Challenges of implementing Breaking New Ground policy in the North West Povince

Abstract

Implementation of the BNG policy was announced by the President, Jacob Zuma, in his state of the nation address on 3 June 2009. The amount of R787 billion in infrastructure expenditure was announced to accomplish cohesive, caring and sustainable communities through construction of school building programmes, parks; playgrounds; sports fields; crèches; community halls; taxi ranks; municipal clinics and informal trading facilities by 2014. The objectives of the study were to identify the challenges impeding the implementation of the Breaking New Ground (BNG) policy in the North West Province and to provide valuable recommendations for effective implementation. Hogwood and Gunn’s (1984:199) ten preconditions of perfect implementation were used to analyse the approaches and actions proposed to implement the BNG policy intents. Through the in-depth interview and document analysis, the study investigated the challenges of implementing the BNG policy in the North West Province. Findings from the interview data and document analysis yielded ample information obstructing effective implementation of the BNG policy in the North West Province. The study found that implementation of the BNG policy seemed to have never been implemented. A major reason identified was insufficient political will to influence strategic actions meant for implementation and the concomitant need to take severe actions against non-compliance. Strong political power, communication and coordination by a lead department to win the support of partner institutions seemed to be insufficient. As a result, allocation of resources and agreement of objectives were never reached. Other cited impeding factors were operational constraints of the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) executive officials to pro-actively pursue the political mandate through the initiation of implementation plan documents, programmes and projects. The study recommends that the Members of Executive Council (MEC), Head of Departments (HODs), and senior managers utilise Executive Committees (EXCO) to negotiate agreement of objectives to win the support of institutions involved. The study recommends that senior managers should consider accumulating knowledge on policy implementation matters.