Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Skills Development is one of the key priorities of the National Development Plan Vision for 2030, which views it (skills development) as a catalyst for the unemployment reduction in South Africa. Skills Development is a key National Priority in South Africa and requires a new approach to training and development, one that calls for positive interventions. However, a challenge has been identified, namely the lack of commitment and support to skills development by line managers at municipal level. The problem was not confined to the institutional capacity of the Municipality but included the individual capacity of the line managers who is responsible for managing employees. The challenge was ensuring that they have the relevant capacity and skills to undertake their functions. Managers are accountable for the development of their subordinates but tend to neglect their role in the area of skills development. Existing research focuses on the role of line managers in training and development and the significance of managerial support in training and development. However, there is a gap because managers understand training and development but do not understand their role in supporting and developing their subordinates, which impacts negatively on the performance of the organisation which in turn impacts negatively on the delivery of services. Human Resource Development (HRD) literature remains largely theoretical and rhetorical in encouraging line managers to take responsibility for training and development. The overall aim of the study was to identify the role of line managers in the implementation of skills development at a local municipality and the impact thereof on service delivery. A quantitative research study was undertaken to achieve the objectives of the study. One hundred and ten managers on Patterson Grades D1 to E2 were targeted for the study. They were required to complete self-administered questionnaires. The findings of the study will assist line managers to understand the positive impact that training and development has on the performance of employees, which ultimately impacts on the achievement of business goals and objectives. The findings are; • Managers understand the training and development practices of the municipality but do not know how to support the training and development of their subordinates. • Managers believe that the organisation supports training and development but do not know if the organisation has an approved Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) that is being implemented; whether the organisation has a training and development strategy which is related to the overall strategy of the organisation; and whether the training of employees is given adequate importance in the organisation and is being managed in a proactive way. • A majority of the managers believe that training and development of employees has an impact on service delivery, but cannot agree whether training and development has helped improve the performance of employees in the organisation. • In terms of what can be used to encourage managers’ buy-in to training and development within the organisation, the overall average level of agreement was 88.0% .The scores for this section demonstrated that managers lack the necessary skills and competencies when it comes to the identification of training needs and training gaps. The findings of this research has identified that although managers are experienced in local government and have an understanding of the training and development practices of the municipality, they tend to get stuck in the authoritative managerial role and cannot switch into the facilitator role, which impacts on the way that they perform their skills development function as a manager. This therefore impacts negatively on the development of employees and on the delivery of services by the municipality. Without skilled, competent employees, no services can be rendered to communities. / M

The state has a task to find solutions to alleviate poverty and LED has been identified as part of the solution. The municipalities are mandated with Local Economic Development and that function has been located within an LED Unit. Based on the above-mentioned issues it was regarded as fitting to conduct a study that would identify challenges contributing to the effective functioning of LED units with specific reference to Lukhanji and Intsika Yethu Local Municipalities in the Chris Hani District. Furthermore, the study will attempt to suggest recommendations to address the shortcomings. The sampling method used for this study was purposive sampling. Data was gathered through structured questionnaires administered to 15 LED officials from the Chris Hani District Municipality and the Lukhanji and Intsika Yethu Local Municipalities. Relevant literature that focuses on Local Economic Development has been reviewed. Various recommendations have been made on the findings of the study. It has emerged during the study that the municipalities within the CHDM perceive their role as that of being Implementer of LED policy instead of playing an enabling role as outlined in the LED Legislative Framework. There is a political will to support LED implementation at local municipalities within the CHDM. In the implementation of LED the LED units within the CHDM are faced with the following challenges: - Insufficient cooperation among stakeholders - Inadequate resources - Political dimensions - Poor LED planning, and - Inadequate LED training.

Dissertation Submitted in Fulfilment of the Degree: Master of Management by Dissertation Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management: Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand 2017 / The City of Johannesburg has produced five iterations of its City Development Strategy over the last 17 years with the latest CDS Joburg 2040, launched in 2011. This dissertation argues that the City of Joburg’s leading role in negotiating for developmental local government paved the way for long term planning at the local government sphere. CDSs prior to Joburg 2040 were developed as technical documents prioritising the needs of the municipal institution over citizens. Formulating Joburg 2040 epitomised a combination of economic and political conflicts taking place in the city. Joburg 2040 attempted to break the path dependence of urban growth and development by re-envisioning the imperative of urban transformation. Thus, Joburg 2040 attempted to emphasise a political imperative of an incoming leadership that was willing to listen and engage with citizens by coproducing a long term vision for the City. As participation has being ineffective in facilitating active involvement of the citizenry, participatory processes have served the needs of the municipality rather than citizens. Joburg 2040 was a politically championed process of developing a CDS that attempted to change that status quo. / MT2017

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology. 2016 / This thesis focuses on the everyday operation of the African National Congress (ANC) as a dominant party in post-apartheid South Africa. It examines the scope of intraparty politics, particularly the trajectory of factionalism in ANC local structures after 1994. Despite the dominance of the ANC in South Africa’s political field, its more recent political trajectory most particularly since it became a party of government in 1994 is much less well understood (Butler and Southall 2015: 1). The party has traditionally been studied using a top-down perspective and with a focus on elite level exchanges in which dynamics at the national level are viewed to reverberate downwards whilst drawing on information from party leaders. The contribution made by this thesis is that it offers a detailed qualitative focus on the operation of ANC intraparty politics at a local level drawing on evidence from Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. The overriding aim of this study which is informed by theoretical expositions on the dominant party approach and on patronage and clientelism, is to understand how factionalism in the ANC has evolved in the post-apartheid era. The thesis observes that the ANC’s political dominance after 1994 saw the gradual conflation of the party and state partly through two processes related the party’s transformative agenda. Firstly, the state itself had to be transformed to reflect the demographic composition of the country and for the most part the ANC deployed its cadres into the state who could tow the party line. Secondly, the party relied on the state as a vehicle for redistribution and the transformation of the broader political economy to achieve equity and growth. Hence black economic empowerment, state preferential procurement and other policies to uplift previously disadvantaged social groups became stepping stones for the emergent African middle and upper class. Whilst these processes transformed the state, they also fundamentally transformed the party itself as it became a site of accumulation. Intraparty contestation intensified over the limited opportunities for upward mobility provided by access to the state. The thesis argues that factionalism increasingly became characterised by patronage as competing groups within the party sought to ring-fence their political power and the opportunities for upward mobility provided by the state. This was also compounded by deepening neoliberalism whose consequences of unemployment, poverty and inequality especially at the local level led to increased dependence on the local state and the development of factionalism based on patronage politics. The thesis then explores how patronage operates in everyday practice at the local level. It shows how patron-client relationships are not merely the exchange of state resources for political support but rather they embody a field of power relations (Auyero 2001). Evidence from Buffalo City offers an important insight into how patronage exchanges are preceded by complex relationships of power that are established over time and through various enactments. The thesis demonstrates how patrons, brokers and clients exercise various forms of power every day that inform inclusion or exclusion into networks for distributing scarce state resources. It challenges views that regard factionalism and patronage as elite driven practices. / MT2017

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Management at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Management in Public and Development Management, 2016 / This report sought to determine the nature of participatory democracy practices in Madibeng municipality. In order to achieve the intension of this study, two research questions were formulated (1) what is the nature of participatory democracy in Madibeng municipality? (2) To what extent does the implementation of participatory democracy mechanisms influence municipal policy decisions? A hypothesis was formulated in respect of the second question that: The implementation of participatory democracy mechanisms in Madibeng is limited to compliance with existing laws and regulations. Data was drawn from two strata’s (population samples), [ward councillors and community members] from Madibeng municipality. A probability simple random sampling was used to collect data from a total list of 36 ward councillors, whilst a non-probability convenient sampling was used to collect data from 27 community members. In respect of ward councillors, the study targeted 26 respondents and only achieved 52% response rate, whilst a total of 11 respondent was targeted and 27 responses were attained, indicating 145% response rate in respect of data collected from community members. The general finding in relation to the first question is that participatory democracy practice in Madibeng municipality is characterised by the implementation of five mechanisms; IDP, Ward committee structures, Mayoral imbizos, Policy public hearings and Petitioning system. A revelation was made that communities prefer to participate in IDP and ward committee structures meetings than the other three mechanisms reflected in the report. However, it remained unclear as to how effective and efficient is the exercising of the two preferred mechanisms. The general arguments found in various literature sources, that the practice of participatory democracy in South Africa’s local municipalities seem ineffective and often do not often yield positive results, was also confirmed by this study. This conclusion was based on the revelations made from the contradicting responses given by ward councilors and community members. In general, ward councilors considered the implementation of available participatory democracy practices in Madibeng as effective and strongly believed such practices informs the municipal Executive Council’s policy decisions to a large extent. On the other hand, community members seemed unsure or inadequately informed about the influence, their participation in policy decisions has on the overall service delivery by the municipality. / XL2018

Thesis (M. Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / A large percentage of the national budget goes to municipalities to provide services to communities. Since 2000, National Treasury has been increasing the budget to municipalities to enable them to deliver better quality services and to expand the provision of basic amenities. Despite this huge financial investment, there is still poor access and use of social and infrastructure services by most communities in South Africa. The primary aim of this study is to investigate the institutional capacity of municipalities in delivering services to communities: a case study of the Polokwane Municipality in Limpopo. This case study used various data-collecting methods such as interviews, documentation and archival records to come to a conclusion. An interview schedule was used in this study to allow the key respondents to give more detailed information about the problems or challenges facing the municipality in delivering services. The study concluded that the Polokwane Municipality has the necessary institutional capacity to deliver on its constitutional mandate. However, there are specific capacity challenges that need to be addressed.

Since the dawn of democracy in South Africa one of the challenges that has remained elusive to policy-makers has been the issue of how to redistribute the same democratic advances made at national level to more ordinary citizens at grassroots level. The concern has been how to include voices of previously marginalized communities. The immediate policy plan at local government level is entitled “participatory governance” and has been adopted by the post-apartheid national government of the ANC to limit this participatory-democratic gap. The laws and policies that constitute the body of this policy are the White Paper on Local Government adopted in 1998 and the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 and the Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998. The Msunduzi municipality has formally adopted this policy and it is called “community participation policy”, which has yielded rather unsatisfactory results to date. Setting aside the issue of implementation for now, the present study explores the institutional design of this policy of participatory governance in Msunduzi by applying the design principles of the theory of “empowered participatory governance”. This theory attempts to understand how to build a deep democratic culture via government-community partnerships through the concept of citizens who are empowered to play such a role. The major finding of this thesis is that there are design flaws in these institutions in this municipality which require a reform of the policy itself. However, this may not be enough, as more empowered citizens are also required. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

This thesis probes the extent and consequences of the new local government reforms in four municipalities, namely, Msunduzi, (Pietermaritzburg) Buffalo City, (East London) eThekwini (Durban) and Nelson Mandela (Port Elizabeth). These reforms call for a shift from a representative type of local government to a participative form of local governance and require municipalities to conduct their activities in a more democratic way than they did before. Of particular concern to this thesis is the effect of these democratic requirements on the efficiency of the decision-making process. The research has yielded sufficient evidence to support the claim that greater democracy in the decision-making structures and processes will result in a cost to efficiency. This, therefore, confirms the tension between democracy and efficiency in municipal decision-making. A distinction is made between efficiency and efficacy, in that whereas efficiency is measured in terms of "minimum effort", efficacy includes normative evaluation as to whether the decision-making outcomes really address the needs and preferences they are intended to. This thesis examines the impact of these new democratic requirements on the municipal decision-making process in terms of both theories of democracy and systems theory. Through applying Robert Dahl to the new democratic requirements the thesis identifies four criteria in terms of which democratic operation of municipal decision-making is measured: inclusivity, transparency, accountability and participation. Through reviewing systems theory, the thesis identifies the importance of reviewing the structural, organizational culture and development aspects of the decision-making process to develop the fullest picture of what is going on. The thesis then proceeds on the basis of a qualitative evaluation of the case studies to yield several significant sub-findings including that there are no efficiency reasons for preferring the executive mayoral system over the executive committee system, and good democracy reasons to prefer the latter over the former. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

This study was on the effect of non-payment of services by the government to the local municipality referring specifically to the Mafikeng Local Municipality. According to the literature review, there Is lack of research on the management of finances hence not only this municipality Is still struggling to manage their finances and as a result, some are collapsing. The main objective was to Investigate the reasons for non-payment of services by the government. The study used questionnaires and structured interviews to get the information on non-payment. The government owes the Mafikeng Local Municipality huge amount of services. There is a poor system of collection of debts at the Mafikeng Local Municipality which impact negatively on the financial condition of this municipality. There are challenges surrounding the failure of the government departments In paying the Mafikeng Local Municipality due to the fact that they do not budget enough for services. The other factor is that they do not receive their bills on time which makes difficult for them to pay their bills on time. / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006

The aim of this research is to develop a conceptual framework for the establishment and operation of effective PMO in the South African Municipal Environment. In pursuit of this aim, the theory and practice of the PMOs were investigated and analysed from both literature perspective and field work leading to findings being reported in the thesis. In addition, the municipal PMOs were investigated to determine the extent to which their attributes match those of the proposed conceptual framework. A specific research philosophy and approach were adopted by utilising the case study strategy using interviews, document reviews and observation. A questionnaire guideline was developed for the interviews. The sampling frame from which the participants were obtained was from the three municipalities (cases). A total of 27 interviews were conducted. Data was analysed in line with Table 3.6 which prescribes the process for case study analysis using NVIVO 11 software for coding, clustering and pattern matching. The findings confirmed the original expectations of the researcher and all the objectives were sufficiently addressed. The first objective, which was to identify and analyse factors considered in establishing PMOs in the three municipalities, was adequately dealt with by identifying, listing and analysing all the key factors considered in establishing the PMOs. In merging these factors with the best practices outlined through the theory and practice in chapter two, gaps were identified which indicates that the process followed by the department of local government was flawed when developing the MIG guidelines. The identified factors were brought into consideration in building the proposed framework. The second objective was to analyse the level of fitness for purpose of the PMOs in the three selected municipalities. In order to deal with this objective, the adequacy of PMOs to carry out their mandates was scrutinised. This was done through identifying the key drivers of municipal PMO mandates, their achievements and challenges and whether they adhere to project management best practices. Most challenges, failures and negative perceptions that the PMOs faced were as a result of internal disablers that could be dealt with by identifying and dealing with the internal system deficiencies that were a result of procedural wrongs that could be traced from the establishment stage. This analogy or approach assisted in finally formulating a framework that would deal with these system deficiencies. The third objective was to analyse patterns of municipal dependent factors that dictate the type of PMO that is suitable for the municipalities. This was approached in terms of grouping the factors that can be classified as common denominators across municipalities. There were also few internal unique factors in each municipality. The new proposed framework deals with these aspects holistically. Ultimately, the aim which was to develop a conceptual framework for the establishment and operation of PMOs in the South African municipal environment was sufficiently answered through the proposed model and framework as presented in Figure 5.2 and Figure 5.5 respectively. This was achieved by merging the identified gaps and by proposing a conceptual model which ultimately let to the proposed framework that can be used to establish an effective PMO for the municipalities. The main gap that was found was that there is no model and framework for establishing PMOs and therefore the department of local government in developing a guideline, did not have an appropriate foundation from which they could have drawn a relevant model and framework that could have properly guided the formation of these units in the municipalities. It was recommended that a PMO will be more effective as a stand-alone directorate whose mandate should be considered beyond the MIG, in order to gain more authority and improved performance. This is demonstrated by the developed framework which indicates the role of the PMOs and their expected performance outcomes. / Business Management / D.B.L.