Fostering effective service delivery through public participation : a South African local government perspective

Abstract

Public Administration is an eclectic discipline. This means that Public Administration, over the years has developed as a discipline by borrowing concepts and constructs from other fields of study. Thus, in the subject of Public Administration the concept of social contract might appear to be foreign. This article will argue that the social contract theory can be utilised as one of the means from which effective public participation in municipalities is achieved. In modern democratic states, public participation proves to be an imperative tool that is utilised for effective governance that results in the efficient delivery of services to the people. Therefore, public participation serves as an important feature of democracy. Since democratisation in South Africa in 1994, interventions were made as an attempt to ensure inclusivity and participation by people from across different communities in the country. This article aims at evaluating the importance of public participation in local government. Firstly the paper will begin by discussing the concept public participation in the context of local government in South Africa. This discussion will be preceded by the provision a suitable definition of public participation. Through various local government legislation and policies the communities in municipalities are warranted that their input will be considered when decisions affecting them are to be made. The article will further consider public participation as one of the tenets of local democracy. This will be done by a means of establishing a definition of the concept and highlighting its importance in the discussion. Furthermore, the relevance of public participation in the discipline of Public Administration will be explored in detail and attempt to address pertinent questions related to service delivery. This will be done by focussing on the different approaches to public participation. The other aspect that will be highlighted in this article is the existence of various forms of public participation. Challenges associated to public participation are elaborated, in particular the discussion focus on how these challenges affect the delivery of services. Lastly, the significance of promoting effective public participation in a local government environment and recommendations are elaborated.