An alternative to democratic exclusion? The case for participatory local budgeting in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This article makes a case for transforming local governance to embrace inclusion and accountability through participatory local budgeting. South Africa’s history of participatory local governance and policy-making, which was incorporated to some extent in post-apartheid institutions of local government, implied some intention to follow Brazil’s ground-breaking participatory local governance model. Yet, despite the possibility that such an approach could advance democratic accountability and result in policies that favour the needs of the poor, the African National Congress (ANC) government has pursued a centralised, technocratic approach. Facing local governments in crisis and the possibility of electoral losses in the 2016 municipal elections, will the ANC embrace participatory local budgeting, and in doing so, transform its mode of governance? Implausible as this may seem, there are also risks inherent in maintaining the status quo, which threatens to undermine popular support for the ANC, especially at the local level.

KEYWORDS:

• South Africa
• local government
• participation
• budgeting
• democracy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Carolyn Bassett is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Director of the International Development Studies Program at the University of New Brunswick. Her research on socio-economic policy in South Africa and the policy role of the labour movement has been published in Review of African Political Economy, Third World Quarterly, Studies in Political Economy and other journals.

Notes

1. Makgetla (2007, 150–152) shows that wealthier municipalities actually receive higher transfers from the national government than do those with a lower per capita tax base.

2. When some concerns were aired about the tight control exercised over local councillors, the ANC agreed to give local activists a voice in the selection of candidates for the 2011 municipal elections, but then overturned some of their choices (Seethal 2012, 12).

3. The situation has been slightly different in the former homelands areas, where traditional authorities like local chiefs often retain their central role in municipal governance, by and large utilising an approach based on the village council. Such an approach has been more participatory and public, but not transparent or accountable, and it was designed to shape and limit public debate and to preserve age, gender and lineage hierarchies (Koelble and LiPuma 2010).