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Neoliberalism and casualization of public sector services: the case of waste collection services in Cape Town, South Africa

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  • Faranak Miraftab

Abstract

This article focuses on the waste collection strategies of the municipal government in Cape Town, South Africa, using the case as a point of entry to a wider critique of global neoliberalism and the privatization of municipal services. The analysis of the case sheds light on the links between the cost recovery agenda of the neoliberal state and the casualization of labor. To minimize costs, local governments, like private sector firms, rely on and have enhanced the casualization of labor. This strategy further blurs the conceptual distinction between the public and private sectors, in that the local governments treat citizens as, instead, customers with stratified entitlements to basic services. Stressing the continuities of apartheid under the neoliberal policies, the article identifies specific ways in which the neoliberal government in its post‐apartheid moment uses gender ideologies and the rhetoric of voluntarism and empowerment to justify its use of residents' underpaid and precarious labor for municipal services in poor black townships. Cet article aborde les stratégies de ramassage des ordures établies par la municipalité de Cape Town (Afrique du Sud) et utilise ce cas comme point de départ d'une critique plus large sur le néolibéralisme ambiant et la privatisation des services municipaux. L'analyse révèle les liens entre le programme de recouvrement des coûts de l'État néolibéral et la précarisation de la main‐d'œuvre. En effet, pour minimiser les coûts, les gouvernements locaux, à l'instar des entreprises privées, s'appuient sur une précarisation (qu'ils accroissent) de l'emploi. Cette stratégie atténue encore la distinction conceptuelle entre secteurs public et privé, les gouvernements locaux traitant les habitants plutôt comme des clients ayant droit, selon leur strate d'appartenance, à tel ou tel service de base. Soulignant les prolongements de l'apartheid sous une politique néolibérale, l'article identifie les modalités spécifiques grâce auxquelles le gouvernement néolibéral de post‐apartheid recourt aux idéologies sexistes et au discours sur le bénévolat et l'habilitation pour justifier son utilisation d'une main‐d'œuvre précaire et mal rémunérée parmi les habitants, pour les services municipaux dans les quartiers noirs pauvres.

Suggested Citation

  • Faranak Miraftab, 2004. "Neoliberalism and casualization of public sector services: the case of waste collection services in Cape Town, South Africa," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 874-892, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ijurrs:v:28:y:2004:i:4:p:874-892
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0309-1317.2004.00557.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Zachary Levenson, 2018. "The road to TRAs is paved with good intentions: Dispossession through delivery in post-apartheid Cape Town," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(14), pages 3218-3233, November.
    2. Navarrete-Hernández, Pablo & Navarrete-Hernandez, Nicolas, 2018. "Unleashing waste-pickers potential: supporting recycling cooperatives in Santiago de Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 85730, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Goodwin, Geoff, 2019. "The problem and promise of coproduction: Politics, history, and autonomy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 501-513.
    4. Sohyun Lee, 2024. "The specific visuality of women of the global South in the media of the global North," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Xolisiwe Sinalo Grangxabe & Thabang Maphanga & Benett Siyabonga Madonsela & Babalwa Gqomfa & Takalani Terry Phungela & Karabo Concelia Malakane & Kgabo Humphrey Thamaga & Daniel Angwenyi, 2023. "The Escalation of Informal Settlement and the High Levels of Illegal Dumping Post-Apartheid: Systematic Review," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Vivian Bickford‐Smith, 2010. "The Fairest Cape of Them All? Cape Town in Cinematic Imagination," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 92-114, March.
    7. Albert Fu, 2016. "Neoliberalism, logistics and the treadmill of production in metropolitan waste management: A case of Turkish firms," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(10), pages 2099-2117, August.
    8. Rainer Bartel, 2007. "Der öffentliche Sektor in der Defensive," Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft - WuG, Kammer für Arbeiter und Angestellte für Wien, Abteilung Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Statistik, vol. 33(2), pages 199-230.
    9. Mark Swilling, 2014. "Contesting inclusive urbanism in a divided city: The limits to the neoliberalisation of Cape Town’s energy system," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(15), pages 3180-3197, November.
    10. Theron, Jan,, 2014. "Non-standard work arrangements in the public sector the case of South Africa," ILO Working Papers 994861773402676, International Labour Organization.
    11. Natasha Cornea & René Véron & Anna Zimmer, 2017. "Clean city politics: An urban political ecology of solid waste in West Bengal, India," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(4), pages 728-744, April.
    12. Vivian Bickford-Smith, 2009. "Creating a City of the Tourist Imagination: The Case of Cape Town, `The Fairest Cape of Them All'," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(9), pages 1763-1785, August.
    13. repec:ilo:ilowps:486177 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Herrera, Veronica, 2014. "Does Commercialization Undermine the Benefits of Decentralization for Local Services Provision? Evidence from Mexico’s Urban Water and Sanitation Sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 16-31.

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