Abstract
Post-apartheid South African (SA) government devised legalized platforms for citizen participation to channel their voice towards public policy formulation, implementation, outcome, and its impact. Instead of using these platforms, dissatisfied communities with service delivery resort to social protests and unrest. Indeed, citizens’ voice and participation in government decision-making through social protests, is among the critical elements to democracy and good governance. The study sought to investigate the practice and challenges there are, with regards to community participation at the local level within selected rural communities, in South Africa. The study relied on qualitative research methodology to gather primary data. Extant literature was consulted to collect secondary data so that the phenomenon is greatly understood. The results showed that community participation is practiced as a once-off event instead of being viewed as a process that is comprised of interrelated activities. The study concludes that effective community participation requires continual engagement across the entire policy planning, decision making, and implementation stages. Furthermore, as each public policy phase has its challenges, flexible strategies are required to facilitate community engagement and participation. This, for instance, will increase the degree of decision-making consensus, while by default reduce the level of community dissatisfaction with service delivery, which currently South Africa experiences, through social unrest. Keywords: Community participation, Service delivery, social unrest, Public engagement, Participation, local government, rural communities. DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/11-3-06 Publication date: April 30 th 2021
Highlights
Introduction and background In pre1994 South Africa, citizens were constrained by apartheid laws to freely participate in policy formulation and implementation
Post-apartheid South African government sought to redress this challenge through inclusive policies, strategies, and instruments that would ermit unmitigated public participation in the policy process
Recommendations and Conclusion The article investigated what the practice and challenges are about community participation in rural communities
Summary
1994 South Africa, citizens were constrained by apartheid laws to freely participate in policy formulation and implementation. This public participation posture became a major responsibility of local government administration. One of the objectives of local government in South Africa, as prescribed by Section 152 (1e) of the Constitution, is “to encourage the involvement of communities and community organizations in the matters of local government”.
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