DDP Multiparty Forum – 27 October 2021

On 27 October 2021, DDP hosted a Multiparty Forum with the theme: “The role of incoming municipal political leadership in post-pandemic recovery.” The many protests that have plagued the communities across South Africa are a clear sign that something is not right in the intended process of a developmental local government- the levels of communication and engagement between communities and their respective local governments has broken down significantly. Further placing a spanner in the works, is the extent of maladministration and corruption evidenced by the audits conducted on a yearly basis by the Auditor general which paint a grim picture of the effect of such maladministration, on the ability for quality service delivery to be achieved.

Given its proximity to people and being at the grass-roots level, local governments have an advantage in responding to local needs and priorities, and can become a significant actor in realizing basic human rights at the local level in the post-COVID-19 era. Living up to human rights standards at the local level in post-pandemic recovery is also an imperative in that trust and support from the citizens can only stem from governance which is firmly based on basic human rights through quality service delivery.

To ensure inclusive and resilient recovery from the pandemic, it is important to further engage with political parties and independent candidate to deal with human rights challenges brought by the COVID-19 crisis to bridge the gap between international human rights commitments and their realization on the ground. This event would also be an opportunity to raise awareness about and generate engagement on the upcoming local government elections, and hear from candidates about their service delivery imperatives should they get the nod from citizens.

The primary objectives of the event were:

• Exploring the specific role of local governments in protecting and promoting human rights, including the right equality and non-discrimination, and in protecting persons in vulnerable and marginalised situations in the post-COVID-19 recovery phase;
• Discussing how local governments can contribute to the effective political participation in the context of shaping and implementing inclusive and resilient COVID-19 recovery policies, through examination of best practices and experiences and;
• To contribute in the enhancement of engagement between citizens and political parties, to maximise on political education/knowledge among citizens towards better municipal accountability and good governance.

As DDP, we would like to express our gratitude to our keynote speakers: Dr Isaac Khambule from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal; and Gogo Londiwe Mntambo. Dr Khambule gave the audience insight on the impact of COVID-19 on citizens participation at local government elections. Here we learnt that political parties need to consider the fourth wave of COVID-19; the agenda of the local government elections and what exactly can we expect from our ward councillors. Ms Mntambo shared her ideas on the role of populist politics in citizen interaction with elections and how exactly are citizens choosing to mobilise. Here we learnt that with each election we are seeing a different iteration of the people or different group being prioritised; there have been masculine conceptions of citizenship and people’s struggles can be used to mobilise towards elections playing into the traditional or rather theoretical understandings of democracy.

We also heard from political representatives from the African Restoration Alliance (ARA); Minority Front MF and  Freedom Front Plus (FF+). DDP would like to thank Cllr Rochelle Robbetee (FF+); Sushnitha Budhayee (MF); and Pops Thomas (ARA) for unpacking their respective political party perspectives on COVID-19 recovery in the upcoming elections. Here they provided us with riveting discussions on the role their party will play in creating a conducive environment for service delivery, local economic development and access to basic rights post-COVID-19.