The Battle for Township Economic Resources: State Power, Informal Economic Governance and the Struggle for Control in South Africa's Townships: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Township economies are shaped by interactions among state authorities, informal traders, community organisations and other local economic actors. The supplied literature links informal economic activity to livelihood support, institutional exclusion, community governance and contested implementation, but provides limited direct evidence about South African township resource control.Methods: The researcher-selected databases and information sources were Google Scholar and ERIC. The eligibility protocol restricted publication years to 2018–2026. The exact calendar date of search execution was not recorded in the verified identification provenance; this is distinct from the publication-year eligibility range. A systematic review was undertaken using Google Scholar and ERIC, with eligibility restricted to English-language publications from 2018–2026. The exact Boolean strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, PRISMA workflow, CASP appraisal and COSTAQDA-supported thematic synthesis were documented.Results: The evidence presents informal activity as economically valuable while reflecting restricted access to formal finance, infrastructure, predictable pricing and administrative procedures. Governance responses tend toward managed inclusion through simplified documentation, designated trading spaces and combined formal–informal arrangements. Community governance appears more accountable when supported by rights documents, constitutions, revenue procedures, financial rules and defined roles, but formal recognition does not ensure implementation or participation. These conclusions are primarily transferable observations because the extracted evidence contains very limited direct evidence from South African townships.Discussion/Conclusion: State and informal governance mechanisms appear capable of structuring access to resources, but the review cannot establish how they redistribute control within South African township economies. Stronger township-specific empirical research is required before definitive policy or causal conclusions can be drawn.