Under Construction @ Keele 2018 Vol. IV (II) | Page 36

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fulfil their intended role of deepening democracy in South Africa. 26 Ward committees’
dependence on the ward councillor is caused by the fact that he is their chairperson and acts
as the ‘sole conduit of information between the ward committee and the council’. 27 This means
that, if the councillor is incompetent or not motivated to play this role well, the ward committee
will not be effective and there is not much that it can do as ward councillors determine when
and how often ward committees meet, as well as their agenda. This is despite legislation that
they meet at least quarterly, but this might not take place as there is not much incentive for
ward councillors to make ward committees’ work. Ward councillors often regard ward
committees as useless burdens or even as competitors. 28 This is not an irrational suspicion
by ward councillors as Averatt found that ward committees can be used as a platform to
challenge the ward councillor, and they can be positioned so as to be seen as more legitimate
representatives of the community in that particular ward. 29
Ward committees are seen to also depend on the political party as they are highly
politicised and can be used in interparty, intraparty and policy. 30 A ward councillor from a
particular party can ensure that members of his party or his favourites dominate a ward
committee by restricting knowledge of meetings for choosing a committee, as no quorum is
specified for meetings to elect ward committees. 31 Some ward councillors also stick to what
their party believe to be the role of ward committees regardless of council guidelines.
The dependence of ward committees on municipalities is for their proper establishment
and support, their role definition with regard to municipal processes like IDP and budget, and
also for infrastructural, administrative and training needs. 32 The council is also empowered to
determine through policy how vacancies are filled in ward committees. This can lead to ward
committees seeing themselves as subservient structures of the municipality.
Integrated Development Plans (IDP) and Participation
As explained above, the IDP is a ‘single, inclusive and strategic plan’ for the development of
a particular municipality. It is a five-year plan that has to be reviewed annually with the
participation of the public. There is evidence of challenges to this process of participation and
they relate to logistical arrangements and those challenges that are of substance and include
powers, functions and other contextual factors.
Piper, “Too Dependent to Participate”, 415.
Everatt, “Participation…for what”, 242.
28 Piper, “Too Dependent to Participate”.
29 Everatt, “Participation…for what”.
30 Everatt, “Participation…for what”.
31 Everatt, “Participation…for what”.
32 Piper, “Too Dependent to Participate”.
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