A critical analysis of regional planning in South Africa in the 21st century

Abstract

The democratic South Africa brought with it a swathe of changes regarding the entire governance system of the country including the notorious apartheid planning system. One of these changes that landed with the new dispensation was the establishment of provinces as a distinctive interrelated and interdependent (The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996) sphere of government between the national and local governments. This sphere of government consists of nine provinces that are earmarked, amongst others, by varied population and geographic sizes, political orientation, socio-economic endowments, institutional capacities and competencies, development potential and development planning systems and implementation capabilities. One of the major challenges currently facing the national government is the muddled state of regional/provincial development planning processes and plans. Most of the regional development plans are characterised by a lack of a clear strategic development agenda and an ongoing planning process that seldom sees the dawn of completion and implementation, varying time frames, inward focussed plans, plans that are hardly monitored, plans that do not have teeth and plans that seldom add value to the intergovernmental landscape of South Africa. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, to unpack the current provincial/regional development planning challenges and to critically discuss and engage some of the pertinent phenomena that have shaped and are currently shaping the nature in which provincial development planning has evolved thus far in South Africa since the early 21 st century; secondly, the paper will also touch on the dynamics that underpin the provincial planning processes since 2000 in South Africa. The paper will adopt a critical and interpretive stance. In doing so, the paper will relate briefly to the concept and dynamics of municipal integrated development planning of South Africa within the intergovernmental planning landscape that is currently emerging.