THEME 6: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TSONGA-SPEAKING AND VENDA-SPEAKING PEOPLE
2.1: Lack of public participation by Malamulele residents
3.2.1: Enhance governance performance and service delivery
Literature shows that service delivery is negatively affected by the challenge of defective governance (Rose-Ackerman 2004; Mbecke, 2004). Mmola (2012) views governance and service delivery challenges in local government as an outcome of the following: inequality on the delivery of basic services, poor quality of services provided, lack of requisite skilled officials in the service delivery value chain, mismanagement of funds, and corruption and nepotism in the appointment of employees. If this remains unchanged in local government, it creates a high likelihood for community protests to continue.
As noted in the literature review, the government and all its stakeholders should focus on issues such as enhancing public and private partnerships, involving all stakeholders (public participation), compliance to legislative and policy frameworks, enhancing the functionality of the tax system, intergovernmental relations, and privatisation (Dilger, Moffett and Struyk, 1997; Mhone and Edigheji, 2003; Sithole and Mathonsi, 2015).
Category 3.2.1 (Improve governance and service delivery) developed into two sub- categories. These are:
3.2.1.1: Ensure public participation
Residents raised the following issues:
“The government should focus on meeting the demands of the people by having public debates and public participation”.
“Citizens need opportunities where they have a direct communication and influence decision-making in government planning on matters that affect their lives and environment”.
91
“The views of the people should be considered during the IDP (Integrated Development Plan) process”.
As it stands, some citizens in South Africa are not happy with the manner in which government conducts itself on issues of decision-making as well as on performance issues. According to the HSRC (2002), citizens are not happy with the system of governance and with situations where institutions are less effective. The starting point to address the poor governance challenges, which in turn result in citizens’
unhappiness, is to address the public participation mechanism.
The responses by the citizens emphasise the need for government improvement in public participation. Citizens want to feel as part of the government which they elected into power. According to the researcher, the desire for citizens to be consulted is a genuine desire that needs to be considered towards better partnership between the people and their government. As noted in the responses provided by the participants, Thulamela LM did not conduct public participation in Malamulele.
3.2.1.2: Improve delivery of services in Malamulele area
Sub-category 3.2.1.2 (Improve delivery of services in Malamulele) was constituted by the respondents who indicated that:
"There should be improvement in the manner in which services are delivered in Malamulele and the poor surrounding communities".
"Poor communities around Malamulele rely on the services by government to fulfil their basic needs".
The DFID (2000) indicates that poor people rely on public services to sustain their livelihood, and for the fulfilment of their basic human rights. Hence an improvement in the delivery of basic services should be a priority for local governments.
Ramaipadi (2011) argues that there is a strong relationship between service delivery and poverty eradication in order to improve quality of life for the citizens. With the
92 shift from poverty alleviation to poverty eradication, Mafeje (2001) and Osei-Hwedi, (2004) maintain that poverty eradication is not just about getting the poor to pass a certain level of consumption. It is about reaching a sustained increase in productivity, and an integration of the poor into the process of growth where they have access to resources. The delivery of basic services enhances the quality of life of citizens and increases their socio-economic opportunities as it promotes health and safety, facilitates access to work, education and recreation, and stimulates new productive activities (Joseph, 2002; Thompson and Nleya, 2008).
Sub-theme 3.3: Citizens' needs
Sub-theme 3.3 is about the needs of the citizens. According to Heywood (1994), citizenship represents a relationship between citizens and states wherein the two are bound by mutual rights and obligations between them. According to Marshall (1963), citizens’ socio-economic and political rights involve provisions from the right of access to a modicum of socio-economic welfare and security to the right of access to sharing socio-political heritage and to live the life of a civilised being according to the standards prevailing in society. Thus, understanding citizenship is important towards claiming rights and entitlements.
One of the challenges that governments faced in the 21st century is finding ways to secure the future of democracy by making governments effective and responsive to the needs of the citizens (United Nations, 2006). The United Nations also argues that equally important is the challenge to adapt democratic institutions in order to meet the specific needs of diverse societies. This means that institutions, democratic constitutions and political processes cannot be transferred from one society to another because they have to be customised to suit the needs of the people (United Nations, 2006). The needs of the citizens vary from one society to another. It is, therefore, important for democratic governments to understand those needs and to address them.
During the data analysis process, a category of respondents emerged to provide views about the needs of the citizens.
93 3.3.1 Addressing the needs of the citizens
Respondents argued that the needs of the citizens should be prioritised. Some of the responses that were provided by the participants under this category included the following:
"The government must adhere to the symbolic statements they made prior 1994 and vest on their Batho Pele Slogan practically and not theoretically by being emphatic to the people's plea".
"The government should give citizens what they need so that they can manage their own budgets".
"Citizens should be given what they need in democracy".
In most cases, municipalities lack adequate capacity to gather the kind of information on “citizens needs that is necessary to respond effectively” (United Nations Development Programme, 2000:4). Community-based planning that reflects the needs of the entire community, especially the disadvantaged groups such as disabled people, women, children, the elderly, the poor, minorities and the youth is the single most effective way of identifying priorities that reflect the needs of the community. The United Nations also indicates that the implementation of participatory strategic planning is increasingly becoming important to the development of effective municipalities, “and the linking of the outcomes of such processes to the development of budget priorities is even more important” (United Nations Development Programme, 2000:6).
3.5.3.4 Theme 4: Protests
In their meanings, the concepts public participation and protests are far from being synonymous. However, the gap in their meanings appears to be gradually closing due to the understanding by citizens that they seem to yield the same results.
However, future scientific investigation will be vital in order to establish facts on whether protests and public participation do yield the same results and whether protests can be formally adopted as another option for public participation.
During the analysis processes, two sub-themes with relevant categories emerged under theme 4. The two sub-themes are as follows:
94 Sub-theme 4.1: Protests as a way of communication
Citizens are starting to consider protests as the quickest way of triggering responses from government. Van Holdt, Langa, Molapo, Mogapi, Ngubeni, Dlamini and Kirsten (2011) argue that in some cases where protests occur, there are visible responses, including the suspension of municipal officials, the probing into cases of alleged corruption by municipal officials, and tangible initiatives aimed at improving service delivery. Twala (2014) concurs, positing that protests occurred as a way of making government aware of service problems, and that these protests yielded desired outcomes during the run-up to the 2006 elections, where new candidates were brought in to replace the incumbent cohort of councillors that were under-performing.
Two categories of responses that emerged under sub-theme 4.1 are as follows: