The role of code of conduct in enhancing service delivery in local government with specific reference to Mopani District Municipality

Abstract

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.