Community participation is a concept that has been advocated for by bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) for over two decades. In South Africa, community participation was included in the National Health Act (61 of 2003). Clinic and Community health facility committees were legislated as a method of involving communities in promoting health and improving health outcomes. During the year 2010, a process was initiated by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) to establish and train health committees at all health facilities. The purpose of this research report was to evaluate the effectiveness of community health committees within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, since 2010. Guidelines given in the Policy on the Establishment and Functioning of Clinic and Community Health Centre Committee (2009) were utilized as a point of reference for this study. The results showed that the community health committees trained in 2010 were functioning effectively as a result of the policy guidelines given. There still needs to be an improvement in the involvement of ward councilors, as stipulated in the National Health Act (61 of 2003), as well as in the implementation of the fundraising role, as set out in the Health Departments policy guidelines for health committees to implement.

This research study examines the food security strategies adopted in the face of environmental degradation in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM), South Africa. The NMBM is the only metropolitan municipality in the Eastern Cape Province. Over time, this area has experienced significant environmental degradation that has greatly affected food security. The municipality has responded by launching livelihood activities to promote food security and protect the environment. These include local food production projects and urban agricultural projects. This research study investigates whether or not the food security strategies adopted by the NMBM are sustainable and whether more needs to be done to enable the municipality to achieve its objectives. The study employed a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, using interviews and questionnaires as the main tools for data collection. A sample of 20 participants was selected from the NMBM. The participants included municipal workers, private consultants, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and an engineering firm working in the field of environmental sustainability. Their inputs are analyzed and discussed in order to arrive at the findings. Critical amongst the findings is that the NMBM should improve education on environmental issues. This should be geared towards building resilience to climate change which is the greatest environmental threat to food security.

Until the nineteenth century, travel was undertaken only by the elite. With the introduction of rail, mass travel was available for the first time, and new faraway destinations became accessible to all. During the 20th century travel became more destination-orientated. And now, in the 21st century, travel is a new economy, resulting in the tourism industry. The focus of the tourism industry has shifted from air travel, weekend getaways and day trips, to a total experience of the destination. A new era in tourism has arrived with a new kind of tourism experience, one that is sustainable, socially responsible and flexible. At the forefront of this industry is a tourist who is more educated, experienced, knowledgeable, independent and demanding. This tourist demands new or different products/services, is harder to please than the traditional tourist, is well-informed and knows what he/she wants and where he/she wants to go. This is the modern tourist. The objectives of the study were to identify the typical characteristics of the so-called modern consumer, determine which of these characteristics were prevalent among consumers living in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area and whether these characteristics could be used to cluster respondents into segments. The results of the study will assist organisations, within the tourism industry, in dealing with the changing demands of the modern tourist. The literature study contextualised the modern tourist within the tourism industry and provides an overview of the demographic and behavioural factors, which form the basis of the modern tourist‟s development. The demographic factors discussed were age, education, income, gender and household size. The non demographic factors identified and explained were variety seeking, quest for self-identity, quest for authenticity, knowledgeable, experience sharing and time poor. The empirical information was obtained via self-administered questionnaires. Two hundred useable questionnaires were completed by respondents in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area. Statistica version 10 was used to analyse the data received. The principal component factor analysis yielded six behavioural factors, namely meaningful experiences, time poor, knowledge, authenticity and experience sharing. Until the nineteenth century, travel was undertaken only by the elite. With the introduction of rail, mass travel was available for the first time, and new faraway destinations became accessible to all. During the 20th century travel became more destination-orientated. And now, in the 21st century, travel is a new economy, resulting in the tourism industry. The focus of the tourism industry has shifted from air travel, weekend getaways and day trips, to a total experience of the destination. A new era in tourism has arrived with a new kind of tourism experience, one that is sustainable, socially responsible and flexible. At the forefront of this industry is a tourist who is more educated, experienced, knowledgeable, independent and demanding. This tourist demands new or different products/services, is harder to please than the traditional tourist, is well-informed and knows what he/she wants and where he/she wants to go. This is the modern tourist. The objectives of the study were to identify the typical characteristics of the so-called modern consumer, determine which of these characteristics were prevalent among consumers living in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area and whether these characteristics could be used to cluster respondents into segments. The results of the study will assist organisations, within the tourism industry, in dealing with the changing demands of the modern tourist. The literature study contextualised the modern tourist within the tourism industry and provides an overview of the demographic and behavioural factors, which form the basis of the modern tourist‟s development. The demographic factors discussed were age, education, income, gender and household size. The non demographic factors identified and explained were variety seeking, quest for self-identity, quest for authenticity, knowledgeable, experience sharing and time poor. The empirical information was obtained via self-administered questionnaires. Two hundred useable questionnaires were completed by respondents in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Area. Statistica version 10 was used to analyse the data received. The principal component factor analysis yielded six behavioural factors, namely meaningful experiences, time poor, knowledge, authenticity and experience sharing. The data analysis revealed three distinct clusters, namely Postmodernists, Traditionalists and Modernists. Each cluster had unique demographic and behavioural characteristics with the result that modern tourists could be grouped into distinct clusters according to their demographic and behavioural characteristics. This will enable the tourism industry to tailor-make their marketing strategies according to these clusters.he data analysis revealed three distinct clusters, namely Postmodernists, Traditionalists and Modernists. Each cluster had unique demographic and behavioural characteristics with the result that modern tourists could be grouped into distinct clusters according to their demographic and behavioural characteristics. This will enable the tourism industry to tailor-make their marketing strategies according to these clusters.

South Africa has a complex healthcare system. The provision and financing of health care in South Africa occur within two fundamentally different systems: the public healthcare sector and non-governmental not-for-profit organisations, on the one hand, and the private healthcare system, on the other hand. The socioeconomic status of an individual in South Africa is the primary determinant of the system through which he or she will receive access to healthcare. The healthcare services provided by the public and private sectors are perceived to be unequal. The introduction of healthcare reforms by the South African government through the National Health Insurance (NHI) aims to address these disparities. The primary objective of this study was to contribute to the successful implementation of the proposed South African NHI by identifying critical success factors that would impact such implementation. A sample of managerial representatives of the following healthcare institutions in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) was drawn: Large private hospitals groups; Eastern Cape Department of Health; Independent medical practitioners groups; South African Dental Association; Pharmacy Association of South Africa; Optometrist Association of South Africa. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed among these institutions and approximately 233 usable questionnaires were returned (response rate 93.2 percent). A literature review was conducted to identify the various viewpoints (critical success factors, as well as positive and negative perceptions) on NHIs in other countries, as well as the proposed one in South Africa. About 43 of such viewpoints were identified. The 233 respondents were surveyed on these 43 viewpoints. The empirical results revealed the following three critical success factors for the successful implementation of the South African NHI: The projected benefits for stakeholders, with specific reference to medical aid schemes; the projected benefits to the private healthcare sector in servicing the public sector; and strategic leadership. The empirical results also showed that the healthcare managers, who serve the poor versus the affluent geographical areas of the NMBM, differ with regard to their projected success of the NHI. Finally, the study highlighted these health managers’ general perceptions about the envisaged benefits and shortcomings of the NHI.

This study is an assessment of the effect of absenteeism on service delivery in the Eastern Cape Department of Health: Nelson Mandela Bay District Municipality. The work was a corollary of repetitive negative feedback from the press that the researcher was concerned and embarked to investigate possible causes of these allegations by the press. The Department of Health being a public entity has a responsibility to provide quality health services to the community. Government introduced a service delivery mechanism which is enshrined in the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service in 1997, through the Batho Pele principles. The researcher argued that if the Batho Pele principles were practiced in the delivery of services the aforementioned repetitive feedback on health services would be minimal. Among a variety of possibilities that could cause the Batho Pele principles not to be practiced the researcher was interested to ascertain if absenteeism could be among them. The researcher asserted that, if human capital is the delivery tool of services, the absence of the human capital therefore posed a negative effect on the delivery of such services. Therefore an inverse relationship exists between absenteeism and service delivery. This relationship was affirmed by the responses of participants through the analysis of questionnaires on absenteeism and service delivery. Absenteeism is a management aspect that has a negative effect in both the financial and delivery aspect of the organisational performance. It is therefore the researchers’ sincere hope that the Department of Health will consider the deductions drawn from this study and recommendations thereof. The researcher further hopes that this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in relation to organisational behaviour and becomes employer ammunition for service delivery.

Public institutions have the responsibility to deliver various services to the public in the most effective and efficient manner. In South Africa, many public sector reforms were instituted after 1994. The main reasons for these reforms were to improve the access of the historically disadvantaged to public services, to increase efficiencies, to reduce costs and to reduce public debt. Despite improvements to the policy framework that underpins service delivery by the public sector, however, there are still many challenges in the delivery of public services. An improved public policy to deliver service alone is not enough if not supported by effective systems and processes for actual delivery, as well as effective leadership that leads and ensures the delivery of such services. Improving the organisational effectiveness of public institutions is therefore important in South Africa. The present study explores the role that leadership plays in the pursuit of organisational effectiveness in a selected public institution, namely the South African Police Service (SAPS). The primary objective of this study is to improve the organisational effectiveness of SAPS in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipal area by investigating the influence of leadership style (transactional and transformational) and personality (Machiavellian, narcissistic, collectivistic, masculine and feminine) on organisational effectiveness of SAPS (as measured by overall organisational performance and the individual job performance intentions of police officers). The research design is positivistic, as the relationships among the above-mentioned variables are statistically tested. The sample consisted of 90 police officers of senior rank drawn from five police stations in the Nelson Mandela Bay. The empirical results were reported and interpreted. These results revealed that constructive narcissistic and collectivistic leadership personality traits, as well as transformational leadership style exert a positive influence on the organisational performance of the Nelson Mandela Bay police precincts. The empirical results also showed that collectivistic leadership personality traits influence the performance intent of these police officials positively. These results are discussed in terms of the implications they hold for the managers of police precincts. The limitations of the study are reported which provide areas for future research.

Literature indicates that the sustainability of Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) is important as they provide pivotal services to the community. In this study, the researcher investigates common problems associated with strategy formulation and implementation in NPOs in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The researcher reports on the importance of strategy within all organisations and outlines a strategy process that can be used as a guide to measure strategic planning in NPOs. In pursuit of conducting qualitative research, a self-constructed questionnaire was used to perform telephonic interviews with managers of NPOs. The study yielded a low response rate, but based on the analysis of the data collected, findings indicate that the main problem is not with strategy formulation or implementation, but with the understanding of the concept of strategic planning. During the interview process, it became evident that there is a common misconception that the annual operations planning constitutes a strategic plan. A major limitation to this study was the absence of a benchmark against which to measure success. Unlike a for-profit organisation where success is measured by profit margins, NPOs have different priorities and therefore successful strategic planning differs from one organisation to another. A recommendation for managers at NPOs is that they start thinking strategically about their organisation, its planning, and methods for doing so (which is discussed in Chapter Five).

The Nelson Mandela Bay area will be used to investigate the ethical and moral considerations faced by the informal sector. It is generally believed that informal sector businesses are characterised by high levels of unethical behaviour. The informal economy in many developing and under developed countries is large in terms of contribution to GDP and number of participants. The informal economy is largely composed of very small businesses that are not registered. They are not operating from suitable premises but run from homes, street pavements and other informal arrangements. In developing countries, self-employment has a greater share of informal employment than wage employment. It represents 70 percent of informal employment in Sub-Saharan Africa (if South Africa is excluded, the share is 81 percent), 62 percent in North Africa, 60 percent in Latin America and 59 percent in Asia. Consequently, informal wage employment in the developing world constitutes 40 percent of the informal employment outside of agriculture (Becker, 2004). The informal economy is as high as 56 percent of GDP in countries such as Georgia, Zimbabwe and Bolivia, where as it represents about 8 to 12 percent of economic activity in advanced or developed economies (Becker, 2004). In South Africa, informal businesses provide a viable alternative for many who are unable to find jobs in the formal sector of the economy.

Income-generating projects represent one strategy adopted by the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development (DoSD) to alleviate poverty. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of an income-generating, or poverty alleviation, project funded by the DoSD in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A sample of ten respondents was drawn from the project. The sampling method of this study was purposive sampling. Data was gathered through semi-structured questionnaires. Related literature focusing on income-generating projects for poverty alleviation was reviewed. Various recommendations have been made, based on the findings of the study. The findings of the study indicated the need for regular visits from Department officials to conduct monitoring and evaluation. Project members also need training in financial management as they cannot manage their finances. The research findings indicated clearly that strategies used by the Department were not effective enough to achieve the desired goals of an income-generating project.

The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of the housing backlog in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality from 2000 to 2014. Fifty participants which were two ward councilors and two PR councilors, four community development members, four ward committee members , twenty backyard dwellers from ward 17 and ward 18 and eighteen senior officials (project managers) from the Department of Human Settlement in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality were purposively sampled for the study. A qualitative design was used. In-depth interviews were conducted to collect data to enable the researcher to ask open ended questions and explore the participants’ perspectives about the causes of housing backlog. The study revealed that the factors which are playing a role in this regard include the role played by the Eastern Cape Province in housing, the large portion of land which is privately owned, beneficiary management by municipal officials and political interference on the waiting list Metropolitan subsequently, recommendations for further research were made.