three chapters
 which focus broadly on social issues. Brij Maharaj looks at 'Segregation,
 Desegregation and De-Racialisation'. His focus is on the spatial ordering
 of social relations in Durban - its racial politics — and speaks to the themes
 that are probably the most rehearsed in all the literature on South African
 cities. In Durban the presence of a dynamic and innovative Indian population
 constituted a threat to elements of the white population and led to local
 government policies that culminated in the 1950 Group Areas Act, which
 was then implemented over a period of 20 years, with its accompanying
 dispossession and relocation of settled communities. By the 1980s the
 system was under severe stress. There were massive housing backlogs in
 the African areas, burgeoning informal settlements, rising unemployment
 and poverty, a lack of basic services and a build-up of resistance to urban
 apartheid in the form of active social movements. An oversupply of rented
 accommodation in the 'white' areas meant that an illegal "greying' process
 took place as landlords bypassed the Group Areas Act. High levels of
 violence between the ANC and the IFP as they contested power in the urban
 and peri-urban areas further depressed economic growth. Civic organisations
played an important role in local-level negotiations for the democratisation
of local government, which is now complete. But the city faces a legacy of
deeply entrenched inequality that will probably take generations to address.
    David Hemson's chapter, 'Breaking the Impasse, Beginning the Change',
deals with labour markets in Durban. He shows how the city was the locus
of labour market decisions until the mid-1940s, describing the rise of a
series of 'despotic' controls which were later taken over by the central
government, and pinpointing the Durban strikes of the 1970s as a crucial
factor in the eventual break-up of the system. Characterising the post-
apartheid period as marked by advances in some areas, ambiguity and
retreat in others, he looks specifically at the National Dock Labour Scheme
and the locally-based Job Opportunity Bureau initiatives as examples of
interventions in the labour market at different levels. He concludes by
noting that the great advance made with the destruction of apartheid has
carried with it a cruel contradiction, which is that the collapse of oppressive
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 labour controls was accompanied by a period of economic stagnation that
undermined hopes of a more equitable labour market. In the current
economic conditions, he argues, globalisation has undermined workers'
conditions while its potential for greater human solidarity has yet to be
explored.
    In their chapter, David Wiley, Christine Root and Sven Peek focus on
environmental struggles in the south Durban basin, an area in which the
dynamic petro-chemicals industry is located alongside communities that
have long suffered the effects of both the Group Areas Act and industrial
pollution. As the authors note (2001:223):
       South Durban's cauldron of pollution was created by an intertwining
       of the economic interests of industry, the security interests of the
       apartheid state, and the racial segregation interests of a major portion
       of the Durban white electorate. Interest in the health and well-being of
       South Durban's largely black communities was sacrificed.
The chapter provides fascinating documentation of how democratisation in
the 1990s created the space for local communities to begin organising in
order to shape policy decisions affecting their living environment, and
details the strategies adopted towards both the corporate and government
interests involved in the area. Their conclusion is that corporate interests
remain dominant in the area, as they work in concert with national and local
government strategy, but that space remains for community-based
organisations to demand greater participation in policy formulation in
order to rebalance the power dynamics.
    The final section of the book, 'Basic Needs', turns more to a perspective
'from below' and contains contributions that address in one way or another
questions about how the mass of Durbanites manage to make their way and
survive in an urban environment, which despite the ending of apartheid is,
in many ways, as hostile as before to their interests, as new mechanisms of
exclusion, founded increasingly on economic forces, come into play.
Wendy Annecke's chapter, 'The Apartheid of Basic Facility Provision in
the City of Durban with a Focus on Energy', looks at women living in an
informal settlement that developed as refugees fled the political violence
of the 1990s. Through the careful documentation of household survival
strategies she provides a rich account of how poor women go about meeting
their energy needs in a specific locale in Durban. She notes that Durban has
been at the forefront of innovation in the delivery of free basic minimum
water (and now electricity) to consumers, and concludes that the increased
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 importance of skills and information technology in the global economy
 there would seem to be a need for more research on how firms and the state
 are dealing with this challenge at the local level. The tension in the book
between approaches to Durban focusing on policy and development from
above, and those that took as a point of departure the struggles for survival
and politics from below, is clearly noted in the editors' comments. In
Durban, as in other cities in South Africa more generally, the informal
sector exists in the interstices of the capitalist economy set up by the
dominant social forces in the 2O'h century.
    In this respect South Africa is different from other African economies
where the informal sector is in fact more important in the economy of cities
than the formal. Another project which involved some of the same
researchers from Durban and focused on Abidjan and Marseilles - the
Three Cities project - saw more work being done on Durban's informal
sector, some of which could usefully be read as a complement to the politics
from below contribution of the book under review.4 A general conclusion,
which sought to unify the various sections of the volume, would have gone
a long way, in the view of this reviewer, to strengthening the cohesion of
the final product.
Notes
 1. Maylam, P and I Edwards (eds) 1996. The People's City: African life in
     twentieth-century Durban. Pietermarizburg and Portsmouth: University of
     Natal Press and Heinemann.
2. Both authors have worked within Durban's Economic Development Department,
     and most recently Robbins has been made Acting Director.
3. Recent news reports would seem to indicate that this has been recognised and
     is being addressed finally. Terry Hutson 'Port plans must not be delayed'
     Highroad, The Mercury, February 26, 2003.
4. Bouillon, A, B Freund, D Hindson and B Lootvoet (2002) Governance, Urban
     Dynamics and Economic Development: a comparative analysis of the
     metropolitan areas of Durban. Durban: Plumbline Publishing.
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