In order to eradicate the legacy of the past, the South African democratic government adopted a developmental approach to local government. The White Paper on Local Government (WPLG) (1998:17) defines developmental government as government committed to working with citizens and groups within the community to find sustainable ways of meeting their social, economic and material needs and of improving their quality of life. A developmental approach aims at enhancing the skills and capacity of community members by promoting their own development process (Theron, 2005a: 120). South Africa made provision for an Act of Parliament to authorise the establishment of a cross-boundary municipality. The Municipal Demarcation Board, after initial research, noted that there are a number of areas in South Africa where large tracts of land, including a number of different communities and settlements, straddle provincial boundaries. A cross-boundary municipality refers to a situation where parts of a local municipality are located within the borders of two different provinces. For example, in the case of Merafong, the smaller part in the south was located in North West Province and the larger part in the east was located in Gauteng Province. This in effect meant that the governance of these municipalities was a shared political and fiscal responsibility of two different provinces. The aim of the study was to determine the impact of public opinions on post-violent protest recovery processes in the Merafong Local Municipality. Both qualitative and quantitative approach was followed that included a review of documents from public administration and conflict theories literature; discourse analysis of interviews with municipal officials and councillors, and community members. The document review included a review of municipal documents that incorporated demarcation or describe development and use of public participation. It also included the legal frameworks and statutory requirements for community/citizen participation. The key findings of the study indicated contrasting views between the community and the municipality perspectives in particular with regard to the role of the community during the prioritisation of needs and the decision-making processes. The researcher concluded that in order for community participation to have maximum impact, local government is obliged to create an enabling environment for participation which includes amongst others addressing the institutional obstacles and the capacity gaps within the community. The researcher finally recommended that these roles be implemented, evaluated and integrated in the current performance management system of Merafong Local Municipality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8352 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Ngada, Simphiwe Leon Hopewell |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Arts |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MPhil |
| Format | ix, 146 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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