Whose interests are at stake? Civil society and NGOs in South Africa

The democratic transition in 1994 necessitated the new government of South Africa to review critically most of its policies in order to achieve sustainable human development for all its citizens. Popular notions within current development thinking, such as civil society, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and people-centred development are integrated firmly in the revised policies. This article discusses how these notions appear in the housing and population White Papers. It is argued that civil society and NGOs appear as abstract concepts and as 'black boxes' in academic discussions and government policies. These abstract concepts foster assumptions of homogeneity and common interests among and within civil organisations and the people they claim to represent. To understand the complexities of interest representation, these abstract concepts need to come alive and the black boxes need to be opened. To this end, the authors present a theoretical framework and methodological tools for finding multiple interests among a variety of actors.