Doctoral Degrees (School of Public Leadership)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (School of Public Leadership) by Subject "Budgets, Municipal"

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    Impediments to meaningful and effective public participation in local government budgeting in the Western Cape
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Nabe, Tembela Wilberforce; Woods, Gavin; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: Challenges facing the municipalities in the Western Cape have been identified as multifaceted impetuses that require a comprehensive action plan. Government at national, provincial and local sphere in South Africa, with the help of academics, is experimenting with and evolving its approaches for imposing development plans and revitalising municipalities. A major challenge facing South Africa at local government sphere is the need to ensure that the formal processes of representative democracy become meaningful for ordinary citizens, and particularly the poor. Creating this opportunity for local residents to be part of planning and decision-making has not yet become the norm for municipalities in the Western Cape. This in turn decreases the level of participation in decision-making. Citizen input is generally viewed as a way to reduce the level of citizen distrust in government and to educate people about government activities. For example, citizens in cities with greater levels of participation have been found to be less cynical about local government. This study is based on the assumption that municipalities in the Western Cape, like other municipalities in South Africa, are confronted with numerous challenges when implementing the constitutional developmental mandate conferred on them by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. It is vital that local government understands and contextualises these challenges, so that appropriate interventions are developed. This study was conducted in order to identify the problems that impede meaningful and effective public participation in decision-making, with a focus on the local government budgeting process. The study found that there are problems that impede meaningful and effective public participation in the budgetary processes. While provision is made for the creation of ward committees, the reality is that there are existing structures in the form of development committees or forums, established for a particular purpose or geographic area, that are being used to this end. This results in tension between the proposed structure and scope of committees, as well as around issues of adequate representation and accountability. In addition, in many instances municipalities have not formalised these structures to avoid having to make budgetary provisions for their operation and they are as a result under-resourced. IDP forums established to drive the IDP formulation and review processes are only open to recognised structures, and no other community groups or individuals. In the main, these are drawn from ward committee structures, with their inherent problems of legitimacy, accountability and representation. The capacity of councillors and officials is sometimes a further impediment to public participation. Many are dedicated community development activists facing complex and intimidating processes. The role played by skilled and experienced officials in manipulating processes often comes into question, compounded by issues of racism. The tension between elected and traditional local government role players and the inadequate use of traditional structures and mechanisms to disseminate information and involve communities in decision-making processes serves to weaken public participation in municipal processes. Likewise, IDP steering committees comprise only officials and councillors, not representatives of community structures. Finally, consultants developed many municipal IDPs without adequately engaging affected communities. This does not comply with the White Paper on Local Government (1998) requirement that this process be community driven, and capacitate communities. Council legislative processes pose similar challenges to those of provincial and national government, in that they are not easily accessible to marginalised groups, not well publicised, the language is intimidating and time frames for input are tight. The accessibility and accountability of councillors continues to be an issue, even with ward councillors, with many communities still claiming not to know who their councillors are. Communities are typically not consulted or provided with feedback. The code of conduct for councillors is applied to actions to be taken by municipalities in relation to councillors’ performance in council, rather than recourse available to aggrieved communities. Solutions are recommended in this study to address challenges faced by the communities with respect to public participation in the budget process. There is a need for capacity-building by councillors, ward committee members and the community, particularly regarding the municipal budget process, the relation between the capital and operating budget, how income is generated, and how to influence resource allocation decision and taxation policies. Training on the issues identified above should be practical. There should be strong political will from the government who should be supported by an enabling legal framework. For participatory budgeting to be effective, public officials need to provide citizens with detailed and accessible information to help them better understand budgetary constraints and options. Experts should play an essential role as technical advisors, clarifying the range of possible and appropriate budget projects, and working with residents to design sound projects. Improvement in communication between councillors, ward committee members and the community would enhance the participation process. It is important to include the development of a communication strategy in any capacity-building programme. During this study a multiple methods research approach was employed, one of these being the use of a framework of participatory budgeting, implemented in both Porto Alegre (Brazil) and Kerala (India), to analyse participatory budgeting in six municipalities in the Western Cape province in order to identify appropriate lessons for the South African context. Further to this, interviews and supplementary questionnaires were facilitated in Breede Valley, Overstrand, George, Langeberg, Stellenbosch, and Theewaterskloof to identify problems that impede meaningful and effective public participation in the formulation of budgets in those municipalities. In addition, municipal documents were used to review the existing situation within these municipalities.