For the Emfuleni Local Municipality to successfully realize its fiduciary mandate of providing service. effectively and efficiently to the public, it is of paramount importance that the employee of the municipality have to possess the necessary skills, knowledge and understanding on the theoretical aspect of on-the -job training. The government has created an enabling environment through the enactment of legislation such as the Skills Development Act and the White paper on Public Service Training and Education to ensure that the municipality is able to realize this. mandate. The role of the training department of the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) becomes central in enabling the council to realize this critical objective of service delivery. The success or otherwise of the municipality to deliver quality services is' inextricably interlinked with the capacity of the employees in the training department to provide up to date on-the-job training to employees of the municipality. The objective of this study is therefore to study the effects of on-the-job training on service delivery at the Emfuleni Local Municipality. For the purpose of this study, the hypothesis was formulated that the current deficiencies in performance management and low levels of payment of rates can be linked to the ineffectiveness and in efficiency of the Emfuleni Local Municipality in prioritising the training of its employees. In order to test the validity or otherwise of the hypothesis, a comprehensive theoretical exposition of the literature on on-the-job training was undertaken. The empirical method of interviews and questionnaire was employed to gather qualitative and quantitative data. These methods assisted in arriving at some of the following findings: • Training as a strategy to improve effective and efficient service delivery is supported by the employees of the municipality and as such should enjoy a larger slice of the budget allocation from the ELM executive. • There are at times when the training offered is incompatible with the actual work situation. • The majority of the resident of Emfuleni, including the very employees of the municipality are not content with the quality of the services delivered by the ELM as reflected by their ratings of the performance of the ELM, hence the need to capacitate the training department. • The Employees Assistance Programme’s existence is in name only with the majority of employees not utilizing its services, an indication of lack of confidence in the office/officer's ability to help employees with their problems. • Members of the public still have confidence in the relevance of local government as a sphere that should be able to respond to their needs, since they are able to interact with officials at that level as a result of their close proximity. The study ends with recommendations for management action by the Mayoral Committee of the Emfuleni Local Municipality / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

A review of normative literature, in the field of e-government, indicates that the transactional stage of e-government is one of the most important to the implementation of an e-government system as it represents the highest level of interaction within organisations and between customers and government organisations. Due to the importance of the transactional stage of the e-government system and its positive impact, not only in making the delivery of external services quicker, but also in increasing the efficiency of internal government processes, government organisations might seek to reach this stage. In fact, in the literature, there appears to be an absence of theoretical models for the technical and organisational challenges facing transactional e-government systems. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies focusing on identification of the importance, categorisation and presentation of strategies for overcoming technical and organisational challenges. Consequently, this dissertation attempts to fill the information gap based on empirical data derived from two case studies. This work proposes a novel model for the technical and organisational challenges facing transactional e-government systems. In moving from the conceptual to the empirical, the work is based on a qualitative case study approach to examine the proposed model for the technical and organisational challenges facing transactional e-government systems. In doing so, two case studies were conducted, presented and analysed. During the empirical research, additional technical and organisational challenge(s) facing transactional e-government systems emerged, which resulted in modifications being made to the previously presented conceptual model. However, this dissertation proposes the conceptual model, identifies the importance, categorisation, and presentation of the strategies for overcoming, technical and organisational challenges facing a transactional e-government system. This results in the development of a frame of reference that will lead to a model that can be used to enhance decision-making.

It is well documented in the caregiving literature that caregivers do not utilize services that may aid in their ability to provide care and help maintain their own well-being. There have been several barriers identified that may deter caregivers from seeking services, especially in rural areas. However, there is less known about how caregivers work to overcome those barriers. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding about how rural caregivers overcome barriers to service utilization. The research was designed to be exploratory, rather than of a confirmatory nature. It is hoped that having rural caregivers identify ways to overcome the barriers themselves will ultimately be more meaningful as their suggestions might then be used to change how services market and deliver services to rural caregivers. This study was a qualitative investigation of what rural caregivers identify as barriers to seeking services and how to overcome those barriers. Eight rural caregivers were interviewed over the phone. Through the interview process, caregivers identified barriers and shared their personal experiences of how to overcome barriers or offered suggestion about how others may overcome barriers. Grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998; Corbin & Strauss, 2008) was used to analyze the qualitative data. The core phenomenon of this study, often referred to as a storyline, revolved around the concept of caregivers not seeing a need for services. Caregivers' cultural beliefs of staying independent and taking care of others because it is their familial responsibility were prevalent throughout the interviews. The findings from this study ultimately illustrate how caregivers do not seek services because they do not see a need to or chose not to need services. Although barriers to service utilization have previously been identified in the caregiving literature, the greatest barrier for each of the caregivers in this study was their inability to see a need for help or services. This emerged as a higher-order barrier. Although caregivers were able to offer suggestions to overcome some of the other barriers, none were able to offer suggestions on how to help caregivers perceive a need as they themselves had attitudes and/or beliefs that contributed to their not believing they needed services. Awareness of this higher-order barrier or core belief may translate into agencies and services changing the way they market to rural caregivers.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of financial management, governance and service delivery levels on the effectiveness of municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) for the financial Year, July 2008 to June 2009. The study is descriptive in nature, using a quantitative technique of surveys via questionnaires to collect data from chief financial officers (CFOs) from low and medium capacity municipalities in KZN. Regarding the level of financial management, corporate governance and service delivery and the impact on effectiveness of municipalities, the results indicate there are areas of low and high levels of financial management, corporate governance and service delivery in the municipalities. There are some areas in which the municipalities are effective and other areas that need attention. This implies that there is not a 100% state of efficiency with respect to policies and procedures. The difficulty in carrying out research of this scope to investigate the impact of financial management, governance and service delivery levels on the effectiveness of municipalities is that it cannot be measured with absolute certainty. In addition, municipalities may be influenced by political powers and this is also difficult, perhaps impossible, to measure. The study is an important contribution to developing what should be done by municipalities in KZN to be effective i.e. in developing a framework for success in terms of financial management, governance and service delivery. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / (M.B.A.)

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / There is a realisation that urbanisation has overstretched the ability and efforts of central governments to serve from the centre, thus, giving rise to the search for a robust decentralisation policy that vests urban local governments with some level of autonomy.1 It is in this context that decentralisation has become critical in order to sufficiently respond to the varied service delivery challenges brought about by increasing urbanisation. However, all efforts to capacitate urban councils through the process of decentralisation are futile if the urban local governments lack the necessary financial means to fulfil their responsibilities. / South Africa

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This study investigates how political dynamics impacted on service delivery in urban areas of Zimbabwe in general and, SPECIFICALLY, in the cities of Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo and Mutare. The problematic of urban governance in these cities has been marked by contestation, confusion and change for a range of reason which would seem to be associated with issues of planning and management of urban areas, infrastructure such as provision and maintenance of roads, housing, public transport and water and sanitation. Consequently, these urban governance contestations almost led to the collapse of most if not all, urban functions and services in the aforementioned urban areas. That Zimbabwe is suffering from a crisis of governance and public service delivery for decades is not in doubt. In this thesis, I argue that whilst much attention has been given to state governance, it is at the local governance level where the impacts of the crisis are more severe. Why at the local governance level? Local government is mandated to deliver directly or indirectly key human development services to citizens. Inevitably, urban governance is an important determinant of urban services delivery. Urban governance takes place within a wider governance and political context. Post-independent urban Zimbabwe was dominated by the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) until the turn of the millennium. When the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) began dominating urban local authorities, urban governance signaled an era marked by contestation, confusion and change. Subsequent urban governance political dynamics had profound impacts on service delivery.

Magister Legum - LLM

The aim of this study is to evaluate the service delivery function of the Itsoseng psychology clinic through investigating the demographic profile of the client population that Itsoseng clinic served in terms of age, gender and presenting problems during the period January 2005 to November 2006. This study took the form of a limited programme evaluation using descriptive statistics as primary method, based on an analysis of archival records from the period January 2005 to November 2006. Community psychology was used as primary theoretical framework to situate this study within the larger local and international debate on client profiles and service delivery of university psychology clinics. The results indicate that most of the clients who attended the Itsoseng psychology clinic during 2005 and 2006 fell between the ages of seven and 30, and presented with the following problems in order of prevalence: learning difficulties, relationship problems, depression, career concerns and HIV-related issues. More women (53.1%) than men (46.9%) attended the clinic over the two years combined. The results of this evaluation could prove to be useful in informing strategic decisions regarding marketing the clinic, offering relevant training content to the students as well as recruiting other professionals for whom a need is indicated. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Psychology / unrestricted

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2020 / Public participation in governance and public service delivery is increasingly pursued in a bid to improve the performance of government. Improving delivery of public services continues to be a key objective that has occupied the agenda of public administrators and researchers alike. Despite various legislative prescriptions, which encourage local community participation in service delivery initiatives, there is prevalence of a top-down approach when municipalities bring services to communities. This occurs when municipalities follow their own developmental priorities for communities and they do this without the consultation of the concerned communities. The main purpose of this study was to explore the involvement of communities in determining the infrastructure services that are delivered to them by government. The study was done in Khayelitsha, a township situated in the Cape metropolitan area in the Western Cape province of South Africa. A qualitative and quantitative methodology was employed in the study. It is relevant to the study and assisted the researcher to gain insight into the Khayelitsha municipality and understand the challenges caused by not involving the community in service delivery. The main findings reveal that the role of the community is not clearly defined during the process of service delivery resulting in poor public participation. Poor communication with communities also contributes to this problem and there is no formal collaboration between the community and the municipality. Thus, the study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on public participation and service delivery, as well as democracy. Furthermore, the study concludes that for the successful delivery of services to communities, it is essential that government officials comply with the legal prescriptions that are enshrined in the relevant legislation. In addition, communities should begin to own service delivery initiatives and protect their facilities from vandalism.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / Local authorities, if well managed, are a key public sector institution indispensable for effective and efficient service delivery which in turn is critical towards meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local level. In public sector administration since the 1990s, the Bretton Woods Institutions and allies encourage developing countries to adopt New Public Management (NPM) to improve public sector performance, including more effective service delivery. This thesis interrogates the adequacy of New Public Management (NPM) in service delivery using the Mutare City Council in Zimbabwe as a case analysis. The thesis answers the fundamental question of why internationally recommended NPM falls short in promoting good governance and effective service delivery in Zimbabwe in general, and the city of Mutare in specific. At the heart of this thesis is the crisis of service delivery in Mutare, and the practical failure of NPM as an antidote, against the background of a complex socio-political context and economic depression. This thesis is informed by the theory of governance, as augmented – and also contradicted – by NPM as implemented by Mutare City Council. To gather empirical data, this research employed the qualitative research methodology. A qualitative methodology entailed in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observation. The researcher interviewed the mayor and ten councilors from Mutare City Council, two community opinion leaders, two public administration scholars, and leaders of three residents’ associations and two other civil society groups. The researcher also used participant observation by attending one full council meeting and a council budget consultation meeting organised by Mutare City Council. In essence, it emerged consistently in this research that Mutare City Council is marred by institutional, administrative and operational challenges which impede implementation of NPM. Implementation failures include corruption and meagre political will. There were also problems, however, in applying NPM in the Zimbabwe context, which especially in Mutare led to policy inconsistencies. There was a lack of sufficient monetary and human resources due to the economic crisis plaguing the country, and the council’s institutional capacity shortfalls. There was also an intrinsic disharmony between NPM and local socio-political processes, including the political contestation between the opposition-led local council and the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu PF)-led central government. The result was a fractional, patchy, piecemeal roll-out of NPM. The net effect of NPM’s failure, exacerbated by a dire socio-political and economic crisis has been a municipal service-delivery crisis characterised by irregular refuse collection, poor housing, poor sewer reticulation, erratic health provision, poor roads, acute shortage of street lighting and local traffic lights, acute shortage of burial spaces, acute shortage of recreational spaces, and an informal traders’ crisis. This thesis concludes that implementation of NPM would have to result from much stronger political will, in order to achieve more effective service delivery in Zimbabwe at large and Mutare specifically. There is a need to stimulate political will towards improved implementation of NPM, in its holistic sense, and not as a piecemeal process. This should be accompanied by dislodging the petty version of party politics that have debilitated the running of Mutare City Council. There should be platforms for meaningful citizen engagement and participation in local governance processes. In addition, NPM should be buttressed with a comprehensive policy and legislative framework that adds to its authenticity and legitimacy. There should be adequate financing. All these could reinforce Mutare City Council’s holistic implementation of NPM reforms. Such measures will nurture and inculcate a culture of transparency, accountability, rule of law, and efficiency in service delivery as well as public administration and urban governance at large.