Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Science, School of Environmental Sciences, 2017. / Public participation in environmental impact assessments has been the subject of many studies around the world. The effectiveness of the public participation process in a South African context has however not been tackled by many authours. A study was conducted in order to assess the effectiveness of the public participation for environmental impact assessments in South Africa. In order to achieve this, 20 environmental impact reports were scrutinised, key informant interviews were conducted and analysis of legislation, regulation as well as applicable Guidelines was carried out. Results indicated that public participation in environmental impact assessment regulation fall short of addressing what the principles of the law states. Consequently, there is a need for the review of regulation to prescribe the involvement of marginalised groups through additional participation such as public meetings in the appropriate language as well as ensuring skills development to aid in effective participation. The inclusion of the monitoring of the implementation of the environmental management programmes as well as the inclusion of public participation in this process and therefore the life cycle of the project will aid in ensuring that the public has access to decision making. / XL2018

There is an on-going debate in South Africa whether municipalities are an effective vehicle for deepening participatory democracy or not. Due to serious backlogs on services, the role of municipalities has largely been reduced to service delivery, to the detriment and total neglect of fundamental functions of local government. These are (Act 200, 1996):(a) To provide democratic and accountable government for local communities;(b) To ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner;(c) To promote social and economic development;(d) To promote a safe and healthy environment; and (e) To encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local government. On the other hand Haveri, Stenvall & Majoinen (2011) argue that if the municipalities are a government sphere closest to the people, they are therefore best placed to, and should, lead and support the deepening of participatory democracy, what they call self-government. As the debate rages on, there are indications that most of thechallenges that face the municipalities are related to the distance that has been developing between municipal institutions and the citizens.

A discourse submitted to the Faculty of Architecture, Department of Town and Regional Planning, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburq, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in Development Planning. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Thesis (MPhil (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Community participation is a concept that is frequently mentioned in community development. Practitioners in development believe that in order for projects to succeed, communities need to actively take part in designing, implementing and shaping the projects that affect them. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate community participation by measuring quantitative and qualitative indicators of participation. It is important to note that there are no universal indicators of participation. The thesis presents three projects as case studies. In order to measure participation in the three cases, the quantitative and qualitative indicators of participation of Oakley et al. are reviewed. The indicators are applied across all three cases and the analysis indicates whether they were high, low or absent. It is also important to note that to measure participation effectively requires one to spend lengthy periods at the project site and this proved to be a challenge, as will be shown in the thesis. The thesis also demonstrates that to a large extent community participation is contextual. Of the three projects, two were rural projects and one an urban project. The two rural projects, Mongoaneng Development Forum and TsweloPele Women‟s Co-operative, were initiated by members of the community and aimed at addressing issues of poverty. The urban project, Motherwell Youth Development Forum, was specifically targeting young people with the aim of providing them with skills. Key findings include the fact that each of the cases was highly diverse, and furthermore, when measuring these cases, a common thread was that not all participation indicators were present at any given stage. Another key finding is that co-operation amongst project members tends to yield positive results and the reverse yields negative results. Another finding relates to the sustainability of the projects, pointing to the fact that even though two of the cases were doing well, their sustainability was questionable.

This dissertation is an attempt to analyse and address some of the many and complex issues revolving around protected area - community relationships. The success of these relationships are essential if the mission of protected areas are to be achieved. Due to large scale agriculture, high density populations and environmental degradation protected areas are often looked upon as a means to conserve biodiversity. It is for this reason that they play an important role in the natural environmental of South Africa. However, there is a growing realisation that protected areas will not survive unless they become relevant to the communities that surround them. These cOI11nlunities are often characterised by high density populations and low levels of infrastructural and economic development. These developmental requirements need to be considered by protected area management, and a dedicated effort is required by protected areas to assist in meeting these needs. However, the relationship between protected areas and C0111nlunities should not simply focus on meeting the developmental needs of the community, relationships need to allow for communities to participate in decisions and activities that directly impact of their lives. Benefits need to accrue to communities from protected areas for them to support the concepts of conservation. Benefits need to be tangible, intangible and empowering for them to have real meaningful impacts on the communities. Communities need to be actively involve in all aspects of the protected area management and links need to be forged between conservation and development, so that the socio-economic condition of those living closest to protected areas improves. This study uses the relationship between Mthethomusha Game Reserve and the surrounding Mpakeni conmunity, and the Pilanesberg National Park and the neighbouring Bakgatla community to investigate many issues, including the manner in which communities participate and benefit from conservation. The findings of this study reflect that the relationships between communities and protected areas are dependent on a number of factors including~ ownership~ socio-economic condition of the surrounding community~ institutional structures and capacity of the community formal agreements; history of the fonl1ati~n of the protect~d a~ea~ reliance on the protected area for survival and the meaningfulness and appropriateness of the benefits received from the protected area. The experiences of the two case studies has been analysed and compared to develop a theoretical model for community - protected area relationships. This model indicates the primary prerequisites which will contribute to effective and equitable relationships between protected areas and surrounding communities. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The involvement of women in both conventional and unconventional forms of political participation in South Africa has over the past 10 years, and often at present, been experienced as problematic and limited. Exacerbating the problem of limited access and information, the study of, and literature about, women's participation in unconventional forms of politics have also been limited. It is the aim of this study to contribute to our knowledge in this area. This study investigates women's participation in unconventional politics between 1991 and 2001. This period is specifically important, as it makes possible the examination of trends in women's political participation before and after the democratic transition in 1994. This makes it possible for us to speculate about the influence of transition on women's political participation. I propose and evaluate two mam hypotheses in which I; firstly, expect women's participation in protest politics to decrease between 1991 and 2001, and secondly, expect to find women's levels of participation in protest to be consistently lower than that of their male counterparts. The complex set of variables influencing women's participation is evaluated according to the socialization and structural approaches, which offer different assumptions about the reasons for the trends in women's participation. In conclusion, I offer the main findings of my research, as well as suggesting possible areas still to be investigated within the field, as deduced from the questions arising out of my analysis in this project. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die betrokkenheid van vroue in beide konvensionele en onkonvensionele vorme van politieke deelname in Suid Afrika, was oor die laaste 10 jaar, en is steeds ervaar as problematies en beperk. Wat die probleem vererger, is die beperkte toegang tot informasie, die studie van, en literatuur oor, vroue se deelname in onkonvensionele vorme van politiek. Dit is in die strewe na die oorkoming van hierdie leemtes, dat hierdie werk aangepak word. Hierdie werk ondersoek vroue se deelname in onkonvensionele politiek tussen 1991 en 2001. Hierdie periode is spesifiek belangrik, omdat dit die demokratiese transisie na 1994 insluit, en om neigings in vroulike deelname voor en na 1994 te bestudeer. Dit maak dit moontlik om oor die invloed van die transisie op vroue se politieke deelname te spekuleer. Ek stel, en evalueer twee hoof hipoteses waarin ek; eerstens, verwag dat vroue se deelname in protes politiek sal verminder tussen 1991 en 2001, en tweedens, verwag ek om te vind dat vroue se vlakke van deelname in protes, deurentyd laer sal wees as die van mans. Die komplekse stel veranderlikes wat vroue se deelname beinvloed, word geevalueer in terme van die sosialisering- en strukturele benaderings, wat verskillende voorstelle oor die motivering van die geobserveerde neigings in vroue se deelname oplewer. Ten slotte, bied ek die hoof bevindinge van my navorsing aan, so wel as voorstelle ten opsigte van moontlike areas vir verder ondersoek binne die veld.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Peninsula Technikon, Cape Town, 2004 / In South Africa, an estimated 15 million people - 38% of our population - do not have adequate sanitation. Every citizen has a constitutional right of access to basic services, which local government has the responsibility to provide. In reality such provision to people living in poverty is a daunting development challenge, exacerbated by growing unemployment and the spread of unplanned informal settlements. On the other hand, increased government investment in accelerating provision is a significant opportunity to link sanitation delivery to local economic development, as suggested in the recently revised Water Services Strategy document (DWAF, 2003). There is evidence that these two aspects of national policy can be brought together fruitfully. Community involvement, described as "a commitment to building on people's energy and creativity" (WSSCC, 2001) is consistently advocated by international, national and local government (DPLG, 2001) as essential to sanitation provision. There is broad agreement that a community-based approach is the cornerstone of sustainable service provision. This research focused on the context of urban poverty in informal settlements, taking community responses to sanitation delivery by local authorities into account. Prevailing approaches have had limited success in preventing health hazards, which relies on community-level actions to deal with poor use, inadequate maintenance and dysfunction of such sanitation services as are provided. Implicit in the principles underlying the involvement of communities are substantial community-based roles and functions that the research seeks to make explicit. Diverse local level capacities emerge as quite distinct opportunities for residents to become more actively involved in improving and sustaining their sanitation services.

Community participation in urban renewal projects has become important in the South African government’s efforts to address past imbalances and improving the livelihoods of socially excluded and marginalised communities. In order for the Helenvale Urban Renewal Project to be successful and bring about sustainable change, it is vital that the community be allowed and encouraged to play an active role in consultation and participation initiatives. This study outlines the importance of community participation, the types, the incentives and disincentives as well as the possible barriers to effective community participation. Findings from the analysis of the collected data indicates that a community project can only be successful if the implementing agent employs democratic principles whereby all residents are given a voice and are allowed to participate in the decision-making and implementation process. This study explores the concept of community participation in the Helenvale Urban Renewal Projects with particular reference to the role played by the Mandela Bay Development Agency in promoting community participation in the Helenvale Urban Renewal Projects (HURP), in Port Elizabeth.

The Constitution, 1996 requires that the public participate in policy making and planning in local government. To ensure compliance, legislation prescribes that local government needs to establish mechanisms, processes and procedures for public participation. However, neither the Constitution, 1996 nor legislation describes what public participation is, and how it should be implemented. Moreover, different people view public participation differently. There is thus a lack of definition and implementation of public participation in the policy making and planning processes of local government. To understand what public participation means, a conceptual analysis was conducted, resulting in the delivery of a working definition of public participation. The definition conveyed indicators of public participation, namely, the public, the levels of participation, the mechanisms for participation, the scope of participation and public influence in decision-making in participation. These indicators were studied qualitatively for description in a metropolitan municipality in South Africa in a single case study using multiple methods. The methods used were a survey questionnaire, a document study and analysis and an interview questionnaire. The findings indicate that the public who participated in the policy making and planning processes in the metropolitan municipality were mainly advantaged instead of disadvantaged people. They participated at the levels of informing, consulting, implementing, and reviewing. Public participation was not attained at the levels of educating, deciding and reporting back. The study established that the municipality employed various public participation mechanisms for informing and consulting the public. The scope of public participation was found to be reasonably broad. Though evidence suggests that the public participated in decisions pertaining to budget ward allocations, no evidence could be found that the public had an influence in decision-making in participation on the whole. It was found that public officials had the influence over public participation decision-making while politicians had the final say. / Public Administration and Management / M. Admin. (Public Administration)

This thesis discusses the involvement of informally housed communities in shaping local government policies aimed at poverty alleviation. Involving the poor in the design of anti-poverty policies at local level is regarded as an invaluable opportunity that should be used by municipal governments to make poverty alleviation efforts more demand-driven and therefore more relevant to the people they are meant to benefit. The argument is that because the poor know about poverty first-hand, they would be in a position to revive local government's capacity to respond effectively to their needs. But this does not come without a price. Because of the complexity of public management, participative democracy is liable to slow down the process of governance. It may also become advantageous to the interests of some people or groups of people at the expense of others if attention is not paid to the representation and consideration of all the voices in the community–to name two drawbacks. For this reason, it is essential to the realization of an effective bottom-up approach to anti-poverty policy-making that certain conditions are in existence and practical issues of involvement are worked through. Accordingly, it is the intention of this study to focus on two particular areas (conditions and practical issues that would facilitate the process of involving informally housed communities in the design of local government policies that affect their lives), which are investigated with particular reference to the South African context. Drawing upon a series of field surveys and a broad selection of relevant works of scholars from both the international and local scene, the picture that emerges is that there needs to be a proper level of government's commitment, capacity and legally binding responsibility coupled with a healthy degree of community's motivation, ability and organizational capacity in order to involve the poor in local governance efficiently. The study has also found that there needs to be proper forms of involvement (the most relevant of which are identified as an ombudsman, public meetings and residents' committees) that are to be employed with attention to such issues as stakeholders to be engaged, degree of participation, timing of involvement and topics for which public debate may be sought. / Development Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)