The unfinished promise of infrastructure in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This article explores aspects of the “unfinished” using notions of human-centered design in African public infrastructure and the importance of involving the “users” and “beneficiaries” in infrastructure development and delivery. Infrastructure, both conceptually as an idea and in its constructed material reality, has a huge impact on society, socially and economically, and has been promised as one of the most effective drivers of economic growth in South Africa. Increasingly in South Africa, facilities are falling into disrepair. Infrastructure is being adapted and used in unintended ways that often do not provide the socio-economic benefits intended. In considering medical infrastructure across three sites in post-apartheid South Africa, my argument asks how factors such as statecraft, governance and funding models, design considerations, project implementation methodologies, operational and maintenance policies affect the promise of infrastructural change in contemporary South Africa?