Participatory Politics: Understanding Civil Society Organisations in Governance Networks in Khayelitsha

Abstract

This paper revisits the role of grassroots forms of mobilisation and organisation that act as governance intermediaries between civil society and government. It focuses on two organisations in Khayelitsha, the Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF), a development organisation formed at grassroots in 1985, and the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO), a national social movement organisation claiming grassroots forms of mobilisation that retains a strong membership base in Khayelitsha. The main focus of the article is to examine to what extent these two grassroots governance organisations enable ordinary people to influence government through direct and representational forms of participation. Agency is explored in relation to the degree to which individuals and community groups are able to access and influence both self-created (invented) and more formal (invited) spaces of governance and government [Cornwall, A., and V. S. Coelho. eds. (2007). Spaces for Change? Participation, Inclusion and Voice. London: Zed Books; Thompson, L., and C. Tapscott, eds. (2010). “Introduction: Mobilisation and Social Movements in the South – The Challenges of Inclusive Governance.” In Citizens and Social Movements: Perspectives from the Global South. London: Zed Books]. The discussion shows that grassroots mobilisation on socio-economic rights, in the case of KDF and, to a greater extent, SANCO, is fraught with leadership battles, factionalism and party politics. The ability to exercise agency through SANCO is limited severely as a result, and in the case of KDF, managing political rivalry and party politics negatively impacts on the functioning of the community development organisation, and its ability to influence government.

Acknowledgements

Funding from the Ford Foundation is acknowledged for the research that made writing this paper possible.