A01=Trevor Ngwane
Amakomiti
Author_Trevor Ngwane
Category=JBFC
Category=JBSD
Category=JH
Category=JPHV
Category=JPW
committees
democracy
democracy from below
democracy on the margins
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnography
grassroots democracy
informal settlements
self-organisation
Shack settlements
shacks
Shantytowns
South Africa
urban population
working class
Product details
- ISBN 9780745342009
- Dimensions: 135 x 215mm
- Publication Date: 20 Feb 2021
- Publisher: Pluto Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Can people who live in shantytowns, shacks and favelas teach us anything about democracy? About how to govern society in a way that is inclusive, participatory and addresses popular needs? This book argues that they can.
In a study conducted in dozens of South Africa's shack settlements, where more than 9 million people live, Trevor Ngwane finds thriving shack dwellers' committees that govern local life, are responsive to popular needs and provide a voice for the community. These committees, called 'amakomiti' in the Zulu language, organise the provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, public works and crime prevention especially during settlement establishment.
Amakomiti argues that, contrary to common perception, slum dwellers are in fact an essential part of the urban population, whose political agency must be recognised and respected. In a world searching for democratic alternatives that serve the many and not the few, it is to the shantytowns, rather than the seats of political power, that we should turn.
Trevor Ngwane is a scholar activist who spent twenty years as a full-time organizer in South African trade unions, community organizations and social movements before and after the defeat of apartheid. He later obtained his PhD in Sociology at the University of Johannesburg where he now teaches and conducts research.
