The apartheid government had consciously entrenched a governance system in
which local communities did not have a voice in their local development agenda.
During the apartheid era, the national government held command of local
authorities on all matters of developmental initiatives. This was the case with all
areas inhabited by Blacks while those inhabited by Whites were allowed some
degree of self-governance. Post–1994, as outlined in the 1998 White Paper on Local
Government, the African National Congress government undertook to correct
the apartheid governance discrepancies. As a result, Parliament enacted pieces of
legislation and various regulatory frameworks to foster community participation in
local development initiatives. Subsequent transformation has arguably registered
some success in urban areas, amidst persistent failures in rural areas. Reasons for
these variable spatial effects range from literacy issues among community members
to capacity challenges of the elected municipal councils. This is exacerbated by
persistent migration of the young and educated citizens to urban areas. This article
assesses and, thereafter, formulates a subnational citizen-based participatory and
empowerment model that allows for vulnerable communities to participate in their
local development initiatives. Additionally, it derives a conceptual framework for
assessing subnational citizen-based participatory and empowerment arrangements
