In 1994, South Africa adopted intergovernmental relations (IGR) to facilitate service delivery. Sections 40-41 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, link service delivery with normative aspects of IGR, which include cooperation, transparency, accountability, mutual support, and coherence. A coherent implementation of IGR was subsequently emphasised by the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act 13 of 2005. However, South Africa continues to experience service delivery challenges, especially in marginalised and poor communities in the current and former informal settlements. The selected Diepsloot was established as an informal settlement in 1995 and has been under an in situ upgrade programme. The study’s focus was on the provision of potable water in the City of Johannesburg with specific reference to Diepsloot. A case study approach was used to assess lived experiences among the actors within the intergovernmental context of cooperative government. A qualitative methodology was utilised to source data about intergovernmental interactions among actors from the public institutions by means of semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. Lastly, a focus group was utilised for members of the ward committees in Diepsloot. The study concluded that IGR system is not used adequately to support Diepsloot to access potable water in accordance with an established standard. In essence, the IGR system lacks an integrated approach to reverse a legacy of informality. To facilitate an IGR improvement, the study’s recommendations were three-fold: (i) provision of integrated support to the City of Johannesburg for Diepsloot despite erroneous assumption that metropolitan municipalities are self-sufficient, (ii) standardisation of potable water provision in Diepsloot by means of integrating IGR institutional responses, and (iii) institutionalisation of IGR engagements with other cities. To this end, the study proposed a model of integrated intergovernmental support to improve potable water provision and, by extension, other related services in Diepsloot. / Public Administration / D.P.L. (Public Administration)

South Africa adopted the democratic decentralisation governance model in 1994 with the aim of improving, inter alia, service delivery. The adoption of this model resulted in the establishment of three spheres of government, namely, national, provincial and local. These three government spheres are distinctive, interdependent, interrelated and autonomous. Power and responsibilities are devolved from the national to the provincial and then to the local government spheres. Cooperative government and intergovernmental relations structures in the three spheres of government were established in order to improve service delivery and to assist in the execution of the devolved powers. However, the results of this study revealed that the structures which had been established were not effective in addressing the housing challenges facing the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality (BLM). The results also revealed that each government sphere executed its housing mandatory responsibilities only when a housing project was launched or implemented in the BLM. During housing project implementation, the BLM was responsible for evaluation, the Mpumalanga Provincial Department of Human Settlements (MPDHS) was responsible for contracting a housing service provider and for payments while the National Department of Human Settlements (NDHS) was responsible for quality of the houses and compliance to national housing standards. In addition, the BLM had an inspection unit and the NDHS was supposed to work closely with the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC). However, the houses provided had defects ranging from cracked walls and floors, leaking roofs, leaking pipes to fading paint. The main role of the NHBRC is to check the quality or adequacy of public houses before they are allocated to the targeted beneficiaries. / Public Administration / D. Admin. (Public Administration)

No abstract available / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Administration)

This study examines the role of Ward Committees in facilitating “authentic” public participation, with particular reference to Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality. The key question of the study is whether Ward Committees serve as effective mechanisms to promote public participation in the local sphere of government in South Africa. To answer this question, this research project focuses on the composition, functioning and responsibilities of Ward Committees, and how these contribute to effective public participation. This is important because one of the mandates of local government in the post-apartheid era in South Africa is to promote local democracy through the participation of communities. The empirical findings of this research project reveal that Ward Committees are confronted with a multitude of challenges where their functioning tends to be compromised. This has led this research to recommend the improvement of capacity among Ward Committees as a way of enhancing public participation. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

The dissertation deals with the roots of civic apathy in local government, and the main emphasis is to establish the root cause/s of civic apathy. The hypothesis: 'civic apathy is a phenomenon intensified by ignorance and a feeling of powerlessness and frustration on the electorate' is tested in this study. To examine further specific aspects of civic apathy, including establishing the cause/s and effects of apathy, the author conducted a quantitative research in the Northern Metropolitan Area m Johannesburg, using questionnaires and literature study as the research method. The hypothesis advanced in the dissertation has been validated insofar as it has been argued and demonstrated that indeed people can feel powerless and frustrated if they are deliberately being excluded from, or denied the opportunity to participate actively in their local government activities. The main finding is that civic apathy is intensified by ignorance. However, the most important finding is that there ts a causal relationship between powerlessness, frustration and apathy. / Public Administration and Management / M. Admin. (Public Administration)

Text in Afrikaans / Die Suidelike Pretoria Metropolitaanse Substruktuur word onder toenemende druk geplaas om meer en beter dienste, wat onder andere sport- en rekreasiedienste behels, aan die gemeenskap te voorsien. Dit kan daaraan toegeskryf word dat veranderinge in die omgewing plaasvind wat vereis dat die Substruktuur in die gees van die heropbou en ontwikkeling van die gemeenskap, daarby moet aanpas. Een manier om die druk op die Suidelike Pretoria Metropolitaanse Substruktuur te verlig is om sport- en rekreasiedienste aan die hand van eenvormige beleid te organiseer. Hieruit spruit 'n doelwit voort, te wete om beleid vir die organisering van sport- en rekreasiedienste van die Suidelike Pretoria Metropolitaanse Substruktuur te ondersoek. Die ondersoek omsluit die milieu waarbinne beleid ontwikkel het, byvoorbeeld die eksterne omgewing en die bestaande organisatoriese reelings wat vir sport- en rekreasiedienste in die Substruktuur geld. In die studie is bevind dat beleid vir die organisering van sport- en rekreasiedienste van die Suidelike Pretoria Metropolitaanse Substruktuur gebrekkig en gefragmenteerd is. Daar is ook bevind dat die organisering van sport- en rekreasiedienste, weens 'n gebrek aan beleid, tot organisatoriese leemtes, soos die duplisering van dienste en gebrekkige kommunikasie, aanleiding gee. 'n Verdere doelwit met die studie is om 'n universele beleidsmodel vir die Suidelike Pretoria Metropolitaanse Substruktuur saam te stel waardeur leemtes in die organisering van sport- en rekreasiedienste uitgeskakel kan word en eenvormige beleidsreelings getref kan word. Daar is bevind dat die universele beleidsmodel wetenskaplik gefundeerde riglyne vir die daarstelling van beleid bied. Sodanige bevinding het tot die gevolgtrekking gelei dat die beleidsmodel 'n ideale raamwerk skep waarvolgens plaaslike owerhede, soos die Suidelike Pretoria Metropolitaanse Substruktuur, probleme kan identifiseer, doelwitte kan stel, organisatoriese reelings kan tref en beleid kan formuleer, implementeer en evalueer. Dit skep in der waarheid 'n raamwerk waarvolgens beleidbepalers te werk kan gaan om beleid te bepaal. Die beleidsmodel het 'n universele toepassingswaarde omdat dit riglyne bevat wat deur enige ander plaaslike owerheid in die proses van beleidbepaling aangewend kan word. / Increased pressure is placed on the Southern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure to provide more and improved services, such as sport and recreation services, to the community. This can be ascribed to changes taking place within the external environment and which, in the spirit of reconstruction and development, requires the Substructure to adapt to such changes. One way to relieve the pressure on the Southern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure is to organize sport and recreation services according to a uniform policy. This resulted in an objective, namely to investigate policy for the organization of sport and recreation services of the Southern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure. The investigation entails the environment within which policy develops, for example the external environment and the present organizational arrangements applicable to sport and recreation services in the Substructure. During the study it was determined that policy for the organization of sport and recreation services of the Southern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure was limited and fragmented. It was also determined that, due to the lack of policy, the organization of sport and recreation services resulted in organizational shortcomings such as the duplication of services and insufficient communication. A further objective with the study is to construct a universal policy-model for the Southern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure through which shortcomings in the organization of sport and recreation services can be limited and uniform policy arrangements can be determined. It was determined that the universal policymodel offered scientifically based guidelines for the determination of policy. The aforementioned determination lead to the conclusion that the policy-model created an ideal framework within which local governments, such as the Southern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure, could identify problems, determine objectives and organizational arrangements, formulate, implement and evaluate policy. In fact it creates a framework within which policymakers can work to determine policy. The policy-model is of universal value because it offers guidelines which can be applied by any other local authority during the policy-making process. / Public Administration and Management / D. Admin. (Publieke Administrasie)

Text in Afrikaans / Suid-Afrika het as gevolg van apartheid vir etlike dekades oor 'n gedeeltelik legitieme plaaslike regeringstelsel beskik. Die probleem is dat die land se apartheidsregering afsonderlike stelsels vir blankes en swartes in aparte woongebiede in stand gehou het, welke beleid vir meeste Suid-Afrikaners onaanvaarbaar was. Swart plaaslike owerhede wat swart plaaslike regering moes bedryf, was nog polities nog ekonomies lewensvatbaar. Die rede hiervoor is dat hul enersyds deur die gemeenskap verwerp is en andersyds nie voldoende inkomstebronne gehad het om plaaslike owerheidsdienste finansieel onafhanklik te lewer nie. Stedelike swart gemeenskappe was aan 'n, vir hulle, onaanvaarbare apartheidsgestruktureerde swart plaaslike regeringstelsel onderworpe. Swart plaaslike owerhede was voorts as gevolg van hul ekonomiese nie-lewensvatbaarheid, gekniehalter in die lewering van plaaslike owerheidsdienste asook die daarstelling en instandhouding van kapitale ontwikkelingsprojekte. Stedelike swartes was dus blootgestel aan gebrekkige dienslewering in aparte, onderontwikkelde "slaapdorpe" waar hulle noodgedwonge moes woon. 'n Vraag waarna gevolglik gekyk word, fokus op die kenmerke van 'n ideeeltipiese model van plaaslike regering wat die gedeeltelik legitieme stelsel behoort te vervang. As gevolg van die onaanvaarbaarheid van die swart plaaslike regeringstelsel was swart plaaslike owerhede sedert die vroee tagtigerjare die teikens van aksioniste teen hierdie apartheidsproduk. Aksioniste het nie-gewelddadige aksie (NGA), geskoei op die Gandhiaanse filosofie en metodiek van Satyagraha, aangewend ten einde swart plaaslike owerhede te vernietig. NGA (wat dikwels ook tot gewelddadigheid gelei het), het tot gevolg gehad dat die owerheid later noodgedwonge 'n nuwe plaaslike regeringstelsel vir die totale Suid-Afrikaanse samelewing, met alle deelvennote moes beding. Onderhandelings het vervolgens meegebring dat 'n oorgangsproses na legitieme (demokratiese) plaaslike regering vir alle Suid-Afrikaners ingevolge die Oorgangswet op Plaaslike Regering, 1993 (Wet No. 209 van 1993) geaktiveer is. In hierdie proefskrif is gevolglik vasgestel: (1) welke invloed die politieke bedeling (apartheidsbedeling) op die ontwikkeling van stedelike swart gemeenskappe en die bedryf van swart plaaslike regering gehad het; (2) wat die aard en effek van NGA op die ontwikkeling van swart plaaslike regering was; en (3) hoe geldig die onderhandelde plaaslike regeringstelsel is, vergeleke met die ideeel-tipiese model wat geidentifiseer is. / As a result of apartheid South Africa possessed a partially legitimate local government system for several decades. The problem is that the country's apartheid government maintained separate systems for whites and blacks in separate residential areas, a policy that was unacceptable to the majority of South Africans. Black local authorities who had to maintain black local government were neither politically nor economically viable because they were rejected by the community and lacked sufficient sources of revenue to render financially independent local government services. Urban black communities were subject to what, for them, was an unacceptable apartheid-structured black local government system. Black local authorities were also prevented by their economic nonviability from delivering local government services effectively and from instituting and maintaining capital development projects. Urban blacks were therefore subjected to poor service delivery in separate, underdeveloped "dormitory towns" where they were forced to live. An issue to be considered in this regard concerns the characteristics of an ideal-typical model of local government that should replace this partially legitimate system. As a result of the unacceptability of the black local government system local authorities became the targets of activists who waged a campaign against this product of apartheid since the early eighties. Activists used non-violent action (NV A), based on the Gandhian principle of Satyagraha, to destroy black local authorities. As a result of NVA (which often led to violence) the central government was eventually forced to negotiate a new local government system for the whole of South African society with all stakeholders. Negotiations led to a process of transition to legitimate (democratic) local government for all South Africans as promulgated in the Local Government Transition Act, 1993 (Act No. 209 of I 993). Consequently the following has been established in this thesis: (1) the influence of the political dispensation (apartheid dispensation) on the development of urban black communities and the maintenance of black local government; (2) the nature and the effect of NV A on the development of black local government; and (3) how valid the negotiated local government system is, compared to the identified ideal-typical model. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Ontwikkelingsadministrasie)

This research is an examination of the practical application of intergovernmental relations (IGR) and co-operative government at the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CTMM)’s Department of Housing and Human Settlements. By use of questionnaire and direct interviews, the research extracted responses from methodically selected employees and officials at the Department of Housing and Human Settlements in the CTMM. Literature study was combined with document analysis and a part of participant observation to gather data and information that has been examined and analysed in the study that has established the need for training and skilling for officials and employees in financial and project management. The need for the rolling back of political interference, regular review of legislation to keep abreast with the changing environment and international standards and improved institutional communication are but some of the observations and arguments that the research has established from a careful reading of data gathered. The enabling policies, laws and regulations that are in place remain largely good on paper, but still limited in their practical application. It is argued in this research that housing and human settlements are a provision that is central in the democratic and development life of the Republic of South Africa, and that the provision of sustainable human settlements enriches the livelihoods of communities in so far as other services such as education, recreation, health care, electricity, economic opportunities, safety, transport and communication are also dependent on the availability of sustainable human settlements and the amenities that comes with it. It is the recommendation of the present research that if the policies, regulations, laws and goals that govern the IGR towards the delivery of sustainable human settlements are to achieve maximum fruition, there is a need for vigorous monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that will ensure that budgets are efficiently used, that standing decisions are implemented and that partisan politics and corruption and opportunistic tendencies are eliminated as these hinder performance and delivery. / Public Administration and Management / MPA

This study analyses the effectiveness of community participation in service delivery. The area of study, the Chris Ham District Municipality (CHDM), is a Water Services Authority, responsible for ensuring access to water services (water and sanitation) by all communities within its jurisdiction. There are eight local municipalities within the CHDM. The objective of this study is to determine whether systems are in place in local government to promote participation by communities in service delivery projects and whether these systems are being utilised efficiently by the role-players concerned. The role-players in this research are people who are involved in community development programmes of the municipality (municipal staff in the relevant departments of the municipalities under study, the social facilitators, civil society organisations, ward committees, ward councillors, traditional authorities as well as the representatives of communities (Project Steering Committees) who are beneficiaries of the projects under study). The projects that are under study were selected from a readily available list of CHDM capital projects that appear in the 2003/2004 financial year funding plan and are running. The findings of the study at both levels (local and district) show that the municipal environment is not conducive to promoting community participation. This is linked to factors such as the structural arrangements, whereby the offices relevant for promoting community participation are not fully occupied, which provided evidence that community participation is not prioritised. There is lack of coordination of programmes within the local government spheres as well within departments of the DM and strategies for community participation have been found to be non-effective. At project level lack of community participation is linked to the utilisation of ward committees as the only mechanism for community participation regardless of its un-equal and party biased representation. This study therefore concludes that although the systems to promote community participation are in place, they are not effective.

The research explored the causal relationship between the communal land tenure and the stagnant agricultural productivity in rural villages. It is assumed that there is covariance between the communal land tenure and the stagnant agricultural productivity. The communal land tenure deprived the villagers of the land ownership rights to mortgage their landholdings to secure agricultural credit from financial institutions, or to advance them as own contributions to obtain Government-provided grants under the ILRAD. Under such circumstances, the villagers could not raise the level of agricultural productivity. The Permit to Occupy (PTO) certificates, issued to the landholders, provided for usufruct rights only i.e. right to occupy and use an allotment. The related research was conducted at Nonkcampa village. The metatheory, “Positivism” and the quantitative paradigm were applied to collate and analyse the data. The research findings confirmed the correlation between the land tenure and the agricultural productivity, as the respondents claimed not to have had any access to agricultural inputs. Hence, the agricultural productivity on the arable land had stagnated.