Municipalities not fully utilising the power of social media, study finds
The National School of Government Deputy Director-General Lakela Kaunda has scooped an award for the Best Paper in Local Government Administration.
Her paper was chosen among other academic papers delivered at the South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) Conference held in East London from 26 to 30 September 2022.
The paper, A Critical Assessment of the Utilisation of the Facebook Social Media Platform to Communicate with the Public on Governance and Service Delivery Matters by
South Africa’s Eight Metropolitan Municipalities, looks at how municipalities use e-participation mechanisms to effectively communicate with the public.
SAAPAM brings together academics, public service practitioners and public administration students to deliberate and share ideas and solutions on issues affecting public administration.
Over 350 delegates from more than eight countries attended the conference and more than 200 academic papers were presented. A special SAAPAM committee of renowned scholars selected the best papers among those delivered under the various themes, following a rigorous review exercise.
Nine winning papers were announced at an awards ceremony held at the conclusion of the conference on 30 September.
Kaunda co-authored the paper with Prof Ricky Mukonza of Tshwane University of Technology.
She says they chose the topic because local government is the sphere that is closest to the people. Municipalities provide basic services that people use daily, such as water, electricity, refuse removal, street lights, cutting grass on the verges of roads and road maintenance, and also promote local
economic development and job creation.
The paper explores the use of social media, in particular Facebook, by metropolitan municipalities to engage in two-way communication with the public. The country’s eight metros are Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, City of Cape Town, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality,
City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality.
Municipalities are obliged by law to undertake their responsibilities in consultation with their residents, which means that public participation is the cornerstone of the country’s local government system. Members of the public can participate through formal structures, such as ward committee meetings and public meetings. Given the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the adoption of e-government, the public is able to access services digitally and to communicate with stakeholders through online and social media platforms.
“Social media has brought along a powerful capability of being an interactive social engagement tool. Government can thus engage in two-way communication with citizens in real time. Social media can thus enhance e-participation and make engagement between government and the people possible. I was, therefore, curious to see how municipalities used Facebook to communicate with the public, especially during the lockdown period when physical contact was impossible.
I was encouraged by the fact that the public continued to reach out to government via social media, which provided an opportunity for continuous engagement,” says Kaunda.
The researchers scrutinised content posted on the municipalities’ Facebook pages in November 2021. This was a significant month because the country was still under lockdown and the local government elections were held on 1 November. Information sought included whether the municipalities had a Facebook page, the number of followers, the type of information posted by the municipality, the responses and comments of the followers, the nature of engagement on the page and whether the information flow was multidirectional or one way.
The study found that the municipalities had an official presence on Facebook and used their pages to post information. However, they did not engage the public on an ongoing basis.
“Despite the interactive capability of Facebook, communication with the public is primarily unidirectional. The municipalities post information on the page, but do not interact with and engage followers on an ongoing basis.
“Questions, complaints and comments from users largely go unanswered, which defeats the purpose of e-participation. The users interact amongst themselves on some occasions and assist one another with responses, for example on service delivery inquiries,” adds Kaunda.
The study noted that three municipalities responded occasionally to inquiries, but not as frequently as the user responses demanded. Some of the municipal responses tended to be automated notices informing users to contact certain toll-free numbers.
The study concluded that given the number of people who use Facebook in South Africa, the platform is an important tool that should be utilised more effectively and extensively to communicate with the public on service delivery and governance issues as a form of e-participation.
“Municipalities should use the pages as a source of information on what occupies the minds of residents and respond accordingly. It can be a useful online imbizo on an ongoing basis,” notes Kaunda.
Among the recommendations made is that municipalities should direct staff to monitor the pages regularly and respond to the inquiries, comments and complaints, especially those relating to service delivery. Communication units should also have access to technical experts who can respond to issues raised by the public.
“The failure to engage and respond frustrate the public and defeats the purpose of a participatory local government as defined in the White Paper on Local Government (1998) and other legal instruments,” the paper concludes.
“The need to respond to the comments and queries from the public is critical and will assist to minimise frustrations and negative sentiments against government,” says Kaunda.