The politics of ward committees in enhancing community development through democratic participation in the perspective of structuration

Abstract

The paper aims to explore the politics of ward committees in enhancing community development through participation. In post-1994 South Africa, ward committees are perceived as one of the key structures that are constitutionally required to be established to enhance community development through democratic participation. These structures are envisioned as playing a critical role in ensuring a contact between local people at the grass-roots level and their local authorities. Despite the conspicuous successes of establishing the ward committees at the municipal level, their effectiveness in executing their constitutional mandate remains an issue. This is because such structures have been ‘caught up’ in ambiguous political contestations at the local level. Hence, these structures are perceived as ‘watchdogs’ and an extension of the dominant party from the ward level to the municipality level. This negatively affects their ability to progressively realize their constitutional mandate. This paper adopts a secondary research approach to explore the politics of ward committees in enhancing community development. Gidden’s theory of structuration is employed as a theoretical lens to interpret the findings. Based on this theory, the paper highlights that ward committees are ineffective in promoting community development through democratic participation because of the environment within which they operate. Thus, the environment where these structures operate is characterized by power dynamics, and intra- and inter-political fighting, which provide a context within which they can operate. The paper concludes by recommending that the government should consider professionalizing ward committees to enhance their effectiveness in the complex environment within which they operate.