4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions
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Item The Place of Independent Candidates in South Africa’s Multi-party Democracy(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-10) Simelane, Nkanyiso Goodnews; Glaser, DarylThis study aims to assess the place of independent candidates and elected independents in South Africa’s multiparty democracy. This research attempts to answer the core question of ‘What role do independent candidates and elected independents play in South Africa’s multiparty democracy?’ This question will be explored by focusing on the electoral performance of independents in local government. The focus is on local government because South Africa’s current electoral system only permits independents to run and hold office at the local government level. The research will mainly draw from results of the local government elections in 2000, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021. It will further briefly analyse the provincial and national levels of government and elections to interrogate the possible impact that of allowing independents to stand nationally might have for the future of independent candidates in the country. This research is situated in the broader debate about electoral reform in South Africa since the dawn of inclusive democracy. Scholars have debated the extent to which SA’s current electoral system allows for adequate accountability and citizen involvement. In recent times, the debate was reignited by a Constitutional Court (CC) judgement supporting independent candidates’ integration into the national and provincial elections. In the case of New Nation Movement NPC and Others v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others 2020 (6) SA 257 (CC) (11 June 2020), the CC declared the Electoral Act unconstitutional insofar as “it requires that adult citizens may be elected to the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures only through their membership of political parties.” What this judgement practically meant is that Parliament must make the necessary legislative amendments and electoral reform to allow for independent candidates (who are not members of a political party) to stand and, if elected, hold office in the provincial and national legislatures by 11 June 2022. As independent candidates in the general elections is a new phenomenon in the SA context, independents have contested locally. This research attempts to extract some key data and analysis on the performance of independents at local level in order to provide statistical foundations for future scholarship on independent candidates in SA.Item Critically exploring the link between privatization and institutional capacity at the local government level in South Africa(2024) Ralane, Hluma LuvoThis study aims to critically explore the link between privatization and institutional capacity at the local government level in South Africa. The study is presented in a user-friendly manner for a wider readership. The central themes explored by the study are local municipalities and privatization. A discussion of the central themes of this paper evolves in the following way. Firstly, the paper outlines the nature of local government in South Africa dating back from the apartheid epoch to the inception of democracy in 1994. It reflects on the local government sphere which is a collective of local municipalities, analysing the nature and structure of this sphere. In its expedition, it particularly focuses on a Category B municipality from Queenstown Eastern Cape. Surveying the outplay in the link between privatization and the institutional capacity in this municipality through the contracting-out of services, particularly water privatization in that municipality. The reflection on local government is succeeded by the scrutiny of the privatization theoretical framework. The study assesses the root nature of privatization. It investigates its emergence from a global frame of thought, how it has evolved through neoliberalism, and ended up superseding other macro-economic frameworks and being a central policy of governance linked to the institution's capacity. The study further looks at the different frameworks provided by the government to enhance institutional capacity at the local government level, together with the methods and theories that characterize privatization, and the outcomes that underpin it. The scrutiny of the above central themes leads to a broad analysis of case studies from a global realm, regional arena, and local arena. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather data for the study to complement the former methods the study used an exploratory research design as it was broadly exploring the link between privatization and institutional capacity. It further used semi-structured interviews to substantiate the theoretical findings. Throughout the paper, explicit examples are provided to substantiate all arguments raised.Item Employee’s perceptions of information sharing for the delivery of services in the city of Tshwane’s customer relations department(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022) Cooke, Henry; Pooe, Kagiso ‘TK’Information sharing is one of the fundamental tools that enables organisations to deliver services. Since information is such a broad topic, the information referred to in this study is limited to information that is needed to keep citizens informed regarding the delivery of services in the Customer Relations Management Department, regarded as the front office of the City of Tshwane (Tshwane, 2021b). Previous research has showed that lack of information sharing leads to inefficient and ineffective service delivery. It is for these reasons that this study aimed to explore employee’s perceptions of information sharing for the delivery of services in the City of Tshwane’s Customer Relations Department. The study was rooted in practice and social exchange theory, practical theory, and expectancy–value theory. The chosen research approach for this study was the qualitative approach. This study used semi-structured interviews and a non-probability purposive sampling method. Ten participants across the regions of the City of Tshwane took part in this study. Permission was received from the City of Tshwane to conduct the interviews and the Wits School of Governance provided the researcher with ethical clearance. The main research question, "what are employees’ perceptions of information sharing for the delivery services in the City of Tshwane’s customer relations department?” was answered. This study found that the perceptions of employees on information sharing for the delivery of services in the customer relations department in the City of Tshwane were not to the standard required by a local government organisation. Based on these findings, the researcher was able to provide recommendations to the City for Tshwane on information sharing for the delivery of services, and these findings opened up others areas for future research.