Glitz, Glamour and the Gautrain: Mega-Projects as Political Symbols

Abstract

Gautrain, South Africa's first high-speed metropolitan transport network, is being developed at a cost of nearly R25 billion. It is being primarily justified on the basis of its close association with South Africa's hosting of the 2010 World Cup. However, the sheer scale of the costs involved, set against the larger and more pressing national transport shortages, invariably prompts questions about the rationale behind the construction of the Gautrain. Focusing on rational, cost–benefit considerations, and special interest groups on the one hand, and political symbolism on the other, the article concludes that political symbolism appears to be a major explanation for the construction of the Gautrain. As in many other aspiring developing economies, this mega-project serves to underscore the extent to which it projects South Africa as the pre-eminent modern African state.