This qualitative study set out to investigate the extent to which the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has been implemented for service delivery by South African Metropolitan Municipalities. The Ekurhuleni Municipality, City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and City of Tshwane (CoT), which together form the Gauteng Metropolitan Municipalities (GMMs), were used as multiple cases for this study. A good performance management system should cover activities relevant to the adoption of a performance measurement tool such as the BSC, which was developed by Kaplan and Norton in 1992. These two authors published a framework integrating different components of performance management and measurement system, namely strategy, vision, mission, objectives, measures, targets and strategic initiatives. In short, the BSC framework is the key for its successful implementation, which is evaluated according to the achievement of targets. The problem addressed in the study was the lack of a proper performance management system, as well as the poor design and inappropriate manner of implementing the BSC by the GMMs. The objectives of the study were to examine principal elements such as performance management activities, performance measurement framework, design and implementation of the BSC following the original framework developed by Kaplan and Norton (1992), as well as its impact on the outcomes of service delivery performance. Objectives, measures, targets and initiatives were the core elements for evaluating the municipalities’ performance management, as well as their implementation of the BSC. Moreover, the attainment of targets was the key for examining performance outcomes or the impact of the BSC on service delivery performance. In order to reach the above-mentioned objectives, a literature and document review, including municipalities’ policies and annual reports, were conducted for collecting relevant data. This review involved content analysis, and data were presented in the form of tables and charts. Finally, credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability were used to measure the validity and reliability of the findings. The results showed that the performance management (PM) activities of the GMMs were not adequate for implementing the BSC. Naturally, the selection of measures and targets was catered for through the policy of the Ekurhuleni Municipality, as well as the City of Johannesburg (CoJ). However, the setting of objectives, selection of measures, and setting of targets were all part of the performance management framework of the City of Tshwane (CoT). The BSC was intended to be used as a performance measurement framework for the Metropolitan Municipalities of Johannesburg and Tshwane. Nevertheless, the instrument was poorly implemented by these municipalities. Although the BSC was not adopted by the Ekurhuleni Municipality, the principal activities integrated into the BSC framework were implemented for its service delivery. In addition, during the 2011-2012, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 financial years, the achievement status of targets was not determined for the Ekurhuleni Municipality. This was also the case for the CoT during 2011-2012. However, the full-achievement, non- achievement, partial-achievement and over-achievement of targets were well defined for the City of Johannesburg during all three financial years under study. In the same way, such finding was indicated only for the two last financial years for the City of Tshwane. The findings of the study indicated that the implementation of the BSC within the Metropolitan Municipalities of Johannesburg and Tshwane did not comply with its original framework. This is due to the lack of an adequate performance management system, which in turn affects performance measurement. Before adopting a performance measurement framework, there should be an appropriate performance measurement system in place to ensure its success. Consequently, future research should focus more on the investigation of standard requirements for measuring performance, especially in the public sector. / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)

This study explores the challenges related to language policy and planning in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan municipality. The study sets to look at the at the challenges affecting successful implementation by the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as a state organ charged with local development and service delivery for the communities. In terms of the Municipal Systems Act of 2000 municipalities are expected to respond to the language use and preferences of their local communities by making sure that their language policies are fully implemented. The researcher highlights that in instances where municipalities communicate information they are required to make special provision for the speakers of African languages in the communities that they serve in the languages they best understand. This work looks at various statutory language policy documents in South Africa in particular, that give the task of language policy implementation to municipalities as they are the local extension of the national government. This study also argues that municipalities are critical to implementation of language policy. It further notes that in order for the full social, economic and political transformation to take place in municipalities they have to be transformed linguistically in a radical way whereby all the official languages play a major role in all these spheres than before. This view is held by many scholars and researchers in the areas of language policy and planning. This study highlights that the challenges to successful language planning and policy in the government sectors are due to lack of commitment by the government, language practitioners and planners and increased monolingualism in the municipality. The study further explores the language policy and plan of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and the the strategies that can contribute to successful optimization of language resources of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in order to give effect to the use of local languages as contained in policy documents and also establish how the city of Tshwane can better reinforce its strategies to implement this language plan and policy. The main focus area of this research is on the language policy and plan of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and assesses whether the language practices in these institutions are reflective of their policy and plan. It is hoped that the study will be able to give policy makers and those tasked with implementation, especially at government municipalities’ strategies for improvement in the functionality and the implementation of their language policies and plans. It is also hoped that recommendations and challenges highlighted by this research will be of a better assistance on how to better reinforce strategies to implement the language plan and policy in the government sectors.

Thesis (MTech (Human Resource Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011 / This study explored perceptions of twenty managers at the City of Cape Town Municipality regarding the challenges facing talent management. A detailed study of the literature was conducted on variables that are relevant in talent management in organisations. These variables included definitions of talent management, pay satisfaction, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, tenure, motivation, employee engagement, turnover and intention to turnover. This study adopted a qualitative research method as it was found from the literature that managers often prefer face-to-face interviews instead of questionnaires. An interview guide was developed for the twenty managers that were internally chosen by the City of Cape Town management. Data collected from the interviews was subjected to content analysis method with different themes emerging. The results revealed that the City of Cape Town is well on course in implementing talent management with it’s approximately 25 000 employees. The study revealed a plethora of challenges facing talent management at the City of Cape Town. One huge challenge facing this municipality is its size, which makes implementation of a talent management system difficult to implement at the City of Cape Town. The findings support the assumption developed for this study that poor talent management practices in the public sector lead to ever increasing staff turnover rates. The findings of this study contribute to both theory and practice. Theoretically the study contributes to the literature, as it is the first empirical study to use managers in a local government municipality to explore challenges surrounding talent management. Furthermore, local government managers can use the findings of this research to design strategies and policies to enhance talent management in local government municipalities, and subsequently ensure talent retention.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / Cape Town has an extremely unequal society characterized by increased unemployment, and a lack of adequate and affordable service delivery for communities living on the Cape Flats including townships. Is the service delivery demand too big or doesn’t the City of Cape Town municipality have the capacity to cater for all communities within the municipal boundaries? Or is the municipal staff not performing as they are supposed to perform? The Integrated Development Plan can be described as the pivot upon which all development activities in a municipality revolve. The research project investigates the performance of the City of Cape Town Municipality’s IDP. The study further investigates the powers and duties given to people elected and appointed to implement this new South African local government vision of a free and prosperous South Africa for all to enjoy under the African sun. The most important tool in the municipality’s hands is the IDP. The IDP of a municipality is a map that a specific municipality wants to travel in that five-year period while they are in control of that municipality. The vehicle that drives human beings into a specific direction must be strong and able to succeed in pursuing the municipal vision.

Progress has been made in eradicating the backlog in sanitation. This is reflected by the 2011 Census results that reflect a 21 percent increase in the provision of sanitation between the 2001 Census and the 2011 Census. In the rural areas of O.R. Tambo District Municipality, the eradication of sanitation backlogs is done through the provision of VIPs for sanitation. Even with this progress, there are still challenges resulting from the previously constructed sanitation facilities. Some of the challenges relate to the poor quality of these facilities. Community members – via the IDP road shows have voiced their unhappiness with regard to some of the sustainability factors of these structures. Community members feel they were not involved in decisions related to the sanitation projects. It has also been observed that the municipality and its agents do not conduct environmental management studies; and some pits of these structures were not lined, and the health and hygiene training, together with post-construction assessment was not done. In this study, an assessment of the provision of sanitation facilities, in order to identify some of the key factors that are critical to the sustainability of rural sanitation facilities, was done. The research findings should be helpful in assisting local government to improve the provision of sanitation facilities, with the aim of ensuring sustainability, improving community satisfaction, and improving the quality of life for the people living in these villages. For the purpose of the study, a quantitative research approach was used. A research questionnaire was used to collect the data; and it was distributed through email to a sample of respondents that understood sanitation issues. The data were collected from municipal officials, consultants working on sanitation projects, as well as other stakeholders with influence and an interest in sanitation. The results were analysed to establish the findings and to propose recommendations, in order to improve the sustainability of rural sanitation facilities. From the research findings, the recommendations highlighted the need for an improved participatory approach in implementing sanitation projects. To ensure sustainability, the following issues are key: monitoring and supervision; community participation and adherence to design guidelines; a review of the sanitation provision policy; as well as the promotion of health and hygiene.

Housing provision plays a vital role in meeting basic needs. Dwellings provide the security required for basic functioning and are thus essential for both human development and the alleviation of poverty. This study examines the levels and quality of basic infrastructural service delivery (electricity, water and sanitation) at local government level, focusing on housing. The local government areas studied include Grahamstown Fort Beaufort and Duncan Village. This was done for the purposes of analyzing the effectiveness of the existing housing policy with regard to the adequacy of scale, its developmental logic, implementation and coordination. Justification for basic infrastructural service delivery is based on the Basic Needs Approach [BNA] which forms the cornerstone of the World Bank’s delivery framework. The paper makes use of two methods: firstly, secondary sources are used to provide an impression of the broad policy framework focusing around basic service delivery with housing as the centrepiece. Specific attention is thus given to Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) as this is the level of policy-making responsible for the delivery of these services to communities. Secondly, previously un-analysed data drawn from a household social exclusion survey (2005-2006) conducted in three Eastern Cape municipalities (Buffalo City, Makana and Nkonkobe – representing respectively urban, small town, and rural areas) are evaluated. The data are analysed two ways – graphically and through a regression analysis – to test four hypotheses regarding basic service delivery. Graphical analysis demonstrates that services differ according to housing type and location. It was found that brick houses seem more likely to have better basic services than either shacks or mud dwellings. The results also show that there are inequalities in the provision of certain basic services such as water and sanitation between Duncan Village and Grahamstown. Overall, the results of this study show that government is still faced with major challenges in addressing housing backlogs.

Within the new constitutional order, South African local government has been afforded specific status and is protected as a distinctive sphere of government in terms of the Constitution Act 108 of 1996. Municipalities are no longer a mere function of national or provincial governments. In addition to this entrenched status, the Constitution and other developmental local government legislation vests local government with specific functions and responsibilities as part of the process of building a new democracy and promoting socio-economic development and upliftment. Consequently, local government managers are under constant pressure to improve the performance and quality of service delivery. They are expected to satisfy a number of stakeholders, achieve increases in efficiency, as well as attain developmental service delivery goals as contained in their Integrated Development Plan (IDP). Quality management standards and excellence models in support of the total quality management (TQM) philosophy are relatively new public management approaches that changes traditional organisational decision-making practices to deliver services to its customers in more effective and efficient ways. In essence, quality management standards and excellence models are performance management methodological practices, techniques and tools designed to meet and exceed public requirements. It accomplishes this through determining what constitutes excellence in customer service, and then empowering employees to a never-ending search for quality improvement in the delivery of services, in terms of the continuous improvement and continuous process improvement philosophies, of which total quality management (TQM) is premised on. Consequently, quality management standards and excellence models (such as the ISO 9001: 2008 QMS, ISO 14001: 2004 EMS, EFQM and SAEF Excellence Models) as methodological practices, techniques or tools in support of the critical factors (CFs) of the total quality management (TQM) philosophy, namely: (1) customer-based approach, (2) senior management commitment and leadership, (3) quality planning, (4) management based on facts, (5) continuous improvement, (6) involvement of all members of the organisation, (7) education and training, (8) teamwork, (9) communication systems, (10) learning, (11) process management, (12) co-operation with suppliers, and (13) organisational awareness and concern for the social and environmental context, can provide a framework by which to achieve the goals of effective and efficient service delivery in developmental local government, as they foster a culture of performance and accountability. Local government managers could use these quality and excellence methodological practices, techniques and tools, as a starting point to improve efficiencies in their municipalities, as the programmes afford them an opportunity to systematically evaluate the municipality and determine what leads to organisational success and deliverables. Institutional theory suggests that organisations are both influenced by and can influence the society in which they operate. Institutional theorists believe that the motivation for a change in internal practices might not only be performance related, but may primarily be to enhance or maintain the legitimacy of the respective institution. Institutional theory also focuses on the social contract that exists between the institution and society. This social contract is believed to represent the expectations of society. From an institutional point of view, it has been suggested that institutions may change and adopt the norms of society to appear legitimate to that society. This infers that when societal norms and values change, institutions will be expected to change. These societal pressures combined with legislative changes, require institutional entrepreneurs to respond to these isomorphic pressures, and will work to preserve the institution's legitimacy by incorporating, or at least appearing to incorporate, new practices, norms and values. The aim of this research study was to analyse within an institutional theory framework, the implementation of quality management standards and excellence models in support of the total quality management (TQM) philosophy and developmental local government within two South African municipalities. The research investigation has been undertaken within the social constructionist paradigm and using the case study method. Interviews and documents were the data sources and thematic analysis was used as a tool to analyse the data by applying a theory-driven coding procedure. The findings from the two research sites, namely Makana Municipality in Grahamstown and Drakenstein Municipality in Paarl reveal that the implementation of quality management standards and excellence models in support of the total quality management (TQM) philosophy in both municipalities was not a smooth process and there were many challenges such as political instability, lack of commitment on the part of the senior leadership and management, staff and skills shortages, resistance by staff to implementation and resource constraints. Institutional theory has proved to be useful in understanding why the Makana and Drakenstein Municipalities implemented quality management standards and excellence models. Because of coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphic pressures affecting the Makana and Drakenstein municipalities, change was imperative if these institutions were to remain relevant and legitimate in order to address its service delivery mandate of effectiveness and efficiency. Institutional theory provided a theoretical lens to understand and appreciate the pressures that affected the municipalities because of its new developmental mandate as encapsulated in new municipal legislation. It also assisted in understanding how institutional entrepreneurs responded to these pressures to conform. The implementation of quality management standards and excellence models in the Makana and Drakenstein municipalities was adversely affected by volatility amongst the political leadership of both municipalities. The successful implementation of these standards and models would require collective action from the political, bureaucratic and procedural entrepreneurs in order to enhance effective, efficient and accountable service delivery. However, in both the Makana and Drakenstein municipalities, institutional entrepreneurs, namely councillors and officials were not working together as a collective to implement quality management standards and excellence models. Evidence has shown that the absence of stable political leadership and noncooperation and collaboration amongst institutional entrepreneurs contributed significantly to the non-institutionalisation of quality management standards and excellence models in these Municipalities. This implies that legitimacy has not been achieved, due to institutional entrepreneurs not collaborating and collectively working with each other to implement the quality management standards and excellence models. Thus, this research study suggests that the strategic and collective role of the political and administrative leadership as institutional entrepreneurs is critical if the municipality is to achieve its aims and objectives, namely effective, efficient, and accountable service delivery in developmental local government. Recommendations in respect of future research and to practitioners have also been offered.

This study undertook a critical analysis of the role of public participation in local governance and service delivery, with specific reference to the Buffalo City Municipality. The main aims of the study were to identify possible deficiencies in public participation processes, the development of strategies to enhance public participation, the development of mechanisms to ensure coordinated, integrated and focused public participation initiatives and the development of a normative model for improved public participation. The triangulation research methodology was employed with emphasis on the quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The sample comprised of councillors, officials and ward committee members. Questionnaires, with open and closed questions, were employed for the councillors and focus group interviews were conducted with ward committee members. Statistical procedures were utilised to interpret and analyse the quantitative data to determine the results using the Statistica package for data analysis. The qualitative data analysis involved thematic content analysis. Findings suggest that the current public participation strategies are inadequate. The correlation of results further reveals that a significant negative relationship exists between the councillors, officials and ward committee members. Despite various legislative prescriptions pertaining to public participation requirements in local government, the results imply that the Buffalo City Municipality has not fully complied with such prescriptions and national policy directives. The thesis proposes specific recommendations on how the Buffalo City Municipality can address the current short comings in terms of its public participation programmes and strategies. Recommendations include the establishment of a centralised Public Participation Unit, the empowerment of ward committee members and ward councillors, adequate resource allocation for ward committees, enhanced coordination between the various community structures, improved interaction with local communities, enhanced public participation initiatives and the need for additional anti-fraud and anti-corruption strategies within the municipality. A normative model, for enhanced public participation in local government, is also proposed in the thesis.

South Africa has been experiencing service delivery protests especially in the African communities. These protests are a manifestation of conflict and dissatisfaction of communities in the ruling party in government. In order to reduce conflict, it is critical that the ruling party in government addresses the basic needs of these communities as the people start to lose confidence in the government. The study seeks to investigate whether service delivery protests could be prevented through improved provision of basic services in the communities, focusing in the New Brighton Township community, in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality as the area of study. The provision of basic services is important for the livelihood of any community. The study analyses the extent to which poor service delivery can lead to community conflicts or revolt against the ruling party in government. Some areas of New Brighton Township community are experiencing a backlog of basic service delivery. Members of this targeted community fall within the previously disadvantaged category and expected the ruling party in government to meet their basic service needs. Chapter one provides an introduction which gives a brief overview of the study, problem statement, aims, research objectives and questions, preliminary literature review and research methodology to be employed by the study. Chapter two provide a literature review of community conflicts in relation to basic service delivery needs and peoples’ expectations. Chapter three provide the legislative framework for the developmental local government and the role of section/chapter nine (9) institutions especially the Public Protector’s role in relation to conflict. Chapter three will also provide reasons for the establishment of Local Municipalities. Chapter four provides proposals for the approaches and strategies to eliminate conflicts and policy implications. The chapter also provide an analysis of the participants’ responsesfrom the questionnaires. Chapter five will be a summary with concluding remarks and recommendations, as proposals with mitigating measures arising from the research.

This study aims to achieve the following four research objectives: - To investigate the challenges that led to the KSDLM experiencing poor municipal service delivery, and its constraints to effective implementation of the IDP. - To develop and propose effective strategies for the continuous improvement of service delivery and good governance in KSDLM with specific reference to the town of Mthatha. - To reveal counterproductive variances between legislation and governance instruments crafted by the municipality which may, as a result of misinterpretation, result in distortions in carrying out the Constitutional mandate. - To work towards achieving conclusive findings to assist political office-bearers at national and provincial sphere to formulate legislation to promote the local government’s effectiveness and efficiency.