Citizen engagement with municipalities is informed by the needs of the race, class, and gender in relation to the services being offered. It is more likely that a person from the suburbs with a plan in hand is seeking approval for an extension to a house in the suburbs, whereas the person from the informal settlement with plan in hand is at the same office wondering when her RDP house is to going to be delivered. Each day, all citizens claim the rights to which they are entitled. In the public service, that all comes together in municipalities. In a single day a mid-level municipal official could be dealing with land invasions, rolling out public housing projects, assessing the capacities of large-scale infrastructure with respect to urban expansion, deal with domestic overcrowding, domestic violence, illegal land uses, warring neighbours and approving building plans.
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