Research Projects
Tracking local councillors
Closing the Feedback Loop in South African Local Governance: A Longitudinal Study of Local Councillor Performance in Urban and Peri-Urban Municipalities
Given the growing importance of local government in the South African case, this project will focus on understanding the roles of municipal councillors in accountability and governance at the local government level in South Africa. The study will consist of a longitudinal panel study of councillors in the eight metropolitan municipalities, and 20 to 30 additional municipalities, and a series of in-depth interviews with selected ward and PR councillors.
The project was directed by Professor Evan Lieberman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in partnership with Professor David Everatt and Dr Caryn Abrahams at the School, and the Centre for Social Science Research at the University of Cape Town.
The GLOBUS research project: reconsidering European contributions to global justice
GLOBUS was an EU-funded (Horizon 2020) research project whose main task was to assess the EU’s impact on justice. It defines a new research agenda for the study of the EU’s global role. The envisaged research agenda directed attention to underlying political and structural challenges to global justice that are prior to the distributive problem, as well as to the fact that what is ‘just’ is contested by both theorists and policy makers.
GLOBUS’s research agenda focused on how the EU promotes justice within the specific fields of climate change, trade, development, asylum/migration, and security while also speaking to the horizontal issues of gender and human rights. Three conceptions of justice are identified, as ‘non-dominance’ as ‘impartiality’ and as ‘mutual recognition’.
The project was led by the Centre for European Studies (ARENA) at the University of Oslo and includes four other universities: Bologna (Italy); Tubingen (Germany); University College Dublin (Ireland) and Wits University (SA). Other partners include the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); O.P. Jindal Global University (India) and Renmin University of China.
WSG’s Professor Pundy Pillay led the research initiative (formally titled Work Package 4 [WP4] on ‘Trade, Development and Global Justice. Professor David Everatt and Associate Professor William Gumede were also involved in WP4. The late Associate Professor Ivor Sarakinsky and Professor Anthoni van Nieuwkerk contributed to the security and climate change work packages, respectively.
WP4 focused on two broad themes, namely, EU trade policy (moving from Preferential trade Agreements to Economic Partnership Agreements); and EU Development Policy (aid effectiveness; partnerships; respect for human rights and democratic principles).
Key questions in this area of research include the following:
- Which conception of justice (non-domination/impartiality/mutual recognition) underpins EU trade and development policies?
- How does the EU contribute to global justice in the area of trade and development through this conception?
- How does the EU approach compare with other trade actors and providers?
WSG hosted a workshop in April 2017 on ‘Trade, Aid and Justice in the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Regions’.
Life in the City
Life in the City is an applied complexity research project that provides PhD and postdoctoral bursaries to students undertaking innovative, multi/transdisciplinary research focused on real world problems in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg is grappling with a daunting set of policy challenges such as migrancy, poverty, unemployment, uneven levels of economic growth, inequity, violence, informal settlements and service delivery. The resulting health and social problems that these conditions produce and reproduce make Johannesburg an ideal ‘laboratory’ for a project combining different disciplines and methodological approaches to find solutions to these complex challenges. The focus and purpose of the Life in the City project was to develop a deeper understanding of inequality, exclusion and marginalisation.
WSG coordinated this project.
Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods (SHLC)
The Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods (SHLC) was funded via UK Research and Innovation as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund.
SHLC aimed to strengthen capacity to address urban, health and education challenges in fast-growing cities across Africa and Asia. SHLC is an international consortium of the following research partners: University of Glasgow, Human Sciences Research Council, Khulna University, Nankai University, National Institute of Urban Affairs, University of the Philippines Diliman, University of Rwanda and the University of Witwatersrand.
Documents to download (South Africa: National Urban Policies and City Profiles for Johannesburg and Cape Town)
WSG contributors: Dr Caryn Abrahams, Professor David Everatt, Adjunct Professor Alex van den Heever, Professor Pundy Pillay
SA: National Urban Policies & City Profiles for JHB & CT - Full report
SA Future Economy
The Wits School of Governance has worked with a team of local and international researchers to explore options to revive the South African economy through the SA Future Economy Project.
The aim of the project – led by the new Head of WSG, Professor Mzukisi Qobo and Dr Nomfundo Ngwenya, a Visiting Research Fellow at the School – was to provide evidence-based research to decision and policy makers in government (particularly the economic cluster) business, labour and any groups active in the economic and social sectors.
A team of multidisciplinary researchers proposed a framework for slowing South Africa’s economic decline, while catalysing long term economic growth.
List of research papers from this project:
The financing and rejuvenating of SA cities
By Iraj Abedian and Nthabiseng Tsoanamatsie
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/sources/wsg-news/2021/the-financing-and-rejuvenating-of-sa-cities.html
Supporting resilient social contracts in times of crisis: Emerging lessons from Covid-19
By Associate Erin McCandless and Research Assistant: Kennedy Manduna
Energy futures in South Africa
By Hany Besada
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Reconstruction in the Aftermath of Global Health and Economic Crises: Historical Lessons for South Africa
By Dr Nomfundo Xenia Ngwenya, Professors Mzukisi Qobo and Mills Soko
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Policy Briefing: Monetary and fiscal policy challenges posed by South Africa’s deepening economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic
By Nombulelo Gumata
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Covid-19 and the labour market: Estimating the effects of South Africa’s national lockdown
By Timothy Köhler, Haroon Bhorat, Robert Hill and Benjamin Stanwix
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Social security/protection in South Africa
By Adjunct Professor Alex Van Den Heever
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Covid-19 and beyond: Rethinking industrial and competition policy
By Nishal Robb and Thando Vilakazi
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Fiscal dimensions of South Africa’s crisis
By Michael Sachs
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Digital Infrastructure: The role of public-private partnerships in mitigating the digital divide
By Gracelin Baskaran
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Repositioning State-Owned Enterprises and Development Finance Institutions
By Garth L le Pere
Link: https://www.wits.ac.za/news/s…
Labour Force Survey Data for South Africa: A brief assessment
By Haroon Bhorat, Robert Hill and François Steenkamp
Community Based Planning initiative
The City of Johannesburg, specifically the Group Strategy Division, commissioned WSG to undertake an evaluation of their Community Based Planning (CBP) initiative.
CBP involved consultations with communities in the city’s seven regions to discuss their needs. Funding was then provided for a series of projects. The purpose of the research was to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the current programme and to determine whether and how it can be linked to the Integrated Development Planning and budgeting processes of the city. The research involved a review of the international literature on CBP, a review of what other SA metros are doing in this regard, and a series of interviews with senior CoJ staff, regional office directors, and CBP beneficiaries in the community.