This study has assessed the role of public participation in effective and efficient local governance at
two local municipalities of Elias Motswaledi and Steve Tshwete in South Africa. Public participation
is a pillar of development and therefore important to assess the successes and failures thereof.
Government invest huge resources to deliver public service to their citizens and it is through public
participation that the beneficiaries of these services can be guaranteed public service’ quality and
responsiveness. Interviews with key informants in local government and focus groups provided a
better understanding of the situation in the two case study areas. Elias Motswaledi has provided a
classical challenge of public participation with the reluctance of the community to participate in the
development processes and also with projects that do not benefit the majority of the residents;
whereas at Steve Tshwete the community is actively engaged in major decision making processes
and have also assisted the council in delivering relevant projects and programmes that are responsive
to the community needs. The study found that the government has to relook: 1. the relationship
between ward committees and community development workers as this was found to be the major
contributing factor to poor levels of public participation. 2. There is an urgent need for building
capacity for both local communities and ward communities to enable them to effectively participate
in developmental processes that affect them. The study also showed how poor public participation
initiatives have negatively affected service delivery and development initiatives at local levels in
South Africa. This comparative case study maybe useful in shedding some insight in addressing
public participation in local government to overcome the relatively weak or low municipal capacity
across South Africa.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/5572 |
| Date | 28 August 2008 |
| Creators | Matladi, Sebote Thabitha |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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