Community participation in municipal affairs is the bedrock of participatory democracy, and it has been hailed as the panacea for most public community programmes in South Africa. High-level public community participation empowers communities, increases self-reliance, self-awareness and confidence in self-examination of problems and seeking solutions for them. Community behavioural changes are promoted and utilisation and support of services is facilitated, which are of great significance to all community efforts, especially in areas where the service delivery rate from municipalities is low. The vehicle for driving community participation is the system of ward committees, legislation that is rooted in the Constitution, the Municipal Structures Act, and the Municipal Systems Act. The study sees community participation as people being involved in government decision-making that affects them directly or indirectly. It involves three types of action, namely facilitating rational deliberation, creating and communicating moral principles, and expressing personal and group affects and needs. This research investigated the role of ward committees in enhancing community participation from a South African perspective. Municipalities are organisations tasked with ensuring the equal distribution of services to local communities. Municipalities were chosen on the basis of commitment to communicate effectively with the community and in turn to encourage the community to participate fully in municipal activities. The study is conducted within the parameters of the Constitution of South Africa (1996), which mandates local government to provide a democratic and accountable local government, and to encourage the involvement of communities in the matters of local government. Section 152(1)(e) of the Constitution stipulates that the objective of local government, amongst others, is to ensure the involvement of communities and community organisations in matters of local government, and section 73 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act (Act No. 117 of 1998), further requires municipalities to establish ward committees in a manner that seeks to enhance participatory democracy at the local sphere of government. The study therefore investigated the role of ward committees in enhancing community participation. Ward committees are advisory bodies created at ward level in terms of the Municipal Structures Act (Act No. 117 of 1998), and consist of the ward councillor (who is the chair) and not more than 10 members representing diverse groups within a particular ward. The White Paper on Local Government (1998) further indicates that municipal councils should promote the involvement of citizens and community groups in the design and delivery of municipal programmes. A literature survey was conducted to investigate and conceptualise the role of ward committees in enhancing community participation, and to determine the responsibilities of ward committees in municipalities. A desktop approach was used to track down useful existing pre-published information (also known as secondary research), with the data collection coming from secondary sources, such as municipal records. A number of recommendations regarding the improvement of ward committees were made. Recommendations are provided for enhancing community participation in different municipalities in South Africa. It is envisaged that these changes could impact positively in encouraging community participation and ultimately improve service delivery.

The traditional mandate of local government is to deliver sustainable services to communities. The evolution of local government has since put more emphasis on evidence based planning in the form of IDP and sound financial management. The relationship between the IDP and Budget is that, a) the IDP contains community needs, objectives and strategies on how these will be responded or dealt with by the municipality, and b) the budget is the financial plan to execute strategies that need to be employed. The purpose of the study was to examine challenges in integrated development plan and the budget alignment of Amathole District Municipality. The study moved from the premise that municipalities are different and ADM has been in the fore front in terms of producing IDP and Budget. The study therefore is based on the assumption that the Amathole District Municipality has challenges in the IDP and Budget alignment. The study proposed to give a background of the scholarly literature of the IDP and Budget of local government. The empirical survey and research methodology used in the study is described and explained in-depths and followed by data collection in the form of the questionnaire. The research findings of the empirical survey are then analysed and reported in statistical form.

This study explored the measures adopted by Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality for capacity building of rural community members to participate effectively in the Integrated Developmental Planning (IDP) process. Focus was on the rural areas of Berlin. Existing studies suggest that, due to low literacy levels and lack of knowledge and understanding about local government issues and the benefits of participation, rural residents have little knowledge of their rights, roles and responsibilities in the IDP process, and do not know the structures designed to enhance participation. The present study was conducted against this backdrop. A mixed-methods research approach was employed, utilising quantitative and qualitative research techniques. A survey was conducted with members of four rural villages in Berlin in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Questionnaires, with open and close-ended questions, were utilised, while in-depth interviews were conducted with IDP officials at Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. The findings show that, while the Municipality did have community capacity-building measures in place; these were more about building the capacity of local government councillors and other local government officials and not rural community members. Whereas the municipality believed the capacity building of councillors would translate to building the capacity of rural community members, capacity building of rural community members did not happen. Community members appeared not to understand the IDP process, an indication that whatever capacity-building measures were targeted at them had no real effect in terms of engendering meaningful participation.

The rural women in EMLM hew the wood, carry water, satisfy the men, produce and take care of the children to continue the family tree, and manage all the household chores. Their contribution is central to the effective functioning of families and communities. Yet, in terms of decision-making and local governance structures, they are absent. Indeed, there is truly a large constituency of women out there who are largely unrepresented; and therefore, they have no idea how governance is conducted – even around them. This is unfair, especially in jurisdictions where women are clearly in the majority. It is inconceivable that local governance structures have over a decade recorded only a single elected female member. With this in mind, this study seeks to explore the extent of rural women’s participation in local governance in Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality. It is a comparison of traditional and democratic local governance structures; and the methods the researcher has used are qualitative and quantitative data on women councillors from 2013, in order to assess the factors that may be accountable for their small numbers, as compared to their male counterparts. The conclusion drawn was that the social structure, its traditions and cultural was identified in the study as the main obstacle to the advancement of women in the political arena. This study has not exhausted all the facets of the challenges; but it has brought a few to the fore, in an attempt to help stimulate debate, and inform policy and practice in the future.

Community participation is a concept that has been advocated for by bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) for over two decades. In South Africa, community participation was included in the National Health Act (61 of 2003). Clinic and Community health facility committees were legislated as a method of involving communities in promoting health and improving health outcomes. During the year 2010, a process was initiated by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) to establish and train health committees at all health facilities. The purpose of this research report was to evaluate the effectiveness of community health committees within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, since 2010. Guidelines given in the Policy on the Establishment and Functioning of Clinic and Community Health Centre Committee (2009) were utilized as a point of reference for this study. The results showed that the community health committees trained in 2010 were functioning effectively as a result of the policy guidelines given. There still needs to be an improvement in the involvement of ward councilors, as stipulated in the National Health Act (61 of 2003), as well as in the implementation of the fundraising role, as set out in the Health Departments policy guidelines for health committees to implement.

This dissertation attempts to provide a historical and conceptual exposition of the establishment, role and contribution of Sanco in Soweto. To further the conceptual argument the concept civic interest is introduced. In the context of Sanco Soweto's trajectory as a civic association, the concept civic interest is def"med and utilised as a tool of measurement. The concept has three aspects: individual interests, consensus and the common good. It is used to determine whether or not Sanco Soweto as a civic organisation promoted the interests of the people of Soweto, regardless of their social, economic, cultural and political standing. It was found that Sanco Soweto promoted the civic interest only in certain respects. Although useful projects were launched, their success remained minimal. Sanco Soweto represented certain social strata better than others. The Branch was closer to professional and semi-professional income earners occupying council houses than the mostly illiterate and poor shack-owners. / Public Administration / M.A. (Public Administration)

Thesis (M. A.)--University of South Africa, Pretoria, 2002.

Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The concept of public participation has gained wider acceptance in government circles as a tool to strengthen the pillars of this government’s democratic structures. Globally, governments’ accountability can be gauged by the extent to which they practise public participation in decision-making in facing up to the challenges of the day. The concept of public participation arrived in South Africa in the 1980s and was supposedly applied to the inception of a true democratic dispensation in 1994. In the South African context, public participation cannot be over-emphasised as it underpins the democracy introduced in 1994. Because of the great importance of public participation, the South African government has enacted a number of statutes such as the Constitution (1996) and the Municipal Structures Act (2000) that give substance to public participation. Even though public participation is applied at national and provincial government levels in South Africa, it is principally in the Local Government field where it is widely applied in order to enable good governance and sustainable service delivery. This study examines the role of ward committees in public participation in Local Government, with specific reference to Thulamela Municipality. The study suggests that the transformation and democratisation of South African Local Government can be achieved through effective implementation of public participation at grassroots level. Apart from passing legislation, more needs to be done to stimulate public participation. The study has furthermore found that even though statutes provide for communities to participate in a range of government-created regulatory structures such as the IDP Representative Forums and Ward Committees, municipalities need to develop strategies for public participation. Not only do municipalities need to develop strategies for public participation, they also need to develop proper mechanisms to encourage the participation of community stakeholders and organisations. The study is primarily based on qualitative data collected from Thulamela Municipality through personal interviews with councillors, officials and ward committee members. Moreover, the study also rests on observations at IDP Representative Forums, IDP and Budget consultative meetings, focus group discussions and a review of local government statutes and literature providing knowledge on the subject under study.

Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Globally participatory democracy is viewed as essential to ensure a high level of legitimacy, contribute to empowerment and strengthen democracy. Although South Africa is a representative democracy, it also adheres to the principles of participatory democracy as Parliament and the nine Provincial Legislatures are constitutionally mandated to elicit public participation in its decision-making and policy processes. This study’s main aim is to determine whether the public participation strategies employed in the South African legislative sector at present are effective and enhance decision-making and policy processes. Following a discussion of the theoretical context and rationale for public participation, a limited international perspective on public participation was given. The study proceeded to explore the application of public participation in the local South African context with specific focus on the legislative environment. In order to provide evidence in support of the research statement an investigation was done on the current state of public participation in the South African legislative environment. Responses from a semi-structured questionnaire on public participation in the South African legislative context were processed into a comparative table to obtain an overall picture of the legislative sector. From the findings it is clear that there are many positive factors and innovative ideas in place across the legislative sector, yet the weaknesses still far outweigh the strengths.

A research report submitted to the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Development Studies March, 2016 / The emphasis in making government more accessible to the people has produced dismal effects, this has led to the emergence of civil society organizations claiming to give the voiceless a voice and facilitating participation of the marginalized towards how they are governed. This research, through a case study of the Landless People’s Movement in Thembelihle (LPM – Thembelihle) focuses on the internal dynamics of a community’s participation in social movements. The study questions social movements’ efforts in nurturing participation within them and whether the assumed claims of representation are reflective to the participants needs. The report argues that social movements do not necessarily nurture democratic principles such as participation within them. The reasons for this are: 1) social movements have been engineered to focus on the state as the adversary thus their efforts are outward looking 2) the nature of the issues they tackle are highly politicized and thus attract a large following regardless. Analyzing data from interviews and various documents, first and foremost the study aimed to investigate the level of participation by the community in LPM - Thembelihle using the concept and typologies of participation as stipulated in the ladder of participation. Secondly, the aim was to connect the level of participation to the representation of the participating community in an attempt to find if at all there is a correlation. The findings revealed that in spite of community control of the LPM –Thembelihle branch, a deep degree of participation was not achieved but that did not deter LPM’s representation of the Thembelihle community. As this may be a contradiction regarding the empowering aspects of participation, the study concludes by suggesting that community participation should also be used to enrich social movement organizations considering their structured nature and role as intermediaries / MT2017