Bakgrund: Kommuninvest är en medlemsorganisation som finansierar en stor andel av den svenska kommunsektorns upplåning. Detta möjliggörs genom att Kommuninvest emitterar obligationer på finansiella marknader för att sedan låna ut kapital till kommunerna. Finansiella institut som Kommuninvest hanterar en rad olika risker i sin verksamhet och eftersom det saknas tidigare forskning angående Kommuninvests exponering mot och hantering av marknadsrisk är detta intressant att studera för att fylla kunskapsluckan. Det är också intressant eftersom kommunerna är en viktig aktör i det svenska samhället och Kommuninvest spelar en stor roll i den kommunala upplåningen. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att analysera Kommuninvests marknadsriskexponering när de lånar upp pengar på den finansiella marknaden för att låna ut dessa till medlemskommunerna, samt att analysera företagets marknadsriskhantering. Syftet är också att analysera hur marknadsriskexponeringen och marknadsriskhanteringen påverkar medlemskommunerna. Genomförande: Studien är designad som en fallstudie. Fallet har definierats som Kommuninvests marknadsriskexponering och -hantering. Det empiriska materialet utgörs av nio semistrukturerade intervjuer och en dokumentstudie. Det empiriska materialet har använts för att kunna dra slutsatser om Kommuninvests marknadsriskexponering och -hantering samt dessas potentiella påverkan på medlemskommunerna. Slutsats: Flera slutsatser kan dras från denna studie. Kommuninvest hedgar främst sin marknadsrisk med derivat och naturlig matchning. Den monetära effekten på låneportföljen konstateras vara relativt liten. Räntemarginalen är så pass låg att de små kommunerna väljer att alltid låna av Kommuninvest och de stora väljer att göra det ibland. Kommunerna i studien har över lag högt förtroende för Kommuninvest och majoritet upplever att de inte påverkas så mycket av bolagets riskexponering eller riskhantering. Denna studie bidrar med ny kunskap om Kommuninvests marknadsriskexponering och -hantering till det företagsekonomiska forskningsfältet såväl som till de svenska kommunerna. / Background: Kommuninvest is a member organisation that finances a large part of the borrowing of Swedish local governments. This is made possible by emitting bonds on the financial markets and then lending capital to the local governments. Financial institutions like Kommuninvest deal with several different risks and since no previous research has been conducted on the subject of the market risk exposure and the market risk management of Kommuninvest, this is a pertinent case to study in order to fill the gap. It is also a pertinent case since the local governments of Sweden are a very important part of the society and since Kommuninvest plays a great role in the borrowing of these local governments. Aim: The aim of this study is to analyse the market risk exposure of Kommuninvest when the company borrows capital on the financial markets to lend to their members, Swedish local governments, as well as to analyse the market risk management of the company. A secondary aim is to analyse how the market risk exposure and the market risk management affect the local governments that are members of Kommuninvest. Completion: The study is designed as a case study. The case has been defined as The market risk exposure and market risk management of Kommuninvest. The empirical data consists of nine semi-structured interviews and one document study. The empirical data is used to draw conclusions about the market risk exposure and the market risk management of Kommuninvest, as well as their potential effects on the Swedish local governments that are members of Kommuninvest. Conclusion: Several conclusions can be drawn from this study. Kommuninvest primarily hedges its market risk with derivates and natural hedges. The monetary effect on the loan portfolio is found to be relatively small. The interest margin is low enough so that the small local governments choose to always borrow from Kommuninvest, and the big local governments choose to sometimes do so. The local governments that participated in the study generally have high confidence in Kommuninvest and most of them experience that they are not very affected by the company’s risk exposure or risk management. This study contributes with new knowledge about the market risk exposure and market risk management of Kommuninvest to the research field as well as to the Swedish local governments.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities outlines the right of persons with disabilities to equal access to information. This paper builds on previous research on the international and national level and examines whether persons with disabilities have equal access to information online on the municipal level of government in Sweden. Also assessing the perception of municipality official’s view on the concept of accessibility, this thesis uses both qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings indicate that clear differences are present among municipalities and that article nine of the CRPD is not fully implemented on the municipal level in this aspect, but that no clear relationship between party control and web accessibility can be found. This paper concludes that further efforts needs to be put towards education and information towards the issue of online accessibility.

This study is concerned with the impacts of local government decentralisation on the lives of the people of Drumchapel. The dramatic changes associated with the British state and civil society in the 1980s serves as a starting point. As a decade, the 1980s witnessed major economic restructuring, and more significantly in relation to this work, upheaval in the structure and function of the welfare state. A substantial component of the welfare state is local government service provision, which has been directly challenged by central government initiated change, and indirectly challenged by the changing conditions of civil society. At the close of the 1980s, the once universally accepted pattern of provision had radically altered, and in some instances a mixed economy of welfare had become established. Restructuring is of significance to this work for two related reasons. Firstly, some of the explanations for decentralisation are related to restructuring, and the nature of developments in Drumchapel are intimately connected with such changes. Secondly, a marginalisation of some sections of British society has taken place, and arguably an underclass of people who are largely excluded from mainstream society has come into being. As a concept, the underclass is of direct relevance to Drumchapel (see below).Decentralisation is the core concept of this work. It has been welcomed as: "a new managerial paradigm bringing with it increased efficiency, flexibility and customer responsiveness, and also as a new political paradigm, bringing gains in terms of increased accountability and citizen participation" (Loundes 1991, p. 19). During the 1980s, decentralisation was broadly seen as a solution to many of the problems local government faced, including being part of the solution to financial constraints and to the problems associated with local government, in particular, excessive bureaucracy and remoteness from the public.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1964 S54 / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of budget management and planning in the · Mafikeng Local Municipality with a view to determining the implementation of performance budgeting. Structured interviews in the form of self-administered questionnaires were utilised as the measuring instrument. Information on the annual reports was also utilised to understand the situation at the Mafikeng Local Municipality. The municipal manager, the chief financial officer and the members of the municipal council were the selected participants in the study. Representatives of the labour unions were also selected to participate in the study. The study employed two methods of data analysis, the quantitative and qualitative data to determine the empirical and theoretical findings of the study. The findings of both the qualitative and quantitative analyses were similar as they revealed that the municipality had plans and budget in place. However, what was lacking was the alignment of the budgeting with the planning. The non-alignment of the budgets with the plans resulted in the municipality under-performing in terms of planned activities as well as spending patterns. Gaps in the planning and budgeting systems of the municipality were evident, as the findings indicated that budgeting was done separately at the finance department and planning was done elsewhere. Comparative studies of international countries indicate that with proper implementation of performance budgeting, organisations are in a better position to plan and budget at the same time. The recommendations from the study indicated that there was a lot that needed to be done by the Mafikeng Local Municipality to ensure that plans are aligned with the budget. The key recommendation of the study is that further research be conducted beyond 2011 in order to examine how far performance budgeting has progressed and to establish the opinion of the auditor general since the time of the study. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of budget management and planning in the Mafikeng Local Municipality with a view to determining the implementation of performance budgeting. Structured interviews in the form of self-administered questionnaires were utilised as the measuring instrument. Information on the annual reports was also utilised to understand the situation at the Mafikeng Local Municipality. The municipal manager, the chief financial officer and the members of the municipal council were the selected participants in the study. Representatives of the labour unions were also selected to participate in the study. The study employed two methods of data analysis, the quantitative and qualitative data to determine the empirical and theoretical findings of the study. The findings of both the qualitative and quantitative analyses were similar as they revealed that the municipality had plans and budget in place. However, what was lacking was the alignment of the budgeting with the planning. The non-alignment of the budgets with the plans resulted in the municipality under-performing in terms of planned activities as well as spending patterns. Gaps in the planning and budgeting systems of the municipality were evident, as the findings indicated that budgeting was done separately at the finance department and planning was done elsewhere. Comparative studies of international countries indicate that with proper implementation of performance budgeting, organisations are in a better position to plan and budget at the same time. The recommendations from the study indicated that there was a lot that needed to be done by the Mafikeng Local Municipality to ensure that plans are aligned with the budget. The key recommendation of the study is that further research be conducted beyond 2011 in order to examine how far performance budgeting has progressed and to establish the opinion of the auditor general since the time of the study. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

South African Government introduced the supply chain management framework in 2003, with a vision of creating a seamless system which will play a pivotal role in service delivery provision to the communities, while achieving the objectives of cost effectiveness, fairness, equity transparency and ethics. The main aim of adopting this framework immediately after reform was to align the Public Sector Supply Chain management to the best practices. Unfortunately since its inception the supply chain management, particularly in the local government, has not enjoyed good publicity, due to the following three main factors, firstly incompetency of the supply chain management practitioners on using the preference points system, writing insufficient motivation when deviating from the SCM policies and irregular extensions of validity periods. The second main factor is the unethical conduct of the supply chain management practitioners in collusion with suppliers to overprice their respective tenders and also to supply inferior material for projects intended for community development. The last main factor is the lack of political leadership to enforce compliance, such as consequence management for those who contravened the supply chain management policies, as some councillors are also found doing business with their municipalities which is against the Municipal System Act 32 of 2000. The aim of this study was to establish an effective supply chain management framework for local municipalities in order to achieve the primary objectives of Section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic which are fairness, equity, transparency, and competitive and cost effectiveness. The study found that supply chain management practitioners have indicated that they have a very good understanding of how the supply chain management framework should be applied and of related legislations, but the literature differs with the views of the practitioners, as corruption, fraud and lack of consequences reports are still raised by the Auditor General South Africa and by other publications over the years. The following are recommendations that should be taken into account for the supply framework to function effectively: - Establish a Supply Chain Management Professional Association (SCMPA) of which the role is to provide annual online assessment for all the supply chain management practitioners; - To use the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading certificate as evaluation minimum criteria of assessing functionality in accordance with the specific project; - Cancel the provision to re-issue or re-advertise the tenders after the supply chain management unit has received quotations from suppliers. - Municipalities should develop an integrated online commodity price listing supply database which should be operational 24 hours. Also to develop a Cellular phone application that will enable all the service providers to access the portal at any time to load their respective prices. - Make provision to include members of the audit committee to be charged for negligence under financial misconduct section 171 of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003. - To provide the Auditor General South Africa and the Public Protector with legislative powers to refer malpractices or contravention with the supply chain policies to the SCMPA and SAPS to recover wasteful and fruitless expenditure as required by Section 102 of Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) of 56 of 2003 after complying with section 173 of the MFMA. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This mini-dissertation examines the role of community participation in the Integrated Development Planning (lDP) Process in the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality; and to establish how the Municipality seek to facilitate community participation. Furthermore, the study examines whether citizens are provided with genuine opportunities to influence decision-making at the local level from the stages of prioritizing, allocation of operational expenditure and implementation of developmental projects in their municipality. In addition, constraints hindering community participation in the lDP process are also examined. Finally, the study concludes that the nature and extent of community participation in the Integrated Development Planning Process of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality is that of consulting and informing the community but lacks effective bottom-up input from the citizens. Even though the municipality holds frequent public hearings and neighbourhood meetings with various stakeholders, the councillors and community representatives are just co-opted in the lDP Forums without any power to influence the council, while the officials retain the right to make final decisions . / Thesis (Soc.Sc.(Developmental Studies) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2012

South African Government introduced the supply chain management framework in 2003, with a vision of creating a seamless system which will play a pivotal role in service delivery provision to the communities, while achieving the objectives of cost effectiveness, fairness, equity transparency and ethics. The main aim of adopting this framework immediately after reform was to align the Public Sector Supply Chain management to the best practices. Unfortunately since its inception the supply chain management, particularly in the local government, has not enjoyed good publicity, due to the following three main factors, firstly incompetency of the supply chain management practitioners on using the preference points system, writing insufficient motivation when deviating from the SCM policies and irregular extensions of validity periods. The second main factor is the unethical conduct of the supply chain management practitioners in collusion with suppliers to overprice their respective tenders and also to supply inferior material for projects intended for community development. The last main factor is the lack of political leadership to enforce compliance, such as consequence management for those who contravened the supply chain management policies, as some councillors are also found doing business with their municipalities which is against the Municipal System Act 32 of 2000. The aim of this study was to establish an effective supply chain management framework for local municipalities in order to achieve the primary objectives of Section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic which are fairness, equity, transparency, and competitive and cost effectiveness. The study found that supply chain management practitioners have indicated that they have a very good understanding of how the supply chain management framework should be applied and of related legislations, but the literature differs with the views of the practitioners, as corruption, fraud and lack of consequences reports are still raised by the Auditor General South Africa and by other publications over the years. The following are recommendations that should be taken into account for the supply framework to function effectively: - Establish a Supply Chain Management Professional Association (SCMPA) of which the role is to provide annual online assessment for all the supply chain management practitioners; - To use the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading certificate as evaluation minimum criteria of assessing functionality in accordance with the specific project; - Cancel the provision to re-issue or re-advertise the tenders after the supply chain management unit has received quotations from suppliers. - Municipalities should develop an integrated online commodity price listing supply database which should be operational 24 hours. Also to develop a Cellular phone application that will enable all the service providers to access the portal at any time to load their respective prices. - Make provision to include members of the audit committee to be charged for negligence under financial misconduct section 171 of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003. - To provide the Auditor General South Africa and the Public Protector with legislative powers to refer malpractices or contravention with the supply chain policies to the SCMPA and SAPS to recover wasteful and fruitless expenditure as required by Section 102 of Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) of 56 of 2003 after complying with section 173 of the MFMA. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Published Article / The changes brought about by global competitiveness place increasing pressure on local government to deliver more and better services to communities. To determine whether South Africa has benefited from globalisation per se in terms of improved performance, performance management in the South African local government needs to be investigated through benchmarking the prerequisites for such a system set, and an appraisal of the performance of local government in South Africa since 1994. Strategies for improved performances to be globally competitive will furthermore be advanced.