Too Dependent to Participate: Ward Committees and Local Democratisation in South Africa

Will participatory local government structures help deepen democracy in South Africa? That is the proclaimed purpose of the ward committee system, the centre-piece of post-apartheid local government reform, intended to facilitate deliberative democratic decision making. Drawing on a case study of th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inLocal government studies Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 415 - 433
Main Authors Piper, Laurence, Deacon, Roger
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 01.08.2009
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Apartheid
Committees
Community participation
Decision making
Deliberative democracy
Democracy
Democratisation
Democratization
Governmental reform
invited spaces
Local Government
Organizational Effectiveness
participatory local governance
Policy consultation
Policy implementation
Political Participation
Post-apartheid society
Power relations
South Africa
Studies
South Africa
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Will participatory local government structures help deepen democracy in South Africa? That is the proclaimed purpose of the ward committee system, the centre-piece of post-apartheid local government reform, intended to facilitate deliberative democratic decision making. Drawing on a case study of the Msunduzi municipality, it is argued here that ward committees, as yet barely functional seven years since first being established, have from the outset been caught up in relations of dependency with ward councillors, political parties and the municipality itself, and that these relations threaten to undermine the democratic dividends that the committees are expected to yield.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ObjectType-Article-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:0300-3930
1743-9388
DOI:10.1080/03003930902992683