An alternative to democratic exclusion? The case for participatory local budgeting in South Africa

Abstract

This article makes a case for transforming local governance to embrace inclusion and accountability through participatory local budgeting. South Africa’s history of participatory local governance and policy-making, which was incorporated to some extent in post-apartheid institutions of local government, implied some intention to follow Brazil’s ground-breaking participatory local governance model. Yet, despite the possibility that such an approach could advance democratic accountability and result in policies that favour the needs of the poor, the African National Congress (ANC) government has pursued a centralised, technocratic approach. Facing local governments in crisis and the possibility of electoral losses in the 2016 municipal elections, will the ANC embrace participatory local budgeting, and in doing so, transform its mode of governance? Implausible as this may seem, there are also risks inherent in maintaining the status quo, which threatens to undermine popular support for the ANC, especially at the local level.

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