Public participation, political representation and accountability: the case of violence prevention through urban upgrading (VPUU) in Harare Khayelitsha, in Cape Town

Abstract

The aim is to deepen the South African democracy at all levels of government. However, as local government is “the closest to the people” it is regarded by government as the most appropriate sphere to implement participatory democracy mechanisms. Pertaining to this, ward committees were introduced as the main participatory vehicle of local governance and in addition, the government has also implemented alternative instruments such as izimbizos and the integrated development planning (IDP) process to engage citizens in local governance.