Chapter 4 Trends and Issues around Democratisation in Local Government Reform

Efforts to construct a democratic political system have continued in South Africa.The democratisation of local government is a principal concern for ordinary people who deal with it as their primary governmental institution.In this chapter, the reality of democratisation in South Africa has been considered by focusing on local government and its reform.The process of democratising local government in South Africa can be divided into two stages.In the first stage, until 2000, the democratisation of local government entailed building up a democratic system of politics in order to reflect the will of the people.The second stage, after 2000, was the process whereby local governments' provision of services was improved, and the political will of the people could be reflected as an actual societal experience.Local government reform became an important political issue in democratisation in South Africa.In the apartheid regime, the black population1 was banned from participating in conventional politics and kept separate.Therefore, in order that all the people, especially the black population, could realise democratisation, the new government supported a focus on integration rather than division.It was considered important that local government be democratised and that people could be in direct contact with their local government (ANC 2010).Most previous research on the politics of South Africa has focused on the democratisation of the national government in order to clarify the transformation of the