Bridging the disconnection between donor support and democratisation in South Africa: The case of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality

Abstract

This paper is on the role of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in bridging the disconnection in donor assisted projects and electoral administration and the perceptions of state institutions in an interface with donor support, electoral dynamics and democratisation in the municipality. The study on the perception of the BCMM on donor support and democratisation is to ascertain the reciprocal relations the BCMM have with donors, including government and stakeholders in an election and the local community where they operate. This paper argues that donor support to a large extent induces democratisation but no political democracy can survive and flourish if the mass of its people remained in poverty, and in a state of inequality and unemployment without real prospects for a better life. Although the state policies ensures and facilitates inter alia the free market economy, the deregulation of public institutions and state sponsorship of infrastructural development, the citizens in the local communities have been mostly impoverished as a result of their inability to access fully the benefits that were supposed to have been administered to them by sub-state institutions and donor managers. The study utilized the qualitative research approach and data was analysed through content analysis. The emerging findings indicate that donor conditionalities promote good governance, transparency and free and fair representation. The findings further shows that donor support in the municipality reduces poverty through academic skills training, vocational skills training, Agricultural entrepreneurship and Agro-processing. Nevertheless, the paper is of the view that the municipality and local communities are at a tipping point with regard to what can only be described as unequal and exploitative relationship between donor elites and community voters. The outcome of this paper and recommendations has great implications and influence for municipal officials, Communities voters, policy makers, Departments and Ministries, the Independent Electoral Commission, Social institutions, organizations and economic managers and administrators in developing countries

Keywords:

• donor support
• elections
• councillors’ parties
• electoral dynamics
• democratisation
• democracy
• development
• norm of reciprocity
• social justice

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Municipal public institutions and officials work in the interest of the local citizens to promote their wellbeing, development and prosperity in return for their votes in an election. The community-government relations will be greatly improved through grassroots collaboration with citizens. This paper demonstrates the value of electoral dynamics and the perspectives of democratization that forms an expressed indicator of the relationship between politics and development. The electoral dynamics that shape political institutions and governance in any democratic enterprise and experience include party affiliation, Party support, voting patterns, government and state agencies performance, economic policies towards poverty alleviation, service delivery, ethnic politics and the state democratisation programmes. The paper therefore sought to interrogate the perceptions of municipal officials on donor support and democratisation.

1. Introduction and background

This paper discusses the roles and functions of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) in relation to their history in South African politics with regard to donor support and democratisation. It focuses on their work and functions in democratisation and how they influence and contribute to democratic politics in South Africa. In particular, the paper engaged in the debate as to whether donor finance induce democratisation and what donor support dynamics are peculiar to the Buffalo City Metropolitan municipality as it is perceived as disconnected from voters and dominated by elites. The paper argues that donor agencies, political parties and the elected councilors are often disconnected from voters and they are dominated by elites who do not care much but only provide little incentives or capabilities to increase the representation of the voters (Foresti & Wild, 2010; R. Rotberg, 2014).

According to Foresti and Wild (2010) and Grindle (2004), Political parties, municipalities and donor agencies play key roles in a state’s development either negatively (organizing and instigating violence) or positively (by leading dialogue in a fractured society). They hold the view that projects of democracy financiers aimed at democratic development will be more successful if they engage both the opposition parties and civil society. Foresti and Wild (2010) observed that unjustified class relations between voters, donors and municipal officers create a gap and a rift in relationship and this does not augur well for the development of the municipality and neither does it uplift the tenets of democratization because it enlarges the benefits of the donors and the municipal elites and diminishes the benefits of citizens. This is due to the fact that the supposed donor interventions does not diffuse completely to the citizens at the communities (R. Rotberg, 2014).

In democratic societies, the right to vote is one of the most fundamental rights a citizen can have. The right to vote is a critical source of political power and a powerful symbol of one’s membership in a society (Kwon & Kim, 2014). Voting is the most quintessential form of political participation, although many eligible voters do not vote in elections. People can be motivated to vote based on their political ideology, or how they think government, economy and society should be structured. The challenge of most African governments and emerging economies has been how to harness resources to satisfy the genuine needs of deprived and underprivileged communities. Historically, urban and rural development agendas have been crafted and presided over by bureaucrats whose entrenched positions has often been orchestrated by development-driven rather than people-driven. In this era of democracy, the demand of communities on socio-economic issues such as water, electricity, sewerage and sanitation, solid waste services and toilets, road infrastructure, schools, Hospitals, food, access to markets, employment, transportation, trade and finances has remained cardinal in the measurement of government performance (Kwatemba, 2010; Mansuri & Rao, 2013; Melo & Baiocchi, 2004; Sen, 2008). It is for these reasons that the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, chapter 7, articles 152–153 stated clearly the objects of local government and its duties in relations to bridging the disconnection of communities with the municipalities. It states as follows: to provide democratic and accountable government for local communities, to ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner; to promote social and economic development, to promote a safe and healthy environment, to encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local government. In article 153, the constitution amply described the developmental duties of the municipalities as follows: to structure and manage its administration through budgeting and planning processes to give priority to the basic needs of the community, and to promote the social and economic development of the community and participate in national and provincial development programmes.

The Buffalo City Municipality is a Metropolitan municipality situated on the coast of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It includes the towns of East London, Bhisho, King William’s Town, Mdantsane and Zwelitsha. There are several other larger and smaller towns scattered around these cities. The municipality has a mixed racial make-up of blacks, coloured, Indians/Asians and Whites. The languages spoken include inter alia Xhosa, English and Afrikaans. The municipal council consists of one hundred members elected by mixed member proportional representation. Fifty Councilors are elected by first-past-post voting in fifty wards, while the remaining fifty are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received in the elections (Gabara, 2010). The subsection below discusses the concepts of donor support, electoral dynamics and democratisation as important elements of governance and democracy.

1.1. African perspectives on good governance, elections and democratisation

The African intellectual community and scholars have engaged in charting the path for good governance and to deepen the processes of elections and democratisation in the context of municipal and local governance and participatory democracy on the continent. There have been debates, argument and discourses on how to engage African nations and their leaders on how to build and sustain the gains made in the processes of democratisation and the roles assigned in promoting and achieving good governance. There was available opportunity to engage and debate on governance issues which requires African governments to decentralise, to be people centred in order to promote society participation in good governance programmes. It is for these reasons that the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) was established which recommended that governments needs to allocate sufficient time for the review of electoral processes in order to establish a common research methodology and to process submissions for the country self-assessment report.

The New Partnership for African’s Development (NEPAD) recognised democracy and good governance as settings for supportable development and made requirements for setting up the APRM (Gardiner & Le Goulven, 2001). How have Africans tried to shape democracy and good governance in Africa? Peace, security, democracy, good governance and human rights are seen as conditions necessary for sustainable development (Foresti & Wild, 2010, p. 6).

APRM, introduced in 2002, established in 2003 as a mechanism to monitor and measure adherence to the rule of law in Africa. Kuwali (2011:183) states that the African Institution gives rise to both hope and doubt. He said Africa needs to demonstrate to the world that Africa works through best practices. This illustrates the fact that Africa is able to reach and set good governance standards, which promotes participatory democracy. Grutzd and Turianskyi (2018:2) describes good governance as a tool that consist of a combination of internal and external criteria which identifies governance deficiencies and shortcomings. Grutzd and Petlane (2011:20) define governance to include institutions of representation, accountable government, including consistent organisation of free and fair elections- which is the major acceptable way for making sure of widespread participation in the constitution of the government and the observing of its performance as well as the practices that are intended to ensure the continuous accountability of officials to the public. In Africa today, freedom from want is a universal goal. Millions of lives are blighted by the effects of poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, untended illness, and inadequate education (Sklar, 1983). In all countries, political leaders dedicate themselves to the cause of economic and social development. Most leaders also claim to respect the principle of accountability to the people. However, the imperatives of development are far more demanding than the claims of democracy (Sklar, 1983). Appalled by the human condition and waste of resources in Africa and other nonindustrial regions, many intellectuals proclaim the validity of an antidemocratic idea, to which the term “developmental dictatorship” is aptly applied (Sklar, 1983).

1.2. Democratic development and democratisation in South Africa

The road to democracy in South Africa was marked by centuries of racial and economic discrimination and oppression as well as an unyielding sacrifice and resistance of the oppressed peoples, together with a minority of their White compatriots. Today South Africa is a new society built on a foundation of freedom and democracy. According to Mattes (2002) South Africa successfully emerged from the shadow of apparently irreconcilable conflict and unavoidable racial civil war to create a common nation. It has negotiated two democratic constitutions and has held four successful nationwide elections for national and local government. On the economic front, it has avoided the triple-digit inflation that many feared would accompany a populist economic strategy of redistribution and government intervention (Mattes, 2002). It has stabilized the expanding debt and reversed the double-digit inflation inherited from the apartheid-era government. There have been impressive gains in employment opportunities and income for the growing black middle class, and poor blacks have seen unprecedented improvements in access to basic necessities (Mattes, 2002). The 1996 constitution of the Republic of South Africa, chapter 13, Article 214, clause (2) (d), states that there is the necessity to guarantee that the provinces and municipalities are capable to deliver basic amenities and do the purposes allocated to them. Similarly, the local government Act of 1997 (Act 52 of 1997) stipulates in chapter 7, clauses 151–164, that it will shape and reinforce the capabilities and accountabilities of provinces and municipalities through sustained practical support through the recognised systems and capability building programmes focussing on serious areas such as the Integrated Development Planning (IDP), the Local Economic Development (LED), Financial Management, Service Delivery, Public Participation, assessing the influence of Government programmes in the municipality, Coordinating and Supporting policy development and implementation, supporting and monitoring delivery services

1.2.1. Donor support

For the purpose of this paper, donor assistance, donor funding, donor grant, donor aid and donor support shall be used interchangeably and variously to mean the same phenomena. Donor support is the giving of assistance, transferring or contribution of materials, properties, money and logistics, etc., as a subsidy to a cause or a fund (Amundsen, 2007b; Barkan, 1993; Brautigam, 2010; Belloni, 2008; Brader, 2006). The direction of this support is three fold: from the international community to the state, from the state to the local constituency and from NGOs and corporate organisations to the local constituency (Amundsen, 2007a; Meryer & Nils-Sjand, 2007).

1.2.2. Electoral dynamics

This paper demonstrates the value of electoral dynamics and the perspectives of democratization that forms an expressed indicator of the relationship between politics and development. The electoral dynamics that shape political institutions and governance in any democratic enterprise and experience include party affiliation, Party support, voting patterns, government and state agencies performance, economic policies towards poverty alleviation, service delivery, ethnic politics and the state democratisation programmes (Shugart et al, 1992; Robinson, 2012 and Abdulai and Hulme, 2015). It is on the bases of these electoral dynamics that informs the public trust and confidence to participate in elections which also links the peoples’ feelings and politics and democratisation.

1.2.3. Democratisation

Democratisation is a process where a country, an organisation or institution adopts a democratic regime and chooses its leaders through 1) fair and competitive elections, 2) ensure basic civil liberties, and 3) respect the rule of law. In addition, democratisation is a transition from dictatorial regime to a more democratic political regime. It is a process which leads to a more open, more participatory and less authoritarian society. Democracy is a system of government which embodies a variety of institutions and mechanisms, the ideal of political power based on the will of the people (Rummel, 1996; Carothers, 2007 and Meyers et al., 2007).

1.3. Literature review

There have been several discussions and discourses relating to the impact and activities of donor assistance to needy societies. Researchers have expressed their varied opinions depending on their theoretical leanings. Brautigam and Knack (2004) hold the view that support is associated with decrease in institutional quality. Djankov et al. (2008) think that aid has little effect on democratization. On the other hand, Goldsmith (2001), Dunning (2004) and Alsop et al. (2006) have found that aid is associated with higher levels of democracy. Furthermore, Meryer et al. (2007), Khan (2005) and Moyo (2009) are of the view that donor support neither induces effective administration nor fosters freedom. However, Carothers (2007), Haerpfer (2009), Amundsen (2007a), Wright (2009) and Kilby (2009) acknowledge that aid conditionality initiates a series of processes for the recipient country to follow. The researchers did not consider the effects of the conditionality on the socio-economic well-being of the municipality. This study sought to fill that gap. O. Bader (2005), Santiso et al. (2005) and Lull (1995) argue that, institutions of states must work efficiently in the interest for which they were established. In their view, donor agencies will place conditionality on their aid in order to ensure accountability. This unfairness in the conditionality is what Austin (1977), Berscheid (1978), Leventhal (1976) and Rawl (1971) think will create disaffection and make people unpatriotic. Eberlei (2007) holds the view that it is important to involve all stakeholders in poverty reduction activities. Gould (2005) asserts in the same vein that the donor community uses the name of the state to regulate citizens and markets, as well as by “creating shifts in the political culture of governing”. However, Kilby (2009), Blauberger (2010) and Brautigam (2010) argue that the traditional aid conditionality has been criticised as unproductive in part because of aid agencies. Moyo (2009), drawing from the social justice and the equity perspectives, agrees with this view when she suggested that aid is dead and Africa must change its international policy on trade by looking elsewhere, even to China. Literature is replete with imbalances and unfairness in the distribution of wealth, poverty alleviation programmes and other social interventions. There has been extensive research into donor assistance for needy communities and also on elections in Third World countries. Most of these are well documented and have been cited. However, there remains a relatively unexplored area which few scholars have concentrated on at a particular point in time. By failing to consider the focus of this current study, they are missing much that is relevant to the body of knowledge on the connection between donor support and electoral dynamics at the municipal or local levels which, according to De Visser (2014), is the epicentre of development. It is essential to measure the impact of municipal or local level electoral and development programmes by analysing the actions of the municipal elites against the outcomes of their decisions that affect the disadvantaged residents who vote in the elections in the municipality. Good governance and social protection programs have the ability to create a noteworthy input to the lessening of poverty and susceptibility among citizens who have been deprived of equity and fairness in the distribution of donor assistance in their communities through democratization.

1.4. Development politics and the donor assistance debate

Development assistance and its donations to some nations’ role in the world have been restarted by a structure of changes in the local and global settings (Brown et al, 2014; Bader et al, 2014 and Findley et al, 2017). Universally, the dawn of a novel class of donor countries or “aid providers” (including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Korea), the financial crunch of 2007–08 and continuing economic disorder have stunned the basics of North—South interactions (Brown et al, 2014). Among other things, Brown et al (2014) stated that the shifting global circumstances have thrown into problem the donor—recipient procedure and subtleties that have characteristically mounted research on development assistance. Against this changing context, Western aid donors, arranged by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), have embarked on important determinations to reorder the international aid structure with worldwide ingenuities such as the Monterrey Agreement, the Millennium Development Goals, the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Sustainable Development Goals. Whether or not these efforts are regarded as fruitful, these tendencies lingered to reverberate in the Canadian setting.

1.5. Municipal service provision and infrastructural disconnection

Local government (municipality) is the domain of government closest to the people, they are chosen by citizens to represent them and are accountable to guarantee that services are delivered to the community (Mershon, 2015 and Rodina et al, 2016). One way in which municipalities can do this is to deliver the service themselves through the use of their own resources—finance, equipment and employees. A municipality may also subcontract the provision of a service. In other words, it may choose to hire someone else to deliver the service but it remains the duty of the municipality to choose the service provider and to make sure that they deliver the service appropriately. Many municipalities, however, are incapable of delivering services to residents. This might be because of lack of funds or lack of capacity to provide a good service at an affordable price. Such municipalities should find other ways to ensure that the services are improved and reach the people most in need of them. Some options that they could consider are capacity-building and corporatisation. At the point where the municipality faces financial challenges, donor support comes in handy as the only way of bail out and available option to augment the municipality’s source of funds (Jorgensen et al, 2016 and Brettenny et al, 2016). It is for this reason that this paper attempts to bridge the disconnection between donor support and democratisation in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape.

The subsection below outlines and discusses the methodology used.

1.6. Research methodology

The paper utilised the qualitative research approach. Respondents from different departments were purposively selected and interviewed based on their willingness, knowledge and availability. Qualitative research design is “based on inductive reasoning”. In this paper, data was generated and relationships and patterns were revealed through the close analysis of the data through content analysis. The data was analyzed and interpreted by means of inductive abstraction and generalization” (De Vos, 1998:336). The research was intended at prompting the participants’ understanding of their world through in-depth examination of meanings, experiences and perceptions. The researcher elicited data through excerpts drawn from interview transcripts reflecting the participants’ explorations of their experiences in their own spoken words. Qualitative research design yields graphic data in the participants own written or spoken words. It thus involves ascertaining the participant’s beliefs, values, attitudes and intellectual processes, which trigger the phenomenon (Creswell, 1994). The researcher needed to investigate deep into the perception, emotions and experiences of the participants in order to gain an understanding of how they describe how donors and the municipality inhibits or promotes participation in governance and democratization.This article adopted the qualitative strategy in order to give significance to the findings since interpretation involves reliable understanding, clarifications and conceptual frameworks on the orderly observation of the phenomenon in context of the study. The choice and utilisation of the qualitative methodology reinforces the rigour of the research quality in terms of trustworthiness, validity, reliability, dependability and the ethical considerations and principles such as anonymity and confidentiality which guided the study. In addition, the paper was aimed at establishing integrity for which the study was conducted and to ensure the credibility of findings in relation to qualitative research. Again, the principles of anonymity and confidentiality were observed where the identity of respondents were kept private without disclosing their comments, names and their location. These were done to reinforce confidence and minimise distraction and risk (Fouke et al, 2011). Furthermore, the qualitative technique aided this paper to achieve its quality in findings by incorporating its indispensable values of trustworthiness, validity, reliability, dependability to ensure credibility in the research. Among those interviewed included the head of administrative staff, the Economic and finance directorate, the international Relations officer, the Housing and Transport department, the agricultural department, the executive mayor, the Council speaker, ward councillors and Party Representative Councillors. The data received were analysed and interpreted through narration using data-driven categories formed within the scope of the emerging themes such as the municipality and donor support utilisation challenge, municipal council’s relations with IEC on elections, voters’ incessant protests and community service delivery and municipality’s mismanagement, corruption and misappropriation of funds. which were validated through content analysis. The qualitative research approach utilized a systematic empirical inquiry into understanding and meaning. The research is ideal in this present study which seeks to capture the views, experiences and feelings and understanding of the officials (Babbie and Mouton, 2011). Furthermore, a qualitative approach allows the researcher to understand the research problem from participants’ perspectives since their views, insights and concerns are the foundation that informs the empirical analysis and analytical generalisations (Marvasti, 2004). The paper sought to look at bridging the disconnection between donor support, electoral dynamics and democratisation in South Africa with particular focus of the BCMM. Within the qualitative approach, in-depth semi-structured interviews were used as data collection instruments. The study focused on five clusters, (made up of East London, Bisho, Mdantsani, Zwalitsha and King William’s Town) two members of the municipal office were purposively selected from each cluster and interviewed. Data for the study was collected from March 2016 to June 2017. The subsection below discusses the results and findings of the study.

2. Results and discussion of findings

This section of the study analyses the data collected on the perceptions of BCMM officials on the municipality’s donor support, electoral dynamics and democratisation processes and how its officials can help bridge the disconnections that exist in the municipality. It also ascertained how the municipality utilises donor funds and resources in the interest of the public good of the citizens. Through the procedures and techniques outlined in the methodology, data were obtained, processed and analysed through the abstraction of emerged themes. The subsection below discusses the municipality and donor support utilisation challenge, municipal council’s relations with IEC on elections, municipality’s poverty alleviation strategy, public protests and community service delivery, donor support conditionality, democratisation and development and municipality’s mismanagement, corruption and misappropriation of funds.

2.1. Municipality and donor support utilisation challenge

South Africa faces a significant challenge in ensuring that municipalities provide optimal and professional services to its citizens. The continuing challenges citizens face, therefore, is one of ensuring that all municipalities develop the requisite capacity to translate those resources into instruments with which to confront problems of poverty and underdevelopment. The constitution of the Republic of South Africa, chapter 7, articles 152–153 stated the objects of local government and its duties in relations to essential service delivery in the municipalities. It is established that democracy cannot survive and flourish if the mass of its people remained in poverty, and in a state of inequality and unemployment without real prospects for a better life. South African municipalities could succeed in rendering effective public services if matters of poor public participation, corruption, service delivery inhibiting systemic factors, a cumbersome legislative environment, political infighting, impoverished intergovernmental fiscal regime and the low capacity of municipalities were adequately addressed (Manuel et al., 2016). The interventions must make a positive impact on the way the municipality meet such challenges as public participation, programme management as well as creating conditions for sustainable service delivery and economic development. The monitoring of service delivery needs thorough effective governance and service administration as crucial elements (Chawla et al, 2016). In the light of the challenges, there is prudent need to utilise donor support assistance in the greater interest of the majority of the citizens to ensure equality, eradicate poverty and fix the employment, sanitation, water, food, housing, energy, education, health and security problems (French, 2016). Below is the view of a respondents during the discussions:

We do have donor support, yes. There are different types of donor funding. I cannot give you the exact one that you want; our finance directorate can give you the specific funding. There are different types of donor funding. Some agreements come from the governments; there are some of the agreements that the city has got with other cities. So some of them come from those other cities; some donor funds are used on education, health, energy of housing infrastructure in rural communities. It depends on terms and conditions of the donor (Interviewee 2, BCMM official, East London, May 2017).

2.2. Challenges facing municipality

Pereira et al. (2016), Nanni et al. (2016) and Azimoh et al. (2016) observed and stated that energy and housing were challenges facing the municipalities in South Africa. The following are interview excerpts from respondents on the most challenging areas of the municipality’s development:

“ … there have been a lot of challenges facing the municipality. There are housing problems for the poor and the homeless, the crime rate here is very high and food supply is also a problem” (Interviewee 2, Municipal officer, East London, May 2017).

and

“ … Well, you know, with the Eastern Cape and BCM in particular, the potential for agricultural development is huge because land is not necessarily a problem eemm and we have the talents, we have a lot of unemployed young people but what is lacking is the capital to make use or fully exploit that land because the world has now shifted.” (Interviewee 5, Municipal officer, East London, May 2017).

2.3. Municipality’s poverty alleviation programme

Kwon et al. (2014) observed that good governance lightens poverty only in middle-income countries, not in the least developed ones. Ellis et al. (2006) outlined how low household incomes in rural areas of all countries are connected with low land and livestock holdings, high reliance on food crop agriculture, and low monetisation of the rural economy. These adverse factors are in some instances made more difficult by land sub-division at inheritance, declining civil security in rural areas, worsening access to proper agronomic advice and inputs, and predatory taxation by decentralised district councils. Below were some excerpts from respondents during the discussions;

“ … donor support in the municipality reduces poverty through academic skills training, vocational skills training, Agricultural entrepreneurship and Agro-processing.

2.4. Municipal council’s relations with IEC on elections

The constitution of South Africa has empowered the municipalities by the provisions of chapter 7, Articles 152–153 to ensure the development of the local constituencies. As a result, the municipality and the Independent Electoral Commission collaborate in election management, According to De Visser (2005), the local strategy was annually to be revised and checked by a system of performance management. It is also enacted in the Municipal Systems Act. Importantly “there is an intergovernmental aspect to the IDP in that it should be the central point for national and provincial planning. In other words, the IDP should be the process through which municipalities become the epicentre of developmental activities of national, provincial and other actors” (De Visser, 2005). This assertion was concurred to by the following respondent as follows:

“ … The municipality assists in providing general services to the elections, while the IEC conducts the elections. The role we play is to provide services if they need water, we provide water etc. The essential services that the IEC will require the municipality to help. That is the only role the municipality plays. The IEC coordinates elections. I think that is the only democracy people know, and that is the only democracy people are used to, and that is the only democracy known across the world. Some are not coming up something new, no one has seen yet. The democracy people know is through the election, there is no other way. That is the type of democracy known across the world, unless someone comes up with something new” (Interviewee 4, Municipal officer, East London, May 2017).

2.5. Public protests and community service delivery

Botes (2016), Zuem (2014) and De Kadt et al (2017) stated that local communities protest against government’s inability to provide adequate services including water, electricity, housing, roads and sanitation is worrying. Botes et al (2016) observed that protest take place not only because of the perceived slow pace of service delivery but often due to the poor quality of services and the practices of patronage and inclusion associated with their delivery. Botes et al. (2016) said community protests should be taken to reflect a genuine rebellion by South African poor. The following are excerpts of interviews from respondents on the extent to which the municipality suffers public protestations over service delivery:

“ … Yes. Remember it comes with different issues. Sometimes it is the issue of priority. They fail to prioritize what is going to be done first. Then you have a community that wants priority number five to being converted to priority number one in terms of what was discussed is not priority no. 1. That is what is causing a lot of protests. Some issues connected to politics within the area. They are not mostly related to service delivery” (Interviewee 2, Municipal officer, King William’s Town, May 2017).

and

“ … it has suffered a lot of voter protest, where people, the demands of the people is if you don’t give us this, we will not vote. Yeah, no, that has been the trend really but social protest before elections becomes a big driver yeah and then it does a bit but no it has been a but again it was seasonal. You see now after the elections, they keep quite. We have a situation where very few, I say when you look at the newspaper, we have had very few protest now after the elections but before then everybody put pressure, demands, we want service delivery now, don’t tell me we are still planning you know or you don’t have money or there is still budget constraints or things will be followed you know, it can’t be, unfortunately there is shortage of funding” (Interviewee 2, Municipal officer, East London, May 2017).

Pereira et al. (2016), Nanni et al. (2016) and Azimoh et al. (2016) have concurred that energy and housing were challenges facing the municipalities. Below are excerpts from respondents on the most challenging areas of the municipalty’s development:

“ … there have been a lot of challenges facing the municipality. There are housing problems for the poor and the homeless, the crime rate here is very high and food supply is also a problem” (Interviewee 2, Municipal officer, East London, May 2017).

and

“ … Well, you know, with the Eastern Cape and BCM in particular, the potential for agricultural development is huge because land is not necessarily a problem eemm and we have the talents, we have a lot of unemployed young people but what is lacking is the capital to make use or fully exploit that land because the world has now shifted.” (Interviewee 5, Municipal officer, East London, May 2017).

2.6. Donor support conditionality, democratisation and development

According to Szent-Ivanyi et al (2015), the flow of aid have reacted to events of democratisation in developing countries. He observed that donors, in general, have a tendency to react to visible, major democratic transitions by increasing aid to the partner country, but no significant increases can be identified in the case of countries introducing smaller democratic reforms. Similarly, this was succinctly captured by Edgell et al. (2017, p. 1) as follows:

“ … Successful multiparty elections in sub-Saharan Africa are associated with incremental democratisation.Experiences with reported multiparty elections have substantive importance for democratisation in sub-Saharan Africa, the post-communist region, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia. The reiterated arrangements of multiparty elections are associated with enhancements to liberal and deliberative components of democracy more so than egalitarian components”.

During the discussions a respondent has the following to say:

“ … Indeed donor conditionality promotes good governance, transparency, free and fair representation. Inspite of its many faults and weakness, it is still the best form of system to check corrupt and irresponsible leadership in this part of the world” (interviwee 1, Bisho, April, 2016).

The subsection below shows the municipality’s response to accusations of mismanagement, corruption and misappropriation of funds

2.7. Municipality’s mismanagement, corruption and misappropriation of funds

There has been rampant reports of corruption, misappropriation and mismanagement of public funds at the municipality. Public sector corruption is a canker that has plagued our society. According to Gottschalk et al. (2017) public corruption poses a fundamental threat to our national security and our way of life. According to Rispel et al. (2015) corruption is a problem in South Africa’s healthcare sector. Rispel et al. (2015) noted that corruption is influenced by adverse agent selection, lack of mechanisms to detect corruption and a failure to sanction those involved in corrupt activities. This is an affront to the social justice and equity theorists who consider these practices as a distortion and aberration of justice and fairness in society (Rawls, 1971; Weiner, 1992; Ostrom, 2009). This was corroborated by some respondents during the discussion as follows:

“ … Yes, I agree, yes it is true it happens, it happens. Hey look, in my view they become institutions of government that are largely are at the receiving end of what I call “private accumulation” which is rampant in even in South Africa. What do I mean by that? I mean a situation where politicians are not vigilant in ensuring that public spending is done prudently, effectively and efficiently but allow loopholes to exist for them as politicians” (interviewee 2, Municipal officer, Bisho, May 2017).

and

“ … That was in bad taste. And there is a politician, a regional secretary who was embroiled in that scandal, who facilitated that transaction to occur. So those are the loopholes that are created in the system, and politicians are just taking advantage of that in moving forward. Why is corruption something that is prevalent in all the three spheres of government? It has become rampant at this particular level. This is because, all the other three spheres of government want to take advantage of what happens. Yeah, it is true. It is happening including in our own municipality. We are not spared. We are in the news now, today for instance, in terms of unauthorized expenditure, more than a billion rand, which is a loophole created by not being vigilant enough to close them. So that money is spent. So we are in it also” (interviewee 2, Municipal officer, East London, May 2017).

The respondents above have reiterated the call for prudent use of public funds. Corruption in developing countries are often heard: corruption is widespread; the costs of fighting corruption are excessively high; and the few resources that exist should be spent on enforcement measures, such as high-profile government watchdog agencies (Gray et al, 1998, Robinson, 2021 and Rose-Ackerman, 1997). But, in fact, there is increasing evidence that the economic costs of corruption are enormous; levels of corruption vary widely among developing countries; controlling corruption is achievable; and strategies to curb corruption need to pay more attention to its root causes—and thus to the roles of inducements, prevention, and specific economic and institutional reforms Gray et al, 1998, Robinson, 2021 and Rose-Ackerman (1997). The subsection below discusses the recommendations and the conclusion.

2.8. Recommendations

2.8.1. The following recommendations have been proposed to tackle and bridge the yawning gap between donor support and democratisation in the BCM municipality

Donor agencies and electoral financiers should eschew corrupt practices but should ensure free and fair elections. Municipal administrators must ensure that funds allocated for elections and development are utilized accordingly to improve the life of its constituents. The municipality should exploit thoroughly all the benefits accruing from Sister-City relations beside the selected informal programmes it is currently pursuing. Donor sponsors, democracy financiers and municipal administrators must improve government structures and administration by ensuring greater enforcement of co-owning service delivery problems. State institutions must embark on aggressive monitoring of provinces and municipalities by exercising oversight of donor assisted programmes to create employment, eradicate or reduce poverty and bridge inequality. Donor agencies’ and municipalities’ capacity to meet long-term transformative objectives in their work for development and social justice has been scrutinised for their feeble roots in civil society in the face of rapid technology. As a result, agencies’ remain poorly positioned to influence the real drivers of social change. It is important that agencies or municipalities can strengthen their threshold by building bridges between grass root organisations, local and national-level structures and processes by applying local context knowledge to strengthen their roles for empowerment and social transformation.

2.9. Conclusions

This paper has analyzed the roles and functions of the BCMM in donor assisted projects and the electoral administration in the municipality. The paper assessed the functions of the BCMM with regard to elections and poverty alleviation strategies in the municipality and the effects of donor conditionalities on citizens. It finally looked at how the municipality has handled accusations of corruption, misappropriation of funds and mismanagement. Good governance has helped reshaped the structure of political institutions as a result of aid conditionalities that solicited reforms for regular free and fair elections, transparency, consolidation of civil liberties, ensuring peoples’ right to vote, the right to contests for public office, the right to acquire properties and the freedom to self-actualisation. The most successful projects and programs in the municipality are those that give local partners real ownership over the development process. This paper has shown that donor support induces neo-liberal democratization such as the privatisation of the economy, deregulation and economic restructuring towards free market economy etc. The impression was created that these activities are pursued in the best interest of the marginalised and the poor in society for them to feel that the agenda is working in their interest and welfare but the evidence attest to the fact that the agenda is to serve the whims and caprices of donor elite

The findings on this paper on the role and functions of the Buffalo City municipality on the development and the electoral administration has revealed numerous problems and challenges that confront the municipality. The findings showed that the municipal council plays an important and active role in the electoral administration of the municipality. The municipal’s city manager indeed becomes the face of the elections. In all elections, he becomes the municipal electoral officer (MEO) who together with the IEC administer the elections. It has emerged that funding for elections in the municipality emanates from the government through the national treasury. The municipal council assist in providing infrastructure and services to deprived and rural areas. The municipality attracted some donor support for development. Most of the support is based on sister-city relations. The support was specific for some targeted projects such as energy, sanitation, environment, industry, technology and technical cooperation and transfers, for capacity building and boardwalk. There are past projects with certain countries like China, Sweden and the Netherlands which were utilised for educational exchanges, boardwalks and capacity building. The municipality is heavily challenged with youth unemployment, agriculture, energy, housing, corruption, and crime and security issues.

Acknowledgments

University of Fort Hare (UFH) University of Fort Hare (UFH)National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) in South Africa under the CODESRIA–African Pathways programme. Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre (GMRDC) University of Fort Hare.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

H K Bosompem

Bosompem, H. K Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology. The report on this paper on bridging the disconnection between donor support and democratisation highlights the relevance of maintaining and promoting community-state collaboration to thoroughly serve the needs of deprived societies. This paper ties in with my research interest in social stratification and Social identity which utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods. It also aligns with my interest in Demography and Participatory Community Development Strategies, Political Sociology with interest in Power, good governance and transparency, fair political party representative system, social accountability, marginalized group representation, equity, social & electoral justice and advanced Sociological theory. In addition, I have great concerns for effective citizen engagement to fight poverty, unemployment, inequality, crime, violence and gangsterism.

Prof F H Nekhwevha is an Associate professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Fort Hare. He was the recent acting Dean for the faculty of Social Science and Humanities. Prof Nekhwevha has taught, supervised and graduated many Honours, Masters and PhD students at the university. Prof is an astute and an accomplished scholar whose major work focussed on Research and Development Research, Development Studies and Politics, Social theories and Sociology of Development.

F H Nekhwevha

Prof F H Nekhwevha is an Associate professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Fort Hare. He was the recent acting Dean for the faculty of Social Science and Humanities. Prof Nekhwevha has taught, supervised and graduated many Honours, Masters and PhD students at the university. Prof is an astute and an accomplished scholar whose major work focussed on Research and Development Research, Development Studies and Politics, Social theories and Sociology of Development.