Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In the more than two decades since the end of South Africa’s apartheid government, much progress has been made toward the enfranchisement of its historically marginalized groups. Still, this progress is neither complete nor perfect. An oft criticized—but empirically understudied—example of this reality is the failure of many of the country’s municipal governments to comply with constitutional and statutory requirements for participatory budgeting. Increased reliance on data collection, analysis, and reporting among South Africa’s provincial governments has made new insights possible, however. Using historical data from over 40 reports from South Africa’s nine provincial governments collected since 2000 on municipal expenditures, budget performance, and demographics, we employ logistic analysis to estimate the effect of participatory budgeting on: 1. the prioritization of municipal budget expenditures and 2. the achievement of municipal social justice outcomes. We expect the use of participatory budgeting will increase both the likelihood that a municipality will have non-traditional budgeting priorities and that it will achieve budgetary objectives reflective of improved social justice outcomes.