The nature of participatory communication in Ward Meetings of Ward 12 in the Jouberton Township of Matlosana Municipality

Abstract

Communication is an important facilitator of smooth and successful relationships between municipal officials and local citizens. Moreover, it is an important tool used in fostering citizen participation which is required by law in the South African local government sphere. This is because for active citizen participation to be achieved, municipal officials need to organise some communicative forums with local citizens and these forums need to be used to foster rapport and co-existence between them and citizens. However, various studies conducted around citizen participation in the South African local government sphere reveal several challenges that are experienced in various municipalities. Arguably, these challenges are caused by erroneous facilitation of a top-down communication approach at local government; the lack of a feedback provision mechanism in terms of communication between municipal officials and local citizens; or the lack of citizen empowerment process where local community members are afforded the space to exercise any form of decision-making so that their inputs can inform the local development and social change agenda. In terms of research, although there is an existing substantial corpus of literature conducted on participatory communication in local government; gaps still exist, where there is a dearth of research focusing on how communication and participation are facilitated in municipal ward meetings. Much of the work that has been conducted primarily focuses on various aspects, such as citizen participation in local economic development and citizen participation in integrated development planning (IDP), amongst other key themes. Therefore, this study employs a qualitative research approach to explore the nature of participation and communication in municipal ward meetings, using ward 12 in Jouberton township of Matlosana local municipality as a case study. Purposive sampling was used to select respondents. The empirical side of the study comprised semi-structured interviews with three municipal ward committee members as well as focus-group interviews with a total of 23 community members in extensions 17, 22, and 24 of Ward 12 in Jouberton Township. Analysis of the collected data revealed that Ward 12 in Jouberton township of Matlosana municipality is facing challenges when it comes to citizen participation. The researcher found opposing views from participants on both sides regarding participation. On the one hand, officials said citizen participation existed; while residents, on the other hand, held the view that was opposing the officials. Such contradictions are concerning, especially because, by law, all municipalities are required to ensure that all development planning is informed by citizen participation. The study also revealed that power and decision-making lie with municipal officials. This is a problem because some community members argued that during meetings, they find themselves disempowered, hence they do not see the meaning of such meetings. From these findings, it was clear that participation, dialogue, and empowerment cannot be divorced from each other when considering the role that they play in citizen participation processes in ward meetings. The study makes several recommendations related to how participatory communication can be improved at ward meetings; and highlights the need to re-establish relationships between participants, for attitude change to take place between all parties, for educational opportunities to be provided for residents to enhance their participation and alleviate civic apathy, and the need for a consultative approach to be applied.