The role of civil society in sustaining democracy: A case study of the Soweto Civic Association

 

Civics involvement in the 1994 elections

 Civics and the African National Congress have taken common position on many
issues. One of the common positions they took was when they warned the
government against treating the local government negotiating forum (LGNF) as
its advisory committee (The Star, 24 September 1993). The Local Government
Negotiating Forum (LGNF) was given the task of negotiating urban management
models suitable for the transition and of reaching agreement on models for
submission to the elected constitution-making body.

The following are examples of the common position taken by the civics and the
ANC: Civic associations with the ANC in particular embarked on mass action
to force the government to accede to the demands which they were making. The
ANC supported the demands of the civics while the civics also supported the
demands of the ANC. In its leaflet the ANC called on the people to make the
apartheid system more and more unworkable and to make the country less
governable and to replace the collapsing government stooge councils with
peoples committees in every block which would became embryos of people's
power (Atkinson, 1992: 64). 

In October 1990, the ANC held a national consultative conference on local
government in Johannesburg which was attended by civic association delegates.
The conference called for nation-wide universal franchise elections to choose
an interim local government which, besides administering cities during the
transition period, would investigate non-racial government and make
recommendations to a national constituent assembly on the details of a new local
government system (Cloete et al, 1991: 179).

Civics negotiated with local state officials and this resulted in rent increases
being postponed and evictions suspended. Civics played an important role in
transition while parties were preoccupied with other tasks, but also because of
their potential as revival power bases.

According to Cleobury (1995: 54) the Soweto Civic Association took a stand to
support the ANC in the elections arguing that 'having fought together, side by
side, with the mass democratic movement, we are now ready to transform the
elements within the liberation movement into the components of classical civil
society and state paradigm

Civics were seen as being crucial to the elections in the sense that it had support
from the grassroots, and as such they were perceived as a powerful tool for
mobilising voters. If the civic association was non-aligned as its leaders had
professed, it would not have given support for only one political organisation.
It should have allowed its membership to decide for themselves which political
party they were to vote for.

The sentiments to support the ANC during the elections were echoed by various
civic associations. Moses Mayekiso, the first president of the South African
National Civic Organisation (SANCO), maintained that his organisation was
going to support the ANC also the Port Elizabeth Black People Civic
Organisation and the Soweto Civic Association pledged their support for the
ANC during the elections.

According to Kitchen and Kitchen (1994: 41) although the civic associations
looked at the ANC as the symbol of the struggle, they operated autonomously
and whatever coordination which existed between these organisations was
provided by the UDF, which was launched in August 1983 as a national
umbrella organisation of more than 400 groups.

Source:

University of Johannesburg

FACULTY OF ARTS

The role of civil society in sustaining democracy:
A case study of the Soweto Civic Association


by


Ndanduleni Bernard Nthambeleni


submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for
the degree
MASTER OF ARTS
in
SOCIOLOGY
in the


FACULTY OF ARTS
at the

SUPERVISOR: PROF J.M. UYS
JUNE 1999

Mozambique Doing Business - South Africa

2025

Link : https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/esploro/outputs/graduate/The-role-of-civil-society-in/9912325207691/filesAndLinks?index=0

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