Implementation of Public Participation Policy approach in Mbombela Local Municipality of Mpumalanga Province of South Africa: an evaluation

Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, South Africa has promulgated a number of progressive legislation and programmes in an effort to improve the well-being of its citizens. There is legislation and prescripts designed to provide policy and legal basis for a concerted and coherent pursuit of public participation in South Africa. There are various pieces of legislation that provide overarching principles and norms to guide the concerted enhancement of public participation in the local sphere of government. In spite of the plethora of policies and programmes, communities in various places continue to engage in service delivery protests. This study critically analyzed the implementation of public participation policy as a legislative core value for local government, with specific reference to Mbombela local municipality. In doing so, it critically explored the extent to which Mbombela local municipality involves the local communities in matters of local government such as in strategic decision making, the development of the IDP, performance management and in service delivery processes. The study employed a qualitative research methodology, relying mainly on secondary written sources of data, which reported on public participation and public administration. These sources include books, journals, internet sources, government legislation and policies. Data was also collected from Mbombela local municipality through interviews with municipal officials, members of ward committees, community development workers and the public. This study has found that Mbombela local municipality (MLM) relies primarily on ward committees, ward- based meetings and the Speakers outreach as mechanisms to facilitate public participation. The municipality seems to regard public participation as a crucial aspect in that a public participation unit was established; however the municipality is using a low level of participation, with limited power by citizens to influence strategic decisions. This means that communities and community organizations are involved on matters of the municipality only through attending community meetings therefore such meetings are not sufficient for effective public participation as communities should also be involved in more strategic and influential means such as participating in steering committees, development and economic forums. This study further found that some of the ward committees are not effectively functional as a result of lack of commitment from ward committee members, unavailability of some ard committee members due to their permanent job commitments and due to the difficulty that is caused by the vastness of some of the wards. This study also revealed hat there is no feedback provided to ward committees by the municipality on the ward committee reports that are submitted to the municipality on monthly bases, as a results some ward committee members are demotivated. This research study concludes that Mbombela local municipality is not effectively implementing local government legislation in respect to public participation