UWCScholar :: Browsing by Author "Williams, John J."

Browsing by Author "Williams, John J."

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Citizenship, community participation and social change: The case of area coordinating teams in Cape Town, South Africa
(Wiley, 2004) Williams, John J.
Social change does not roll in under the wheels of inevitability On the contrary; we have to organize for it, mobilize for it, struggle for it and indeed, plan for it. This is especially so in a country such as South Africa, where centuries of colonial-cum-apartheid thought and practices have led planning bureaucracies to create and perpetuate socioeconomic patterns of uneven development and neglect. Amidst the geographies of largely "white" affluence, fear and collective "othering", those others, i.e. predominantly "black", unemployed, homeless, destitute, angry and alienated, are increasingly demanding their basic rights, rights that are enshrined in the post-apartheid Constitution (RSA 1995). One of the many structures that have been created in order to make available constitutionally guaranteed opportunities for participation in governance has been Areas Coordinating Teams (ACTs), established in the late 1990s as a vehicle through which government agencies could engage local communities in development planning. The ACTs were established in order to encourage consensus among politicians, bureaucrats and communities with regard to specific planning issues such as housing, health care and overall infrastructure at grassroots level. This article addresses the question of whether the ACTs, as spaces for participation in development planning available to the local communities of Cape Town, do indeed contribute towards grassroots- oriented, bottom-up programmers in post-apartheid South Africa. It draws on two complementary studies. The first consists of informal interviews with councilors and officials. In these interviews, the politicians and the bureaucrats expressed their views and understanding of ACTs. The second study was based on a structured questionnaire directed at community-based organizations (CBOs) attending the ACTs initiated/coordinated meetings. My focus here is on the relationships between the official, "invited" spaces of the ACTs and other spaces within the community and on the relationships that officials and elected representatives have with these spaces, in order to assess their potential for democratizing the development planning process.
Community activism and social change of the urban poor in the western cape: Advocating for sustainable sanitation in Cape Town’s informal settlements
(University of the Western Cape, 2021) Mukiga, Alex Kihehere; Williams, John J.
This research investigates the engagements between community activists and urban authorities in the provision of sustainable sanitation services in the informal settlements of Khayelitsha Cape Town. Since 2008, there have been contestations on the exclusion of informal settlements in the planning and delivery of sanitation services by the City of Cape Town. The planning and decision-making of sanitation services in the informal settlement is complex due to numerous stakeholders involved and thus not clear on how sustainable sanitation can be achieved. The challenge has been on understanding the level where decision-making in the provision of sanitation services is more effective for sustainable sanitation.
Contestation, confusion and change: urban governance and service delivery in Zimbabwe (2000-2012)
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Muchadenyika, Davison; Williams, John J.
This study investigates how political dynamics impacted on service delivery in urban areas of Zimbabwe in general and, SPECIFICALLY, in the cities of Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo and Mutare. The problematic of urban governance in these cities has been marked by contestation, confusion and change for a range of reason which would seem to be associated with issues of planning and management of urban areas, infrastructure such as provision and maintenance of roads, housing, public transport and water and sanitation. Consequently, these urban governance contestations almost led to the collapse of most if not all, urban functions and services in the aforementioned urban areas. That Zimbabwe is suffering from a crisis of governance and public service delivery for decades is not in doubt. In this thesis, I argue that whilst much attention has been given to state governance, it is at the local governance level where the impacts of the crisis are more severe. Why at the local governance level? Local government is mandated to deliver directly or indirectly key human development services to citizens. Inevitably, urban governance is an important determinant of urban services delivery. Urban governance takes place within a wider governance and political context. Post-independent urban Zimbabwe was dominated by the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) until the turn of the millennium. When the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) began dominating urban local authorities, urban governance signaled an era marked by contestation, confusion and change. Subsequent urban governance political dynamics had profound impacts on service delivery.
Development policy planning in Ghana: The case of health care provision
(European Scientific Institute, 2014) Alatinga, Kennedy A.; Williams, John J.
This paper examines the historical development of health policy in Ghana within the framework of financial, geographical accessibility and the availability of health care. Historically, health policy has been urban biased, and largely focused on financial accessibility. Even Nkrumah's free health care policy could not adequately address the problem of inadequate health professionals and facilities in the rural areas.The study also established that poverty is also largely a rural phenomenon.The poor benefit less from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). This situation makes the NHIS lack social equity, the very reason for its being. We recommend that government should expand health facilities in the rural areas, and introduce attractive incentive packages to attract and retain health professionals in such areas. There is an urgent need for rigorous criteria to be developed by the NHIS to identify the very poor for health insurance premium exemptions.
The Everyday at Grassroots level: poverty, protest and social change in post-apartheid South Africa
(CLACSO, 2009) Williams, John J.
This paper posits that social change derives from how the everyday is encountered, analyzed and experienced at the grassroots level. Drawing extensively from the seminal work of Henri Lefebvre, the paper argues that for ordinary people in post-apartheid South Africa, the everyday is often an instantiation of multiple contradictions, tensions, conflicts and struggles as the promises of a “better life for all”, the mantra of the Mbeki government, would appear to remain largely rhetorical as evidenced by the increasing levels of homelessness and unemployment since the creation of the democratic State in 1994. The failure to substantively improve the everyday reality experienced by the poor, homeless and unemployed, has given rise throughout the country, especially from 2004 to 2009, to massive protests by communities against local authorities (municipalities). The paper concludes by considering the question whether or not this type of community discontent could serve to transform the everyday into a more equitable and democratic dispensation at the grassroots level.
Gerwel taught us that theory without application is useless
(IOL, 2012) Williams, John J.
This tribute to Prof Gerwel has been triggered by a picture on p 2 of the Cape Times, 29 Nov 2012, of a group of students, he addressed in 1977 [not 1973] as I was reading for my Honours degree in Geography. As students we admired him deeply for his seemingly effortless ability to apply profound theoretical insights to the existential reality of apartheid and its nefarious effects on society as a whole. He usually addressed us during lunch-hour, in the Science Block. Every student leader of the different student organizations on campus was usually there, even the deeply- spiritual students, like myself [I headed the Anglican Student Society of Southern Africa [ANSOC/ASF] in the Western Cape, at UWC, US and UCT.
Mixed methods research for health policy development in Africa: The case of identifying very poor households for health insurance premium exemptions in Ghana
(SAGE, 2019) Alatinga, Kennedy A.; Williams, John J.
Despite the utility of applying mixed methods research to understand complex phenomenon, few studies have applied this approach to health policy and in Africa. This article illustrates the application of mixed methods research to inform health policy in Ghana with the intent of complementarity. Through an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design involving 24 focus group interviews and 417 household surveys, we developed criteria for identifying very poor households for health insurance premium exemptions in Ghana. The qualitative procedures identified communities’ concerns regarding being very poor: food insecurity, lack of seeds to sow, compromised access to education, financial insecurity, and status as unemployed widows with children. The survey findings illustrated the distribution and predictors of poverty in the Kassena-Nankana District. Based on these findings, the authors proposed a four-question survey for the Kassena-Nankana District Health Insurance Scheme to administer to determine extreme poverty. Based on these recommendations, the local government has a unique opportunity to increase the very poor’s access to and utilization of health care services.
Politics and the practice of planning: the case of Zimbabwean cities
(Elsevier, 2016) Muchadenyika, Davison; Williams, John J.
Planning is intrinsically a political process. This paper explores how the practice and profession of planning has been affected by politics. Available evidence in Zimbabwe shows that planning is problematized by unsettled national and local politics. However, contested politics can distort the intentions of a sound planning system through advancing political interests of politicians, the ruling elite. Interviews with political actors and planners allow an understanding of how politics has virtually eroded, if not eliminated, a sound planning system. This paper illustrates three dimensions of the relationship between politics and planning. First, the political contestation between the ruling and opposition party has severely undermined planning and its contribution towards co- ordinated development in cities. Second, planners often succumb to the politics of patronage at the expense of urban residents and town planning principles. Third, the integrity and credibility of planning is seemingly under constant threat from political actors.
The politics of social change and the transition to democratic governance: Community participation in post-apartheid South Africa
(Juta, 2008) Williams, John J.
Community participation, i.e. the direct involvement/engagement of ordinary people in the affairs of planning, governance and overall development programs at the local or grassroots level, has become an integral part of democratic practice in recent years (cfJayal, 2001). In the case of post-apartheid South Africa, community participation has literally become synonymous with legitimate governance. In this regard, for example, the Municipal Structures Act, Chapter 4, subsections (g) and (h) state respectively that the 'executive mayor [should] annually report on the involvement of community organisations in the affairs of the municipality' and 'ensure that due regard is given to public views and report on the effect of consultation on the decisions of council' (RSA, 1998c). Yet it would seem that most community participation exercises in post-apartheid South Africa are largely spectator politics, where ordinary people have mostly become endorsees of pre-designed planning programs, often the objects of administrative manipulation and a miracle of reconciliation in the international arena of consensus politics, while state functionaries of both the pre- and post-apartheid eras ensconce themselves as bureaucratic experts summonsed to 'ensure a better life for all'. Consequently, the process, visions and missions of a more equitable society operate merely as promissory notes issued every five years during election campaigns. In this course of endless rhetoric and multiple platitudes, the very concept of community participation has been largely reduced to a cumbersome ritual—a necessary appendix required by the various laws and policies operating at the local government level.
Politics, centralisation and service delivery in urban Zimbabwe
(Taylor & Francis, 2018) Muchadenyika, Davison; Williams, John J.
The politics of urban control has revolved around centralisation since independence in 1980. However, such politics became more pronounced after 2000 owing to the rise of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as the main governing party in urban areas. Political tensions and contradictions ensued between central government, under the Zimbabwe African National Union (Patriotic Front) (ZANU[PF]), and local authorities, under the MDC, over the control and administration of urban areas. Based on 30 interviews, the article explains how central government and, by extension, ZANU(PF) attempted to regain control of urban areas through centralisation of water and vehicle licensing functions. This practice, however, contravenes existing laws. Hitherto, scholarship has attributed centralisation by the government to a strategy to defuse the opposition rule in cities. This article extends reasons for centralisation to include ZANU(PF)’s strong ideological belief in centralisation, access to resources in a failing economy and maintaining a firm grip on power. In particular, the article focuses on how urban politics is manifested in the transfer of water and sanitation and vehicle licensing functions from local authorities to government-run entities. It is also evident that the prioritisation of survival politics neglects key service delivery in urban centres. In the absence of a functionally devolved system of governance, this casts doubt on the feasibility and success of opposition political parties in governing African cities.
South Africa: Urban transformation
(Elsevier, 2000) Williams, John J.
This paper discusses transformation as a multi-dimensional concept to effect social change in South African society in the post-apartheid era. The policy implications of such a variegated understanding of social change are examined with special reference to planning principles such as holism, capacity building, self-reliance, community integration, participatory democracy and so forth. It is argued that transformation is a multi-dimensional process, and whilst on the basis of provisional evidence there appears to be nascent forms of socio-spatial change, structurally, such apparent change is shot through by a number of contradictions, tensions and potential conflicts.
The terrain of urbanisation process and policy frameworks: A critical analysis of the Kampala experience
(Cogent OA, 2017) Bidandi, Fred; Williams, John J.
Kampala is urbanising in an unplanned manner, but without a clear picture of the underlying dynamics. The city is characterised by lack of proper zoning of economic activities and construction of physical infrastructure without regard to subsequent spatial quality and environmental conservation. Consequently, there are sharp differences in residential standards where expensive housing and luxury flats co-exist with shanty towns and informal settlements, with about 60% of the city’s population living in unplanned informal settlements and often faced with challenges of unemployment. The unprecedented increase in the urban population in Kampala and the prospects for further increases in the near future have economic and social implications concerning employment, housing, education and health, among others. Understanding the nature of the dynamics of the growth or decline of cities like Kampala helps planners to support the processes that lead to harmonious urban development and to deal with the negative consequences of urban growth.
The terrain of urbanisation process and policy frameworks: A critical analysis of the Kampala experience
(Cogent OA, 2017) Bidandi, Fred; Williams, John J.
Kampala is urbanising in an unplanned manner, but without a clear picture of the underlying dynamics. The city is characterised by lack of proper zoning of economic activities and construction of physical infrastructure without regard to subsequent spatial quality and environmental conservation. Consequently, there are sharp differences in residential standards where expensive housing and luxury flats co-exist with shanty towns and informal settlements, with about 60% of the city’s population living in unplanned informal settlements and often faced with challenges of unemployment. The unprecedented increase in the urban population in Kampala and the prospects for further increases in the near future have economic and social implications concerning employment, housing, education and health, among others. Understanding the nature of the dynamics of the growth or decline of cities like Kampala helps planners to support the processes that lead to harmonious urban development and to deal with the negative consequences of urban growth. This paper reflects the urbanisation dynamics explaining Kampala’s urbanisation process with the view to analysing the implications for an alternative urban policy framework. It argues that the conditions that have allowed the situation to exist have serious policy implications which require the need for an integrated policy framework that can be used to effectively prevent or halt Kampala’s unplanned urbanisation while promoting planned urbanisation. Induced by the migration and lack of information, understanding urban dynamics is crucial to the development of urban policies that can effectively ensure that further urban changes occur in a systematic and satisfactory manner. The current urban process in developing countries like Uganda is associated with poverty, environmental degradation and population demands that outstrip service capacity.
Towards universal health coverage: Exploring the determinants of household enrolment into National Health Insurance in the Kassena Nankana District, Ghana
(Faculty of Integrated Development Studies, University for Development studies, 2015) Williams, John J.; Alatinga, Kennedy A.
This study investigates the determinants of household participation in National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the Kassena-Nankana District in Ghana. In order to achieve this purpose, a cross-sectional survey was used to collect data from 417 randomly selected household heads. The results established that the NHIS is making incremental progress towards achieving universal health coverage because majority (67%) of the sampled population was enrolled in the NHIS. However, further analysis of the data highlighted both the challenge of achieving equity of participation in health insurance and the yawning financial barriers to accessing health care for poor households and those employed in the informal sector. For example, majority (77%) of uninsured households indicated that they were not enrolled in the NHIS because they could not afford the cost of insurance premiums. The research findings showed that income, socio-economic status (SES), formal employment, educational status, and gender amongst others, significantly determine household enrolment in health insurance. In order to increase the enrolment of the poor in the NHIS, and of achieving universal health coverage, the authors recommend that the government considers using payroll deductions to finance the health care needs of all formal sector employees while financing the health care of the rest of the population using tax revenues. It is also recommeded that the NHIS considers making the payment of insurance premium flexible, such as allowing housholds to pay in installments or in kind.
Transformative sensemaking: Development in Whose Image? Keyan Tomaselli and the semiotics of visual representation
(Overseas Publishers Association, 2000) Williams, John J.
The defining and distinguishing feature of homo sapiens is its ability to make sense of the world, i.e. to use its intellect to understand and change both itself and the world of which it is an integral part. It is against this backdrop that this essay reviews Tomaselli's 1996 text, Appropriating Images: The Semiotics of Visual Representation/ by summarizing his key perspectives, clarifying his major operational concepts and citing particular portions from his work in support of specific perspectives on sense-making. Subsequently, this essay employs his techniques of sense-making to interrogate the notion of "development". This exercise examines and confirms two interrelated hypotheses: first, a semiotic analysis of the privileged notion of "development" demonstrates its metaphysical/ ideological, and thus limiting, nature especially vis-a-vis the marginalized, excluded, and the collective other, the so-called Developing Countries. Second, the interrogative nature of semiotics allows for an alternative reading and application of human potential or skills in the quest of a more humane social and global order, highlighting thereby the transformative implications of a reflexive epistemology.
Understanding urban land, politics, and planning: A critical appraisal of Kampala's urban sprawl
(Elsevier, 2020) Bidandi, Fred; Williams, John J.
This paper seeks to make a contribution to contemporary urban land insights and political debates in relation to planning in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. It also evaluates how the city authorities engage with communities on land and related urban issues. Scholars have generally ignored the important aspect of community engagement regarding planning in Kampala. Moreover, political power relations seem to influence if not determine social conditions at the grassroots level. In this paper urban land is defined from competing perspectives vis-à-vis lived experiences at the grassroots level. This paper seeks to understand the urban land question through the lens of Henri Lefebvre's writings on the production of space and the right to the city. Questions this study seeks to answer include: Why is politics at the centre of land in Kampala? How is community engagement on land and planning understood by city government? After exploratory research and a review of extant literature, this study utilised an interview guide to collect primary empirical data.

Browsing by Author "Williams, John J."

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