GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES IN THE
Date
2011-04-19
Authors
MAKWARELA, STEPHEN TSHINYADZO
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Abstract
The post-1994 period in South Africa heralded significant socio-economic
and political transformation as well as new models of policy and
programmatic governance. The political re-constitution was just one part of
the democratisation process that engulfed the imaginations of South
Africans at home and abroad. With the advent of South Africa’s
constitutional democracy in 1994, service delivery required radical and
transformative policies that reflected the tenets enshrined in the
Constitution. The re-engineering of South Africa’s socio-economic and
political landscape was intertwined with the multiple expectations located
in service delivery. Service delivery is governed by a complex web of
stakeholders, spheres of Government, funding models, implementation
regimes and policy, institutional and legislative frameworks that often lead
to contestation in the various spheres of Government.
Over the years, the ethos of how to govern and the overload of
expectations have presented significant challenges for governance and
service delivery in the country. Service delivery remains a burning issue in
South Africa as years of apartheid resulted in serious socio-economic
inequalities. The public has continuously expressed dissatisfaction with
service delivery through protests. Poor governance has been cited as the
major contributor to poor service delivery. This study seeks to explore the
governance challenges in delivery of services at Local Government level.
The study aims to assist Government, municipal councillors and ward
committees, in particular members of the public, in deepening democracy
at the Local Government level.
The study employed a qualitative approach and Alexandra Township in
Johannesburg was used as a case study. The predominant data collection
methods used were structured Interviews and an expansive review of
Local Government policy, programme documentation and other relevant
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literature. A total of eight people were interviewed: two councillors, two
ward committees, two community members, one business representative,
and one community based organization’s representative. The study
revealed specific governance challenges in the area of service delivery to
the community. Amongst these are corruption, lack of communication,
limited community participation, slow service delivery, unemployment,
poverty, poor leadership, staff incompetency or lack of skills, dependency
and lack of monitoring and evaluation. The study recommends that there
should be political management of governance through training of
councillors, officials, and ward committees around the management of the
gaps in service delivery. There is also a need to focus on fighting
corruption, improve the deployment of skilled and competent people, and
improve systems of public participation, communication, transparency,
accountability, community empowerment and monitoring and evaluation
systems
Description
MM - P&DM
Keywords
Service delivery, Local authorities