Democracy in South Democracy in South Africa: Africa: the role of e-Participationthe role of e-Participation

byLaban Bagui

Supervisor: Prof Andrew Bytheway

IDEA 2010 (Informatics and Design Evolutionary Advancement )

Hey Man... You are

just lazy!

What I am going to tell UWhat I am going to tell U

How I understand South African Democracy and Public participation in government

I will give you some experts view on eParticipation

I will recall some good examples around the globe

We will fly over some assessment frameworks and models

We will notice some gaps and we will tweak some roles of eParticipation that I pointed out

South Africa democratic South Africa democratic systemsystem South Africa is said to be a representative,

deliberative and participative democracy

(Republic of South Africa, 1996)

The legislature is predominant and public

participation is expected to be the mortar that would

join bricks together

Public participation is the responsibility of the speaker of

the parliament and implemented in Local government

There are three spheres of government: National,

Provincial and Local (South Africa Government, 2007)

Public participationPublic participation

Fig: A basic Public Participation model Source: Author

Expert1 Expert2 Expert3 Expert4Public Participation happens only for those who have means (Rich and influential)

To make the people heard in high spheres parliament has to have space for people to participate in debates.

Issues of participation for poor

Local government do not listen to people

Make people heard, which means to have his/her preferences recognised and influence policy and budget

People are not heard

Protests and demonstrations are the only means they have to get heard

Political parties are heard in parliament

Forms of active citizenship

Critical citizenship

Service delivery is certainly one of the main issues

Issues of dissatisfaction and complaints

Service delivery protests Service delivery protest truly for recognition and to show their frustration

There is an issue accessing information on government channels

Information access issues

Not all departments use technology

People need to earn the right to speak to others

Problem of elitism

Civil society needs to be rooted in the ground

Access to the judiciary is difficult

The systems should be built by the private sector

Leaders should be educated in the use of ICT

Need for cultural and electoral reform

Local areas

Internet and mobile technology (web, mobisite, sms, users opinion tracking on fora, banners, adds on sites)

Cellphones, sms are key Library campaigns Mobile for protests

Mobile participation

Sms comments on topic

Online deliberation

People should deliberate online

Technology can help in context where people have power

Experts opinionsExperts opinions

Public Participation Public Participation stakeholdersstakeholders• Parliament• Specific government departments

(SITA)• Justice courts• Institutional offices• other governments• Individuals• Community based organizations (CBOs)• Non government organisations (NGOs)• Businesses • Media, and even• Organized crime.

Public participation Public participation domainsdomainsLaw and policy makingGovernment decision making

(budgeting and planning)SecurityAnd others...

Public participation areasPublic participation areas

EU and SA comparative areas of public participation (source: Author)

European Union (EU) South Africa (SA)

Information provision Government communication

Consultation Public hearings, demonstration, protests

Deliberation Indabas and Imbizos, public meetings and forums

Community building / collaborative environment

(principally through CBOs and NGOs)

Campaigning Lobbying, petitioning

Electioneering (limited to poster campaigning)

Mediation (very limited)

Voting Votes at election times,

Polling (none)

(e)Public participation world (e)Public participation world widewidePorto Alegre, Belo Horizonte,France presidential (Prdt N.

Sarkozi)USA presidential (Prdt B. Obama)

1. Macintosh and Whyte (2008) framework for characterising e-participation: from level of engagements to critical success factors

2. Government IT management challenges and key issues (Di Maio et al., 2010): Strategy and planning, service delivery and operations, and specific activity domains

3. The eGovernment value chain (Heeks, 2006): from readiness to impact;

4. Network readiness and e-government ranks: South Africa is respectively 52nd and 97th out of 184

Assessing eParticipationAssessing eParticipation

Healthyaverage

Best case

W orst caseUnhealthyaverage

Q uality of technology

Qua

lity

of p

artic

ipat

ion

H iLoLo

Hi

Healthyaverage

Best case

W orst caseUnhealthyaverage

Q uality of technology

Qua

lity

of p

artic

ipat

ion

H iLoLo

Hi

SX South Africa

Denmark, Netherland,

Norway X

X Sub-saharian African countries

Quality of eParticipationQuality of eParticipation

Better the democratic system (direct) and government (administrative, transactional, and inclusive efficiency)

Reduce the digital divide between the powerful (have) and the powerless (have not)

Community empowerment (Social capital)A better articulation of communities needs Increase accountability and transparencyFoster and better service deliveryUnfold development and sustainability (MDGs)

Role of eParticipationRole of eParticipation

Some issues of Some issues of eParticipationeParticipationIssue of effective use (Gurstein,

2003)Powerful will get more powerful

(Schuler Day, 2004)Design and implementation of

systems (Heeks, 2006)

ConclusionConclusioneParticipation is meant to be

better Public participation in government

eParticipation is an opportunity for a more inclusive and efficient public participation

Let dream of an African unleashed inner voice ... Did you ever hear the voice of Africa?

Laban Bagui labanbagui@gmail.com

Faculty of Informatics and DesignCape Peninsula University of TechnologyCape TownSouth Africa

Me Ti Be Ma Yega/ Merci / Thank you/ Danke Shön / Dankie / Ngosi

Questions?