LIST FIGURES
8. Barriers to Citizen Participation
The following were identified as some of the barriers to effective citizen action and participation:
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The domination of party political interests in community activities
Weak community leadership
Ineffective communication channels between the municipality and citizens
Weakness of community organisations
Officials not understanding how communities function and not being committed to genuine citizen participation processes
Citizen apathy and disinterest in participation processes, based on a perception that participation would bring no material difference in their lives
Lack of resources at a local level
Domination of community based participation by strong and dominant personalities - both political and personal
Small groups of activist spreading themselves across a number of organisations and not providinq the space for the emergence of new leadership
High levels of party political contestation in some communities - giving rise in some cases to high levels of political intolerance
There is an additional barrier that so critical that it requires me to devote more space to it.
I found a persistent theme in the discourse that there is a dired correlation between participation levels and unhappiness and dissatisfadion around the levels of service delivery of the municipality. There is therefore a dired relationship between these expectations being realised via participation processes and there being a tail-off and declining interest when these expected benefits do not arrive. Participation is therefore not seen as an end in itself, but the means for achieving the end. These heightened
expeastions
tend to be exacerbated by participation processes that focus on the identification of community needs without paying sufficient attention to communicating the reality that development resources are allocated within the context of a limitedresource base. These kinds participation processes do not encourage or build citizen action and participation but rather serves to heighten expectations which have very little chance ofbeing met
Other cases of conflicts in participation include those that are generated by politics where leaders use political parties to pursue their own agendas. People made it clear that the conflicts between political parties are a problem to development and progress. Often ordinary citizens where caught in the crossfire of the fighting between political parties.
There are also instances where people do not participate because they do not know how the process of participation is supposed to take place. People are not informed in regard to the channels that should be followed for participation to be effective. Indeed, there are various organisations in the community which are interested in participation, but they couldn't do so due to lack of understanding on how the processes work.
In general there is a lack of understanding from the community on how local government works. There are no efforts on the side of local government to explain to the community how it does its work. Hence a majority of people lack understanding on how local government works. There is also lack of proper flow of information to the people. People are not getting enough information on local government matters. The problem that complicates this is the lack of education among the people. People who are illiterate are not likely to understand complex processes of government, and this usually discourages them to participate effectively.
Corruption, nepotism and biasness were cited as some of the things that were negatively affecting public participation. People who feel that they are not likely to be treated fairly are not likely to participate enthusiastically in the processes of local government. The same applies when people feel that the process is riddled with corruption and favouritism.
There is danger that favouritism can ruin people's confidence in local government structures. If these issues are not dealt with thorough/~ they are likely to cause problems and hinder public participation.
The level of participation in community affairs was seen by some as not satisfactory as people felt that participation was not yielding any results. People generally felt that
clean water and other basic services. People felt that not enough was being done to lessen their plight.
Also worth noting is that certain areas have unique characteristics which make them different from others in regard to community participation. These characteristics are likely to hinder or enhance community participation. For instance, in some areas there are high rate of unemployment among the youth, and poverty is generally high. This is likely to have impact on the level of participation in these areas. Even in terms of infrastructure, some areas are better than others. For instance at ward 40, they have 2 community halls.
This is likely to play a crucial role in participation in that it is likely to enable the community to hold meetings, as venues for such activities are available. Some areas do not have such infrastructure, and the level of services delivery is still very low. In some cases there are areas where the level of crime is generally high, and the level of literacy is very low. This will also impact negatively on public participation.
Community organisations are facing the challenge in terms of securing funds that will facilitate community participation. Most communities indicated that they are in need of sponsorship in order for them to successfully build their organisations and make them ready to participate in government processes. It is apparent that lack of funds has negative impact on the survival of most community-based organisations. Most of the organisations interviewed cited this as the main problem.