Civil Society as the Non-Elected Fourth Branch of Governance: State-Civil Society Relations in South African Service Delivery and the Three Roads of Governance

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oumar Bouare ◽  
Vinothan Naidoo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African

scholarly journals The possible contribution of civil society in the moral edification of South African society: The example of the ‘United Democratic Front’ and the ‘Treatment Action Campaign’ (1983–2014)

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakobus M. Vorster
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Antiretroviral Drugs ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Treatment Action ◽  
Treatment Action Campaign

In spite of much candid protest and overt criticism against the service delivery record and corruption of the South African government, the governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), once again secured a persuasive victory in the 2014 national elections. This situation begs the question whether the ballot box is really the only efficient instrument for disgruntled voters to influence government policy and behaviour. This article examines the possibilities that the mobilisation of civil society offers in this regard. The central theoretical argument is that civil society can be an important instrument through which the citizenry can exercise their critical function with regard to the government in an effort to address poor service delivery and corruption and to influence government policy. Christian organisations can play a crucial role in this process. Two examples of past efficient action by civil society serve to illustrate this argument. With the assistance of churches and Christian organisations,these organisations profoundly influenced government policy and are consequently presented as models for action today. The first example is the ‘United Democratic Front’ (UDF) that forced the pre-1994 South African apartheid government to a negotiated settlement despite the strict security laws that the state utilised to keep the UDF in check. The second example is the ‘Treatment Action Campaign’ (TAC) that forced the post-1994 Thabo Mbeki government to adopt a policy of free provision of antiretroviral drugs to HIV-positive patients. These two influential civil organisations offer models of how civil society can act as critical watchdog. In future, these models can be used to mobilise civil society, including churches and Christian organisations, to act correctively in defining and enacting government policy, despite the ANC’s strong position in government and the large majority that the governing party can secure at the voting polls.

South African government’s GBV plans may disappoint

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
South African ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Structure ◽  
National Strategic Plan ◽  
The Government ◽  
Gender Based

Significance Although President Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly committed to increase funding to combat what he calls South Africa’s “second pandemic”, there is a lack of transparency in how the government disburses funds linked to its National Strategic Plan (NSP) on Gender-based Violence and Femicide. Impacts Civil society groups will increase pressure on the government to make expenditure on GBV programmes more transparent. A new private-sector fund to contribute to the NSP has received strong early support, but its management structure is opaque. High levels of GBV will not only have significant humanitarian and social costs but may deter much-needed foreign investment.

scholarly journals The effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups: A reflection on South African informal urban settlements

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethuel Ngcamu ◽  
Evangelos Mantzaris
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
South African ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
The South ◽  
Response Strategies ◽  
Vulnerable Communities ◽  
Negative Effect

Background: The economically vulnerable population, mostly black, especially those who are residing in precarious informal settlements are most susceptible to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Aim: To determine the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the socio-economic condition of the vulnerable groups in South Africa. It also attempts to reflect the government’s response strategies to provide help and services for the vulnerable communities who are considered to be most susceptible to the existing pandemic. Lastly, the response strategies of civil society groups and the challenges they are encountering in providing humanitarian assistance to indigent communities are explored.Setting: This is a reflective study where secondary data has been analysed and intertwined with the researchers’ experiences and insights of the South African informal settlements’ welfare.Methods: This article followed a reflective approach where the experiences of the vulnerable communities are strategically reflected upon.Results: This fascinating study unearthed the effects of the coronavirus disease on the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable communities, the economy of the informal sector, the brutal enforcement agencies during the lockdown period, criminality, the fragmented government response and the marginalisation and frustration of civil society groups in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need.Conclusion: The South African government’s fragmentations, bureaucratic, maladministration and corruption in public departments have adversely impacted the welfare of the vulnerable groups who are living in the informal settlements. The human rights violations by the security agencies which are directed to the indigent people, and the centralisation of the humanitarian efforts by government had a negative effect on their wellbeing.

Operation Sukuma-Sakhe

2017 ◽  
pp. 304-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ndwakhulu Tshishonga
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Government Programs ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
State And Local Government ◽  
State And Local

This chapter explores the emerging new social contract that connects government departments, communities, civil society, and the private sector through Operation Sukuma-Sakhe (OSS) in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa. This program is designed to expedite service delivery and development by addressing communal challenges such as poor or non-existent service delivery and lack of coordinated government programs and cooperative governance efforts. Social contract theory forms an analytical and conceptual framework to gauge the government's commitment through the OSS program in delivering decentralized services in partnership with communities and other development sectors. The effective functioning of OSS depends on the full and equal commitment of government, underpinned by a new social contract with other departments, the community, and citizens as both recipients and agents of decentralized service delivery. Primary data sources were interviews with OSS regional officials, supplemented by documentary data from the literature and state and local government sources.

Contemporary preventative services, coalitions and the Conservatives

2020 ◽  
pp. 35-60
Author(s):  
Alison Body
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Big Society ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
Preventative Services

In chapter 2 we explore contemporary children’s services, and how the persuasive logic of prevention has been adopted in more modern service delivery and the role of the voluntary sector in providing these services. Focusing specifically on the early 2010s, we map the shift from the Conservative flagship project of the Big Society, to the renewed localism project of the Civil Society Strategy. We draw out the links between the societal hardening in focus, shifting from universal to targeting of preventative services, and discuss the role of the voluntary sector in delivery of these services.

Evolving local government in post conflict South Africa: Where to?

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 710-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
PS Reddy
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
African State ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Role Players ◽  
Basic Functions

Protracted negotiations between the main role-players steered in the new South African state on 27 April 1994 and final Constitution, 1996 , which constitutionalised local government. A cursory analysis points to some municipalities which are pockets of excellence; however, local government generally is in ‘distress’. Local communities are rapidly losing confidence in the system as the majority of municipalities are unable to discharge even basic functions. Local government has been characterised by violent service delivery protests; abuse of political power and increasing corruption; financial challenges; poor infrastructure planning/maintenance/investment; political strife and factionalism and staff turbulence. Despite governmental interventions to improve local governance, there are still major constraints hampering good governance, namely political posturing and factionalism; corruption; lawlessness and poor service delivery, symptomatic of virtually all post conflict states. Good local governance is an integral part of post conflict reconstruction and development and is key to building a new local government dispensation.

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