Abstract

The new South African Government has been marred by protests since 2004. This is according to the report on service delivery protest in South Africa released by the South African Parliament in August 2009 and the one by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) in the same year. These protests escalated in 2009 where all provinces were affected. Media in general report these protests as being influenced by lack of adequate service delivery by government. Services needed include free water supply, proper roads, electricity and free houses. The protests are mostly in villages and townships, areas exposed to underdevelopment. When protesting some people damage existing limited government facilities. This suggests that community members feel alienated from government’s programmes and matters of governance in general. This alienation follows, as argued in stated reports, lack of effective communication between government and its communities; hence a need for the introduction of a communication model relevant for effective public participation and rural development which goes beyond just consultation and mobilization of community members but sustainable members’ participation. The model will also be critical for poverty alleviation as it intends harnessing community participation on developmental initiatives.

Key words: Effective communication, violence protests, under-development, public participation.