Abstract:
The study presents findings that emanated from assessing and analysing
the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the effectiveness of public
participation using Polokwane Local Municipality as a case study. The study
argues for the empowerment of communities with knowledge on the
available mechanism to fulfil the dream of a culture of participation. This is
to increase prospects of a unified perception towards the value of public
participation in improving local governance. Local governance
accountability can be gauged by the extent to which they practice public
participation in decision-making in addressing the challenges of the day.
This is done by putting or encouraging community participation in the
processes that would help address the challenges of the day, including the
Integrated Development Plan (IDP) processes. The study applied a mixed methods design and a combination of thematic data analysis and Microsoft
Excel (spreadsheet) to analyse the data gathered. Structured
questionnaires were distributed to respective community members in the
selected community: Ga Dikgale. Furthermore, face-to-face interviews were
conducted with the Polokwane municipal officials responsible for the IDP,
the municipal manager, and the IDP manager.
The findings of the study showed that public participation during the
COVID-19 pandemic was viewed as one of the ways of enabling interaction
between local government and citizens through social media platforms.
However, citizens faced challenges in the process of public participation,
and that impacted their level of public participation. It should, therefore, be
borne in mind that to improve local governance, it is necessary to look at
the extent to which communities are engaged in the processes of improving
local governance. Participation of communities in the development planning
of their communities can thus help improve local governance
