Citizen participation in South Africa's black municipal governments

Abstract

The alienation between municipal government and Blacks in the urban areas of South Africa is as apparent as anywhere else in the world. Regular elections and representation do not obviate this alienation. Citizen participation, which suffers most under suck alienation, is, however, imperative for effective municipal government; more so in the light of the fact that municipal government's claim to existence depends primarily on its efficient provision of services.

While, since recently, urban Blacks do have a say in Black municipal government through elected community councils, so far very little has come of citizen participation. In order to facilitate this, structures should be created to institutionalise, rather than to enable citizen participation. Structural participation could be realized in various ways through the ward system or through interest groups.