Page 61 - Research Report 2025.1

Participant 6 described how the mayor’s outreach programs involve actively engaging with communities to hear their concerns and prioritise projects such as roads, water, and community halls.
Similarly, Participant 6 highlighted the importance of sector-specific consultations, giving the example of working with farmers when developing agricultural policies. These consultations ensure that policies are both culturally relevant and technically sound, integrating indigenous knowledge with modern expertise. However, there are challenges in ensuring meaningful engagement from the public, as some participation may be more procedural than impactful.
Participant 1
“They are formulated, with the communities because you cannot have a policy, that is not blessed or maybe that that that where you did not consult, the the the the members of the community before it is, adopted by council and promulgated if it’s a by-law.”
Participant 4
DP is a is a bible of the municipality. Formulating it, you formulate
report how far did you go with something and what has made you not to finalize a road, they are monitored. Hence, I’m saying, when you do an IDP, from there, you go and report. That is monitoring.
Participant 6
“They are informed by consultations. When we are doing agricultural sector for crop farming. You need to have people that plough, you won’t take people that keep livestock? So you consult them, then you develop your policy. Of course, linking with the indigenous knowledge with the with the technical knowledge.”
Focus group Participant
“Public participation... is key to the policy development process. This local government sphere has got a role in the policy development. This goes as far as developing more relevant bylaws. So there are bylaws that, we are currently, remember, a bylaw a bylaw, it’s a it’s a piece of a legislation which is suitable for that particular area and they own the area. Now this is a rural municipality wherein a the I mean, this is a setup where traditional, leaders are they remain a key stakeholder and they have got a lot of influence.”
Participant 5
“I think what is also important to mention that the public does contribute. We host public participation processes around our policies. Like policies from municipal health and from disaster. As well as the bylaws because we also have the bylaws that are customised for our communities. So they do contribute. We do public participation processes. We give that time, and we, you know, for the public to participate before they become bylaws that are implemented..”
Participant 6
“We have also in the imbizo by the mayor. Yeah. We also have the IDP outreach for program. Where the mayor goes out to people to hear about their needs. People decide how they prioritise, whether they want roads, halls or water. Goes to the IGR forum Participating, actively participating with IGR forums. Even the stakeholders, Stakeholder’s engagement. Stakeholders engagement, which is council of churches. Yeah. Business forum For a Yeah. Traditional councils. Those are the engagement..”
Inclusiveness in policy Formulation
The results indicate that inclusiveness is central to policy formulation, with participants acknowledging the socio-economic diversity within rural districts. Participant 2 highlighted that policy formulation is conducted with an appreciation of these differences to ensure that policies address the varied needs of different groups within the community. Participant 7 noted that policies are developed through consultations with relevant stakeholders, ensuring that inclusivity is maintained throughout the process. However, ensuring inclusiveness requires continuous effort to cater to all sectors of the population.
Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanisms
The results show that monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are well-established, ensuring continuous assessment of policy effectiveness. Participant 1 mentioned that policies are monitored through quarterly reports and internal audits, with municipal public accounts committees providing checks and balances. Par- ticipant 7 added that policies are reviewed annually in workshops, which involve key stakeholders to ensure policies remain relevant and aligned with community needs. Participant 2 also highlighted the role of senior decision-makers, such as municipal managers and the executive mayor, in rapid decision-making during crises, ensuring swift responses without bureaucratic delays.
it with the people, but it doesn’t end there. You have to go and
Participant 1
“So, once on a quarterly basis, you have to report if there was, an intervention that you made. And then, for monitoring, there are those council committees like your your your municipal public accounts committee where they are able to check, through their checks and balances, and there’s also internal audit who does the the auditing, review on a monthly basis.”
Participant 2
“Then in terms of monitoring, when there is a disaster, we always have the decision maker in terms of administration as the one that is the head of the team, have the municipal manager at
all times so that you get to make quick decisions that need management not to be there, then the executive mayor as well be there all the time to make sure that nothing will be delayed because we are waiting for them to maybe call for a council sitting and staff.”
Participant 3
There are other ways of monitoring because by the time we take it to the policy conference it has already been identified that it isn’t working. Policies are monitored to check if they are working or not.
Participant 7
They are developed by the department, in consultation
with the stakeholders. Monitored by council and reviewed annually. So in March, it’s a policy review process whereby the council then have a workshop for about 2 days going through the policies and its impact.
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