Constraints on Public

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