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Masters Degrees (Policy and Development Studies)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/14278

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Browsing Masters Degrees (Policy and Development Studies) by Subject "Citizen participation."

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    Public participation in the formulation of public policy: the case of the Lesotho National Decentralisation Policy in Maseru district.
    (2017) Khiba, Manukuebe Bernice.; Manicom, Desiree Pushpeganday.
    This study analyses public participation in the formulation of public policy. The concept public participation has gained great attention over the decades with development scholars emphasising that it is an inevitable need for democratic governance. Generally public participation can be taken to mean that the citizens directly or through the associations and organisations that represent them take part in the processes of decision making together with their government. It is attributed to building effective, efficient, responsive, transparent, and accountable governance. Public policy is defined as whatever pronouncement that government makes regarding a problem affecting the wider society. Public policy formulation refers to the process whereby different actors or role players come together to deliberate and exchange views on how a public problem can be addressed. These role players come from within and outside government. Actors from government have a legal mandate to formulate policy because of their legal duty to serve the public. Role players from outside government represent public interests; they bring diversity of expertise and experience to advise on possible alternative solutions to the prevailing problem. Theory of participatory democracy which supports the idea of public participation in governance issues, including policy formulation has been adopted for this study. The main emphasis of this theory is that the people should have a chance to decide on the issues that affect them. Policies affect the people hence they must participate in their formulation. Mechanisms and processes of public participation, advantages, challenges, and criticisms linked to public participation in the formulation of public policy were explored. Various legislation guiding public participation were outlined; from international agreements, African legislation, SADC legislation and domestic legislation from the country where the study took place. The study used a qualitative research approach gathering primary data using in depth interviews and focus group discussions. Data was analysed by identifying major themes; democracy and good governance, empowerment, ownership and support, policy relevance and responsiveness and the mechanisms for public participation. The findings of this study revealed that both the government officials and the public recognise the importance of public participation in policy formulation. However, there were shortcomings especially in the way that the public was engaged to participate. The mechanisms used to involve them did not offer them genuine chances to influence the policy decisions.
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    The role of public participation in reviewing land redistribution policy in South Africa.
    (2021) Zondi, Ntobeko Panuel.; Manicom, Desiree Pushpeganday.
    The post-apartheid South African democratic Constitution of 1996 provides for extensive participation of the public in the legislative and policy-making processes. Involving the citizens in policy decision-making processes deepens democracy, promotes active citizenship and good governance. During the apartheid regime, the then government passed racial, discriminatory legislation and gave supremacy to the white population. The Apartheid system of government formulated land legislations and policies which prohibited black people from owning land in areas occupied by the white community. After 1994, the ANC-led government adopted legislation and policies that were non-racial, non-sexist and non-discriminatory. Among them was the land policy with its objective to redistribute land equitably to all South Africans. However, even after over 25 years of democracy, land redistribution in South Africa has progressed slowly. In February 2018, parliament made a call to review section 25 of the Constitution on land redistribution to allow land expropriation without compensation in the interest of the public, where it called for extensive participation of the public. Therefore, this study examined the role of public participation in reviewing land redistribution policy in South Africa. This was a purely qualitative approach that utilized desktop research and thematic content analysis to analyze the data collected. This study finds that the parliament of South Africa used public hearings, written and oral submissions as mechanisms to engage the public on whether section 25 of the Constitution on land redistribution should be reviewed or not to allow for expropriation of land without compensation in the interests of the public. The study finds that parliament received more than 700 000 written submissions made by the public. One issue that this study investigated was that about 65% of written submissions are not supporting the changing of section 25 of the Constitution. In comparison, 34% agreed on the amendment of the constitution, 1% was undecided on whether section 25 of the Constitution should be reviewed or not. This study recommended that if the majority of the public is opposing review of section 25 of the Constitution on land redistribution to allow mechanisms to expropriate land without compensation in the interest of the public, then the parliament must investigate what exactly is the impediment to slow progress of land redistribution in South Africa. This study further recommends that parliament draft, amend, and pass the land expropriation and land redistribution bill. It also recommended a review of the white paper on land redistribution policy since it shows slow progress to date.