uTshani BuyaKhuluma––The Grass Speaks: the political space and capacity of the South African Homeless People’s Federation |
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| Authors: | Marianne Millstein Sophie Oldfield Kristian Stokke |
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| Institution: | a Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1096 Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway;b Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa |
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| Abstract: | The point of departure for this article is the contemporary tendency towards localisation of politics in the context of neo-liberal globalisation. Mediated through institutional reforms, political discourses and localised struggles, this localisation of politics produce new and transformed local political spaces. The purpose of the article is to examine the capacity of popular movements to use and transform such political spaces within the South African housing sector. This analysis is done through a combination of conceptual examination of political space and actor capacity and a concrete case study of the political strategies and capacities of The South African Homeless People’s Federation. The article argues that the Federation has utilised political relations at different scales to mobilise resources such as land and subsidies for housing for its members. It has also influenced the formulation of housing policies through its discourses and practical experiences with people-driven housing processes. In consequence the Federation’s ability to function as a civil/political movement has granted them a certain capacity to participate in the complicated process of turning de jure rights to adequate shelter into de facto rights for the urban poor as citizens of a democratic South Africa. |
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| Keywords: | South Africa Democratisation Local politics Social Movements Housing South African Homeless People’ s Federation |
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