International NGO Journal Vol. 3 (5), pp. 090-097, May 2008 Available online at http:// www.academicjournals.org/INGOJ ISSN 1993–8225 © 2008 Academic Journals Article South Africa’s NGOs and the quest for development Thokozani Ian Nzimakwe University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Public Administration Private Bag X54001 Durban 4000 South Africa. Tel: +27 82 959 2635. E-mail: nzimakweth@ukzn.ac.za Accepted 5 May 2008 NGOs are increasingly recognised as an important role-player in community or people-centred development. They are a large category of structures responsible for development. NGOs have often been viewed as important for democracy because of their strong support at grassroots level and their capacity to develop and empower poor communities. They are extremely important mechanisms in rural development and they enjoy the goodwill and acceptance of the community. Therefore NGOs have become very important players in the field of social development and upliftment. The democratisation of South Africa has opened new opportunities for NGOs to make a meaningful contribution to the development of South African society. This is particularly so at grassroots level. The primary aim of NGOs is to improve the living conditions of people through development in general. This entails various aspects of human life, such as literacy, human dignity, justice and economic ability, essentially the joy of life. This paper attempts to address questions such as what is meant by development, what role have NGOs previously played in the development process, and lastly what role should they be playing. INTRODUCTION The concept of non-governmental organisation (NGO) must be defined in the context of service with the exclu- sive purpose of improving existing situations so that quality of life is improved. This implies that there are two sides to NGO activities, namely, service with the intention of improving the general welfare of people, and involve- ment in government institutions which entails the contri- butions and efforts they make to involve government institutions. The emergence of democracy based on the majority will has opened up new opportunities for NGOs to make a meaningful contribution to the development of South African society. Globalisation has brought so many unexpected changes to the functioning of governments. This has led to the rise of NGOs which have grown in number and power such that they now provide services which govern- ments are sometimes unable to fulfil. The aim of this article is to evaluate broadly the role of NGOs in deve- lopment. What is development? Development may be defined as positive social, econo- mic and political change in a country or community (Stewart and Kotze, 1997). It is concerned with positive development efforts is measured by the results seen in change in existing human societies, and the success of society. Development is an integrated, value-laden pro- cess, which encompasses natural, environmental and social relations. Korten, quoted by Theron and Wetmore (Davids et al., 2005) pages 155-156, illustrates this in his definition of development as “a process by which mem- bers of a society increase their resources to produce sustainable and justly distributed improvements in their quality of life consistent with their own aspirations”. Within the context of a more detailed analysis it is ge- nerally accepted that an NGO serves as a catalyst for the implementation of the development process. NGOs enjoy comparative advantage in service delivery because of their focus on community empowerment and greater abi- lity than government to respond more directly and imme- diately to community needs. Explaining the NGOs NGOs are private, self-governing, non-profit organisa- tions promoting people-centred development. They are responsible to their donors and to the communities they work for (Davids et al., 2005). Their primary objective is to render assistance to individuals or developing commu- nities in order to promote sustainable development at grassroots. Stephenson (Burgess and Burgess, 2005) states that Peter Willetts, an authority on NGOs, argues in defining NGO that “a commitment to non-violence is the best respected of the principles defining an NGO”. According to Jaggernath (Reddy 1995) NGOs are defined