ABSTRACT
Democracy is more in demand and supply than ever in human history, and yet dissatisfaction with democratic rule endures. Consequently, the institutions of local democracy have little or no purchase over key forms of power that control and constitute the City of Cape Town. Democracy refers to the institutions that facilitate the election of key officials into government, and that help residents to influence officials' decision-making between elections. Perhaps the major constraint on democratic politics in Hout Bay comes in the form of popular discourses of belonging that inhere in political talk. The literature on democracy in the urban South suggests that the closure or capture of democratic spaces by local elites is the main threat to institutions. Some issues of manipulation arise that reflect a constricting of democratic space and that partly explains the unresponsiveness of elected officials. The promise of democratic rule is, in part, a promise of equal belonging and rights in a democratic state.
