View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository
View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository
View/Open - University of Zululand Institutional Repository
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
The various sector departments must provide relevant information for this. They need to<br />
contribute their expertise and technical knowledge to the formulation <strong>of</strong> municipal policies<br />
and strategies. They must be guided by municipal IDPs in the allocation <strong>of</strong> resources at the<br />
local level. The National Department <strong>of</strong> Provincial and Local Government must issue<br />
legislation and policy in support <strong>of</strong> lOPs, including lOP guidelines. They are responsible for<br />
providing financial assistance and a national training framework. It is their responsibility to<br />
establish planning and implementation on management support system (Local Economic<br />
Development, 200I).<br />
3.2.2.5 Public participation<br />
According to Davids et al., (2005), public participation is, in essence, the empowerment <strong>of</strong><br />
people to effectively involve themselves in creating the structures and in designing policies<br />
and programmes that serve the interests <strong>of</strong> all as well as to effectively contribute to the<br />
development process and share equitably in its benefits. Many <strong>of</strong>the new municipalities are<br />
too large to allow for the direct participation <strong>of</strong> all residents in complex planning processes.<br />
Participation and integrated development planning therefore need clear rules and procedures<br />
specifying who is to participate or to be consulted on behalf<strong>of</strong>whom, and on which issue.<br />
All municipalities must promote public participation, but they also need to create conducive<br />
conditions to that effect. This should be done with a view to the needs <strong>of</strong> disadvantaged or<br />
marginalised groups in accordance with the conditions and capacities in a municipality.<br />
Public participation has to be institutionalised in order to ensure that all residents <strong>of</strong> the<br />
country have a right to participate. Public participation has to be structured to provide<br />
sufficient room for diversity in styles and cultures. <strong>Institutional</strong>ising participation means<br />
setting clear minimum requirements for participation procedures, which apply to all<br />
municipalities by means <strong>of</strong>regulations, and providing a legally recognised framework.<br />
This study seeks to reveal how stakeholders perceive the existing institutional structures in<br />
terms <strong>of</strong> public participation and recommends a market-accommodating decision-making<br />
model that are efficient and effective in the study area. An understanding <strong>of</strong> this perspective<br />
is to bring the social and economic change that the study area will experience through<br />
transparent and co-operative guidance.<br />
61