CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH FINDINGS, DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF
6.3 DATA COLLECTED THROUGH QUESTIONNAIRES
6.3.1 Biographical information
6.3.2.9. Challenges faced by citizens in community participation in the IDP processes… 98
The researcher wanted to discover the challenges and opportunities associated with community participation in the IDP process faced by community members. The sections included questions such as what are challenges faced by citizens and opportunities given to them to participate in the affairs that affect their lives. The researcher further asked: do community members use opportunities given to them if any, and whether those opportunities are useful. Citizens were further asked on what was it that municipalities could do to encourage community members to participate in the affairs that would be helpful for their communities. Therefore, the figure below shows the results on the challenges faced by community members in the IDP processes.
40%
60%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
YES NO
99 Figure 12: Challenges in the IDP processes
Results on the challenges and opportunities faced by community members in the IDP process are indicated in the figure above. The results indicate that 60% of the participants have no idea of challenges faced in the IDP process because they do not understand community participation in the IDP process. Further, 40% of the participants highlighted that challenges encountered in the IDP process have a significant impact on the final document of the IDP.
Challenges that community members face have a negative impact on the level of community participation and hinders the improvement of local governance. It is important that these challenges be identified and made known to relevant departments in order to come up with strategies to overcome or solve those challenges. The idea is that, ‘you cannot win the battle if you do not know the person you are fighting with’. In other words, it is important that those challenges be identified. Therefore, these challenges are indicated in the tables that follows.
6.3.2.9.1. Challenges faced by community members in the IDP processes
The table below shows challenges experienced by participants who understand what IDP entails and have been involved in its process and attended the IDP meetings. The
60 40
Challenges in the IDP process
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researcher coded responses from participants and the findings are presented in the table below.
Table 4: Challenges faced by community members in the IDP processes CHALLENGES FACED BY COMMUNITY
MEMBERS IN THE IDP PROCESS
PERCENTAGES%
1 Time management. 15%
2 Low levels of education and skills amongst community members.
12%
3 Peoples’ opinions not considered. 8%
4 Negative attitudes of people initiating the IDP meetings towards poor people.
5%
Responses highlighted that many community members indicated that they face the challenge of time management in the IDP process, it was stated that coordinators of IDP processes are not able to manage their time and this result in many community members losing interest in the participation of such processes. It is 15% of participants that highlighted time management is one of the challenges faced in the IDP processes followed by 12% of participants that stated low levels of educations and skills amongst community members becomes a challenge in the IDP processes. Furthermore, 8% of participants indicated that one of the challenges community members come across in the IDP processes is that peoples’ opinions are not considered and lastly 5% states that IDP coordinators and organisers of IDP meetings have negative attitudes towards poor people.
However, some participants highlighted that it was not always the case, some community members also have a negative attitude towards municipal officials.
These were the challenges highlighted by participants in the study. Therefore, it is important that strategies be put in place to deal and correct the challenges that hinder the level of community participation.
6.3.2.10. Opportunities for community members in the IDP
In South Africa, the Constitution paved the democratic dispensation that is based on principles such as freedom to assemble, and freedom of speech and association.
Therefore, community members have freedom of speech and an opportunity to participate
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in the affairs that affect their lives as their constitutional mandate. They should participate in local issues for the success of local governance. Despite the challenges that community members face, the IDP processes ushers some opportunities for community members.
The table below highlights such opportunities and roles of community members in the IDP.
Table 5: Opportunities and roles for community members in the IDP OPPORTUNITIES AND ROLES FOR
COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN THE IDP
PERCENTAGE%
1 Invitation to meetings 13%
2 Gaining knowledge 11%
3 Investment in local governance 10%
4 Raising concerns and opinions 6%
As highlighted in the table, community members are invited to meetings to discuss matters of the community, this is shown by a higher percentage of 13% from the participants who answered the question. Furthermore 11% of participants indicated that that they are given opportunities in the IDP, it was indicated that in the discussion process, they gain knowledge about IDP. Therefore, another 10% of participants supported the idea that involvement in the local governance affairs through IDP meetings offer communities space to improve local governance either through raising concerns about service delivery or development needs. Lastly, 6% of participants stated that communities must give their opinions in the IDP to add value to the process of IDP. The role that communities play informs municipalities about the needs of communities, which they would not otherwise know. These community members can also generate views on what can be done to address community members' essentials.
6.3.2.11. Implications of community participation in the IDP processes on local