LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND WOMEN IN SOUTH AFRICA
3.10 IS DECENTRALISATION WORKING IN SOUTH AFRICA?
Municipalities are designed to have somewhat smaller authorities are supposed to be higher recognised and respected as ‘they are closer to the people and maximize opportunities for autonomy, participation, representation, accountability and responsiveness’ (Paddison, 1983;
Sharpe, 1988; Totemeyer, 1988; Hanekom, 1988; and Kendall and Louw, 1989).
The 1998 White Paper on Local Government and most of the prescripts that have been promulgated bears remarkable similarities with the local government laws in the United Kingdom. However, the challenge has been with the implementation and the non-adaptation to the situation on the ground (Frodin, 2011). Manor (2001) in his analysis of South Africa,
‘suggested that decentralisation needed to be introduced on the basis of an existing and functioning civil service’ and this was not the case in 1990. He warned that an extremely complex system might result in a catastrophy. According to Frodin (2011) ‘many politicians and officials in the new regime had little or no practical experience before they were appointed’. This includes both men and women especially of African origin as they took over the running of the municipalities after 1994.
Institutions cannot merely be designed like building, but have to be collectively accepted by a critical mass (Frodin, 2011). Evensen and Stokke (2010), pointed out that ‘even if institutions for local governance are designed to facilitate popular participation and representation, rather than simply a way of decentralizing and privatizing state obligations, the extent to which channels of participation are available and used by groups in society seems to be varied at best’.
Frug (1996) stated that there is a need to design the governance system so that it can be changed when its defects become apparent. Koelble and Siddle (2013) are of the view that municipalities must be relieved of the functions they cannot discharge. According to Evensen and Stokke (2010) remarked that the contact between individuals in the community and their
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local government in comparison with other African countries has been very low in South Africa.
Within the municipalities, there is shortage of staff and those that are there are not trained properly to perform effectively their duties. Koelble and Siddle (2013) stated that ‘a civil service, rather than a cadre of political appointees, has to be put in place to enable the municipalities to operate adequately and fulfil the myriad requirements placed upon them’.
Other challenges raised by Koelble and Siddle (2013) was that municipalities are having a challenge raising revenue or avoid fruitless expenses, there is ‘misappropriation of funds, elite capture and corruption, and general lack of service provision, particularly in the poorer areas of the country’.
It must be noted that several African states including Benin, Cape Verde, Ethiopia and Gambia in 2008; Botswana, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal and Swaziland in 2009;
Burundi and Namibia in 2010; and Lesotho and Zambia in 2011 held their local government elections (Seethal, 2012). In South Africa, a record number of 121 political parties participated in the 2011 elections, and a total of 53.596 candidates contested the elections, 29.570 as ward candidates and 23.278 as proportional list candidates (Seethal, 2012) and most of them were women.
3.11 CONCLUSION
The literature on South Africa shows that women in civil society fought against apartheid policies. The culture of participation changed when those women were placed in multiple public institutions after 1994 and they are now organised centrally. It would be interesting to find out how women are gaining support from other women, and working with community organisations and leaders in this era of decentralisation.
The Constitution, Bill of Rights, promises to address gender equality for men and women.
However, the White Paper (1998) considers women an “interest group” and municipal prescripts provide women’s participation and equitable representation in order to influence decision-making processes. The prescripts also promote relations between municipalities and political parties but have no methods of sanction or enforcement. The challenge is how
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government can commit itself to addressing gender equality and increase women’s representation to solely depend on political parties which central government has no control over and no position on the quota system.
Also, voting is based on some ideas constructed within political parties at a decentralised level which affects women’s representation. In this era of decentralization, it would be interesting to know how democratic political parties think and act, in relation to women’s representation and participation in decision-making processes. How is the ruling party implementing the quota system? Are there any strategies to empower women and are women elected in this fashion taken seriously by their male counterparts during council meetings?
During apartheid, government imposed “community leaders” to take decisions on behalf of women and communities. Interestingly, the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework (TLGF) Act (41/2003) allows the Premier to determine a threshold, should there be an insufficient number of women. The fact that such a clause appears in the Act, undermines the intelligence and the status of women. Women could even take the government to court for this Act to be reviewed or amended. It may be possible those women were not involved during the negotiations or that their influence was minimal. Therefore, it becomes crucial for this study to explore the influence of culture and family in shaping women’s representation and participation in this era of decentralisation.
The literature shows that ward councillors and ward committees form the lowest structure of government with only ten members, ensuring community participation in decision-making processes. However, the 2004/05 National Survey shows that less than half of the respondents affirmed the impact of this structure in council decisions. Must be wondering, then what the purpose is of having such a structure that limits representation and participation while having no influence on decisions. Where are councillors taking the mandate from?
Otherwise, women would continue to be marginalised in terms of their representation and participation in decision-making processes at local government level.
Although democracy is new in South Africa and local government was the last sphere of government to be reformed, it is crucial to recognize that gender equality is guaranteed in the Constitution. However, it becomes complicated when there are contradicting prescripts committed to redressing gender imbalances, at the same time showing that women are not a priority but simply an “interest group”. With women, unlike many other structures, their
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biological cannot change; therefore, their representation and participation in decision-making processes need no further emphasis because they are close to local government and the majority. Councillors were interviewed to share their experiences in relation to the main aim of the study. As Ball (2004: 2) remarks “Until the interests of women have been represented at local level, the system is not fully democratic”. The current study then addresses the methodology adopted in the next chapter.
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