South Africa: Government should stop top-down approach and instead actively engage with South African society

The government must recognize that its electoral mandate does not give it carte blanche to act unilaterally. Instead, it must actively engage with citizens, creating meaningful spaces for participation and dialogue.

The excitement of our elections has died down, but we know that democracy must be an everyday way of life for all citizens. Democracy must go beyond voting every few years. Now, more than ever, we must recognize that active citizenship is the essence of radical democracy, ultimately about the right of ordinary people to participate in government.

With a new government in power, we need to focus on holding it accountable. The fact that ideologically diverse parties are in power nationally and in provinces like KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng makes active public participation in governance processes especially important.

South Africa has a sophisticated architecture of public participation in politics, legislation and constitutional settings. However, the spaces created by this architecture do not always result in meaningful participation.

What researchers call “invited discussion spaces” for public participation often amount to little more than roadshows showcasing government policy, with minimal opportunities for real debate.

As a starting point, both provincial and national governments need to show more political will to make people’s voices heard. These spaces always carry risks for governments and it takes a special kind of leadership to really open up to this public participation.

Interestingly, this often happens to local governments as well…