FACTORS THAT INHIBIT MUNICIPAL COUNCILLORS FROM

Date
2011-05-06
Authors
KHAILE, SAMUEL THABO
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Abstract
Municipal budget oversight is generally regarded as one of the important features of modern municipal financial management. It is widely perceived as a significant legislative process to promote accountability, democracy and responsiveness in municipalities. Municipal councillors and nonexecutive councillors, in particular, are expected to take a lead in exercising effective budget oversight. Accordingly, various legislative and institutional measures have been introduced to support councillors in undertaking this role. However, in spite of these measures to improve budget oversight, the overall results have not been impressive. This study presents an exploratory investigation of the factors that can prevent councillors from exercising effective budget oversight. The City of Cape Town has been used as a case study for this research. Data has been collected through a survey of literature and semi-structured interviews. The study shows that a lack of budget oversight culture, a lack of cooperation among non-executive councillors and a lack of capacity, as well as the dominant role of executive structures in the budget process, are the major factors that can inhibit councillors from exercising effective budget oversight
Description
MM - P&DM
Keywords
Budget oversight, Local authorities
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