Contested terrains: Cities and hinterlands in post-apartheid boundary delimitations
type: Dataset
description: In South Africa attempts are being made to address the socio-spatial distortions of the apartheid era through a more equitable distribution of resources, and the re-drawing of municipal geographical boundaries. However, boundaries are not neutral geographic lines. Boundary changes are often associated with a redistribution of political power and resources. The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the contemporary territorial and administrative restructuring on urban dynamics in South Africa. More specifically, the focus is on how the process of territorial restructuring impacted on metropolitan areas as well as on secondary cities and their hinterlands. Examining and elucidating the manner in which various social, economic and political forces have manifested themselves in the process of boundary delimitation in a major metropolitan centre as well as adjacent rural areas is a central theme of this paper. There were considerable contestations over the delimitation of new local government boundaries. Affluent metro authorities like that in Durban were opposed to the spatial extension of their boundaries because of the costs of the providing services and infrastructure in the deprived margins. Similarly, there was concern that incorporation of rural areas will result in increased municipal service charges being imposed on these communities. Tensions were heightened between urban and rural regions because traditional leaders believed that their territorial jurisdiction and authority were being undermined. In other parts of the country, the merger of traditionally white and black fragments of secondary cities often resulted in many black locations continuing to be marginalized. There appears to be neither the political will nor the economic capacity to upgrade these zones of marginalized urban communities. While the Municipal Demarcation Board was largely successful in eliminating the political geography of apartheid at a macro- scale, this paper suggests that …
landing page: 0343-2521
keyword: afrique-du-sud
keyword: chef-lieu
keyword: demarcation
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsarticle
keyword: journal-articles
keyword: municipalite
keyword: petites-villes
keyword: postapartheid
keyword: recomposition-territoriale
keyword: shshumanities-and-social-sciences
keyword: territorial-restructuring
keyword: villes-secondaires
issued: 2026-05-08T04:21:28.518632
modified: 2026-05-08T04:21:28.518637
language: en
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent

Contested terrains: Cities and hinterlands in post-apartheid boundary delimitations
type: Distribution
format: HTML
access URL: https://hal.science/hal-00090669
issued: 2026-05-08T04:21:28.520814
modified: 2026-05-08T04:21:28.500522