8. Contest and conflict: governance and street livelihoods in Maseru, Lesotho

Setšabi, Setšabi

doi:10.3362/9781780444703.008

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There are frequently waves of evictions of street traders, for example, when there is a change of political power or when a major event is about to take place King 2006;Potts 2007;Setsabi 2006). A number of scholars have seen this frequent intolerance of informal traders as similar to the widespread prevention of urban agriculture, in that it is driven by modernist conceptualisations of urban planning as being about correcting what politicians and planners perceive as the unruly and chaotic landscapes of the informal sector .…”

Section: Governance Of Food Retailmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Food Systems Governance and Poverty in African Cities

Battersby¹,

Watson²

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Governance Of Food Retailmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Food Systems Governance and Poverty in African Cities

Battersby¹,

Watson²

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Normalising Urban Spaces In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Lesotho, one of the legally enshrined duties of the Maseru City Council involves ‘establishing, regulating and controlling markets’ (Setšabi 2006, 134): in simple terms, pathologisation and normalisation. Like elsewhere in urban SSA (see King 2006), vendors are supposed to undergo an ‘extremely cumbersome’ (Setšabi 2006, 138) licensing process. In 2002, in a process Setšabi tellingly labels ‘spatial cleansing or purification’ (2006, 143), the local planning authority in Maseru ordered street traders to vacate their operating posts along a busy street to occupy two government‐built markets (Leduka 2002).…”

Section: Normalising Urban Spaces In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2002, in a process Setšabi tellingly labels ‘spatial cleansing or purification’ (2006, 143), the local planning authority in Maseru ordered street traders to vacate their operating posts along a busy street to occupy two government‐built markets (Leduka 2002). Despite the reasoned objections raised by the vendors, among them the size of the stalls and the lack of facilities (Setšabi 2006), the authorities stuck to their guns, issuing two deadlines and readily repressing resistance. The law turned out to be on the authorities’ side as they eventually won the case in court.…”

Section: Normalising Urban Spaces In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There have been cases where political actors actively vetoed the demolition of illegal structures or the eviction of informal traders in Zimbabwe and Malawi (Kayuni and Tambulasi 2009; Potts 2007, 16). There have also been cases where the local authority has defied central government by not carrying out instructions to evict informal traders, as happened in Maseru, Lesotho (Setšabi 2006), or Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Bracking 2005). The influence of political actors on the execution of normalisation is also evident in Zambia, where in 1999 a shift in the political control of Lusaka City Council was followed by evictions and demolitions in the city.…”

Section: Normalising Urban Spaces In Southern Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Missing the point? Urban planning and the normalisation of ‘pathological’ spaces in southern Africa

Kamete¹

2012

Trans Inst British Geog

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper I consider ‘normalisation’ as a response to urban informal livelihoods in urban southern Africa. I demonstrate that urban planning systems have been mobilised to correct or eliminate ‘spatial pathologies’. Using illustrative cases from southern Africa, I argue that the authorities’ obsession with ‘normalising’ urban spaces they have designated as ‘pathologies’ is misplaced because it glaringly defies the reality on the ground. Interrogated in the paper is the reasoning behind, and effectiveness of, ‘corrective’ measures that exclude and marginalise informality through technicalisation, ‘expertisation’ and depoliticisation. I evaluate the basis, workings and deleterious outcomes of normalising technologies and question the relevance and efficacy of normalisation at a time when it is increasingly becoming clear that African urbanisation is – and will possibly continue to be – simultaneously driven and cushioned by informalisation.

show abstract

The Politics of Street Trading in Maseru, Lesotho

Setšabi

Leduka

2008

Urban Forum

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research on the urban informal sector in Lesotho is scarce and largely descriptive, focussing on the demographic characteristics of street traders and their enterprises. Extant research has, therefore, assumed that the politics of street trading and regulation by the state, especially the eviction of street traders from the streets, do not matter. Drawing from research on street trading in Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho, this paper departs from the mainstream assumptions underlying past research. As its point of departure, the paper argues that behind the facade of public health and urban aesthetics as reasons for the eviction of street traders lies overt exercise of state power to protect the interests of formal sector businesses and to disguise state failure to formulate inclusive and sustainable urban policies.

show abstract

8. Contest and conflict: governance and street livelihoods in Maseru, Lesotho

Cited by 13 publications

References 53 publications

Urban Food Systems Governance and Poverty in African Cities

Urban Food Systems Governance and Poverty in African Cities

Missing the point? Urban planning and the normalisation of ‘pathological’ spaces in southern Africa

The Politics of Street Trading in Maseru, Lesotho

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About