Street Renaming
ANALYSING THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF STREET RENAMING OF ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY:
ABSTRACT
The issue of street renaming has taken another level, where the shift has move away from the intended objective of the policy toward redressing the violation of constitutional rights by those who has powers to influence decision. The issue of contestation has not been about the proposed names but it about constitutional principles, where lack of transparency and involvement of communities as affected parties in the process of choosing names has been neglected. Since transparency and public participation is regarded as corner stone of democracy, South African municipal system act 2000 stipulates that communities have rights to full participation in any decision that directly or indirectly affect their living condition. This study comprises of member of the EThekwini municipality, Members of the Opposition Parties (DA & IFP), Ward Councillor and the member of the affected target group (Durban’s Chamber of Commerce CEO and Spar city Centre Manager). This study is qualitative and there aforementioned individuals were accessed through semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study highlighted that there was flawed public participation in the street renaming process due to time constraints, political intolerance, centralised power, poor oversight and lack of effective ward committees.
CHAPTER 1
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. To investigate the effect of public participation in policy implementation. 2. To determine the influence of politics and public opinion in street renaming. 3. To explore the historical influence in the current street re-naming process. 4. To investigate context sensitivity and perceptions of the public in this policy implementation.
KEY QUESTION OF THE STUDY 1. What constitutes genuine and authentic public participation? 2. What are the effects of flawed public participation on policy implementation? 3. How
ABSTRACT
The issue of street renaming has taken another level, where the shift has move away from the intended objective of the policy toward redressing the violation of constitutional rights by those who has powers to influence decision. The issue of contestation has not been about the proposed names but it about constitutional principles, where lack of transparency and involvement of communities as affected parties in the process of choosing names has been neglected. Since transparency and public participation is regarded as corner stone of democracy, South African municipal system act 2000 stipulates that communities have rights to full participation in any decision that directly or indirectly affect their living condition. This study comprises of member of the EThekwini municipality, Members of the Opposition Parties (DA & IFP), Ward Councillor and the member of the affected target group (Durban’s Chamber of Commerce CEO and Spar city Centre Manager). This study is qualitative and there aforementioned individuals were accessed through semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study highlighted that there was flawed public participation in the street renaming process due to time constraints, political intolerance, centralised power, poor oversight and lack of effective ward committees.
CHAPTER 1
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. To investigate the effect of public participation in policy implementation. 2. To determine the influence of politics and public opinion in street renaming. 3. To explore the historical influence in the current street re-naming process. 4. To investigate context sensitivity and perceptions of the public in this policy implementation.
KEY QUESTION OF THE STUDY 1. What constitutes genuine and authentic public participation? 2. What are the effects of flawed public participation on policy implementation? 3. How
References: BARYA, J. (2000) Trade Unions and the Struggle for Associational Space in Uganda: The 1993 Trade Union Law, Kampala: Department of Public and Comparative Law, Makere University. COHEN, J. (1998) ‘Democracy and liberty’, in Deliberative Democracy, ed. J. ELSTER, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. FRASER, N. (1992) ‘Rethinking the public sphere: a contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy’, in Habermas and the Public Sphere, ed. C. CALHOUN, Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Hemson, D. (2007), in Buccus, I. and Hicks, J. Ed, Can participation make a difference? Prospects for people’s participation in planning. Critical dialogue 3 (1), 9–15. 1. City Manager’s Newsletter, Ezasegagasini (2007) The Renaming of Streets and Public Places in the eThekwini Municipality: University of KwaZulu Natal. 2 Brynard, P. A (2005) Policy Implementation: Lessons for Service Delivery. School of Public Management and Administration, University of Pretoria, South Africa