Violent Service Delivery Protests in the Governance of Public Participation in a Democratic South Africa

Phophi Nembambula

doi:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p148

Abstract

In a democratic country like South Africa where the Constitution is the supreme law, governance entails enforcement of the basic principle of public participation. In practice, though, public participation appears to have remained a pipe dream, especially in the sphere of service delivery. Hence, the service delivery protests are increasingly linked to the apparent voicelesness of people in the decision-making processes. Theoretically, the fierce and often violent service delivery protests could be prevented or avoided by enforcing meaningful public participation in decisions about municipal priorities. This paper makes a theoretical argument about the association between public participation and service delivery in order to insinuate that public anger breeds on the sense of voicelessness among community members. Additionally, the paper draws empirical evidence of the recent violent protests across South Africa to affirm the locus of violence in the lack of public participation within municipal decision making about service delivery priorities. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p148

Highlights

Public administration discourse and practice converge on the notion that public participation is a key driver of service delivery (Van der Walt, 2007; Draai & Taylor, 2009)
Public participation is adopted to ensure that the prioritisation of services is made by the beneficiary communities themselves, because of the scarcity of funds earmarked for service delivery (Tshandu, 2010)
South Africa has in recent years faced with a challenge of fierce violent service delivery protests (Tsheola, 2011, 2012); but Mpumalanga province has made extraordinary headlines, compelling president Zuma to travel there in the hope of resolving the impasse that developed between members of the community and the public functionaries

Summary

Introduction

Public administration discourse and practice converge on the notion that public participation is a key driver of service delivery (Van der Walt, 2007; Draai & Taylor, 2009). The conduct of service delivery at the municipality scale requires genuine public participation, not least because of the local government’s close proximity to society, and due to the requirement for shared prioritisation and inculcation of public accountability (Mitlin, 2004; Sachs, 2008; Mzimakwe, 2010; Tshandu, 2010). Without the latter, the publics have often embarked on protests that violently destroy the meagre services that already existed (Tsheola, 2012). South Africa has in recent years faced with a challenge of fierce violent service delivery protests (Tsheola, 2011, 2012); but Mpumalanga province has made extraordinary headlines, compelling president Zuma to travel there in the hope of resolving the impasse that developed between members of the community and the public functionaries

Governance of Public Participation in South Africa

Voicelessness and Marginalization of the Public

Conclusion