'Tomorrow will be better than today': delivery in the age of hope

Recent developments in South Africa have again highlighted the vital importance of service delivery; of providing housing, water, sanitation and electricity to the poor. Under apartheid the black majority was largely excluded from basic services, welfare, and the benefits flowing from economic growth, and the expectation of freedom has been closely associated with the hope that there will be definite changes in their lives. There has been dramatic political change with the replacement of autocratic rule by the white majority by democratic government by the majority, but the benefits of power in jobs, housing and basic services have flowed unevenly. There is even evidence that the fundamental inequalities which characterised apartheid have deepened during the period of freedom even as there has been consistent, although slow, economic growth.