Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study focuses on the Performance Management System in the South African local government with specific emphasis on policy implementation.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / The provision of quality services is important for the overall welfare of South Africans. However, the Apartheid legacy appears to have long lasting effects on the provision of quality services at local level, with a range of undesirable effects, especially for ordinary people at grassroots level. Nevertheless, this concern has been made possible the legacy of apartheid, which makes it practically impossible to address the immediate needs of ordinary South Africans. For over a decade, South African local government has been condemned for poor service delivery, which is as a result of inefficiency, unproductiveness and incompetency of the public servants. These factors have hindered the prospect of delivering quality services at the most efficient and effective level, hence the introduction of a long- term plan by the South African government to improve the productiveness of the local government, and this plan is known as Performance Management System (PMS). The introduction of performance management system is critical because it ensures that plans are being implemented, that they are having the desired development impact and that resources are being used efficiently.This thesis critically analyzes the implementation processes of Performance Management System at O.R. Tambo District Municipality. Its principal aims is to investigate the factors that hinder the effective implementation of performance management system at local government in South Africa, to assess the effectiveness of PMS at ORTDM, to identify and explore different theories on performance management system. This thesis also seeks to be a guide to effective public policy implementation and provide recommendation and clear analysis of the municipal activities which can help improve the current state of affairs at O.R Tambo District Municipality. This thesis therefore looks at the challenges that are faced by the Section 57 employees (i.e. Municipal manager, directors and assistant directors) in the implementation of Performance Management System within the O.R. Tambo District Municipality. It uses qualitative research methods to assess patterns of PMS in ORTDM. This enquiry produces descriptive data, based on the written and spoken words of the interviewees. This method allows the researcher to see the world from participant‟s point of view.This thesis begins by introducing the subject of Performance Management, giving the historical background of performance management, as well as the current state of O.R. Tambo District. The introduction of the topic is followed by a theoretical overview of the subject of performance management. This is followed by the research methodology used in this study. The findings are presented in the chapter following the research methodology chapter, giving a synopsis of what the interviewees disclosed during the interview process. The last chapter provides conclusions and recommendations on how do the municipality ensure that performance management is effectively implemented and it has desired outcomes.

Magister Legum - LLM / The fragmented approach of provinces in the use of legislation and policies, coupled with the uncertainty of key terms in the context of section 139(1) of the Constitution, have resulted in provincial executives not being consistent or not always complying with the use of the steps necessary for interventions in terms of section 139(1) of the Constitution. In order to assess the impact of the fragmented approach and uncertainties on how provincial executives apply the above mentioned steps, this study answers eight questions designed to test the way in which provincial executives applied the aforementioned steps and the effectiveness of the use of aforementioned interventions. The assessment is based on the tallies from the answers to the eight questions, and the grouping of these answers in accordance with the tallies. Each of the three main groups characterises how the relevant provincial executives applied the steps necessary for the use of interventions in terms of section 139(1) of the Constitution for the last five years. The fourth group assesses the effectiveness of such interventions. The answers are derived from the data relating to the notices to the Minister and NCOP, and complemented by the progress reports from the Minister and NCOP. The findings of the four groupings are as follows: the first group presented the steps which present no difficulty in terms of compliance; the second group presented the steps which provincial executives mostly complied with but which at times present some difficulty; and the third group presented those steps which are problematic. The fourth group determined that the effectiveness of the role of provinces in the use of interventions in terms of section 139(1) of the Constitution is questionable due to the repetition and duration of a number of interventions. In order to address the issue of non-compliance by provincial executives with the steps necessary for the use of interventions, the study recommends the drafting of legislation and formulation of clear policy guidelines which will ensure a consistent, coherent and uniform approach when invoking interventions.

Magister Legum - LLM / This paper seeks to answer the following question: how can municipalities manage and regulate markets in a manner that facilitates access to food and contributes to the enhancement of food security? In attempting to answer this question, the paper will also address the following questions: what does the term 'food security' mean? What does 'access to food' mean? What does the 'right to food' mean? What are the powers and functions of local government? What are the limits, problems or risks attached to the exercise of these powers? What constitutes 'markets' or 'fresh produce markets' in this case? What is the scope of local government's legislative and executive competence regarding food 'markets', as enumerated in Part B of Schedule 5 of the Constitution? And, how can municipalities utilise food markets as a means to facilitate access to food and address the issue of food security? This paper will focus primarily on fresh produce markets, as opposed to other markets or 'markets' in their entirety. This limitation is based on the argument that fresh produce markets are more relevant for the role of local government in facilitating access to food because they provide a platform for the sale and purchase of fresh produce, which is important for nutritional purposes. The argument presented in this thesis centres around the facilitation of access to food, by local government, through the regulation and management of markets. The paper will address the problem by examining the concepts of 'food security' and 'access to food' in the South African context, as well as in the international context. In examining the above concepts, the paper will also include the right to food. The paper will further look at how South Africa has responded to the issue of food security through its national food security policies. The paper will look at how local food markets are utilised internationally to facilitate access to food and thereafter, examine how food markets should be utilised to facilitate access to food in South Africa. Thereafter, an examination of the powers and functions of local government as entrenched in the Constitution will be provided, as well as the implications of such powers, the limitations and the problems attached to the exercise of local government powers. Lastly, the paper looks at local government's competence regarding food 'markets' in Schedule 5B of the Constitution, as well as the other competencies related to food/food security. Although local government has the scope to address the issue of food security by exercising its legislative and executive authority over the competence ‘markets’ as per Schedule 5B of the Constitution, this study does not focus solely on the management and regulation of 'markets'. The study extends and includes related competencies such as trade regulations, the licensing and control of undertakings that sell food to the public, municipal abattoirs, street trading and municipal health service, and shows how the links between these competencies provide local government with the opportunity to contribute to the enhancement of food security.

No description available.

Please read the abstract (Summary) in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (D Admin (Public Administration))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / unrestricted

This thesis uses economics-style incentivised laboratory experiments to study the effects of the political transformation in Arab Spring Countries (frequent recalling of governments, political and social polarisation, and campaign dynamics of founding elections) on economic outcomes; such as tax compliance, support for painful economic reforms, corruption, and interpersonal trust. The main focus of this thesis is on Egypt, being the largest Arab country in terms of population, historically the most influential in the region, and with a dominant cultural influence felt all over the Arab world. I find the following experimental evidence: (i) Giving citizens the right to recall government officials decreases the level of corruption in government through the increased accountability it imposes on elected politicians. Specifically, corruption is reduced by 14% in the presence of this right (p=0.04). (ii) Empowering citizens with the right to recall government officials was also found to decrease tax compliance by 20% due to the high frequency of divisive elections associated with this newly acquired right in a newly democratised country and the creation of losers who become unsatisfied with the outcome of the election process and thus the psychological costs associated with their incompliance are minimized. (iii) Ideological polarisation in elections can impede economic reform. And that (iv) negative campaigning in elections can impact negatively on the level of interpersonal trust in the society.

South Africa is held up internationally as a beacon of good practice in terms of its efforts to promote gender equality, the increased number of women in leadership positions in all spheres of government is testament to this. The representation of women in all spheres of government is advocated for and promoted by legislation and policies that aim to promote a gender focus in all government procedures and programmes. However, representation alone does not guarantee the promotion of gender equality; representation should be supplemented by a focus on gender in all aspects including training and development of councillors in local government. The research focus of this dissertation is the Municipal Leadership Development Programme (MLDP) offered by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, under the Local Government Leadership Academy. The MLDP is a leadership development programme offered to councillors in local government in order to improve their leadership skills. This study highlights the need and importance of incorporating a gender focus in leadership development programmes offered to women in local government by identifying the extent to which gender considerations have been built into the Programme evaluation. The study is conducted using qualitative research methodology. This is done in the form of individual and focus group interviews with the Programme developers, Programme participants, Programme coordinators and the Programme facilitators. The aim of these interviews being to gain an understanding of the perceptions, views and experiences of the stakeholders in the Programme regarding the current evaluation framework of the Municipal Leadership Development Programme. In line with the results of the interviews with the Programme stakeholders’ regarding the effectiveness of the MLDP evaluation framework in building gender considerations into the Programme evaluation the study proposes a gender evaluation framework. A gender evaluation framework is an evaluation framework that builds in gender considerations at every step in the evaluation framework to ensure that the effectiveness and impact of a Programme is not hampered by underlying gender barriers. This dissertation provides recommendations for the implementation of the proposed gender evaluation framework for leadership development of women in local government. This is done in order to ensure that the gender focus that has led to South Africa being held up as a beacon of good practice cascades to leadership development evaluation. / Dissertation (MAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / School of Public Management and Administration / unrestricted

This research document addresses the study of the competencies and skills required by executive municipal managers in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality. Dissertation focuses on questions such as “What is it that executive municipal managers, manage?” What generic management processes do these executive municipal managers, apply?” “What management technique and strategies do these managers employ to deliver services?”; “Under what circumstances do executive municipal managers manage?” In order for executive municipal managers to claim proficiency (competitiveness and skills), a clear discussion of the meaning and competency and skills is provided in this. Identifying and providing a meaningful narration of the characteristics of a competent and skilful executive municipal manager as being a person who has self-respect, high level of emotional intelligence, qualitative in nature, with reasonable adaptive ability by continuously learning and developing with high ethical and professional integrity. In all his/her attempts these executive municipal managers need to be innovative in nature, undertake constant networking and always be informative by character. Such a person is productive problem solver and continuously communicates vertically and horizontally within the hierarchy of the organization. All these discussions are denoted in the diagram indicate below. This research document has undertaken an empirical research to analyze the perception of executive municipal managers in terms of the diagram below and ultimately provide a narrative analysis of the developmental government such as the O.R. Tambo District Municipality.

This thesis explores how English councils and their public service partners responded to the UK Coalition government’s ‘austerity’-related spending cuts between 2010 and 2015. The research is distinctive in moving beyond a focus on the impacts of cuts to individual services, instead considering responses to austerity ‘in the round’, using a governance perspective. The methodology was innovative, using principles of ‘action research’ and ‘appreciative inquiry’ to design the research collaboratively with Nottingham City Council. Fieldwork was undertaken between 2012 and 2014, including a document review, 34 interviews and two workshops with frontline staff, as well as informal participant observation. The approach aimed to deliver academic rigour, as well as useful findings for practitioners addressing challenges in the field. Taking the locality of Nottingham as an exploratory and revelatory embedded single case study, the analysis combines insights from new institutionalist and interpretive theory. It demonstrates that although the council showed institutional resilience, and was able to maintain a wide range of services, spending cuts were creating pressure to change both the ‘practices’ and ‘narratives’ underpinning service delivery. Tensions in some service delivery partnerships suggested shifts in local ‘traditions’ of governance, viewed by some actors as symptomatic of a wider change in the values underpinning governance institutions. Meanwhile the council was increasingly focussed on strategic forms of community leadership, whilst links with local communities were diminishing. Working with partners, the council had (at least temporarily) mitigated a dramatic reduction in income. Yet although change in service delivery was incremental, the potential for transformation in local governance was clear. These findings are shown to have consistencies with wider comparative studies. Policy implications are discussed for the 2015 Conservative government, as it implements a further round of austerity-related cuts.