Since 1995, the national and provincial political, social and economic context has changed. The RDP was replaced by the Growth Employment and Redistribution programme in 1996. The Eastern Cape remains mired in apartheid legacy; widespread and deep structural poverty, rampant inequality, with East London recently estimated to be one of the most unequal cities in the world. Cities and regional town centres are growing, both in population and in the services available to the population, but the spatial patters created by Apartheid largely remain. From 2005, the vision of a Developmental State has taken centre stage. However, government remains the largest employer in the Eastern Cape and one of the largest contributors to the provincial economy. Local Government has been consolidated, but due to the divisive political history of South Africa, still faces major challenges in both providing services and in being central to democratic politics at local level. It is these social, political and economic context that ECSECC works within, and that it strives to change with whatever means are within its reach.
