Development Studies Working Paper, no. 44

The local government level has historically been the most neglected aspect of government in South Africa, both in research and in conventional political activity. Yet, paradoxically, it has been the level at which several crucial government policies have played themselves out, away from the public eye, but drastic in their effects on the material and political position of all inhabitants of towns and cities in South Africa. This research into local government was begun with two basic questions in mind. Firstly, local-level attempts to alter their own institutional structures needed to be documented and analysed. A consideration of six case studies of white initiatives for change at the local level uncovered numerous political and economic dimensions which interact and set constraints on each other. It is impossible to produce one final interpretation of why these local events happened, what their significance was, and what possibilities they offer for the future. Invariably, each case study is a microcosm of the broader multifaceted conflict in South Africa. This report is an attempt to present as many of these dimensions as possible, even though it cannot ever be complete.Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER