Job creation and poverty eradication have been the top priority of the South African government over the past few years and continues to be on the agenda. The government is making numerous efforts to aggressively address poverty levels and create jobs. In 1994 the African National Congress (ANC) led government inherited an economy that had glaring disparities. Most of the important economic resources of the country are concentrated in urban areas, while very few economic activities and resources are found in the rural areas. While about 70% of the country’s poorest people live in rural areas, the abundance of economic resources in towns and cities has led to minimal growth taking place in rural areas. High poverty levels continue to manifest itself in various forms and shapes in communities. The negative effects of unemployment continue to threaten our societal well-being and stability. It is evident that in poverty stricken communities there are limited economic development opportunities and have thus become trapped in a poverty cycle, and economic growth is the only sustainable approach of addressing poverty and unemployment. Local economic development (LED) is but one intervention that could be used to create jobs and eradicate poverty at a given locality. LED has been regarded as an approach towards economic development and growth whereby local people are encouraged to work in collaboration in order to achieve sustainable economic growth, bringing economic benefits and improved quality of life for all community members in a municipal area. LED is an intervention solely based at a local level being driven by local people to realise economic benefits that would improve their quality of life. A qualitative study was conducted at Alfred Nzo District Municipality to assess the contribution of LED on job creation and poverty eradication. The target population included LED managers, Project Practitioners, LED Project Beneficiaries, LED Portfolio Councillors in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality and its Local Municipalities as well as relevant sector departments and Public Entities. The study examined the contribution of LED funded projects in job creation and poverty eradication. The project also assessed the problems, issues and challenges in LED and how they are being addressed. The study found that the implementation of LED in Alfred Nzo continues to be ineffective and confronted with numerous challenges. LED has been viewed as one of the tools for job creation targeted at unskilled and unemployed members of the community. Municipalities seem to be under utilising the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and Equitable Share for funding the LED programme. In most municipalities LED is still regarded as an unfunded mandate. Most municipalities rely heavily on grant funding from sector departments and state owned enterprises for LED. A point of concern is the lack of regular and structured discussions on LED issues within municipalities which continue to re-enforce uncoordinated planning, insufficient budgeting and poor implementation of programmes within the municipality. The study noted serious skills shortages within the project beneficiaries which hamper effective implementation of LED projects. These skills include financial management, project management, conflict resolution and business management. These are core skills for the sound and viability of management of LED projects. Access to markets has been raised as an on-going concern for LED practitioners. It is recommended that a change is made from project-based LED to a business-based approach in LED. This would require all LED projects to be registered business entities, be liable for tax and require them to produce sound business plans before receiving grant funding.

The research seeks to evaluate the co-operative interaction between municipal political office-bearers and chief officials in the rendering of housing services in the King Sabata Dalindyebo local municipality. The introduction provides the general overview of the study and provides a background to the intention of the research to evaluate the co-operative interaction between municipal political office-bearers and chief officials. The problem statements briefly describe the problem identified in the study and the objectives of the study are set. The theoretical framework is provided and the theories used to evaluate the performance are discussed which are classical theory and the system theory. The importance of conducting the research is discussed and the limitations of the study are discussed in the research. Importantly, the study plan directs the researcher in the direction towards the goals of the research. Also the terms used in this study that are not clear were defined to avoid misinterpretation; misunderstanding and confusion of words and terms. The review of the current literature on the theoretical framework and the base for policy making and controlling role of municipal political office-bearers and chief officials in public administration was discussed. The nature of systems theory and the different phases of systems theory were explained. The nature and place of policy making in public administration was discussed as well as policy making alternatives in the public sector. The policy making levels i.e. political policy making level; executive policy making level; administrative/departmental policy making level; operational policy making level were explained and discussed. The co-operative interaction between municipal political office-bearer and chief officials was discussed to understand the administrative and political dichotomy in the public sector. The policy implementation for the rendering of housing services as well as the programming and delegation of authority were discussed in the context of housing service delivery. The legislative framework for housing services in South Africa was discussed as it influence and affects the housing service in King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality. The role of municipal authorities in the rendering of housing services as well as the housing situation in South Africa together with the obligations of both the provincial and municipalities were discussed. The permission to conduct research was received from King Sabata Dalindyebo local municipality. The scope of the study explains the range or extent of matter to be dealt with in the research and the survey area is dearly provided. The research design which is qualitative and quantitative research are discussed and used in adopting the study. The case study as research strategy is discussed and clarified. The data collection instruments which are interviews, questionnaires and the literature study the subject were briefly explained. Population details and sampling were clearly explained before a sample is provided in the study. The research provides data collection procedures as well as how the data will be analysed. The ethical considerations are discussed. The data analysis and interpretation was conducted to enable the researcher to identify patterns which are consistent within the data. The criteria for data analysis as well the response rate were discussed. The demographics of chief officials and political office-bearers as respondents include their age; year of service, home language, gender, the academic qualification as well as the different stakeholders were analysed. The role of political office-bearers and chief officials in the initiation of policy which the input phase of the Systems theory analysis was conducted and the role of political office-bearers and chief officials in the process phase were analysed and discussed. The co-operative interaction in policy formulation and the steps in the policy formulation were analysed and discussed. Also the analysis was conducted on the delegation of authority to chief officials by the political office-bearers as well as the role of political office-bearers and chief officials in the approval of executive policy. An evaluation of the rendering of - 11 - housing services at Phola park informal settlement as well as the evaluation of housing services as an output phase in policy formulation were analysed and discussed. And lastly, the analysis of the impact of existing legislation or policy on housing services was conducted. The findings of the study were provided and discussed and the concluding remarks were provided to whether the problem is real and whether the hypothesis is true and valid. The recommendations of the study were provided to enable Kind Sabata Dalindyebo local municipality to improve the co-operative interaction between municipal political office-bearers and chief officials to improve housing services and to provide better service delivery. KEYWORDS Administration Citizens Co-operative interaction Effectiveness Efficiency Executive functions Governing functions Municipal authority Municipal chief officials Municipal political office-bearers.

The rural areas of Amathole district municipality continue to experience difficulty in accessing water services. The people experience problems despite the fact that the Amathole district municipality, since 2003 has been made a water service authority in its municipal area, which consists of eight local municipalities, namely; Mnquma, Mbashe, Nkonkobe, Amahlathi, Great Kei, Ngqushwa, Nxuba, and Buffalo City. With the water service authority powers devolved from national government to the district municipalities the intention was to speed service delivery. This study investigates the causes of the delays in water service delivery experienced in rural areas of this district municipality. The Buffalo City local municipality is excluded in the study because Buffalo City has as well been given the responsibility of being the water service authority in its municipal area. This study used the questionnaires as data collection tool, and it was distributed to these respondents; chief officials, councilors, and citizens. Due to vastness of the target population sampling was used to reduce the bulkiness of the data. The questionnaire content is based on the phases of the systems theory to see if the policy making processes of the Amathole district municipality are carried out in accordance with the systems theory. The study has found that the citizens are not adequately involved in all the policy processes including the policy analysis and evaluation. This has been found to be a contributory factor in the ineffectiveness of the municipality water service delivery.The spheres of government that operate in silos compromised policy analysis and evaluation of the municipality, and disjuncture of the delivery programs of the spheres and state enterprises caused a huge service delivery challenges for this municipality. The study has confirmed that the Amathole district municipality is experiencing problems, delays, and challenges that make it to be ineffective as a water service authority.

The aim of the study was to assess the impact of traditional leaders and ward councillors‟ roles on service delivery in Mnquma Local Municipality. Not much research has been conducted in this field. The researcher wanted to ascertain the extent of conflict between traditional leaders and ward councillors in providing services to the communities and provide mechanisms to harness these. In this study relevant literature and legislative frameworks were reviewed. From the literature review, it was evident that service delivery is essential to the communities, and as such, municipalities have a critical role to play. The data collection instruments used, were questionnaires and interviews. In order to achieve the objectives, questionnaires were distributed to the participants and interviews were conducted. After analysing the data, the researcher formulated conclusions and from those conclusions, some recommendations were made.

The purpose of the research is to assess the financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape. Municipalities that are not financially viable and sustainable will always struggle to deliver basic services to communities. Without sound financial management systems, municipalities will be forced to discontinue their operations. Municipalities, particularly small and rural ones, are not self-sufficient and often rely on grants and transfers to satisfy their immediate short-term goal of providing basic services to satisfy the needs of their communities. Therefore, finance is regarded as an overriding and decisive factor for determining the viability of municipalities. The study seeks to investigate the financial viability of selected urban and rural municipalities in the Eastern Cape. Its key research questions are: Are municipalities able to provide sufficient funds to provide a range of services at an acceptable service level? To what extent do municipalities rely on external funding? Do municipalities have revenue collection capacity and revenue policies? The study asserts that most municipalities lack the required financial resources. They depend mainly on transfers from Provincial Government and equitable share and conditional grants from National Government. Section 152 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 8 of 1996, states, amongst other things, that Local Government should ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. The constitution further states that a municipality must strive, within its financial and administrative capacity, to achieve its objectives. The Municipal Finance Management Act, Act 56 of 2003, creates a framework for municipalities to borrow money and determine the conditions for short- and long-term borrowing. The Act assigns clear roles and responsibilities to the various role players involved in local government financial management. According to the Act, an annual budget for a municipality may only be funded from realistically anticipated revenues to be collected. As revenue projections in the budget must be realistic, the Municipal Property Rates Act, Act 6 of 2004, facilitates the collection of revenue in municipalities and establishes a uniform property rating system across South Africa. Property tax is the biggest element of local government tax revenue and is central to municipal finance. The Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, amongst its objectives, provides for the manner in which municipal powers and functions are exercised as well as establishes a simple framework for the core processes of planning, performance management and resource mobilisation. The Act also provides a framework for public administration and human resource development. Finally, it also empowers the poor and ensures that municipalities put in place service tariffs and credit control policies that take their needs into account. The research contends that, whilst there is legislation and structures to assist and direct municipalities, it has been established that municipalities do not properly collect rates and taxes due to them to augment their revenue. The study has shown nevertheless that metropolitan municipalities have the capacity to collect revenue for municipal services. This is confirmed by their collection rate which ranges between 94 % and 97 %. There is also the culture of non-payment by communities for services rendered by the municipalities. Rural municipalities are exempted from property tax, while other rural municipalities who have an urban component, have to collect. There is also the question of unemployment and poverty. Consequently, municipalities are not self-sufficient and rely on grants and equitable share to survive. As a result of this lack of self-sufficiency, it is difficult to implement service delivery and also difficult to attract skilled personnel. The study has investigated why some municipalities fail to collect revenue and depend on national grants. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings of the quantitative paradigm have been presented in the form of graphs and charts. The major findings include: All municipalities have limited borrowing capacity; have not exceeded their budgets in terms of their spending; small municipalities have households as their main contributor of revenue collected; metropolitan municipalities get the big slice of their revenue from business; small and rural municipalities rely on grants and transfers and are therefore not financially viable; metropolitan municipalities are, to a great extent, financially viable but lack skills and capacity to utilize their resources for effective service delivery; and all municipalities under-spend their budgets. The study, after elaborating on the findings, makes recommendations on how municipalities should become financially viable.

MPM / Oliver Reginald Tambo Institute of Governance and Policy Studies

MURP / Department of Urban and Regional Planning / Rural municipalities in South Africa have been grappling with delivering quality services to communities due to shrinking revenue bases over the last ten years. The study explored the relationship between consumer debt recovery and municipal service delivery in three selected municipalities in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. The implications of revenue collection in rural areas was examined through the computation of the Coefficient Effect Size Model which aimed at proving whether rurality had an effect on payment of rates and taxes. A combination of Goal Achievement Matrix and Correlation Quotient analysis were used to explain the linkage between service delivery and the resource base of rural municipalities. The Rurality Quotient and the Coefficient Effect Size were both developed in the study to link the rurality nature of municipalities to the viability of rural municipalities to provide services. The review of literature incorporated an appraisal of municipal policy documents such as the Integrated Development Plans, Spatial Development Plans, Annual Budget Reports and Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plan. The study findings revealed that consumer debts resulted in rural municipalities failing to generate revenue thus affecting internal revenue pockets. Furthermore it was discovered that rural municipalities were recording a negative effect size as well as a negative Rurality Quotient thus proving that rurality directly affected the level of payment of services. The projection showed a significant probability of a steady increase in consumer debts in rural municipalities in the next ten years if the issues and challenges are not addressed effectively. Therefore a Rural Consumer Debt Recovery Framework tool was proposed to provide clear guidelines on how rural municipalities can deal with non-payment of rates and taxes. In addition to this a review and update of all revenue enhancement policies such as the Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy to match the changes occurring over time in rural municipalities is necessary to change the current status of revenue collection in municipalities. / NRF

MAdmin / Department of Public and Development Administration / The main thrust of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Public Protector’s office in enhancing ethical conduct: The Case of Vhembe District Municipal Area. After the attainment of democracy in 1994, South Africa established the Public Protector’s office and other institutions to enhance ethical conduct within the public service. Despite the establishment of the Public Protector’s office, ethical challenges remained a big problem to achieve good governance and efficient service delivery to the masses of Vhembe. This study followed a mixed research methods and employed a descriptive case study design with explanatory features characterised by the sequential explanatory model strategy in which the collection and analysis of quantitative data was done, followed by the next phase of collecting and analysing qualitative data. Participants in this study were Public Protector’s officials, Mayors, Municipal Managers, Civic Organizations and the representatives of the private (tendering) companies found in Vhembe. The empirical data were collected through questionnaire and semi-structured interview schedule and analysed using SPSS and thematic (content) analysis. Data collection and analysis followed the objectives of the study as a framework. The major finding of the study is that the Public Protector’s office is not effective enough to enhance ethical conduct due to its inability and lack of constitutional powers to enforce adherence and compliance with its recommendations after conducting investigations. As a result, this renders the Public Protector’s office ineffective and unable to enhance ethical conduct effectively. The study therefore, recommends that the Public Protector’s office needs to be provided with sufficient resources as well as more constitutional powers to enable it to enforce implementation and compliance with its recommendations. / NRF

The aim of this mixed-methods research study is to investigate the effectiveness of a Municipal Skills Development Programme (MSDP) in the improvement of service delivery in a District Municipality (DM) in South Africa. A concurrent embedded mixed-methods strategy was used, as it uses one data collection phase during which both qualitative and quantitative data are simultaneously collected and treats both qualitative and quantitative research data gathered on an equal basis. Collected data were not integrated or triangulated but resided side-by-side as two different pictures of the effectiveness of the MSDP. From a total population of 80 managers in the DM and its five Local Municipalities (LMs) who had attended the MSDP, qualitative data was gathered by conducting individual interviews with a convenient sample of 10 managers (Sample 1). Quantitative data was gathered by means of a self-designed questionnaire from a convenient sample of 50 managers (Sample 2). The audio-recorded and transcribed qualitative data obtained from the 10 semi structured interviews were analysed by means of content analysis, while the scores obtained from the 50 survey questionnaires were used to calculate the frequency of responses and then represented by figures and tables. Qualitative findings indicated that the majority of participants (90% of 10 managers interviewed) are of the opinion that the implementation of the MSDP within the DM was successful and has led to improved service delivery. Quantitative results indicated that the total sample of 50 managers rated the MSDP as having improved service delivery in the DM. The overall mixed-methods assessment indicated that the MSDP is a successful way of improving the service delivery in a DM in South Africa and that the attendance of the MSDP by all managers is essential for improving the service delivery of local governments in South Africa. A limitation of the study was that the study was conducted in only one DM and may not represent the views of all local government employees in South Africa. Recommendations were that the relationship between the MSDP and other organisational variables such as productivity, efficiency and effectiveness should be studied, while all managers of the DM who have not yet attended the MSDP should be encouraged to do so. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2008 / Refer to the document