Theses and Dissertations
http://hdl.handle.net/11602/2171
2024-03-29T00:12:34ZThe effect of coalition government on municipal service delivery in the City of Tshwane
http://hdl.handle.net/11602/2642
The effect of coalition government on municipal service delivery in the City of Tshwane
Setona, Pheelo
The 2016 local government elections could not produce the outright winner with more than fifty percent of seats that required any political party to govern the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. In number of previous years, the City of Tshwane has been governed by solitary political party and has gotten used to singular arrangement. Subsequent to the failure of any political party to gain outright majority winner of seats to govern as a single party, the circumstances enforced political parties to form coalition government that empowered the Democratic Alliance and other smaller parties to be the governing coalition in the City of Tshwane since 2016 local government elections. This study sought to investigate the possible effect of coalition government on municipal service delivery with specific reference to the City of Tshwane. The study adopted the mixed method research. Quantitative data collection was obtained through 217 respondents who completed the closed-ended questionnaires. Qualitative data was gathered through interviewing 20 participants. The results confirmed that there was a unique and special type of coalition government at the City of Tshwane, as there was no party that managed to garner 51% or more to get a majority to take charge of the local government. The findings established that the Tshwane coalition government lacks effective municipal service delivery. Lack of capacity and skill development is also affecting the effectiveness of the coalition government. It is recommended that the City of Tshwane coalition government takes a sombre moment and reconsider its priorities so that effective municipal service delivery to the local communities who are adversely affected by lack of service delivery. There is a further need for the City of Tshwane to take a skills audit to determine the skills gaps that need to be filled that will assist in enhancing municipal service delivery mandate. Identification of the right skills and recruitment of the people with the requisite skills will go a long way towards the achievement of municipal service delivery at the City of Tshwane. The staff recruitment policy should be managed by professional people who can scout for the right talents that are capable to provide efficient and effective municipal service delivery to the local communities. Political interference and cadre deployment has always been debated as one of the challenges in most municipalities and should not be condoned as it affects the efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of municipal services delivery at the City of Tshwane coalition government. Politicians are good at handling political issues and not administrative matters that result in good service delivery. Corrupt tendencies have a
negative effect on municipal service delivery, and as such there is a need to put checks and balances to curb corruption in the City.
M.Admin; Department of Public and Development Administration
2023-10-05T00:00:00ZGood governance in the provision of municipal services: a case of Vhembe District Municipality
http://hdl.handle.net/11602/2599
Good governance in the provision of municipal services: a case of Vhembe District Municipality
Mudzusi, Takalani Nancy
The study focuses on good governance in the provision of municipal services at the Vhembe District Municipality. The local communities judge their municipalities’ performance through the provision of services and the treatment that they get from its officials. The challenge of governance adversely affects the delivery of municipal services. People always expect good governance and service from their respective municipalities. However, it seems as though the municipalities are failing greatly. It is therefore; important for the municipality to adhere to good governance provisions which ultimately manifests through effective municipal service delivery. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research method which is a mixed method underpinned by the pragmatic paradigm as it advocates for the use of mixed methods. Data was collected through questionnaire and interview. The questionnaires were distributed to IDP officials, LED officials, PMS officials as well as other administrative officials and managers, whiles interviews were conducted telephonically with PR councillors of the Vhembe District Municipality in order to gather information related to adherence of good governance in the provision of municipal services. For data analysis, the study adopted statistical and thematic analysis. Information gathered through questionnaires was analysed using Micro-Soft Excel and thematic analysis is used for information collected through interviews. The following research ethics were considered in this study: permission to conduct the research study, informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity, no harm to respondents and voluntary participation. The study will enhance the knowledge of relevant political office bearers and administrative officials regarding the understanding of good governance in the Vhembe District Municipality. The study found that the status of good governance in the Vhembe District Municipality is not at a desired state and as such; it needs requisite improvements. It is also found that there is a relationship between good governance and provision of municipal services and revealed that sufficient municipal service delivery to the local communities is more likely if the provisions of good governance are correctly implemented. The study found that lack of resources makes it difficult for the municipality to resolve municipal service delivery challenges of the local communities in its jurisdiction. Prolonged waiting time for municipal services to be delivered to local communities is one of the major challenges faced by the municipality. The study found that raising awareness on the importance of good governance, community participation and training officials on how they can implement good governance principles can be used as improvement mechanism.
The study recommends for the municipal officials to follow good governance provisions because it positively contributes to the effective and efficient provision of high quality municipal services. It is further recommended that the municipality should set time frames to adequately address prolonged waiting time regarding the delivery of municipal services to the local communities. To address limited understanding of good governance by officials, the study recommends that greater awareness and through training about good governance be instilled with a purpose of enhancing the provision of municipal service delivery. The establishment of monitoring and evaluation mechanism may contribute positively to the provision of municipal services, and as such it is one of the recommended measures.
M.Admin; Department of Public and Development Administration
2023-10-05T00:00:00ZThe role of public participation in the improvement of basic service delivery in the Vhembe District Municipality, Limpopo Province
http://hdl.handle.net/11602/2582
The role of public participation in the improvement of basic service delivery in the Vhembe District Municipality, Limpopo Province
Matloga, Sanah Tebogo
The focus of this study is to investigate the role of public participation in the improvement of basic service delivery in the Vhembe District Municipality, Limpopo Province (LP). The study concentrates on matters of public participation and basic service delivery to discover how public participation in municipalities influences the improvement of basic service delivery. The study was conducted in Vhembe District Municipality. The mixed method approach that includes quantitative and qualitative research was used. The reason for using a mixed research method is that it can be integrated; such that quantitative and qualitative methods retain their original structures and procedures. Quantitative method is used because it enables the researcher to get results from many respondents through questionnaires, while the qualitative method allows flexibility, and therefore, the researcher becomes more innovative and has closer interaction with the respondents by way of observation and personal interview. A field study was used as the research design. A non-probability sampling technique was applied to purposively select respondents of the study who have an idea about public participation and the delivery of basic services in municipalities. Non-probability sampling was chosen because the units to be observed are selected on the basis of the researcher’s judgment on which one is most useful or representative. Quantitative data collected were analyzed using International Business Machinery: Statistical Product and Service Solution (IBM: SPSS) latest version, while qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis in a narrative format. In the process of data collection, all forms of ethical considerations were followed to ensure that all respondents participated freely without force or intimidation.
The major findings of the study are:
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Members of the public are reluctant to attend meetings dealing with service delivery in the Vhembe District Municipality;
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Traditional leaders work hand in hand with the municipality to improve basic service delivery;
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Lack of public participation resulted in poor basic service delivery;
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Limited staff and appointment of unqualified personnel in strategic positions in the municipalities create challenges to public participation and the improvement of basic service delivery within the Municipality;
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Public participation can manage conflicts, increase accountability, promote democracy, and help the municipality in providing information and feedback to the community; and
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The implementation of Batho-Pele principles can be used as a strategy to address challenges facing basic service delivery.
The recommendations of the study are the following:
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Based on the findings, it is recommended that municipalities should encourage members of the public to attend public participation meetings to improve basic service delivery;
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Municipalities should continue to work hand in hand with the Traditional leaders to encourage public participation and to improve the delivery of basic services.
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Municipalities should continue to encourage public participation as it is revealed through the findings that lack of public participation results in poor service delivery.
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Municipalities should appoint qualified staff personnel in strategic positions for proper facilitation of public participation in improving basic service delivery.
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Municipalities should implement Batho-Pele principles to the latter as a strategy to address challenges facing basic service delivery through the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP).
D.Admin; Department of Public and Development Administration
2023-10-05T00:00:00ZThe role of code of conduct in enhancing service delivery in local government with specific reference to Mopani District Municipality
http://hdl.handle.net/11602/2571
The role of code of conduct in enhancing service delivery in local government with specific reference to Mopani District Municipality
Mbedzi, Langanani
This study focuses on the role of code of conduct in enhancing basic service delivery in local
government with specific reference to Mopani District Municipality. The deontological theory
will be adopted to emphasise adherence to rules regardless of consequences or motives
behind the action. The theories of virtue, deontology and teleology were selected in this study
to try to understand the concept of ethics and its relevance to answer the research questions
developed in this research. Theories are helpful in predicting and explaining phenomena, such
as why people behave the way they do. Regulatory framework, on the other hand, serves as
the fundamental basis for reasoning or action. There are various manifestations of unethical
conduct in local public administration and these manifestations include corruption, bribe,
nepotism and favouritism, fraud, poor public accountability and kickback.
South Africa is characterised by various causes of unethical conduct in local public
administration. These causes are psychological causes, deficient control and accountability,
complex legislation, inadequate procedures and manuals, deficient management and
organisation. The Batho-Pele White Paper (1997) principles identify several Batho-Pele
principles. Batho-Pele principles include redress and value for money. The study describes
various legislative and policy frameworks governing local public administration. The legislative
and policy framework include, Batho-Pele White Paper (1997), Prevention and Combating of
Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004, and the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management
Act 56 of 2003. The study adopted mixed methods approach to gain a deeper understanding
of the phenomenon being studied. Mixed methods give a voice to study participants and
ensure that study findings are grounded in participants’ experiences.
The study uses research paradigm which is guided by pragmatism. The study focuses on
pragmatic research paradigms amongst others namely post positivism, constructivist,
participatory and pragmatism. The study uses descriptive statistics and thematic analysis to
analyse data. The study describes all the processes of ethical consideration in the research
ethics having knowledge and understanding that respondent’s participation in research must
be done voluntarily without any harm. The research revealed that leadership seems to play a
more significant role in influencing the behaviour of municipal officials, than the rules or codes
of conduct of a municipality. The study recommends a properly institutionalized of code of
conduct to be developed for guiding the municipality’s ethics performance.
vi
Findings of the research study
The study findings revealed that majority of the respondents at 181 (95,2%) agreed that there
are adequate controls to ensure that municipal officials comply with policies and procedure in
the municipality. The study further confirms that most of the respondents at 175 (92,1%) of
the respondents agreed with the statement that the Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa, 1996 encourages the action of municipal officials to be in line with the values and
principle of public administration. Majority of the respondents at 166 (87,4%) agreed that
challenges facing local municipalities need to be evaluated to check if they are yielding desired
results. The study found that 115 (81,6%) of respondents agreed that existing code of conduct
needs to be revised. The findings revealed that mechanisms should be developed in an ethical
manner that are reflected in different ways, such as compliance to rules and laws, desisting
from fraud, theft, corruption and abuse of leadership authority. The study findings revealed
that appointing an ethics officer is one of the effective strategies for enhancing ethical conduct
in the municipality, an important mechanism that is adhered to at the Mopani district
municipalities. The findings revealed that municipal officials are aware of the manual code of
conduct in place. The researcher found that corruption is the main issue that leads to unethical
challenges confronting municipalities in enhancing basic service delivery in the municipality.
Recommendations of the research study
It was recommended that code of conduct approaches should be aimed at enhancing basic
service delivery in the municipality, the training of municipal officials should emphasize
innovativeness and the importance of values. Local Government: Municipal Systems Act,
2000 (Act 32 of 2000) stipulates that South African local government does not have an official
code of conduct as a separate document for ethical conduct. This is not conducive to ethics
being taken seriously at local government sphere. The researcher sees a need for a separate
code of conduct to be established, formulated and emphasised. It was established that political
instability, lack of skilled workforce and corruption within the municipality exacerbate poor
service delivery resulting to people’s suffering. It was recommended that municipal officials
should do what is in the best interest of the public to ensure public accountability. It was
recommended that municipal officials should act ethically all times. It was recommended that
promised standard of services should be delivered. It was recommended that there should be
plans for service delivery to avoid community protests on basic service delivery. The
researcher recommends that leaders need to be trained and encouraged to create strong
ethical cultures within the municipality.
DAdmin; Department of Public and Development Administration
2023-10-05T00:00:00Z