Corporate Power, Human Rights and Urban Governance in South African Cities

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2022/v25i0a13004

Keywords:

Corporations, Urban governance, Local government, Socio-economic rights, Horizontal application, Municipal systems

Abstract

This article is concerned with the extent to which corporations involved in governing South African cities and towns are bound to the developmental objectives and socio-economic rights that urban governance efforts are constitutionally required to pursue. It considers the constitutional powers of local government over such non-state actors, evaluates their co-option and accountability in terms of local government legislation and discusses the evolution of their residual "horizontal" constitutional responsibilities.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Marius Pieterse, University of the Witwatersrand

Professor of Law

Faculty of Law

References

Bibliography

Literature

Anciano F and Piper L Democracy Disconnected: Participation and Governance in a City of the South (Routledge London/New York 2019) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781138541061

Andrew C and Goldsmith M "From Local Government to Local Governance – and Beyond?" 1998 IPSR 101-117 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/019251298019002002

Barichievy K, Piper L and Parker B "Assessing 'Participatory Governance' in Local Government: A Case-study of Two South African Cities" 2005 Politeia 370-393

Bhana D "The Horizontal Application of the Bill of Rights: A Reconciliation of Sections 8 and 39 of the Constitution" 2013 SAJHR 351-375 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2013.11865078

Bilchitz D "Corporate Law and the Constitution: Towards Binding Human Rights Responsibilities for Corporations" 2008 SALJ 754-789

Bilchitz D "Citizenship and Community: Exploring the Right to Receive Basic Municipal Services in Joseph" 2010 CCR 45-78 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2989/CCR/2010.0003

Blanco I "Between Democratic Network Governance and Neoliberalism: A Regime-theoretical Analysis of Collaboration in Barcelona. 2015 Cities 123-130 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2014.10.007

Campbell M, Nel V and Mphambukeli T "A Thriving Coal Mining City in Crisis? The Governance and Spatial Planning Challenges at Witbank, South Africa" 2017 Land Use Policy 223-231 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.12.027

Carstens P In the Company of Diamonds: De Beers, Kleinzee and the Control of a Town (Ohio University Press Athens 2001)

Chirwa D "Water Privatisation and Socio-economic Rights in South Africa" 2004 LDD 181-206

Chirwa DM "The Horizontal Application of Constitutional Rights in a Comparative Perspective" 2006 LDD 21-48

Clapham A Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors (Oxford University Press Oxford 2006) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288465.001.0001

COGTA Integrated Urban Development FrameworkDepartment of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs Integrated Urban Development Framework: A New Deal for South African Cities and Towns (COGTA Pretoria 2016)

Curtis S "Cities and Global Governance: State Failure or a New Global Order?" 2016 Millennium: Journal of International Studies 455-477 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829816637233

Dafel M "The Negative Obligation of the Housing Right: An Analysis of the Duties to Respect and Protect" 2013 SAJHR 591-614 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2013.11865092

Deva S and Bilchitz D (eds) Human Rights Obligations of Businesses: Beyond the Corporate Responsibility to Respect? (Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2013) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139568333

Du Plessis A "'Local Environmental Governance' and the Role of Local Government in Realising Section 24 of the South African Constitution" 2010 Stell LR 265-297

Du Plessis A "The Readiness of South African Law and Policy for the Pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal 11" 2017 LDD 239-262 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/ldd.v21i1.12

Ellmann S "A Constitutional Confluence: American 'State Action' Law and the Application of South Africa's Socio-economic Rights Guarantees to Private Actors" in Andrews P and Ellmann S (eds) The Post-Apartheid Constitutions: Perspectives on South Africa's Basic Law (Wits University Press Johannesburg 2001) 444-480

Field T State Governance of Mining, Development and Sustainability (Edward Elgar Cheltenham 2019) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784712648

Frug GE and Barron DJ "International Local Government Law" 2006 The Urban Lawyer 1-62

Gardbaum S "The 'Horizontal Effect' of Constitutional Rights" 2003 Mich L Rev 387-459 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3595366

Hamann R "Corporate Social Responsibility, Partnerships, and Institutional Change: The Case of Mining Companies in South Africa" 2004 Natural Resources Forum 278-290 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-8947.2004.00101.x

Hessbruegge JA "Human Rights Violations Arising from Conduct of Non-State Actors" 2005 Buff Hum Rts L Rev 21-88

Houghton J "Negotiating the Global and the Local: Evaluating Development through Public-Private Partnerships in Durban, South Africa" 2011 Urban Forum 75-93 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-010-9106-5

Institute of Directors in Southern Africa King IV Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa (Institute of Directors in Southern Africa Sandton 2016)

Kotzé LJ and Du Plessis A "A Gold Rush to Nowhere? The Rights-based Approach to Environmental Governance in South Africa's Mining Sector in Question" 2014 VRU 447-481 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2014-4-447

Kotzé L and Fuo O "Bridging the Public-Private Regulatory Divide: South African Mines and the Right of Access to Water" 2016 JENRL 285-312 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2016.1179525

Kruger M "Arbitrary Deprivation of Property: An Argument for the Payment of Compensation by the State in Certain Cases of Unlawful Occupation" 2014 SALJ 328-364

Lemanski C "Global Cities in the South: Deepening Social and Spatial Polarisation in Cape Town" 2007 Cities 448-461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2007.01.011

Liebenberg S "The Application of Socio-economic Rights to Private Law" 2008 TSAR 464-480

Liebenberg S Socio-Economic Rights: Adjudication Under a Transformative Constitution (Juta Cape Town 2010)

Lobel O "The Renew Deal: The Fall of Regulation and the Rise of Governance in Contemporary Legal Thought" 2004 Minn L Rev 342-470

Lowenthal T "AB v Pridwin Preparatory School: Progress and Problems in Horizontal Human Rights Law" 2020 SAJHR 261-274 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.2020.1867484

Macklem P "Corporate Accountability Under International Law: The Misguided Quest for Universal Jurisdiction" 2005 International Law Forum 281-289 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/157180405775268356

Marais L "The Impact of Mine Downscaling on the Free State Goldfields" 2013 Urban Forum 503-521 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-013-9191-3

Marais L "Local Economic Development Beyond the Centre: Reflections on South Africa's Secondary Cities" 2016 Local Economy 68-82 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0269094215614265

Marais L, Nel E and Donaldson R "The Role of Secondary Cities in South Africa's Development" in Marais L, Nel E and Donaldson R (eds) Secondary Cities and Development (Routledge London 2016) 159-178 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315667683-9

Marais L et al "Emfuleni" in Marais L, Nel E and Donaldson R (eds) Secondary Cities and Development (Routledge London 2016) 83-100 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315667683-5

Marais L et al "Responses to Mine Downscaling: Evidence from Secondary Cities in the South African Goldfields" 2017 The Extractive Industries and Society 163-171 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2017.01.004

Meyersfeld B "Empty Promises and the Myth of Mining: Does Mining Lead to Pro-poor Development?" 2017 BHRJ 31-54 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/bhj.2016.25

Meyersfeld B "The South African Constitution and the Human-Rights Obligations of Juristic Persons" 2020 SALJ 439-478

Miraftab F "Governing Post Apartheid Spatiality: Implementing City Improvement Districts in Cape Town" 2007 Antipode 602-626 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2007.00543.x

Muller G and Liebenberg S "Developing the Law of Joinder in the Context of Evictions of People from their Homes" 2013 SAJHR 554-570 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2013.11865090

Newman P and Verpraet G "The Impacts of Partnership on Urban Governance: Conclusions from Recent European Research" 1999 Regional Studies 487-491 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343409950081338

Nolan A "Holding Non-State Actors to Account for Constitutional Economic and Social Rights Violations: Experiences and Lessons from South Africa and Ireland" 2014 ICON 61-93 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icon/mot066

Palmer I, Moodley N and Parnell S Building a Capable State: Service Delivery in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Zed Books London 2017)

Peyroux E "City Improvement Districts in Johannesburg: Assessing the Political and Socio-spatial Implications of Private-led Urban Regeneration" 2006 Trialog 9-14

Picciotto S "International Transformations of the Capitalist State" 2011 Antipode 87-107 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2010.00812.x

Pierre J "Models of Urban Governance: The Institutional Dimension of Urban Politics" 1999 Urban Affairs Review 372-396 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10780879922183988

Pierre J and Peters G "Urban Governance" in Mossberger K, Clarke SE and Peter J (eds) Oxford Handbook of Urban Politics (Oxford University Press Oxford/New York 2012) 71-86 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195367867.013.0005

Pieterse M "Indirect Horizontal Application of the Right to have Access to Health Care Services" 2007 SAJHR 157-179 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19962126.2007.11864913

Pieterse M "Socio-economic Rights Adjudication and Democratic Urban Governance: Reassessing the 'Second Wave' Jurisprudence of the South African Constitutional Court" 2018 VRU 12-34 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0506-7286-2018-1-12

Pieterse M "Urban Autonomy in South African Intergovernmental Relations Jurisprudence" 2019 ICLJ 119-146 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/icl-2018-0072

Porras IM "The City and International Law: In Pursuit of Sustainable Development" 2009 Fordham Urb LJ 537-602

Rajak D "Platinum City and the New South African Dream" 2012 Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 252-271 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972012000046

Ramlall S "Corporate Social Responsibility in Post-Apartheid South Africa" 2012 Social Responsibility Journal 270-288 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/17471111211234888

Ray B Engaging with Social Rights: Procedure, Participation and Democracy in South Africa's Second Wave (Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2016) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139333702

Rogerson CM "Local Economic Development in South Africa: Strategic Challenges" 2010 Development Southern Africa 481-495 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2010.508580

Rogerson CM "In Search of Public Sector – Private Sector Partnerships for Local Economic Development in South Africa" 2010 Urban Forum 441-456 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-009-9074-9

Rogerson CM "Mining-dependent Localities in South Africa: The State of Partnerships for Small Town Local Economic Development" 2012 Urban Forum 107-132 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-012-9141-5

South African Cities Network State of South African Cities Report (SACN Johannesburg 2016)

Schragger RC "Mobile Capital, Local Economic Regulation and the Democratic City" 2009 Harv L Rev 482-541 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1338215

Schragger R City Power: Urban Governance in a Global Age (Oxford University Press New York 2016)

Ssenyonjo M "The Applicability of International Human Rights Law to Non-State Actors: What Relevance to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights?" 2008 IJHR 725-760 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13642980802396861

Steytler N "Socio-economic Rights and the Process of Privatising Basic Municipal Services" 2004 LDD 157-180

Steytler N "The Strangulation of Local Government" 2008 TSAR 518-535

Todes A "New African Suburbanisation? Exploring the Growth of the Northern Corridor of eThekwini / KwaDakuza" 2014 African Studies 245-270 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2014.925188

Turok I "Transforming South Africa's Divided Cities: Can Devolution Help?" 2013 International Planning Studies 168-187 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13563475.2013.774146

Van der Berg A "The Pursuit of SDG11 through the Lens of Integrated Development Planning" in Aust H and Du Plessis A (eds) The Globalisation of Urban Governance: Legal Perspectives on Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Routledge New York 2019) 208-226 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351049269-11

Wilson S Human Rights and the Transformation of Property (Juta Cape Town 2021)

Case law

AB v Pridwin Preparatory School 2020 5 SA 327 (CC)

Allpay Consolidated Investment Holdings v Chief Executive Officer of the South African Social Security Agency 2014 4 SA 179 (CC)

Baleni v Minister of Mineral Resources 2019 2 SA 453 (GP)

Black Sash Trust v Minister of Social Development 2017 3 SA 335 (CC)

Borbet South Africa v Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality 2014 5 SA 256 (ECP)

Cape Gate v Eskom Holdings 2019 4 SA 14 (GJ)

City of Cape Town v Khaya Properties 2016 5 SA 579 (SCA)

City of Johannesburg v Blue Moonlight Properties 2012 2 SA 104 (CC)

Daniels v Scribante 2017 4 SA 341 (CC) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351179270-11

Director: Mineral Development Gauteng v Save the Vaal Environment 1999 2 All SA 381 (A)

Eskom Holdings v Resilient Properties 2021 3 SA 47 (SCA)

Governing Body of the Juma Musjid Primary School v Essay 2011 8 BCLR 761 (CC)

Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Gauteng Development Tribunal 2010 6 SA 182 (CC)

Joseph v City of Johannesburg 2010 4 SA 55 (CC)

Khumalo v Holomisa 2002 5 SA 401 (CC)

Lingwood v Unlawful Occupiers of R/E of Erf 9 Highlands 2008 3 BCLR 325 (W)

Maccsand v City of Cape Town 2012 7 BCLR 690 (CC)

Maphango v Aengus Lifestyle Properties 2012 5 BCLR 449 (CC) DOI: https://doi.org/10.2989/CCR.2013.0013

Mkontwana v Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality 2005 1 SA 530 (CC)

Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Western Cape v Habitat Council 2014 4 SA 437 (CC)

Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry v Stilfontein Gold Mining Company 2006 5 SA 333 (W)

Occupiers of 51 Olivia Road, Berea Township v City of Johannesburg 2008 3 SA 208 (CC)

Occupiers of Saratoga Avenue v City of Johannesburg 2012 9 BCLR 951 (CC)

Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers 2005 1 SA 217 (CC)

President of the Republic of South Africa v Modderklip Boerdery 2005 5 SA 3 (CC)

Residents of Joe Slovo Community, Western Cape v Thubelisha Homes 2010 3 SA 454 (CC)

Victoria & Alfred Waterfront v Police Commissioner, Western Cape 2004 4 SA 444 (CPD)

Legislation

Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996

Companies Act 71 of 2008

Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003

Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998

Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000

Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002

National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998

Government publications

GN R309 in Government Gazette 27431 of 1 April 2005

GN R466 in Government Gazette 38855 of 3 June 2015

Internet sources

Erasmus D 2020 Engen is "Still Killing Us", says Durban Community after Explosion at Refinery https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-12-07-engen-is-still-killing-us-says-durban-community-body-after-explosion-at-refinery/ accessed 31 March 2022

Published

14-04-2022

How to Cite

Pieterse, M. (2022). Corporate Power, Human Rights and Urban Governance in South African Cities. Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, 25, (Published 14 April 2022) pp 1 – 36. https://doi.org/10.17159/1727-3781/2022/v25i0a13004

Issue

Section

SARChi CLES Series on Cities, Law and Environmental Sustainability

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.