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Participatory Governance In The Local Government Sector

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The need to engage the people on matters pertaining to their lives is well recognized in the local polity (Kabemba, 2003:2; Hicks & Buccus, 2007:2; Arnstein, 1971:2). The efforts of the local government sector to ensure that this need is satisfied are evidenced in a number of mechanisms that the government has created for public participation. Certain Acts of legislation were promulgated to facilitate a number of interfaces between communities and their elected representatives (www.thepresidency.gov.za/docs/report/15year_review).

Following are some of the mechanisms that have been entrenched in the system of participatory governance in South Africa: Ward Committees (WC) (launched in 1999), Izimbizo project (launched in 2001); Community Development …show more content…

This deficit in service delivery has resulted in the poor and marginalised communities taking to the streets in protest, in a bid to raise their plight to the local authorities (Fourie & Reutener, 2012:81; Buccus et al., 2007:4; Buccus, 2010; Masiwa, 2007; NT, 2011). Chief amongst various reasons proffered for the protest actions and public dissatisfaction is the inefficiency in service delivery and distrust in local government (Fourie & Reutener, 2012:81; NT, 2011:22). It is in this context that meaningful citizen engagement in the IDPs and budgeting processes is proposed as a means to alleviate service delivery backlogs in the local government by this study. It was anticipated that the direct engagement of the citizens in planning and budgeting processes would restore public confidence in the ability and willingness of the local government to provide quality services (Fourie & Reutener, …show more content…

The reason for the importance of decisions on government budgets arises from the fact that these decisions determine how state resources are allocated and utilized (Smith, 2004:2). The logic underpinning this justification was the belief that meaningful engagement of the marginalized and socially excluded citizens in the decision-making processes during the formulation of IDPs and local budgets would ensure that their needs and aspirations were prioritized and would reflect in the final budgets and plans (Smit, 2004:2; Mac Kay, 2004:4, Souza, 2001; Wampler, 2000; Avritzer, 2000). The justification behind this assumption is that citizens would be able to exert influence on the decisions regarding the plans that get implemented and how funds are allocated (Smith 2004:2; White Paper, 1998). This logic is evidenced in the number of global experiences of participatory budgeting (PB) and participatory planning (PP) that are discussed in this paper. Strengthening this justification is the historical background of planning and budgeting in South Africa, which had been undertaken as a top-down, technical approach (Makwela, 2012:84; Smith,

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