Abstract
Social media are commended as e-participation reformation tools; consequently, governments around the world are adopting social media. South Africa is not exempt from this adoption trend; however, the extent to which social media is used for public participation is yet to be understood. This paper presents a qualitative study exploring social media as an e-participation tool through content analysis of social media pages of the South African government. The study found that while all provinces and municipalities have social media accounts, these platforms are used mainly for information broadcasting, viz., as an extension to their websites. There is limited engagement and participation; where these exist, it is due to the municipality posting information relevant to citizens’ lives and being intentional in responding to citizens’ comments. The study contributes to the social media discussion within the African government context and is a first step towards actualizing effective public participation through social media in South Africa.
