Local government is obliged to create an enabling environment that allows space for communities to interact with municipality on an equal footing. In view of the above conclusions, the researcher makes the following recommendations:
- The municipality should use joint decision-making in deep-rooted conflicts that are caused by fundamental human needs for security, identity, recognition and development. The mentioned causes cannot be compromised, and they need to be accommodated through problem-solving rather than power-sharing bargaining. Khutsong’s violent conflict was an example of deep-rooted conflict where the communities of Khutsong did not want to be incorporated into the North West Province because of lack of development and insecurity in the province; and poor economic conditions. Some authors in the literature like Pruitt and Kim (2004: 190) maintained that using problem-solving to negotiate the end of a deep-rooted conflict calls for a joint effort which includes public opinion to
find mutually acceptable solutions for all parties. The author believes that the public opinions approach is the best way to solve social unrest and violent conflict in South Africa.
- The Merafong Municipality should embark on the municipal assessment of public participation and Integrated Development Planning, using more qualitative methods. The assessment should focus on levels of participation from different sectors of the community, the awareness of public participation and Integrated Development Plannings amongst residents, integration mechanisms for inputs from communities, capacity requirements to ensure meaningful participation and monitoring and evaluation of the outcomes of public participation processes. The outcomes of the assessment should inform a review of public participation in the municipality;
- There should be a review of public participation policy as the current policy does not meet its stated aims and objectives. Public participation policy should place more emphasis on the empowerment components of public participation and also include the need for capacity building amongst the different stakeholders. The policy should encompass the developmental goals of participation which promote change in the socio-economic and political position of residents and place greater emphasis on implementation of the policy.
- The existing Performance Management Systems (PMS) should be strengthened to ensure proper collation of data collected from public participation events. Such should be analysed, prioritised and forwarded to the responsible service delivery departments and the Integrated Development Planning Unit for integration and implementation into broader planning process. Most importantly the PMS should have a monitoring mechanism that would enable residents and officials to follow up the extent to which the Municipality has responded to the needs expressed by the community. The PMS should further enable officials to provide feedback to communities regarding service delivery issues and local community needs raised by communities;
131
- The Municipality Public Participation Unit and Integrated Development Planning Unit should develop a capacity building programme for residents on the importance of public participation and its developmental benefits. Furthermore, the capacity building programme should encompass technical skills and knowledge required for public participation, i.e, how to do written submissions, petitions, information regarding the budget process and its link to IDP. Special attention should be placed on ward committees as a key component of public participation, ensuring communities’ voice in the affairs of the local government and a mechanism for accountability of the ward committees, councillors and other local government institutions.
- Community structures like the Merafong Democratic Forum (MDF); Khutsong Ministers’ Fraternal (KMF), Carletonville Taxi Association, and Street vendors Union can be the best civil organisations that can be recommended, encouraged, and be incorporated into the Municipality in the sustainable long-term in order to address ongoing and long-term development of the people of Khutsong.
- The policy documents, by-laws, budget and Integrated Development Planning documents that are referred for public comment should be simplified. They should be written at a level of language that is easily understandable for residents with low literacy levels. Policy used by government officials and political office bearers should be in local vernacular language, when communicating with communities or an interpreter should be used if there is another group who does not understand the language. This will create a better understanding of community roles and encourage the community to take an active involvement in community issues. Political leaders should not give preferential treatment to their political acquaintances.
- A skilled audit amongst officials and councillors is important. The purpose is to assess the levels of understanding, knowledge and competence of officials and councillors with regard to public participation, Integrated Development Planning and service delivery. The outcomes of the audit should feed into the development
of a capacity building programme that would deal with weakness and build on strengths in order to ensure effective public participation in Merafong.
Areas for future research
Based on the findings, conclusions and recommendations emanating from this study, the suggested areas of future research are:
- A national audit to assess capacity requirements of officials, civil society organisations, councillors and communities;
- More in-depth research into alternatives for improvement of existing mechanisms for public participation in South Africa to ensure greater citizen participation; and - Examinations of better intergovernmental relationships and co-operative
governance between all spheres of government.
133 6.5 Conclusion
This mixed method study has critically explored the impact of public opinion on post-violent conflict recovery processes. The author has used first-hand information gathered through interviews with community members, political representatives and municipal officials and additional data about the conflict and public/community participation through an extensive literature analysis to portray the impact of community involvement in developmental initiatives in municipalities. The author has presented key findings about the causes of Merafong conflict from the data collected in the study by means of literature review and face-to-face interviews. This last chapter has reflected on the study and the process of data collection and analysis, presented the summary of the research findings, and discussed limitations and significance of the study. The author has given recommendations for further research.
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