Public spheres, hidden politics and struggles over space: boundaries of public engagement in post‐apartheid South Africa

Abstract

The development of a public sphere forms a central ingredient in the consolidation of a new political culture following a transition to democracy. The Habermasian idea of the public sphere has been challenged for not taking into account the role of ‘part’ and ‘counter public spheres’, particularly with reference to ‘developing’ societies. ‘Actually existing’ public spheres must therefore be conceptualised within the framework of a broader category of ‘public space’. A national public sphere in South Africa is held back by inequalities of wealth and power. A minority public of privileged consumers has access to a structure of print and electronic media, while the majority population relies on different systems of networking that make up counter publics. After 1994, the public sphere has been influenced by a dominant‐party system, accompanied by a division into formal and informal politics, with formal politics assuming a ritualistic function and ‘Realpolitik’ being played out within the non‐public structures of the dominant party. Meanwhile, critical public debate has had to find its course through varieties of informal politics. The article examines how moral debates around HIV/AIDS and crime in KwaZulu‐Natal have constituted an alternative arena for debate, and how cultural and religious discourses have been the channels of a local public sphere. The article discusses to what extent debates have constituted a local democratic ‘deliberative public sphere’, and looks at the ways in which the local state in the form of the eThekwini Municipality has interacted with local publics since 1994.

Keywords:

• public spheres
• democratisation
• civil society
• moral debate
• local politics

Notes

1. In preparing this article, I have received invaluable assistance through interviews, discussions and correspondence with Glen Robbins, Linda Mbonambi, Nuthan Maharaj and other former and present staff members involved in ‘urban strategy’ and the INK and the ‘area‐based management’ projects at eThekwini Municipality. Any misunderstanding or disputable interpretation included in the article is the author's sole responsibility.

2. This in contrast with other postcolonial societies such as Zambia and Ghana with more extended experiences of postcolonial government and abuses of power (see Bratton and Mattes 1999).