The impact of political transformation on employmentin the Transkei bureaucracy and civil service in Umtata,South Africa since 1994

摘要

The demise of South African ApartheidPlanning in 1994 and subsequent lost of Umtata'scapital status when the Transkei was subsumed intothe new Eastern Cape Province resulted in the majorpolitical transformation of the Transkei state. Centralto the post-apartheid transformation was restructuringof Transkei bureaucracy which at the time of SouthAfrica's independence in 1994 displayed abnormal-ities. This paper documents the restructuring of theTranskei bureaucracy focusing on Umtata since 1994.The study has brought to the forefront the followingfacts: Firstly, that at the time of the Transkei mergerinto South Africa, employment in the governmentwas 'booming' and to greater extent it was affectedby Umtata's role—being the capital city of thepseudo-Transkei state. Secondly, the post 1994-political transformation of the Transkei Bantustanimpacted negatively on Umtata's employment nota-bly the civil service sector by 'squeezing' it duringthe early years of democracy (1994-2000). Thirdly,since 2001, with Umtata serving as the major urbancentre of both King Sabata Local Municipality andOR Tambo District Municipality, employment in thecivil service and municipality has been revitalized.