This article is the sixth in a series of blogs and opinion pieces, providing a context for and presenting research findings from Sibikwa Arts Centre’s Urban Culture, Democracy and Governance Labs. Supported by the Commonwealth Foundation, this Urban Labs initiative is a pilot programme exploring cultural and creative approaches for pragmatic public participation in local policy development and implementation – actioning democracy in local communities across the City of Ekurhuleni.
The Urban Labs Process
Sibikwa Arts Centre’s Urban, Cultural, Democracy and Governance Labs, which have been taking place in the City of Ekurhuleni’s communities of Daveyton, Benoni and Tembisa since March 2023, have proved to be a much-needed platform for communities, local government, and other stakeholders to engage on multiple local development and governance issues. What has been key is the deployment of innovative, creative and cultural approaches to facilitate these often difficult, time-consuming, and complex deliberations, leading to the communities’ formulation and submission of recommendations to the municipality for the betterment of all publics, public spaces and public services.
The Municipal IDP Process
When national government introduced the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) through the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No. 32 of 2000) making it a statutory requirement, it was a move meant to ensure that local development planning was ‘integrated’, decentralised and democratised, allowing communities, business, labour, and other stakeholders’ participation in overcoming, among other things, the Apartheid spatial planning. Though this super plan has had some successes in different parts of the country, the reality on the ground, for many local municipalities, has been far from the ideal, as evidenced by social, economic and political tensions, rampant corruption, collapsing of essential service provision and the regular occurrence of ‘service delivery protests’.
As highlighted by the programme’s public policy facilitator, following the April 2024 Urban Labs, “it appears that the process of prioritizing needs is still a sticky point, the practice seems to be that it is the council that has the final decision on what goes into the final Integrated Development Plan… This necessitates a revisitation on the concept of public participation in the IDP process”. This and other challenges have meant that IDPs have had limited impact in improving the quality of life of those who inhabit these communities, not only in the Ekurhuleni Local Municipality but in other municipalities across the country too.
Part of the failure of the IDP could be that though what it seeks to achieve is clear, there is no clear agreed upon culturally specific methodology to facilitate a collective action plan so that the dynamics of power and apathy, which often characterise engagements of this kind, could be subverted.
Ekurhuleni Communities’ IDP Submission Process
What has allowed Sibikwa’s Urban Labs to be effective is how they have centred culturally appropriate approaches to ensure that all stakeholders, especially the community, are included and understand that it is their right and responsibility to actively participate in this important process about issues that concern them. Beyond that, the communities were urged to come up with bottom-up “community-driven solutions” which tap into the assets that communities already have, using the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach which is part and parcel of the Urban Labs design.
Through the Urban Labs, activities such as “games, nominal group techniques, plenaries, scenarios, and storytelling” have been successfully deployed and the communities of Daveyton, Benoni and Tembisa have been able to formulate and make submissions to the Ekurhuleni Local Municipality as part of the 2024/2025 IDP process.
Some of the issues which form part of the submissions for residents of the broader Benoni area, include the need for basic customer care services to be brought closer to community locations through temporary or mobile Multi-Departmental Service Stations on an agreed frequency each month. In Daveyton the key issue raised has been around waste management and the lack of maintenance of public spaces and the community has, among other things, proposed that some of these spaces become vegetable gardens and Community Seed Banks, endorsed by the municipality and managed by the residents who may benefit from these initiatives. For Tembisa, the focus has been on issues of youth unemployment and limited access and support for youths development and self-actualisation, and some solutions to this challenge have been proposed.
An All-Of-Society, Whole-Of-Government Community Action Strategy
What has emerged from the Urban Labs is the need for “achievable community led and government supported solutions”, with one of the outcomes being a “community action strategy” for public participation in matters of local government.
Local governance is significantly influenced by entrenched societal norms, which shape how power and inclusion are wielded; impacting transparent communication and inclusive governance practices. The Urban Labs worked towards garnering the participation of all members of the community, to overcome the barriers that youth and women face in recognising their right and responsibility to participate in community development and governance.
With enhanced civic education, improved attitudes toward active citizenship, and informed participation of residents in the Ekurhuleni Local Municipality’s 2024/2025 IDP consultation process, currently underway, the hope for a marked difference (to previous processes) has been made pragmatic. If effectively implemented, community submissions and contributions to an all-of-society approach to local development and governance should see significant and sustainable change taking place in these three communities.