27
elected in public meetings for a period of five years , and in that way their term of operation corresponds to that of the municipal councillors . Ward committees have to be chaired by the elected ward councillor . The IDP is a ‘ single , inclusive and strategic plan ’ for the development of a municipal area that has to be developed every five years and reviewed annually with the participation of the public . Ward committee structures and community participation are critical institutional features of the democratic innovation being attempted in South African local government .
Literature on public participation in South African local government raises a number of challenges about ward committees and participation in the IDP process .
Ward Committees as Participatory Structures
With regard to the ward committees , there seems to be consensus that they do not work as planned , to the extent of being dysfunctional . 22 This leads to some people finding other ways of participating despite these legislated structures . The poor protests on the streets , the rich goes to courts of law , and the level of clientelist practices rises .
Piper and Deacon ’ s research found that ward committees are not the independent structures for participation in local government that the legislation intended them to be , and that they cannot supply the ‘ constructive form of accountability and responsiveness ’ that would be helpful for the consolidation of democracy in South Africa . 23 Ward committees are dysfunctional , and where they are functional , they remain under the influence of local political party agendas , and this party dominance erodes their capacity to keep party councillors accountable . 24 This political party influence , however , does not make ward committees obsolete for extending participation as they can still facilitate that many people ’ s voices get heard in municipal decision making . The problem lies in that the participation will voice views that are consistent with the political party , instead of views that emanate from the local community . 25
There is also an argument that ward committees are too dependent to be a reliable and effective forum for participation as they are caught up in ‘ dependency relations ’ with ward councillors , political parties and the municipality itself , and this threaten to cause them not to
22
Piper , Laurence and Roger Deacon . “ Too Dependent to Participate : Ward Committees and Local Democratisation in South Africa ”. Local Government Studies , 35 ( 4 ) ( 2009 ): 415-433 ; Everatt , David , Hein Marais and Nobayethi Dube . “ Participation … for what Purpose ? Analysing the Depth and Quality of Public Participation in the Integrated Development Planning Process in Gauteng ”. South African Journal of Political Studies , 37 ( 2-3 ) ( 2010 ): 223-249 ; Benit-Gbaffou , Claire . and Oldfield , Sophie . ( 2011 ). “ Accessing the State : Everyday Practices and Politics in Cities of the South ”. Journal of African and Asian Studies , 46 ( 5 ) ( 2011 ): 445- 452 .
23
Piper , “ Too Dependent to Participate ”, 79 .
24
Everatt , “ Participation … for what ”; Piper , “ Too Dependent to Participate ”.
25
Piper , “ Too Dependent to Participate ”.