By Tonderai Chiyindiko and Caryn Green, 31 May 2024

This article is the seventh and last 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 Final Urban Lab

Saturday 20 April 2024 was a special day for community members from Benoni, Daveyton and Tembisa who had been part of Sibikwa Arts Centre’s Urban Culture, Democracy and Governance Labs since March 2023. 

In the presence of fellow community members, local government officials, project facilitators and Sibikwa staff, this final Urban Lab was the culmination of this first and one of a kind intervention, which utilised cultural and creative methods to foster dialogue, partnership, and development within the arena of local governance, as discussed in the fifth article of this series: Building Social Capital For Collective Change: A Creative And Culturally Sensitive Approach.

Rani Lutchman (Actonville): I thank Sibikwa Arts Centre for giving us the opportunity to participate in the Urban Labs in preparation for the IDP review consultation. A great accomplishment and achievement by all involved. The sessions were brilliant – the facilitators and participants were a very accommodating pool. I particularly appreciated the mapping activities to identify existing community development initiatives and the root cause of community challenges regarding public participation in local governance. I also appreciated the sessions on understanding the Municipal Finance Act, budgets, and related economic challenges; and that community building and information sharing that was present in each Urban Lab session. Hopefully the work and relationship between the community and the municipality will be strengthened as a result of such initiatives.

Documenting the Process, Outcomes and Insights

From the contextual understanding used to inform the planning and design of the Urban Labs, which was the focus of the first and second articles: The Rise And Rise Of Culture-Led Urban Development and The Missing Dimension: Why Culture Matters In Local Urban Development, subsequent articles have not only tried to capture some of the key developments and learnings, but also tried to identify and highlight best practices from what was a very complex and uncertain pilot process. 

What has emerged and is quite clear from these engagements is that the concept of ‘inclusive governance’ can work and that communities are ready and willing to play a significant part in local governance matters, so long as the processes and structures of governance consider priorities and practices suiting culture, community and effective channels of communication. This concept of A Return To Afro-Centric Governance And Development is the axis on which third article of this series was written.

Tshepo Mohoto (Daveyton): My experience at the Urban Labs was phenomenal; I gained and learnt things more valuable than expected, like how to hold our government accountable; how we can communicate more effectively; how we can plan to ensure that whatever it is that we want to do, gets to government and is considered; and how we can collaborate as the community to ensure that certain things do come to light. 

The level of information that other people have in our society about different things, also supported the need for us to collaborate from our different corners and spaces, as the public. We really need to collaborate to work for a better society. I look forward to myself and others learning more about these things so that in the long term, the public can be appointed on oversight committees, so that we as the public have the executive authority, just like the administrators and the politicians. I think that when that happens, this tripod will definitely work wonders in terms of our governance.

Adopting the Urban Labs Approach 

One hopes that the ‘all of society’ approach – which has been the cornerstone of the Urban Culture, Democracy and Governance Labs, as presented in article four of this series: An Introduction To Sibikwa’s Urban Labs: A Methodology For Collective Change – is something which can find its way in how local governance can be a force for change to ensure a real ‘better life for all’, beyond the slogans. 

Local government has often seemed unwilling or chosen to completely ignore the importance of, among other things, conducting proper and well-intentioned consultative processes, measured and visible implementation and provide constant and detailed feedback to those communities. This has not been the case in the Urban Labs.

Poppy Mohlala (Actonville): Participating in the Urban Labs has increased my knowledge and shifted the way I think about service delivery matters, to the point where I am now able to differentiate between the laws, bylaws and procedures regarding service delivery. The Urban Labs opened our eyes and minds to enable us to challenge things in different ways than we used to. The integrated approach to learning about legislature creatively, was impactful. I really learnt a lot, and today I am able to present my input in various spaces, because I am now well informed about how things should go, unlike before when I would do things without having insight. Coming from a background of voluntary community work, without any support, this process was enlightening in terms of the need to educate ourselves on how to approach things. Our initial expectations of the process were far below what we received as we were not sure what to expect – only to find that it was about empowering ourselves. We are very grateful for committing ourselves to the process and being able to grow our understanding of what we are capable of knowing. 

If adopted as one of the key delivery methodologies, it could mean that some of the continuous issues are resolved early, and that communities themselves would feel empowered to hold those that govern them to account. 

This of course would be beneficial to the community, but not so much to those who have been benefitting from rampant and unchecked corruption which has played a part in crippling critical service provision in various municipalities across the country.

Concluding Remarks on the Value of the Urban Labs

In terms of outcomes, there are many, but perhaps the most significant one being that Sibikwa Arts Centre’s Urban Culture, Democracy and Governance Labs has helped re-imagine and change the ways in which communities engage with local governance as epitomised by community participants making submissions to the 2024 IDP process, as detailed in article six of this series: Moving From Community Dialogues To Collective Change Action. This would not have happened without this project and without the process which allowed community members to understand that throwing stones and burning community assets are not solutions, but utilising constitutional processes can ensure solution-oriented development and greater sustainability. 

Disema Mohoto (Daveyton): What I can share about my experience of the Urban Labs is that I have come out more informed that when I entered. I really enjoyed the experience because it is not every day that you get to learn about legislature and have fun while doing so. I hope that this initiative can grow so that other communities get a chance to access this knowledge.