Community participation in development projects as Tickyline Village in Tzaneen

Abstract

Community participation is a concept which is meant to ensure that community members are an integral part of processes that determine their destination in relation to their development needs. It is a means of empowering people by developing their skills and abilities to enable them to negotiate and make appropriate decisions for their development. Community participation, however, is not without its challenges. In most development projects initiated by local municipalities and other government departments, community participation appears to be an afterthought. In this regard, the study aimed to investigate challenges of community participation in Tickyline. The research methods used for this study were both qualitative and quantitative and data was collected from twenty-two (22) research participants using open-ended interviews and questionnaires. Data was analysed using thematic method and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Findings The study revealed that majority of the participants do not participate in development projects because some meetings are arranged during odd times, particularly during the initial phases of the projects. The study further revealed that these challenges of participation are influenced by officials who take decisions on behalf of communities as they regard the participants as less capable of taking independent decisions regarding their own projects. It was found that community projects are literally imposed to the communities and therefore, participation and community involvement is very minimal which consequently collapses the projects. Recommendations Consequent to the findings, it is recommended that community leaders should make community meetings open to all community members. There should be regular community gatherings to discuss issues affecting the community; and there should be inclusion of community members in every phase of projects by municipal and government members to ensure maximum participation in relation to development projects. The officials should regard the participants as important stakeholders in the development of the projects in the area. Community members should be literally made ii sole beneficiaries of development projects from the inception to the hand-over phase. By so doing, they will be able to sustain both themselves and the development projects within their area.