Appropriating Digital Citizen Engagement in Resource Constrained Local Government Service Delivery: A Case Study in South Africa

South Africa is currently plagued with destructive civic protests associated with a lack of service delivery and deteriorating local government operations. Digital cit-izen engagement (DCE) has globally been promoted as a game changer in these circumstances, as it is identified as an essential in facilitating two-way communication and evidence-based engagement between government and citizens. How-ever, programmes in resource constrained municipalities struggle to align and integrate ICTs with existing service delivery operations. The paper proposes a framework to support the appropriation of digital citizen engagement in local government in South Africa. Adaptive Structuration Theory is applied to contextualize the study, using a pragmatist qualitative approach. The findings illustrate a holistic process needed and deduce that appropriation of DCE in a local municipality is a gradual process of complex learning which depends on the strength of the civil society context, the effectiveness of the enablers of social accountability, and inevitably political change