The Politics of Necessity: community organizing and democracy in South Africa by Elke Zuern (review)

Elke Zuern’s The Politics of Necessity: community organizing and democracy in South Africa engages in an ambitious contemporary, historical and comparative analysis of community politics in South Africa. The main thrust of Zuern’s analysis is to examine South Africa’s democracy, not from the perspective of institutions and legal norms, but from that of ordinary working class people. This volume therefore examines the everyday meanings of democracy and its influence in shaping popular struggles of the last 30 years contributing to similar debates advanced by Latin American scholars in expanding the study of democracy (see O’Donnell et al 2004, Holston 2008). The book covers three phases of popular struggle in South Africa: the civics in the 1980s, the civics during the political transition of the 1990s and an analysis of new social movements and popular struggles post-2000. Employing the comparative method, Zuern also offers an analysis of similar struggles in Mexico, Nigeria, Botswana and Argentina.

Through the course of the analysis offered Zuern advances four central arguments about community-based politics. The first and perhaps most insightful argument is that,

the politics of necessity is not only about material needs. Those who frame their demands in protest often begin with and emphasis basic material necessities, but their demands also include the right to be heard, to have a voice, to be consulted and to become full members of the political community.

(15)

In recent times, there has been considerable debate over the meaning of recent protests. The ANC has argued, as in Jacob Zuma’s 2014 State of the Nation address, that protests are the result, paradoxically, of good service delivery, while myself and others (see Alexander et al 2014) have argued that such protests are illustrative of a much wider crisis in post-apartheid democracy. Zuern’s volume helps to ground these arguments historically by demonstrating how struggles over the last 30 years have concerned themselves not just with fighting against apartheid or poor service delivery but have contained much broader claims and critiques about the society in which we live.

The second important contribution Zuern makes is to the under-studied and under-researched area of demobilisation. Through an analysis of the civics and SANCO during the transitional period, Zuern documents how various civic organisations became increasingly drawn into mechanisms of local government and became spaces which were less participatory. Thirdly, she argues that processes of mobilisation which encourage people to critique and debate the current order of things enhance democracy. Finally, our understanding of democracy needs to be broadened and strengthened through an analysis of the role community-based organisations have in shaping and challenging ideas about democracy.

The historical account which Zuern provides on the civic movement provides a much needed caution against the ANC’s attempt to appropriate this period of struggle history. As Zuern notes, while its politics and its members played a significant role, the ANC did not control or lead this struggle movement. By providing an account of the influence of Black Consciousness politics in the formation of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation (PEBCO) Zuern provides a nuanced analysis of the differing and conflicting political views of the period which is often missed in other analysis. Furthermore, Zuern discusses the important class dynamics within the mobilisation of the Soweto Civic Association (SCA). Through interviews with civic leaders Zuern provides an important insight into an area of South African history which is still relatively under-researched. Although Zuern’s analysis of the transitional period and the role of SANCO has appeared elsewhere (see Zuern 2001, 2006), by grounding it within a historical analysis these sections provide an important link in understanding the civics and current forms of community mobilisation. Furthermore, by examining this period of history Zuern provides some much needed analysis of the processes of demobilisation.

In addition, the volume provides some analysis of the movement organisations that have emerged post-2000...