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

Efficiency analysis in the public sector assesses the performance of municipal and government entities in their provision of services to the public. South Africa, in particular, has experienced a large degree of negative feedback with respect to the ability of the government and its municipal departments to provide basic services to citizens. This has led to a number of service delivery protests throughout the country. To remedy this, the ability of the municipality to provide basic services needs to be assessed in order for improvements to be made. A first step in this process would be to determine the efficiency with which municipalities are providing these services. This study focuses on a particular municipal service, namely electricity distribution. Primarily, the efficiency with which municipalities provide electricity to consumers is determined. This is achieved using the parametric cost frontier approach, which is appropriate since municipalities aim to reduce the costs incurred in distributing electricity. The municipalities are compared to a frontier (theoretical best practice) from which inferences on their performances can be made. Those municipalities whose performances are not optimal, deviate from the frontier. The deviations (errors) are then assumed to be caused by two factors, namely stochastic random noise and inefficiency. This composition accounts for effects for which municipalities cannot control (stochastic random noise) and those for which it can (inefficiency). The parametric nature of the cost frontier approach allows for distributional assumptions to be made on these factors. Stochastic random noise is always assumed to be normally distributed, while inefficiency is assumed to be one-sided and positively skewed.

The South African Constitution of 1996, as amended, provides for three spheres of Government, namely National, Provincial and Local Government. The local sphere of government is mandated to provide developmental and accountable local government and to ensure the provision of basic services to communities in a sustainable manner. The Department of Provincial and Local Government Community-Based Workbook and Guide provided that local government legislation has been put in a place to enable South Africa to constructively work towards providing basic services and improving the social and economic lives of citizens. As local government is the sphere of government where delivery takes place at community level, it is important to ensure and secure the support and participation of communities. It is critical to mention that local government faces many challenges in providing services that will contribute to developing a peaceful, stable and healthy environment. In adherence to Local Government legislation, which includes, inter alia, the Municipal Systems Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act, the local authorities are required to provide systems and processes to enable public participation processes in the affairs of the municipalities. This requirement is mandatory to ensure that citizens contribute by making input in the planning of the municipality. Amathole District Municipality adopted a Public Participation and Petitions Policy to ensure that citizens participate in the activities of the municipality. The main purpose of this study was to establish whether those structures are effective and whether the municipality, in its planning processes, considered the views and input of the communities. The study investigated the extent of community participation in municipal planning and performance and also investigated the effectiveness of ADM community participation strategies. Quantitative research methods were used to collect data for the study. The research questionnaire covered a wide range of council related activities ranging from knowledge of local government legislation relating to public participation, understanding of public participation processes by councillors, compliance of the municipality with public participation processes and related legislation and feedback to communities on the input they make to the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and the Budget planning processes. The questionnaires were administered to all Councillors within the municipality to ensure that all municipal programmes were covered, and the Executive Mayor, Council Speaker who ensures that council resolutions are implemented and the Chief Whip of Council, who is responsible for the welfare of all political parties in Council. There was also the inclusion of the Chairperson of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee who is responsible for oversight and monitoring the performance of the Executive. The sample group was carefully chosen to represent a wide range of councillors who serve in the ADM Council. The positive response rate therefore provided an acceptable scientific basis for analysis and objectivity to the study.

Municipalities in South Africa are experiencing serious challenges in dealing with the interface between politicians and administrators. The study is based on the political and administrative interface (the relationship between the politicians and administration) in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. An introductory background as well as a theoretical perspective on the phenomenon of ‘politics-administration interface’ and highlights on the significant role that this phenomenon plays in promoting good governance in local government is provided. The study analyses the legislative and policy framework that regulates local government and provides various theoretical models that deal with the political administrative relationships such as the dichotomy model, politicised model and complementarity model. The qualitative research method was used in the study, that is, a secondary data design as a method to collect data, which was supplemented by an extensive literature review. Secondary data sources such as reports, policies, newspapers, books were used to collect data. The descriptive case study and the documentary analysis methods were utilised to investigate the relationship between the politicians and administrators in the municipality. The major challenge in local government is that both politicians and administrators interfere in each other’s roles and responsibilities and this results in major conflict in the municipalities and frustration among the staff because they are not free to undertake their daily functions without interference. The findings reflected that there is a need to professionalise and de-politicised local government. The study makes a number of recommendations which included, inter alia, regulating political interference in administration, clarity of roles and responsibilities of politicians and administrators and separating the municipal administration from politics.

Loosely defined as “political units or instruments constituted by law (the peculiar or unique characteristics of which is their subordinate status to the central government) which have substantial control over local affairs and likewise have the power to tax” (Nyalunga, 2006: 15), local governments, and municipalities in particular, have been in existence since the early history of Anglo-Saxon England (post 1870). As political units, local governments have defined areas, defined populations, organised administrative structures and the authority to undertake and the power to carry out public activities within such defined areas (Nyulunga, 2006: 15). In the three-tiered form of government that is dominant world-wide, local government is the lowest sphere of government and, as such, “is often the first point of contact between an individual and a government institution” (Thornhill, 2008: 492). Although a number of different forms and structures of local government exist in the world, as it evolved, three critical matters defined the nature of local government in any particular country. Firstly, local government is defined by the extent of local self-government. Secondly, it is the autonomy and discretionary powers of the municipality and, thirdly, it is the extent to which the municipality is a momentous force in the lives of the people within a given area (Nyulunga, 2006: 16). Therefore, a consideration if these three defining factors provide clarity in terms of the nature of local government in a particular country. Due to the form of the South African state, which is a unitary state, South Africa established a system of local government aimed at governing various areas throughout the country. For the greater part of the country‟s history prior the 1994 democratic elections, what distinguished the South African local government system from the rest of the world was its relationship with the people it sought to govern. While in the majority of cases around the world municipalities were concerned with the welfare of all their citizens, in South Africa, the successive apartheid regimes worked tirelessly at the adoption and systematic enforcement of draconian policies that effectively brought misery to the majority of the South African population. Pieces of legislation, such as the various Natives Acts, the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act, and the Group Areas Act, implemented through local government – the form of government closest to the people – ensured that South Africa experienced gross human rights violations, the economic exclusion of the majority of the populace, separate and unequal development and, in effect, an absolute monopoly of social, economic and political power by the white minority (Landsberg and Mackay, 2006: 1). Given the immediate impact municipal policies had on the people they sought to govern - this as a direct result of the proximity of this sphere of government to the people - it is not surprising that this level of government was the first casualty in the apartheid resistance campaign led by various liberation movements in the country. With systematic protests against various local government actions, coupled with boycotts of municipal rates and taxes, local government increasingly became detached from the population it served and consequently, was rendered dysfunctional. The election of F.W. De Klerk as the president of South Africa in 1989 proved to be a turning point in the historical trajectory of the country. Understanding the deleterious effects that the repressive policies had on the country‟s social structure, both economically and politically, De Klerk embarked on a road less travelled by opening channels for negotiation between government (and by extension the National Party) and the liberation movements in the country (particularly the African National Congress). As such, from 1990, various political organisations, such as the African National Congress (ANC), the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) among others, which had, for many years, been banned on the basis of them being seen as terrorist organisations, were unbanned. This was accompanied by the unconditional release of political prisoners, including South Africa‟s first democratically elected President, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. One of the key outcomes of the negotiations that took place in the early 1990s was the development of the Interim, or Transitional, Constitution, Act 200 of 1993. This was an important document in that it provided a „historic bridge‟ between the apartheid state and the democratic dispensation that millions of South Africans aspired to. Additionally, this document provided a framework for the continued governance of South Africa pending the country‟s first democratic elections. The continued governance that the Interim Constitution provided for meant balancing human rights and the continued existence of the state and/or government. This was an important matter, particularly for local government, in that “a fragmented and incoherent range of local authorities cannot be transformed in one process as the negotiators for a democratic system of government wanted to ensure continuity in service provision” (Thornhill, 2008: 494). The temporal reprieve provided by the Interim Constitution allowed the negotiators to deal with the details of what would be the post-apartheid local government system of South Africa. The democratic government that emerged after the watershed event of 1994, under the stewardship of Nelson Mandela, had the immediate task of dismantling the apartheid legacy that had defined the country for many years and moving the country closer to achieving the democratic promise of a better life for all citizens. Practically, and importantly for the transformation of local government, this meant instilling democratic values and principles that would ensure that local government was responsive to the needs of the people and that it remained accountable to the electorate (the Presidency, 2003: 11). The ideal of the incoming democratic government was to transform this sphere of government into one that would ensure inclusive growth and development and equitable redistribution of the wealth of the country such that all people would have equal opportunity for a better life. It is important to note that the elections that were held on 27 April 1994 were only national and provincial elections. Local government elections could not be held at this point, simply because the new constitutional dispensation had not been finalised (Thornhill, 2008: 495). All parties to the negotiations agreed that the process of finalising the Constitution would be done through a democratically elected Constitutional Assembly. It was only after the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 (the Constitution), was finalised, that the first local government elections could be held.

The impetus that informs the drive for developmental state that promotes growth and development centres on the local capacity of the local sphere of the government to effectively discharge its responsibilities. The essence of this study is to evaluate the training of officials in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality and assess the extent to which service delivery has impacted on the lives of the community within this area.

The study is about the Integrated Development Plan as a developmental tool for the Amahlathi municipality. The main focus of the study is to assess whether the Integrated Development Plan is used as a developmental tool in the Amahlathi municipality. Local government in South Africa has been mandated by the Constitution and other pieces of legislation like the White Paper on local government, the municipal Structures Act and the municipal Systems Act to improve the socio-economic conditions of communities to deliver services to the people and encourage communities to participate in the process of developing the Integrated Development Plan (IDP). Service delivery remains a challenge in the municipality despite the initiative of introducing the IDP to support this local municipality in fulfilling its mandate of taking services to communities. This is reflected in the municipal IDP Mayor‟s foreword where it is indicated that the infrastructure backlogs are still visible in the municipality to the extent that there are areas where there are no operations at all. Also, the report by the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in 2009 indicated that Amahlathi local municipality is among 57 municipalities in the country that have been identified as the most vulnerable and which therefore needed support for sustenance. This study details these challenges and places particular focus on the utilisation of the IDP as a developmental tool for Amahlathi Local Municipality. From the literature and responses by the respondents, it is clear that local government has to be committed to work with citizens and groups within the communities to find sustainable ways to meet their social, economic and material needs and improve their quality of life. The study is both qualitative and quantitative and questionnaires have been used as a method of collecting data. The responses and results suggested that the community members in the Amahlathi municipality were aware of the existence of the IDP. However, a lot of work still has to be done to ensure that there is development in the communities.

The objectives of this study were to first identify the decision-making bodies structures in the Buffalo City Municipality. Secondly, to assess compositions, powers and functions of such identified bodies or structures. The field study was limited to the administrative jurisdictions of the Buffalo City Municipality; however, the findings and recommendations were applicable to all municipalities in South Africa with the same or similar decision-making like the Buffalo City Municipality. In order to achieve the research objectives, a review of the relevant literature was done. It began by first looking at the constitutional and other legislative provisions establishing the Municipal government system or concept. The literature review looked at the powers and functions given to municipal governments by such constitutional provisions and how effective are such powers exercised. The literature further highlighted the role of trade unions participation and civil society groups in the smooth and effective administration of the municipality and in making the Integrated Development Planning a successful one. The data collection was done by means of questionnaire, focus group discussions complimented by face-to-face interviews. Forty respondents were sampled from six different trade unions and top municipal management. The data collected were analysed thematically with the use of frequency tables, pie charts and histograms. The findings of the study showed among other things that, the highest decision-making body in the municipality is the municipal council supported by various committees, boards and directorates. All the legislative and executive powers are vested in the municipal council. Again, it became known that, the municipal workers unions participate effectively in labour related issues whereas the non-municipal workers unions participate poorly in all consultative processes. In conclusion, there is the urgent need to bring all stakeholders including trade unions in the municipality during decision-making processes in order promote sustainable development in the municipality.

The implementation of the performance management system is important in every work situation since it has an impact on achieving the organisational goals of excellence. Therefore the purpose of this study is to investigate the implementation of the performance management system, with specific reference to employees attached to the Department of Education in the Graaff-Reinet District. In order to achieve the research objective set out in this study a literature study was done which explains the performance management system, the principles for effective performance management, and how the system should be implemented. Furthermore, an empirical survey was undertaken in the form of a self-administered questionnaire which was delivered by hand and collected upon completion. The empirical results indicate that the performance management system appears not to have achieved its intended objectives and that the implementation of the performance management system does not adequately address the needs of both the employer and employee within the Graaff-Reinet District. Recommendations in this regard were made based on the literature review and empirical results.

The national framework of local economic development (LED) in South Africa (2006 – 2011) has the goal to support the growth of sustainable local economies through integrated government action. Municipalities as custodians of integrated development programs and local economic development strategies work with different stakeholders such as private industry, other government departments, non-government organizations and relevant community sectors in attaining envisioned developmental goals; thus are avoiding wasteful duplication of effort and resources. LED in the context of this study is defined as development of infrastructure within the BCMM for sustainability of small medium and micro enterprises in alleviating poverty in the area. This report presents an evaluation of the impact of local economic development in terms of basic infrastructure availability on the sustainability of small medium and micro enterprise development in the Buffalo City Metro Municipality (BCMM). This refers to amongst others accessibility of electricity and telecommunication in the operations of a business. The overall approach followed by the researcher throughout this research is the mixed methods or pragmatic approach. The research method followed is that one of a descriptive approach. The results of this study indicate that local economic development is still a new notion which is still unclear. There is evidence that there is a lack of basic services in some areas in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipal, this including access to electricity. The respondents also saw the local municipality as not doing much in support of new and small business and creating job opportunities for them. The study recommends that factors such as skills development, accessibility to basic service, development and promotion of SMMEs, are also major contributors to the effective impact of LED in BCMM.