Urban Land Delivery During South Africa’s Transition to Democracy

This paper was written for and presented at a Lincoln Institute course titled, “Comparative Policy Perspectives on Urban Land Market Reform in Eastern Europe, Southern Africa and Latin America,” held July 7-9, 1998.

South Africa’s first national democratic elections in April 1994 heralded a fundamental transformation in the country’s society. A uniquely participatory and open process of new policy formulation had preceded the elections, forming the starting point for the first ever shared vision of reconstruction and development to bind the country and its people. The period immediately following elections was marked by a series of white papers embodying principles, programs and delivery targets, discussion papers for public input and comment, consultative conferences and the passage of numerous pieces of legislation. Since 1994, there have also been significant achievements in national and provincial institutional reform and the transformation and partial implementation of urban policy. Nevertheless, the government was aware as the second national democratic elections approached in June 1999 and local government elections in November 2000 of the need to focus on delivery in order for the majority of the populace to feel that its basic needs were being addressed. Delivery became the clarion call of government, with the Thabo Mbeki administration making a motto of “getting down to work.”