ABSTRACT
The chapter begins by situating Durban’s back of port’ expansion within the larger institutional assemblages and narratives through which new infrastructure is framed as essential for development in Africa generally and South Africa in particular. It explores three major avenues through which infrastructure dispositifs come to enact value: materiality, affect and power. While for the powerful actors supporting the port expansion the project’s value is expressed in terms of development, economic growth and job creation, as well as international competitiveness in a global economy, the plight of those who will be displaced is seen as unfortunate at best and forgettable at worse. This is a ‘keyhole-type’ case study to explore how financial and social valuation practices compete in relation to an infrastructure project. The African Development Bank, through its Programme for Infrastructure in Africa brochure, summarises the general ‘case for’ infrastructure in Africa as follows: Closing the infrastructure deficit is vital for Africa’s economic prosperity and sustainable development.
