- Title
- A political economy of transformation in Nelson Mandela University Bay: a critical analysis of the construction sector 2005
- Creator
- Mtimka, Ongama
- Subject
- Transformation -- Port Elizabeth -- Nelson Mandela Bay
- Subject
- Construction industry -- South Africa –Port Elizabeth
- Subject
- Politics -- Nelson Mandela Bay
- Date Issued
- 2022-12
- Date
- 2022-12
- Type
- Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/59392
- Identifier
- vital:62077
- Description
- In democracies and purportedly free market economies, questions of “who gets what, when, and how” ought to be resolved mainly through free competition, where those with the competitive advantage on merit are guaranteed to succeed. If it is political parties, they only have to compete well and fairly to win elections. If it is businesses, they ought to have the best value and price and they win customers. However, there are institutions which regulate this competition and political economic behaviour. Interest groups such as business chambers, industry and professional associations, as well as various structures of representation engage in the political economic space to sway the distribution outcomes from these “institutions” in the favour of their members. To do so, at times they use methods that affirm the principles and spirit of free competition and at other times, they do not. This thesis reviews the political economy of transformation within the construction sector in Nelson Mandela Bay to further advance knowledge within the subfield of political economy in South Africa. By looking at a specific economic sector, the study adds an important element to the sub-discipline, a nuance to the debates about the role of the state in the economy or macroeconomic policy and the much studied mining-energy complex. The study focuses on the role of small business forums created mostly by newcomers within the construction sector in the city and the methods they used to increase the share of their members in construction sector revenues. Their methods were unconventional and earned them the unfavourable term of ‘the construction mafia’. Through a grounded theoretical research process, this study details the story of the rise and fall of forums and dissects it in line with ongoing debates within political economy and related disciplines, particularly about the nexus between politics and business as well as the role of interest groups in pluralist political systems. Among other things, the study finds that the forums did not see the construction industry as a free market and did not take principles of competition in the sector as a given. As such, they sought to make and remake institutions of the sector in ways that could increase their share of revenues. In similar fashion to the roles of iinjoli nosokhaya in traditional isiXhosa ceremonies, they accorded to themselves the right to distribute benefits to their members contrary to legal and general market prescripts.
- Description
- Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Government and Social sciences, 2022
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (159 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Humanities
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Mtimka, O Dec 2022.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |