Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, the highest peak yet, with 218 service delivery protests, was recorded in 2014. The notion exists that, unless participation by members of communities is enhanced by local government and introduced in intergovernmental relations forums in South Africa, this scourge would not be mitigated. Community participation in municipalities should possess deliberative qualities. The achievement of these qualities should been sured through monitoring. To theoretically and empirically situate the contentions of this article, a literature study was conducted to identify the weaknesses around community participation in local government. At the same time, shortcomings pertaining to intergovernmental relations in South Africa, particularly in relation to service delivery, are revealed. The focus of the analysis is on the composition of the Premier's Intergovernmental Forum. The reason for this emanates