An assessment of public participation in KwaZulu-Natal legislature in compliance with the constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
Since the inception of democracy in South Africa, public participation has become an essential element of democracy. This concept of public participation has become crucial in strengthening democracy as well as in trying to maintain a balance between representative and participatory democracy. The nation’s Constitution imposes a constitutional imperative upon the legislature to ensure ‘public involvement’ using legislative processes. This concept of ‘public participation’ therefore is a concept encompassing all democratic participation processes. It is the most conventional avenue to consider and incorporate the voices and will of community members in the law-making process. Meanwhile, the legitimacy of the statutes enacted by the government has been challenged in numerous occasions because of flawed public participation processes. Wherefore public participation in the law making process becomes a subject of considerable research. The main aim of this study was to establish the compliance by the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature (KZNL) with the constitutional mandate of ‘facilitating public involvement’ when laws are being made. The study provided an international and foreign perspective of public participation intended to obtain an overall global picture of public participation and how it should be understood in a democratic country. A number of international treaties were brought into discussion. The treaty declarations were found to emphasise the significance of public involvement in democratic countries to ensure the protection and promotion of human rights. It is therefore claimed that the treaties have played an increasingly important role in agitating for the advancement of public participation in South Africa. The study further considered foreign law, where few selected experiences of developed and developing countries were analysed, and most of these countries support public participation. The study also explored public involvement in practise within the context of the KZNL. Various participation mechanisms were identified and analysed. The study revealed that there are significant and strenuous efforts by the KZNL in accomplishing its duty to facilitate public involvement. There is an established framework in place to regulate public involvement. It is however noted that despite the presence of this robust framework adopted to guide participation activities, which provides an overview and insight within the KZNL on how to achieve meaningful participation, practically, the study reveals challenges ordinarily encountered in conducting public hearings. These challenges also serve as a threat to meaningful public participation that relates mostly to consultation processes, short notice for public hearings and limited periods to convene such hearings. The study revealed that such anomalies flow from the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that is sometimes responsible for giving stringent turn-around time frames for Provincial Legislatures to convene public hearings. The study concluded by providing a series of recommendations based on the study findings, as well as in relation to the reconfiguration of public hearings modus operandi and provision of relevant innovation. With those recommendations, it will be therefore possible to achieve meaningful participation, and most importantly, enact constitutionally compliant laws.
Public, Public participation, KwaZulu-Natal Legislature
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