We Are Building a City: The Struggle for Self-Sufficiency in Lephalale Local Municipality - PARI | Public Affairs Research Institute

The report examines the Lephalale Local Municipality's struggle to establish local governance and self-sufficiency in the wake of the Medupi coal power station project. It analyzes how the municipality, historically dependent on corporations like Eskom and Exxaro, navigates the complexities of land ownership, basic service infrastructure, and the influence of private capital and party politics to realize its ambition of becoming a post-apartheid city.

• The construction of the Medupi coal power station caused a sudden influx of people and developments that overwhelmed the Lephalale Local Municipality, exposing its incapacity to manage the boom and highlighting a historical dependence on the corporations Eskom and Exxaro.
• The municipality's efforts to establish self-sufficiency are hindered by the fact that it was established without ownership of land or basic service infrastructure, forcing it to rely on negotiation and compromise.
• Local governance in Lephalale is influenced by a complex intersection of government, party politics, developers, private property owners, and capital forces.

APA

Phadi, M., & Pearson, J. (2018). We Are Building a City: The Struggle for Self-Sufficiency in Lephalale Local Municipality - PARI | Public Affairs Research Institute. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/7221-2/

Chicago

Phadi, Mosa, and Joel Pearson. We Are Building a City: The Struggle for Self-Sufficiency in Lephalale Local Municipality - PARI | Public Affairs Research Institute. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2018. https://pari.org.za/7221-2/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Phadi |first1=Mosa |last2=Pearson |first2=Joel |title=We Are Building a City: The Struggle for Self-Sufficiency in Lephalale Local Municipality - PARI | Public Affairs Research Institute |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=12 April 2018 |url=https://pari.org.za/7221-2/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{phadi2018are, author = {Phadi, Mosa and Pearson, Joel}, title = {{We Are Building a City: The Struggle for Self-Sufficiency in Lephalale Local Municipality - PARI | Public Affairs Research Institute}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2018}, month = apr, url = {https://pari.org.za/7221-2/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }