History of industrial decentralization in South Africa (Part I): The regional concentration of industry and the historical basis of the policy∗

The authors gratefully acknowledge a grant from the Richard Ward Endowment Fund (administered by the University of the Witwatersrand), without which this research would not have been possible.

Abstract

This research deals broadly with the history and development of industrial decentralization in South Africa. It provides a basic analysis of a number of inseparable historic, political and economic issues, and is presented in two parts. This first part begins by tracing the economic forces that generated current concentrated patterns of economic activity in South Africa, and goes on to review the origins of the industrial decentralization policy. It concludes that despite a relatively rigid natural regional economic structure that developed historically, and despite the continued presence of the economic forces that brought this structure about, the government commenced with a policy of industrial decentralization in 1960. The second part of the research firstly assesses the development of the policy in an attempt to indicate reasons for major changes, and secondly discusses the impact of the policy with reference to current evidence. It concludes that the industrial decentralization policy may have had serious economic consequences to date, but may nevertheless have a continued role to play in the ongoing political development of the country. The approach throughout has been to provide a relatively compact chronology of the policy and its antecedents.

Notes

Part‐time Lecturer, Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of the Witwatersrand.

Lecturer, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of the Wit‐watersrand.

Senior Lecturer, Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of the Witwatersrand.

The authors gratefully acknowledge a grant from the Richard Ward Endowment Fund (administered by the University of the Witwatersrand), without which this research would not have been possible.