ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
5.5 COMBINED IMPACT OF CHALLENGES AND APPROACHES ON THE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS OUTCOME
5.5.5 Combined Impact of Challenges and Approaches on the Estcourt/Ladysmith Community Access Roads
The PPP for Estcourt/Ladysmith Community Access Roads was affected by social inequalities, negative past experience and a lack of EA legislation awareness. Social inequalities were demonstrated through skewed participation in terms of gender and age.
Based on negative past experience, some IAAPs indicated that they lacked trust of government programmes. The IAAPs manifested a lack of EA awareness and a lack of clarity on their roles during the PPP. Two of the three challenges are associated with the external environmental factors to the PPP.
Although the IAAPs were concerned with unfulfilled past promises this did not hinder the PPP. The IAAPs valued the socio-economic benefits associated with the proposed project. The socio-economic benefits were perceived to redress social inequalities and past challenges. Positive attitudes and perceptions of the IAAPs served to resolve the
Successfully Completed PPP
Uncompleted PPP Uncompleted PPP
Successfully completed PPP
Extent to which the PPP was appropriate Extent to which the PPP was appropriate
The PPP was not appropriate The PPP approach was fully appropriate
Extent to which challenges were resolvableExtent to which challenges were resolvable
Challenges were not resolvableChallenges were resolvable
•Lack of EA legislation awareness
•Threat to environmental autonomy
•Lack of EA legislation awareness
•Threat to environmental autonomy Resolved challenges
•Word of mouth
•Word of mouth
Appropriate PPP approach
challenges associated with external environmental factors to the PPP. These perceptions also enabled the IAAPs to cooperate well with the PPP. During the PPP, the EAP created awareness about the EA legislation through outlining the context and introducing procedures for participation.
The communication approaches for this PPP focused on the print media. Emphasis on written word was in accordance with guidelines for the PPP provided by the NEMA as proclaimed in June 2006. However, it was evident that the effectiveness of written word communication among the vulnerable IAAPs was limited. The IAAPs did not access the newspaper advertisements and they did not submit written comments as prescribed in the guidelines for the PPP. This communication approach is considered inappropriate for IAAPs in rural contexts characterised by poor communication facilities. This PPP case shows that despite an inappropriate mode of communication, the ability to resolve the challenges enabled the PPP to be completed. This is demonstrated in Figure 8. This case also emphasised the point that solutions to the challenges related to the external environment are best derived from within the local traditional context.
The EAP successfully completed the PPP. Based on the outcome of this assessment the DAEA issued the ROD approving the construction of 10 of the 17 roads and disapproving the other 10 roads. In Section 5.5, it was indicated that successfulness of the PPP outcome refers to both favourable and unfavourable RODs. The Estcourt/Ladysmith Community Access Road is an example of successfully completed PPP demonstrating the ROD issued in favour of some and against other proposed activities.
This case is an example of successfully completed PPP resulting from the combination of resolvable challenges and inappropriate approach. This scenario also demonstrates that resolvability of challenges is the determining factor with regard to the PPP outcome.
Successfully Completed PPP
Uncompleted PPP Uncompleted PPP
Successfully completed PPP
Extent to which the PPP was appropriate Extent to which the PPP was appropriate
The PPP was not appropriate The PPP approach was fully appropriate
Extent to which challenges were resolvableExtent to which challenges were resolvable
Challenges were not resolvableChallenges were resolvable
•Lack of EA legislation awareness
•Threat to environmental autonomy
•The state of project readiness
•Lack of EA legislation awareness
•Threat to environmental autonomy
•The state of project readiness Resolved challenges
•Predominantly print media
•Predominantly print media Inappropriate PPP approach
Figure 8: Outcome of the Estcourt/Ladymsith Community Access Raod Case
6 CONCLUSION
This chapter focused on the first four objectives of this research study in the following ways:
i. Identified and classified five key challenges
ii. Discussed the influence of these key challenges on the role of the IAAPs iii. Analysed the appropriateness of the PPP approaches
iv. Interpreted the combined impact of the key challenges and approaches on the PPP outcome.
Discussion in this chapter demonstrated that the PPPs analysed in this study were affected by different types of challenges, emanating from internal and external environments.
Some PPPs were affected by simple challenges and others by complex ones. Simple challenges proved more likely to resolve than complex challenges. Also, challenges that were not resolvable impeded the PPP while resolvable challenges facilitated this process.
The possibility of resolving challenges did not only depend on the simplicity or complexity of the challenges, but also on the perceptions of the IAAPs. Perceptions about
the value of local resources, in comparison with benefits or impact of the proposed development projects, greatly influenced the participation of the IAAPs in the PPPs.
It is evident that resolving the challenge of a lack of EA legislation awareness during the PPP enabled the IAAPs to participate better. However, it was also evident that the creation of EA awareness within the scope of the PPP was not necessarily sufficient. A lack of clarity regarding the roles and responsibilities displayed by the IAAPs proved that awareness during the PPP can only be created to a degree. This chapter demonstrated that external challenges such as socio-cultural and politically motivated challenges were impossible to resolve during the PPP. However, the EA is capable of addressing some internal challenges especially when appropriate PPP approaches have been adopted. The ability to resolve external challenges lies with local traditional systems.
The other key aspect discussed in this chapter is the appropriateness of PPP approaches adopted. The PPP approaches were measured based on communication modes. This chapter demonstrated that the word of mouth approach was appropriate to consult the vulnerable IAAPs. High levels of illiteracy and poor access to print media rendered the written word inappropriate for communicating with vulnerable IAAPs. The combined impact of the challenges and the approaches affected the PPP outcome. This chapter demonstrated that some types of challenges still remained impossible to resolve even by the best approaches within the scope of the PPPs for the EAs.