The mass rejection of the segregated system of local government by the residents of African townships was reinforced by significant pressures from other directions.
Coloured and Indian Management Committees, already weakened by very low polls in the 1988 local government elections, lost further support after the unbanning of the ANC as the committees failed to respond to residents' grievances. In the course of the year vacancies on the committees increased as members resigned, creating an added burden on local administrations. In Port Elizabeth, where the country-wide opposition to Management Committees, dominated by the Labour Party, became particularly intense during August, a massive police response to demonstrations led to the deaths of 42 residents and the resignation of further Labour Party members.
By the end of the year the whole system of local government in South Africa was under severe challenge. Recognising that it was unviable, the government had appointed a commission to investigate and make recommendations for change. It was also acknowledged that the Black Local Authorities lacked any viable financial base. The report of the Thornhill commission, published in October, identified a range of alternative local government systems and recommended that local authorities be invited to choose from amongst them. It argued that local government should be a priority in the coming constitutional negotiations.
Pressure for a new non-racial system of local government was strengthened by a consultative conference on the issue convened by the ANC in October and attended by representatives of local and regional civic organisations. The conference warned the government against attempting pre-emptive moves by changing the system in advance of national constitutional negotiations, and called for a national non-racial election for interim local government structures.
The mobilisation of black communities also led to local negotiations in some areas and acceptance by some white authorities, to varying degrees, of the need for non-racial structures.
