An assessment of public participation as a tool in enhancing efficiency in local government: A case of Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality

Abstract

This study uses the Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality as a case study in assessing public participation as a tool for enhancing efficiency in local government. It moves from the premise that public participation in South Africa is a constitutional right that must be implemented by all government structures, including local government. Of the three spheres of government: national, provincial and local government, the study has chosen the local government sphere because it is the coalface of service delivery. With the challenges facing local government structures over the past years, public participation is seen as a tool that has a potential to enhance efficiency. Using qualitative method of research, the study sought to use structured questionnaires to gather data from the targeted municipality, community representatives and community development workers on the use of public participation to enhance efficiency in their municipality. The aim is to use the findings of this case study as a measure to understand the same concept in local government as a whole. Evidence provided in this study shows that there is still limited information accessible to the community members of Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality that would make them play a key role in demanding accountability and to have some degree of control within the municipality’s governance affairs because the municipality was put in place to serve the needs of the community. From the findings of this study, it is clear that for citizen participation to have a positive effect on decentralized service delivery, there are key factors that should be considered and institutionalized. Among the proposed recommendations from this study include the need for municipality and community engagement for service delivery. Communities cannot be in a position to meaningfully engage with the Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality officials and public participation personnel without capacity building within the community first.