Constraints on Public
Date
2011-04-19
Authors
Van Rooyen, David Douglas
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Abstract
This study was conducted to establish constraints of public participation on matters of
Integrated Development Plan in Ditsobotla Local Municipality. The Ditsobotla Local
Municipality was formed after the Provincial and National Elections held in
December 2000. The amalgamation of the towns Lichtenburg, Coligny, Biesiesvlei
and Itsoseng led to the newly demarcated area of Ditsobotla. Lichtenburg as the head
office is centrally situated within the North West Province. The municipal area covers
about 6465.19 square kilometres with an estimated population of 148 832. Like any
other municipalities the municipality is obliged by the constitution to develop
mechanisms that will encourage and promote public participation on matters of
government. The IDP approach is supposed to be based on the principle of inclusive
and representative consultation and/ or participation of all residents, communities and
stakeholders within a municipality, as well as representatives from other spheres of
government, sector specialist, and other resource persons. Due to the size, diversity
and spread of Ditsobotla municipality the participation process was supposed to have
been guided by the following basic principles:
• Structured and institutionalised participation
• Creation of more opportunities for participation
• Provision of adequate time for broader consultation and
• Participation and consultation during all phases of IDP process.
Pertinent literature was reviewed. In this study the data was obtained from answers to
questionnaires and probing interviews that followed questionnaires. Analysis clearly
showed that by confining public participation to only one form of participation
mechanism, by consulting and allowing participation to happen on the eve of IDP and
budget approval, as well as the non-functionality of IDP representative forum the
Ditsobotla municipality failed to adhere to the cited participation principles. There are
constraints inhibiting public participation in Ditsobotla IDP process. The report
concludes by providing suggestions for correcting identified challenges and thus,
Constraints of Public Participation in Ditsobotla Integrated Development Planning
vii
enabling the public to participate on matters of integrated development planning
processes
Description
MM - P&DM
Keywords
Local authorities, Public participation, Integrated development planning