Political territories and challenges of development of the Port Shepstone area (KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa)

Sylvain Guyot (1)

1 IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement

The aim of this paper is to present the evolution of the Port Shepstone Area in terms of political territories from the apartheid era to 2001. The Port Shepstone area can be defined as one transect from the coast (mainly urban white - indian, high income orientated) to the hinterland (mainly rural black, low income orientated). Port Shepstone is also linked to the urban coastal network from the Hibiscus Coast (from Hibberdene to Port Edward). Changes in the political territories in this area are complex: an apartheid situation with the coexistence between many different segregated authorities, a transition era with an effort of amalgamation of the white-indian area (Port Shepstone TLC) but still a rural tribal area inland, and the beginning of a new territorial time: 2000 and the new demarcation with an integrated local municipality for the whole Port Shepstone Area (Hibiscus Coast Municipality) and the proclamation of the new Ugu District Council with potential conflicts between the different levels including the traditional leadership issue. We will take the example of a possible marina development to show the contradictions related to the localised development of Port Shepstone.

Mots clés: Territorial changes; Demarcation; Conflicts; Development; Contradictions

Domaines: Géographie

Sylvain Guyot. Political territories and challenges of development of the Port Shepstone area (KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa). Rencontres scientifiques franco-Sud-Africaines de l'innovation territoriale, Jan 2002, Grenoble - Avignon, France. pp.18. ⟨halshs-00749395⟩