Attributes of Ideal Grassroots Community Leaders for Sustainable Rural Development: The Case of Ward Committees in Vhembe District Municipality of South Africa

Abstract

Most municipalities in South Africa have been struggling to put in place functioning Ward Committees across the country. It is crucial to have an effective Ward Committee that can facilitate processes that lead to the improved well-being of the residents of the local community. The study explored the attributes of ideal grassroots community leaders for sustainable development, focusing on the case of ward committees in Ha-Mashau area. The specific objectives were to determine the community-preferred qualities of persons eligible to serve in ward committees and to determine whether age and gender of community members influence their perceptions. An exploratory sequential mixed method design was adopted for this study. Purposive sampling and stratified random sampling were applied to draw a sample of 57 and 120 participants from the residents of Ha-Mashau community for Phase 1 and Phase 2 respectively. Focus group discussions (FGDs) and a Likert-type scale questionnaire were used to collect data. Thematic content analysis, Descriptive statistics, Man Whitney & Kruskal Wallis tests from (SPSS) were run for analysis. The findings revealed several crucial attributes of ideal grassroots community leaders, including strong communication skills, a genuine commitment to community development, a strong personality, fair educational background, and accessibility to the community. Age influenced community members' perceptions of the need (1) to consider women for ward committee membership, (2) for aspiring leaders to be empathic, and (3) for leaders to show love and respect for the people. Furthermore, adult community members prefer ward committee members who are “dedicated to community development work” than their youthful counterparts. These findings contribute to the existing literature on grassroots leadership and offer practical insights for policymakers, development practitioners and community members aiming to foster sustainable development in similar contexts. It is recommended that policymakers and practitioners consider the importance of the identified attributes and their contribution to sustainable development when implementing programs aiming to enhance leadership capacity. Keywords