Magister Legum - LLM

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The purpose of local government is to promote the realisation of human rights, socio-economic development, and cultural, civil, and political rights to improve communities (Ojochenemi, 2016). Residents are known to be dissatisfied with the poor quality services provided by the local government, which has resulted in unending protests and apathetic citizens. The research focused on the nature of civic participation and the causes of civic apathy in Mankweng Township, as well as the mechanisms that can be implemented to increase civic participation in Mankweng Township and how citizens‟ awareness can be raised. The study discovered that there is high levels of civic apathy in Mankweng Township, which hinders the operation of the municipality, whether it is the service delivery process or the municipality's responsiveness to the citizen's needs, based on the literature, distributed questionnaires, and conducted interviews. Civic apathy also leads to poor governance, which leads to distrust between the government and the citizens. Recommendations were made to help Mankweng Township overcome the challenges of civic apathy; one of these recommendations included encouraging township participation.

Conceptually, South Africa is “one sovereign democratic state”, with a three-sphere governmental system operating co-operatively. Each sphere of government has “original” or constitutionally-allocated powers and functions, as well as legislative and executive powers. Thus, the governmental system is a hybrid or one sui generis, not benefiting from appropriate precedents. The status and autonomy given local government makes it somewhat unique in the world. Application of the principle of subsidiarity, and the mandate for local government to be developmental has resulted in the roles and responsibilities of municipalities being substantially increased, notwithstanding that most suffer from a lack of resources and capacity. Local authorities moved from the establishment of the first one in 1682 as providers of basic municipal services on the basis of race and affordability to democratically-elected ‘wall-to-wall’ municipalities in 2000. With 257 municipalities serving a population of 55.6 million, South African local authorities are comparatively large, spatially and demographically. Given the constitutional-statutory framework and the resultant complex operating environment, it is imperative that all municipalities are able to represent their interests in an intelligent, forceful, and unified manner on decision-making institutions to ensure a close fit between policies/programmes and peoples’ needs. Hence, effective municipal representation by knowledgeable, ethical and committed persons is imperative. The study provides a history of representation and local authority ‘development’ and underdevelopment in South Africa; a theoretical basis for representation; a review of formalism and government’s approach to development; co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations as a mechanism to facilitate municipal representation; an analysis local government powers, functions, status, autonomy, objects, rights and duties of municipalities; local participatory and representative democracy; and the establishment of municipalities. The constitutional and statutory provisions provide the foundation and framework to facilitate municipal representation. The study continues by analysing other mechanisms that enable municipal representation; a comparative review of local government and co-operative governance in certain select countries. It goes on to review the formal framework for organised local government in South Africa, including an overview of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA). Finally, findings and recommendations are made toward a model for municipal representation in South Africa. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. D.

South Africa has a social housing delivery problem, where, despite all mechanisms, efforts and resources (including policies, enabling legislation and social housing production inputs such as planning regimes, guidelines and strategies, funding, land, buildings and human resources put in place by the government), the pace of social housing delivery is not at a point where it is measurably satisfactory across all spheres of government. There exists between the three spheres of government an intergovernmental relations framework for implementing social housing policy. The performance of government shows a lack of institutionalized arrangements, coordination, and alignment in the day to-day operations of the three spheres of government in implementing social housing policy. It is for this reason that this study assessed the current intergovernmental relations operational system in the delivery of social housing units in Gauteng Province. A mixed-methods research approach was implemented for this study based in methodological pragmatism, phenomenology, and positivism. The researcher conducted interviews with senior managers and administered research questionnaires with operational staff within the National, Provincial and Local spheres of government which included City of Tshwane, City of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan municipalities in Human Settlements Departments, state agencies involved in the delivery of social housing units such as the Social Housing Regulatory Authority and municipal entities such as the Housing Company Tshwane, the Johannesburg Social Housing Company and the Ekurhuleni Social Housing Company. Private and non-governmental social housing institutions, such as the Yeast City Housing and Mannapendlo Social Housing Organisation were also included. The data were complemented by documentary content analysis, including review of annual reports, strategic human settlements plans, policies and legislation pertaining to the provision of housing, human settlements, and social housing. This study assessed the functioning of the three spheres of government in relation to the implementation of social housing policy in Gauteng Province. The three spheres of government are regarded as equally important institutions for the development of sustainable human settlements, and a sound relation between the three spheres of government must be maintained in order to achieve successful development and management of social housing. The research found evidence of poor coordination and alignment, and no integration of social housing related activities and functions between the three spheres of government. There are major risks, such as financial risk, financial planning, and project implementation risks experienced at local government level. The study identified challenges faced by the three spheres of government and state agencies in the implementation of social housing policy in Gauteng Province. The challenges included slow release of land for social housing development, uncoordinated and unplanned social housing delivery in the province. In addition, the study identified other input factors that impact negatively on the supply of social housing units which cut across all spheres of government such as political mandates, legislation, policies, strategies, plans, targets, priorities, information technology and administrative and financial constraints. The study presented and recommended social housing delivery model for Gauteng Province. The proposed model has the probability of providing an understanding of the relations between government departments, state agencies, social housing institutions, intergovernmental relations structures at national, provincial and local government level, non-governmental organizations, and community based organizations, so as to ensure there is vertical and horizontal alignment to improve and fast track the delivery of social housing in Gauteng Province. / Public Administration and Management / D. Phil (Public Administration)

The advent of a political democracy in South Africa in 1994 generated hope for a better life for all South Africans especially those marginalised during the apartheid era. The newly formed democratic government was confronted with the mammoth task of expounding and decreeing policies and processes that would warrant equality and equity in the provision of basic services to its citizens. Local government being the third sphere of government and which is closest to the people was entrusted with the responsibility of rendering basic services to its people as well as to address the backlogs that have accumulated during the apartheid era as depicted in the 1996 Constitution. Despite the efforts made by government to meet the requirements of the people in providing them with adequate basic services such as clean water, electricity, roads housing and refuse removal, these services were either not provided at all or it was done at a snail‟s pace. This led to widespread service delivery protests. In light of the above, this empirical study investigates the causes of the service delivery protests in City of Johannesburg (CoJ) from 2009 until 2014. Numerous studies have been pursued to examine the reasons and causes for service delivery protests and the conclusions derived is the slow pace of providing electricity, water and sanitation to the local communities. It therefore can be deduced that no democracy can subsist and prosper if citizens are still living in deprivation and in a state of discrimination and unemployment without them having visions for a better life. The manifestation of service delivery protests is thus a risk to South Africa‟s young democracy and its sustainability, which cannot be ignored. The findings of this study clearly revealed that communities in the CoJ are discontented and disgruntled because of, amongst other things, the lack of delivery of basic services, the deployment of cadres to municipal management positions, the abuse of the tendering system, nepotism and favouritism, which have negatively affected service delivery. / Public Administration and Management / M. Admin. (Public Administration)