Thesis (MPA (School of Public Management and Planning))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / South Africa comes from an apartheid local government system that was structured to divide citizens socially, economically, spatially, and racially to ensure that only a small minority of South Africans benefited from development. However since 1994 with the democratisation of our country, local government departments have undergone a number of transformation processes, which saw the country steadily moving away from the apartheid local government system. Representation is one of the main foundations of a non-racist, non-sexist and democratic society and achieving it is regarded as a necessary precondition to legitimise the public service to drive it towards equitable service delivery. The most prominent response to achieve a representative public service was the Employment Equity Act (No 55 of 1998), which became operational on 9 August 1999. Essentially the Act calls for a complete prohibition of unfair discrimination against all employees and requires that all designated employers undertake affirmative action measures to ensure that suitably qualified people from designated groups have equal employment opportunities. There are therefore many arguments in favour of AA and many against it, making it a formidable and complex task, especially in the South African context. However it is important to understand the reason for enactment of employment equity legislation in the workplace in terms of South Africa‟s history of discrimination and the resultant inequalities. The manner in which employment equity and affirmative action is introduced and handled in the organization can have a great influence on the perception and attitude of staff towards the topic. It therefore becomes imperative to grasp the understanding of staff on employment equity and related issues to measure if any progress was made and how to possibly improve on present practices in the organisation. Against this background this study investigated the perception and attitude of the City of Cape Town Health staff towards employment equity. The requirements of the EEA were discussed and used as the benchmark for success of implementation. The study included the review of relevant secondary sources of information but primary data was also obtained through the use of questionnaires comprising of semi structured questions to achieve this objective. The main findings from the secondary data revealed that AA is still necessary as a corrective tool, because our playing fields are far from leveled, however the reality is we have a great shortage of skills that is impacting on our global competitiveness which calls for a shift in thinking regarding the government‟s present approach. 4 In addition the research also identified as a designated employer, the City of Cape Town has fulfilled the legislative requirements, in that all its policies are consistent with the requirements of the EEA. The main findings of the primary data obtained from the questionnaires recognized that senior management of the City Health directorate is committed to EE, but falls short of an effective communication plan regarding the relevant issues of EE, there is little focus on disabled appointments and many employees indicated other criteria outside 'suitably qualified' (as defined in the EEA) plays a large role in the promotion of employees.

Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / South Africa has committed itself to social transformation: institutional transformation through the removal of racism and sexism in all legislation, business, employment practices, service delivery and interpersonal relationships: in all of society; and in all spheres of government. Diversity in the South African context is dynamic and complicated as a result of the -apartheid era. There are many political, social and economic factors that are major obstacles to building healthy intercultural relations in South Africa. In today’s corporate workplace, diversity management is what is mostly used to bring about transformation. The South African Constitution enacted in 1996 states that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, being united in our diversity. We are now almost two decades into our democracy and, despite progress being made to ensure redress of historical imbalances in South Africa; diversity management is not advancing at the pace that had initially been envisaged. It is therefore evident that, despite enabling legislation to promote diversity management, translating such into practice is proving to be quite a daunting challenge. It has been noted that organisations are still grappling with issues of diversity. Working with people who have different values, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, customs and languages from your own can result in costly miscommunication, misinterpretation, misunderstanding and misperception. This subject of diversity management has been explored exhaustively by various authors over time and various explanations for lack of progress have been offered. Over the years, the Western Cape Department of Community Safety (DCS) has witnessed an in increase in its organisational workforce. Employees from different backgrounds were recruited to achieve representivity in the workplace. It even went to the extent of appointing females in fields of employment which were previously predominantly staffed by males. The thesis assessed the DCS approach to diversity management by: - Firstly, obtaining an understanding of how diversity is managed in the department; - Secondly exploring the concept of diversity management in various contexts; - Thirdly exploring the legislative context for diversity management in the South African Public Service; and - Determining the DCSs approach to diversity management by using the current situation in the DCS as a case study A qualitative case study research design with structured interviews and survey questionnaires was used to conduct the study. This was used to draw inferences between practice and theory. The literature review on what diversity management is has been be grouped into dimensions to influence managers to formulate a model on how to embrace and value diversity in the workplace. The research findings clearly indicate that the Department of Community Safety still has much to do in terms of implementing the prescribed legislation on diversity. It is expected that the study will assist the department in its endeavour to achieve a greater level of compliance. In an organisation, the desired results of the “value all differences” approach are synergy and pluralism combined with an appreciation of and contribution towards goals and objectives. Recommendations are proposed in relation to what is key to diversity management as well as identifying determining factors of successful management. The main aim is the implementation of the diversity management model that comprises several steps.

South Africa comes from an apartheid local government system that was structured to divide the citizens socially, economically, spatially and racially to ensure that only a small minority of South Africans benefited from the development and the resources of this country. Since 1994 government departments have undergone a number of transformation processes. The Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 and affirmative action became instrumental in ensuring racial and gender representation within the local government structures. This study investigates the perceptions of racism, nepotism, fraud and other related problems which were perceived as a hindrance towards the effective implementation of affirmative action. The main findings of the study confirm that the implementation of affirmative action in municipalities is not effective due to lack of commitment from top management. It is anticipated that the implementation of Local Government Systems Amendment Act 7 of 2011, will enforce service delivery within municipalities. / Public Administration and Management / M. Tech. (Public Management)