Rent Boycotts, the State, and the Transformation of the Urban Political Economy in South Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	Rent Boycotts, the State, and the Transformation of the Urban Political Economy in South Africa
Authors:	Chaskalson, Matthew Jochelson, K. Seekings, J.
Year:	1987
Periodical:	Review of African Political Economy
Volume:	14
Issue:	40
Period:	December
Pages:	47-64
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	boycotts Politics and Government Economics and Trade Ethnic and Race Relations Urbanization and Migration
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056248708703748
Abstract:	Since September 1984 rent boycotts have proliferated in African townships throughout South Africa. First, this article considers the context and origins of rent boycotts in the northern Orange Free State, the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vaal (PWV) and the Eastern Transvaal. Then it describes the State's responses to the boycotts, showing that a single homogenous State analysis of boycotts has not emerged. Finally, the article proposes a transformation of the urban political economy. Urban policy should be determined by the residents' needs, rather than the State's fiscal and political requirements: to resolve the conflicts, the State should subsidize rents. Bibliogr.