Journal articles

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Advancing Evidence-Based Practice for Improved Public Sector Performance: Lessons From the Implementation of the Management Performance Assessment Tool in South Africa
(Journal of Public Administration, 2017-12) Dr Tirivanhu, Precious; Dr Olaleye, Wole; Ms Bester, Angela
Enhancing public sector performance is on the agenda of most governments. In South Africa, as the analysis of the literature indicates, there is a dearth on studies that systematically assess the implementation of public sector performance improvement tools. This article is based on the study that explores the implementation of the Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT) within the South African public sector for the period 2011-2016. It borrows from implementation science and assesses the critical components in the implementation process. It utilises a secondary data review, experiential knowledge from action research and semi-structured interviews. The critical implementation components are outlined and lessons from the implementation process are drawn to inform future practice.
African Review of Economics and Finance Conference
(AREF Consult and Wits Business School, 2018) Professor Alagidede, Paul; Associate Professor Obeng-Odoom, Franklin; Dr Mensah, Odei Jones
This paper endeavours to examine the impact of FDI on income distribution in South Africa. The study utilized annual time series data covering the period 1970–2016, and employed an Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL) and the error correction method (ECM) to investigate the long –run and the short-run parameters between the observed variables. The regression results suggest a long-run cointegration relationship among the variables. While FDI, education, domestic investment and trade openness have negative and statistically significant coefficients which suggests that these variables reduce income inequality in South Africa in the long run; financial development has a positive and a statistically significant coefficient and this implies that there is still a gap between the rich and the poor as far as access to credit markets is concerned, and this aggravates income inequality. This study recommends that more investment-inducing activities for both domestic and foreign investments be encouraged in parallel with increased investments in human capital development, as well improved access to capital markets through allowing the poor to invest in high return investments in order to achieve inclusive economic growth.
Determinants of skills demand in a state- intervening labour market. The case of South African transport sector
(Emerald Insights, 2019-02-20) Khotso, Tsotsotso; Elizabeth, Montshiwa; Precious, Tirivanhu; Tebogo, Fish; Siyabonga, Sibiya; Tshepo, Mlangeni; Matsemela, Moloi; Nhlanhla, Mahlangu
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the drivers and determinants of skills demand in South Africa, given the country’s history and its current design as a developmental state. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, a mixed methods approach is used. The study draws information from in-depth interviews with transport sector stakeholders including employers, professional bodies, sector regulatory bodies and training providers. Complementary to the interviews, the study also analyses employer-reported workplace skills plans from 1,094 transport sector firms updated annually. A Heckman correction model is applied. Findings – The study finds that changes in competition, technology, ageing employees, market conditions and government regulations are among the most frequently stated determinants reported through interviews. Using a Heckman regression model, the study identifies eight determining factors, which include location of firm, size of a firm, occupation type, racial and generational transformation, sub-sector of the firm, skills alignment to National Qualification Framework, reason for skills scarcity and level of skills scarcity reported. The South African transport sector skills demand is therefore mainly driven by the country’s history and consequently its current socio-economic policies as applied by the state itself. Research limitations/implications – Wage rates are explored during stakeholder interviews and the study suggests that wage rates are an insignificant determinant of skills demand in the South African transport sector. However, due to poor reporting by firms, wage rates did not form a part of the quantitative analysis of the study. This serves as a limitation of the study. Practical implications – Through this research, it is now clear that the state has more determining power (influence) in the transport sector than it was perceived. The state can use its power to be a more effective enabler towards increasing employer participation in skills development of the sector. Social implications – With increased understanding and awareness of state’s influence in the sector, the country’s mission to redress the social ills of the former state on black South Africans stands a better chance of success. Private sector resources can be effectively mobilized to improve the social state of previously disadvantaged South Africans. However, given the economic dominance of the private sector and its former role in the apartheid era in South Africa; too much state influence in a supposedly free market can result in corporate resistance and consequently, market failure which can be seen as result of political interference.
Is Programme Evaluation the same as Social Impact Measurement?
(Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 2020-01-08) Tsotsotso, Khotso
This study provides an analysis of the practical and theoretical differences in Social Impact Measurements (SIM)–as defined and is core to Impact Investing–and Programme Evaluation (PE) used in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E). The study is the result of an inspiring effort to converge experiences of both Impact Investment practitioners and investment managers, with those of Programme Evaluators and M&E specialists. A meeting during the AEA’s (American Evaluation Association) ImpaCon conference in Atlanta in 2017. The effort was to facilitate co-learning in order to improve and grow the Impact Investing industry. The study analyses qualitative survey responses from a purposively selected panel of experts including: experienced SIM practitioners and scholars,impact investment managers, programme evaluators and evaluation scholars. Responses are deductively analysed to provide thematic reactions to the research questions. Even though there is a common theoretical intent to determine intervention worth in both SIM and PE, and a common adherence to principles of evaluative thinking; the study concludes that there are clear theoretical and practical differences in participatory and utilisation approach, efficiency and rigour.
Local Politics of Xenophobia
(JAAS, 2016) Ms Blaser Mapitsa, Caitlin
Drawing on research from five peri-urban sites across South Africa on how local government is responding to mobility, this research explores how xenophobia is being produced by local governance processes and structures. Building a better understanding of the mechanisms of exclusion in local government is essential not only for planning interventions that may strengthen democracy, but to understand how the daily practices of local government can promote, or undermine democracy.
Rooting Evaluation Guidelines in Relational Ethics: Lessons From Africa
(American Journal of Evaluation, 2019) Ms Blaser Mapitsa, Caitlin; Ms Polzer Ngwato, Tara
As global discussions of evaluation standards become more contextually nuanced, culturally responsive conceptions of ethics have not been sufficiently discussed. In academic social research, ethical clearance processes have been designed to protect vulnerable people from harm related to participation in a research project. This article expands the ambit of ethical protection thinking and proposes a relational ethics approach for evaluation practitioners. This centers an analysis of power relations among and within all the different stakeholder groups in order to establish, in a contextspecific manner, which stakeholders are vulnerable and in need of protection. The approach also contextualizes the nature of “the public good,” as part of an ethical consideration of interest tradeoffs during evaluations. The discussion is informed by our experiences in African contexts and speaks to the “Made in Africa” research agenda but is also relevant to other global contexts where alternatives to “developed country” ontological assumptions about the roles of researchers and participations and the nature of vulnerability are being reconsidered.

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