Though it can be argued that the new democratic government has made tremendous strides in its first decades of democracy, continuing poverty and inequality tends to undermine the gains. Faced by this development dilemma, the government has adopted various development endeavours in an attempt to address issues of social and economic development. The topic of Local Economic Development has received considerable attention from both government and scholars in recent years. At the heart of the concept of LED are enshrined the goals of creating employment and promoting the economic growth and development of a locality or local area. It is in this context that the main objective of the study was to investigate the implementation of Local Economic Development as a cross-cutting dimension in the Integrated Development Plan of the Inkwanca Municipality of in the Eastern Cape Province. The construction of a bridge in the town of Sterkstroom was used as a case study to assess the ability of the municipality to plan and implement a LED project in a coordinated and integrated manner. The study used the combination of both methods of data collection, namely the qualitative and quantitative methods. The tool used to collect data was an interview schedule which consisted of open and closed ended questions. Findings by this study revealed that LED planning and implementation within the municipality does not receive the priority it so deserves and therefore it can not be regarded as the panacea for the development challenges confronted by the community in the municipality. Since LED has failed to create sustainable jobs and grow the local economy, questions can be raised about the efficiency of the municipality in its implementation of LED as a cross–cutting dimension. There appears to have been little cooperation with the LED Unit on the implementation of the Sokoyi Bridge construction project. Neither was there a concerted effort on the part of the municipality to use the project to build skills among the workers that they could use in future initiatives. The study revealed that the line function departments within the municipality could not plan their activities and programmes in a coordinated and integrated manner. Planning is characterised by ‘silo-functioning’. Furthermore, intergovernmental coordination amongst the various spheres of government has been and remains a challenge. Intergovernmental coordination and collaboration needed to be strengthened. The Integrated Development Plan of the municipality which is supposed to be a strategic coordination and integration tool has failed to achieve its objective and as such planning happens in an ad hoc and fragmented fashion. A plan-led system is needed to bring focus and allow long term public interest to guide the development of places. The National Development Plan state that “it will take time to create this capability, drawing on fuller understanding of the limitations of current arrangements and incorporating the lessons of good international practise.” (NDP, 2011: 263). Having a policy in place does not guarantee that there will be developmental or pro-poor outcomes. This study indicated that there are real capacity constraints in local government to plan in an integrated and coordinated manner. The Inkwanca Municipality did not use the developmental opportunities presented by the bridge construction project to its fullest extent. A lack of coordination limited the ability of the municipality to move beyond short-term job creation through a more integrated programme that could have had a broader positive impact on the residents of the Inkwanca municipality.

The purpose of the research was to investigate factors that obstruct successful completion of projects in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (Electricity and Energy Directorate). The literature review was done to understand the concept of project success; the study concluded that project success is the completion of project within time, within budget, within specifications while ensuring the satisfaction of all the stakeholders. Five factors that could obstruct project success were considered in this research, which are: Project managers, Scarcity of human resources, Organisational culture, Organisational structure and the Business strategy. A quantitative approach was used in the study to establish the relationship of these variables to project success and to establish the correlation between the variables.The research revealed that organisational culture has a stronger relationship to project success. Scarcity of human resources, organisational structure and business strategy do not have a significant relationship to project success, however organisational structure and business strategy have a strong correlation to organisational culture which in turn influences the project success.

The Local Government: Transition Act (LGTA) (Act No. 209 of 1993) provided an overarching framework for the transformation of local government to usher in the new democratic dispensation for South Africa. According to the then named Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG, 2005:22), Local Government should deliver services effectively and efficiently without bias to all individuals in society. The White Paper on Local Government proposes that municipalities must develop mechanisms to ensure citizen participation in public policy initiation, formulation, monitoring and evaluating decision-making and implementation. The White Paper further introduced the notion of integrated development planning which was described as strategic frameworks to assist municipalities to fulfil developmental mandates and engage with stakeholder groups and local communities. This study focused on Umzumbe Local Municipality to comprehend its viability of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), recommend mechanisms to promote community participation, enhance municipal service delivery, and structure a plan to address the emanating development needs. Furthermore, the aim was to establish the roles played by community members, and effort to participate in the IDP proceedings and evaluate the integrated development planning process through establishing community public participation methods. The data collected from both the communities and Municipal officials revealed a sharp contrast in what the Umzumbe Local Municipality believes to be effective community participation, including its understanding of the place and role of an IDP. Several recommendations were made to the Umzumbe Local Municipality which could assist both the Municipality and its communities to achieve a sound IDP planning and implementation. / Public Administration and Management / M. P. A.

Thesis(MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Recent changes in the Municipalities have brought transformation. Ehlanzeni district is not excluded from this process. Due to high levels of unemployment in Mpumalanga, the National Government implemented a development initiative known as the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) to alleviate poverty in various municipalities. The study is concerned with the challenges faced by the officials in Ehlanzeni local Municipalities on the Management and Implementation of EPWP. Challenges such as lack of capacity building were cited by the officials in the department as a main obstacle to the implementation of EPWP in the area of the study. To investigate the above problem, the researcher has used a qualitative and quantitative research design to achieve the intended objective of the study. Stratified random sampling was also used to collect data from the target population. The questionnaire was used to collect the quantitative data while the interviews were used to collect qualitative data. The study revealed that a lack of capacity building in the implementation of the Extended Public Works Programme was caused by insufficient resources, equipment, clarity of policy guidelines, nepotism, inadequate training programmes and managerial skills, and a lack of alternative strategy. These factors were regarded as the main problems that hinder the implementation of EPWP in the Ehlanzeni district. In conclusion, the study recommended the provision of capacity building and other related issues to enhance the implementation of EPWP at the Ehlanzeni Municipalities in Mpumalanga Province.

Wits School of Governance Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management) (50%) / The challenge of not collecting enough revenue has its origin from the apartheid regime. Today municipalities still face the same challenges without any solution. Unemployment, poverty, inaccurate billing and illegal electricity connections all pose a challenge in the local government of South Africa. The issue is that the municipalities have been following the same pattern of doing things without solving any of the problems that affect its performance. Perhaps it’s time for change? Leadership and Management are two separate concepts but they complement each other. The research suggests that for any organization to succeed there must be equal contribution from leadership and management. Municipalities operate in a dynamic environment where demand of services is high. Municipality therefore cannot adapt the same processes and expect different results. There is a need for change and balancing leadership and management will initiate that change. The balance of leadership and management begins within the municipality, where management works hand-in-hand with leadership. The municipality is dependent on the municipal revenue it receives from taxpayers. The research reveals that the ratepayers are dissatisfied with the quality of service they receive. The municipality is not motivating the communities to continue paying. Public confidence in the municipality has declined. This calls for a need for leadership to motivate communities to continue paying. The main purpose of the study is to therefore investigate the impact of balancing leadership and management in City of Tshwane. The theoretical and empirical data was analyzed to answer the questions that this study asks. The results show that there is imbalance of leadership and management in City of Tshwane. Within the municipality management is over-managing and under-leading. This demotivates the employees at City of Tshwane and ultimately production will decrease. The research suggests that in order for production to increase and municipality to improve its performance, there needs to be leadership that goes beyond managerial position. / MT 2017

Thesis (MPA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research analyses traditional public sector delivery impediments and the resultant reforms which have emanated from these impediments, how the reforms have been implemented in the developed and developing countries and the challenges facing rural local government structures, which must implement alternative service delivery mechanisms at the grassroots level in South Africa. The research further explores external and internal issues affecting public service delivery in general, and then concludes by exploring the local government and rural development realities in South Africa. The developmental divide between developed and developing countries is increasing for various reasons, among them, the public management reforms that have enhanced performance in developed countries, but cannot do the same in developing countries due to the overwhelming constraints. Developing countries experience constraints which include vague definitions of what performance entails in a developing context, unresponsive organisational cultures, unclear performance indicators, a resilient ethos of governance, unfavourable organisational factors, incorrect use of resources and unsuccessful policy initiatives. A literature review has shown that ideological contradictions, lack of a common vision and policy process constraints are also hampering South African public sector service delivery processes. Although local government legislation and reforms have freed municipalities from many impediments to improve delivery, the huge service backlog, infrastructure neglect, lack of integration with other spheres of government, lack of capacity, the impact of HIV/AIDS and the culture of non-payment are still eroding that ability, especially in rural areas. In addition, rural areas have even greater levels of underdevelopment, poverty and service backlogs and consequently municipal structures in deep rural areas carry less legitimacy. The ethnographic research chapter focuses on a rural municipality in South Africa, Engcobo, and on how effectively it will be able to deliver the required municipal services in the absence of resources and amid a culture of non-payment for services, a huge unemployment rate and escalating HIV/AIDS in the area. Local economic development will be hard to realise because the municipality faces the constraints of finance, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, lack of institutional skills and inadequate infrastructure to foster and drive developmental local government. The premise, that such a municipality cannot deliver the expanded local government designated services while it faces the above internal constraints and external ones that emanate from the traditional public sector context, the global economic set up and the South Africa national government constraints, is qualified in this research. Amid the magnitude of the service backlogs, delivering the basic services in Engcobo Municipality will require sustainable funds and skills currently lacking. Engcobo Municipality does not have the required capacity to deliver the designated services for local government and neither will this capacity be built up in the short term. A number of recommendations for improving on the prospects are nevertheless made. These recommendations focus on institutional development and capacity building, improving financial viability, harnessing profit in service delivery, public participation, partnership arrangements, dealing with HIV/AIDS, infrastructure development as well as waste and environmental management. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsing analiseer die tradisionele hindernisse vir openbare sektor dienslewering en die hervormings wat daaruit voortspruit, hoe die hervormings uitgevoer is in ontwikkelde en ontwikkelende lande en die uitdagings van landelike plaaslike regeringsstrukture wat die implimentering van alternatiewe diensleweringsmeganismes op voetsoolvlak in Suid Afrika in die gesig staar. Die navorsing ondersoek verder die eksterne en interne aspekte wat openbare sektor dienslewering oor die algemeen beïnvloed, en ondersoek dan plaaslike regering en landelik ontwikkelingsrealiteite. Die ontwikkelingsskeiding tussen ontwikkelde en ontwikkelende lande vergroot vir verskeie redes, insluitend die openbare bestuurshervormings wat prestasie in ontwikkelde lande verbeter het, maar wat nie dieselfde doen in ontwikkelende lande nie, weens oorweldigende beperkings. Ontwikkelende lande ondervind beperkings wat vae definisies oor wat prestasie in 'n ontwikkelende konteks behels, insluit, onresponsiewe organisatoriese kulture, onduidelike prestasie-indikatore, 'n elastiese karakter van regeerkunde, ongunstige organisatoriese faktore, verkeerde gebruik van hulpbronne en onsuksesvolle beleidsinisiatiewe. 'n Literatuuroorsig het getoon dat ideologiese teenstrydighede, gebrek aan 'n gemeenskaplike visie en beleidsproses beperkinge ook Suid Afrikaanse openbare sektor diensleweringsprosesse aan bande lê. Alhoewel die wetgewing oor plaaslike regering en hervormings munisipaliteite bevry het van baie hindernisse om lewering te verbeter, veroorsaak die enorme diensagterstand, die verwaarlosing van die infrastruktuur, die gebrek aan integrasie met ander sfere van regering, die gebrek aan kapasiteit, die impak van HIV/VIGS en die kultuur van nie-betaling nog steeds dat diensleweringsvermoë aangetas word, veral in die landelike gebiede. Boonop, het landelike gebiede nog groter vlakke van onderontwikkeling, armoede en diensagterstande en dus geniet munisipale strukture in diep landelike gebiede minder legitimiteit. Die etnografiese navorsingshoofstuk fokus op 'n landelike munisipaliteit in Suid Afrika, Engcobo, en hoe effektief die munisipaliteit in staat is om verlangde munisipale dienste te lewer te midde van die afwesigheid van hulpbronne en te midde van 'n kultuur van niebetaling vir dienste, enorme werkloosheid en stygende HIV/VIGS in die area. Plaaslike ekonomiese ontwikkeling sal moeilik wees om te realiseer omdat die munisipaliteit die beperkinge van onvoldoende fondse, HIV/VIGS, 'n gebrek aan institusionele bekwaamhede en 'n onvoldoende infrastruktuur om ontwikkelende plaaslike regering te bevorder en te bestuur, in die gesig staar. Die premis dat so 'n munisipaliteit nie die aangewese uitgebreide plaaslike regeringsdienste kan lewer terwyl dit die interne gedwongendhede en eksterne beperkinge voortspruitend uit die konteks van 'n tradisionele openbare sektor, die globale ekonomiese opset en die gedwongendhede van die Suid Afrikaanse nasionale regering in die gesig staar nie, word met hierdie navorsing gekwalifiseer. Te midde van die omvang van diensagterstande, sal die lewering van basiese dienste in Engcobo Munisipaliteit genoegsame fondse en vaardighede wat tans ontbreek, benodig. Engcobo Munisipaliteit het nie die vereiste kapasiteit om die aangewese dienste vir plaaslike regering te lewer nie en ewemin sal hierdie kapasiteit oor die korttermyn opgebou word. 'n Aantal aanbevelings ter verbetering van die vooruitsigte word nietemin gemaak. Hierdie aanbevelings fokus op institusionele ontwikkeling en kapasiteitsbou, verbetering van finansiële lewensvatbaarheid, aanwending van die winsmotief in dienslewering, publieke deelname, vennootskapsreëlings, hantering van MIV/VIGS, infrastruktuur ontwikkeling sowel as afval en omgewingsbestuur.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1976. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this study the representation of the Coloured population group in the local evaluation process in South Africa until 1971, is analysecd to determine the effectiveness of this system of representation. In theory representatives selected in an open democratic election are supposed to act in the interest of the voters they represent, in a manner responsive to them. In this way the voters or citizens have access to and control over the decision-making centres of government, and are represented in the legislative structures of government. Representation can be analysed in two ways. / INLEIDING: Gedurende die periode 1960 - 1972 was die Kaapprovinsie die enigste provinsie binne die Republiek van Suid-Afrika waar Kleurlinge (en Indiërs) saam met Blankes deelgeneem het aan die plaaslike bestuursprosesse, sonder dat daar formeel ‘n rasse- of kleuronderskeid gemaak is tussen munisipale kiesers. Hierdie gesamentlike deelname het egter nie sonder "wrywing" plaasgevind nie, en dit was dan ook een van die redes vir die verwydering van die Kleurlingkiesers op 14 Januarie 1972 vanaf die gemeenskaplike munisipale kieserslys en die ontneming daardeur van hul direkte stemreg op die plaaslike bestuursvlak ten gunste van verteenwoordiging in sekere adviserende bestuurs- of raadplegende komitees vir Kleurlinge wat in ‘n ondergeskikte posisie teenoor die munisipale- of afdelingsraad in die betrokke plasslike owerheidsgebied verkeer.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Strategic management and planning is essential to local government. It provides the framework against which the quality of life of the community and economic development are supported by local government. The strategic plan is the framework used to determine whether local government supports the National Government's objectives in respect of the Reconstruction and Development Program and complies with the requirements of the legislation in respect of local government. The purpose of the research is a critical evaluation of the Port Elizabeth Municipality (PEM) strategic planning process. The aim is firstly to determine whether the PEM Strategic Plan is in compliance with the requirements of the Integrated Development Plan as prescribed by legislation, and secondly to determine whether both the PEM strategic planning process and the integrated development planning process are in compliance with the academic literature requirements of the conventional strategic planning process. The evaluation results in the formulation of conclusions and recommendations in respect of deficiencies that affect the success or failure of the PEM Strategic Plan. The research demonstrates that the determination of meaningful strategies in order to satisfy a specific objective is critical for the successful implementation of the PEM Strategic Plan. The deficiencies that were identified during the implementation phase of the PEM Strategic Plan, confirm the necessity of having in place an appropriate organisational structure and culture that supports the strategies. The research also indicates the necessity of having frequent and thorough communication of implementation results, human resource management and the buy-in and acceptance of the strategic process by motivated staff in order to promote the achievement of the vision and the mission statement of PEM. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Strategiese bestuur en beplanning is van kardinale belang vir plaaslike owerhede. Dit verskaf die raamwerk waarvolgens die lewensgehalte van die gemeenskap verhoog en ekonomiese ontwikkeling deur die plaaslike owerheidsektor bevorder word. Die strategiese plan dien as die metingsraamwerk waarvolgens bepaal word of plaaslike owerhede die doelwitte van die nasionale regering se Heropbou en Ontwikkelingsprogram ondersteun en aan die vereistes van die wetgewing, wat daarop van toepassing is, voldoen. Die doel van die navorsing is 'n kritiese evaluasie van die Port Elizabeth Munisipaliteit (PEM) strategiese beplanningsproses. Eerstens word bepaal of die PEM Strategiese Plan voldoen aan die vereistes van die Geintegreerde Ontwikkelingsplan soos wat deur die " wetgewing voorgeskryf word, en tweedens of beide die PEM strategiese beplanningsproses en die geintegreerde ontwikkelingsbeplanningsprosesse voldoen aan die akademiese vereistes verbonde aan die konvensionele strategiese beplanningsproses. Die evaluasie lei tot die maak van gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings ten opsigte van die leemtes en probleme wat die sukses of mislukking van die PEM Strategiese Plan beinvloed. Die navorsing toon dat die bepaling van verstaanbare strategiee, ten einde 'n spesifieke doelwit te bereik, van uiterste belang is vir die suksesvolle implementering van die PEM Strategiese Plan. Die probleme wat tydens die implementering van die PEM Strategiese Plan gei'dentifiseer is, bevestig die noodsaaklikheid van die daarstelling van 'n toepaslike organisasiestruktuur en -kultuur wat die geformuleerde strategiee behoorlik kan ondersteun. Die navorsing dui ook aan die noodsaaklikheid van gereelde en behoorlike kommunikasie van implementeringsresultate, menslike hulpbronbestuur en die inkoop van gemotiveerde personeel tot die strategiese proses ten einde die suksesvolle bereiking van die visie en die missiestelling van PEM te bevorder.

Thesis (MPA.) --University of Limpopo, 2006 / Refer to document

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2001 / Refer to the document