Exploration of the Accentuated Value of Strategic Communication Management for Inclusive Citizenry Engagement Through Governance and Sustainability

The body of knowledge surrounding the strategic management of communication is still largely influenced by hemispheric perspectives in both theory and practice. This often reflects a glaring and lingering literature gap as the field is relatively under construction and thus, (re)imagined through frameworks and models that are, more often, of a Western dominance. More so, as popular claims often demonstrate that the utility and heuristic ability of strategic communication remains undocumented and thus untold in other parts of the globe to make a significant contribution. The question that arises, therefore, is what new knowledge perspectives can be derived from the African region as contributions to the development and construction of strategic communication management theory and practice? In addressing this important scholarship conundrum, this chapter theorises the accentuated value that can be derived from strategic communication management in fostering inclusive citizenry engagement through governance and sustainability programmes for a local sphere of government. A meta-theoretical approach that heralds pertinent features of a strategic communicative local government is advanced in this chapter. This is because local governments, in the South African context, are entrusted with a legislative duty to meet citizenry needs and mitigate their interests and expectations through sustainable participatory development initiatives—which must depart from the notion of good governance and shared value creation metrics. This task, arguably, necessitates a specialised form of intentional communication to be frequently realised and to serve as a catalytic agent in the cultivation of inclusive citizenry engagement.