The Contradictions of Market-Friendly Policies in Post-Apartheid South African Municipalities

Abstract

This article provides a closer examination of the extent of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), public–private partnerships (PPPs) and the outsourcing of services at local government level, which South African local government authorities are required by legislation to implement. This includes examining their theoretical underpinnings and the documents or legislation that set them up, their objectives, the extent of their use, their possible incompatibility and any formal evaluation of them (policy documents and legislation that have been carried out). The principal aim of this article is to provide an in-depth analysis of the market-friendly policies at local government level. The central question is: Do business-friendly policies promote sustainable development for the majority at local government level in South Africa? This is a qualitative literature review study. At the theoretical level, the political economy as a method of analysis is employed as a standpoint theory. There is a tendency–in some of the critical literature which creates a knowledge gap, as well as in the public debate – to include the whole set of policies as constituting a simple neoliberal package, which is problematic. There is an invidious interdependency between the two tendencies. Although the B-BBEE elements may be seen to be antithetical to free-market strategies, they in fact rely on those free-market elements to remain effective. The main line of argument in this article is that business-friendly policies in the form of B BBEE and PPPs are partly inspired by neoliberalism (B-BBEE is not neoliberal per se, although it may be heavily influenced by it) and neoliberalism in practice is contradictory in nature as it involves the allocation of state resources to politically influential individuals, rather than promoting economic development for the majority.