Social media, protest and citizen participation in local government: A comparison between the City of Cape Town and Johannesburg metropolitan municipalities: 2010 to 2017

Abstract

This study’s central focus is to assess how various classes of people in in distinct localities across Cape Town and Johannesburg use social media in citizen participation concerning municipal governance processes. While largely drawing on interviews, the study also uses quantitative descriptive data. While some scholars believe that social media use will contribute to civic decline, others think that it has a role to play in re-invigorating civic life. This study has found that there is a gap in understanding important differences in the ways various classes in different contexts mobilise and adapt social media and that the capacity of the “poor” and their social movements to engage as collective citizens using social media has been understated. The wealthy social movements rely more on litigation and money power. Each social group adapts social media to suit its socio-political imperatives and context. South Africa’s major municipalities still lean towards traditional spaces of citizen participation and bureaucratic insulation.