Abstract
Most countries in the world profess that they practise democratic government.
This would entail that governmental decision-making leading to policies
and executive actions should bebased on the concurrence of society.
The challenge is to determine who comprises society that should provide
the consent to enable the decision-makers to accommodate their views.
It is, furthermore, necessary to establish which mechanisms government
has at its disposal to determine the perceived “views” or real needs of the
people which do not only consist of the electorate, but also non-voters,
who may even be refugees or immigrants. It is argued that few if any
contemporary states have a relatively homogeneous society (such as for
example, Botswana or Japan). The situation is complicated due to diverse
communities comprising society with sometimes opposing political agendas
(some demand cession from the national state). Some inhabitants may
even demand a theocratically based state. Irrespective of the nature of the
state or the degree of democratisation, the world-wide trend indicates that
people want to be heard and have their views acknowledged in policies
and in governance.
The article considers the democratic state as a point of departure.
Attention will be devoted to selected African states to determine the extent
to which they practise democracy in the decentralisation of powers and
functions to lower levels of government.
Different forms of decentralisation will be discussed, including deconcentration,
devolution and delegation. The simple form of merely deconcentrating
national government departments to regions will be mentioned.
The delegation of authority to lower levels (spheres) of government will be...