This doctoral thesis essentially investigates what is currently done by South African municipalities with regard to the training and development of their personnel. The study was necessitated by the fact that personnel plays an important role in the viability of any local authority. Therefore, the quality of manpower should be above suspicion. Moreover, with the advent of the expected implications of the new constitutional dispensation it is imperative that attention shall be focused timeously on the training and development of the human resources available to local government and administration. The need for training and development also dominates the arena in view of the continued extention of government activities and the concomitant creation of new State institutions. Thus, the above reasoning serves as rationale for the background description of the right of existence of local authorities. The term, local authorities, is, therefore, viewed as a collective noun for all institutions engaged in governing and administering community life on the local level, be it municipalities, village boards, health committees or institutions for the peri-urban areas. A discussion of municipal administration is also given as it justifies a review of the location thereof within the spectrum of public administration, given its distinctive environment and character. Furthermore, an exposition of municipal personnel administration within the context of municipal administration is imperative should one wish to understand the delicate processes of provisioning, maintenance, utilisation and above all, training and development of scarce manpower resources. Coupled with the description of the components of municipal personnel administration, follows an explanation of the constituent parts of the activities, training and development. The study revealed that training is a process of which the groundwork is done by a related field, called education. Education starts at birth and continues ad infinitum. Education also provides the preparation-for-life foundation, whereby training continues as the preparation-for-work process. As a prerequisite for both processes to be successful, is an intellectual process, called learning. The will to learn then also prepares the individual with a willingness to develop at the hand of various ways and means. Thereafter the need for and the objectives of training within the institution is acknowledged and a description is given of how to identify and describe these needs and objectives in order to meet the common objective of local authorities, viz. the improvement of the general well-being of the citizenry. A responsibility rests on the individual municipalities to provide, through training and development programmes, the opportunity for municipal officials and employees on all levels, to develop. It is to this end that municipalities should endeavour to provide suitable training and development facilities and to utilise it to its fullest extent. Whether the facilities utilised, refers to on-the-job - or off-the-job training, the methods should be applied only after its relevant advantages and disadvantages have been carefully weighed and if it meets the requirements of the specific circumstances of the municipality. The study proves that in South Africa, there is not necessarily a shortage of available municipal manpower, but that a question-mark could be placed after the quality thereof in terms of training and development. It is, therefore, recommended that, in an endeavour to promote training and development activities, the following aspects, inter alia, deserve consideration: (a) the introduction at school level, of a course in environmental or public studies; (b) the establishment of a school of municipal government and administration in the Core City of each region specified in terms of the Regional Services Councils Act, 1985 (Act 109 of 1985); (c) that municipalities should devise a unique approach to training and development methods; (d) that training sessions should provide for the individual needs of the participants; (e) the publication of an annual report by the Local Training Board giving a detailed exposition of the nature and extent of training individually and collectively undertaken by leading South African municipalities; (f) the provision of specially designed and well-equipped technical training facilities; and (g) the establishment of resources centres or reading rooms to put periodicals, journals and relevant newspaper articles at the disposal of all the municipal employees. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1985.

Within the framework of any institution, human beings constitute the most essential element that largely determines whether or not an institution will accomplish the goals it has set for itself. Human labour provides this dynamic mechanism which enables institutions to pursue their objectives. This essential device, through which institutions harness human labour manifests itself as personnel administration. This study conducts an in-depth analysis of personnel administration within the context of Black local authorities In Natal and Transvaal. An examination of the historical development of personnel administration within urban local government institutions catering for the African in the urban areas reveals that this process has been inextricably interwoven with developments in the political arena. Black local authorities are at present actively engaged in designing, developing and implementing a personnel system that has the potential to facilitate accomplishment of task goals, maintenance goals and eventually social responsibility. These institutions must discern clearly the internal and external constraints affecting their operation and contribute toward the great debate for the resolution of the challenges . The established categories of Black local authorities have been identified as city councils, town councils, town committees and local authority committees. The personnel department has been identified as the focal point for the examination of the actual personnel processes within Black local authorities. A variety of processes such as policy-making and organizational planning for personnel provision and utilization; personnel planning, recruitment, selection and placement; training and development; labour relations and collective bargaining as well as compensation administration are presented and analysed. A conclusion 1S drawn on the basis of the findings. Some recommendations are advanced with the hope that their adoption and implementation might contribute significantly in the elimination of the perceived institutional dysfunctioning. / Thesis (DPA)-University of Durban-Westville, 1989.

The failure of the many township and rural schools to improve learner outcomes is not only recognised as a pervasive and insidious social problem affecting those communities, but also entrenches inequalities and militates social cohesion and unity. The study highlights the challenges experienced in the Ilembe District that hamper the effective delivery of a quality education. The study confronts these challenges from a constitutional and human rights perspective, and seeks to unravel whether or not educators grasp the critical nature of their role in facilitating the achievement, not only of the educational goals but of other Constitutional imperatives as well. Given the turbulent nature of the environment in which educators operate, the study also seeks to establish if educators can keep up with the new challenges of teaching in the twenty-first century. In this regard, the role of continuing professional teacher development and the new competencies required of educators were investigated to ascertain whether they lead to improved teaching and therefore more effective learning. The study further investigated the effectiveness of the Code of Professional Ethics in curbing unethical behaviour and thus ensuring the attainment of objectives. Furthermore, the study looked at the various interventions by the Government in an endeavour to facilitate the realisation of the Constitutional ideals. This involved looking at the legislative and policy framework put in place, as well as campaigns and other initiatives that demonstrate the government’s commitment to these ideals. A literature study added another dimension to it, in that it provided the theoretical basis for the study and another perspective on how these matters were dealt with elsewhere. The researcher used an eclectic approach in an effort to get a better understanding of the problem. The choice of methodology and design used in the study was, to a large extent, influenced by the nature and objectives of the study. The study was premised on the fact that the rurality of the Ilembe District should not be used to deprive the learners from this community of a quality education and that, the many policies that seem wonderful on paper are useless if they do not translate to effective implementation. / Thesis (MPA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

The primary aim of this research was to examine the processes involved in the implementation of land reform policies in South Africa with specific reference to the Nkaseni Land Restitution Claim in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal. The objective was to conduct an in-depth diagnostic study with a view to understanding the nature of the challenges, and to propose interventions that could improve land reform processes and the functioning of communal projects in the country. The hypothesis of this research was that the South African government's attempts at land reform have thus far failed to live up to expectations. Part of this research aimed to investigate this hypothesis using the Nkaseni Communal Project as a case study. A number of issues were identified as findings in this research and this report aims to present these issues. Through this study, the pillars of the land reform programme in South Africa were discussed as tenure reform, restitution and redistribution. While mention of the other land reform programmes was made, emphasis was placed mainly on the restitution policy which is the focus of this research. In this research, the experience of land reform in Less-Developed Countries such as Brazil, Kenya, Tanzania and China, has been reviewed. A lesson learnt from developing countries is that tensions and potential conflicts can hinder the process of land reform. It was also established that land reform is time-consuming, expensive and difficult. Some of the issues identified fall outside the mandate of the Department of Land Affairs, which recommends a clear framework for effective role-player participation with other government departments and other relevant stakeholders. A clear policy is needed on post-transfer support for land reform communal projects. This includes clarifying the specific roles, functions and powers of the different stakeholders. This study was also able to provide some evidence that there are numerous challenges that are being experienced by communal-managed projects that have been set up within the KZN Province. A number of the challenges emanate from poorly-drafted Constitutions of the Communal Property Institution as well as poor implementation of projects. The study was able to illustrate that land title can be transferred to the Communal Property Institutions, but that does not translate into the realization of secure individual rights of members of the institution. It was also noted that failure to address issues relating to individual rights allocation can be one of the major sources of conflict within Communal Projects. The research findings revealed that there was very little focus on empowering beneficiaries of communal projects to manage their newlyacquired resources once transfer of land had taken place. Also noted is that there was a lack of understanding of the Trust (as an institution) by some of the Trust members. Lack of co-operative governance was raised as a key issue hindering support from other stakeholders. The study revealed that there was a lack of systems or processes of dealing with multiple interests of Trust members. There was poor representation of women within decision-making structures. Lack of skills transfer to land reform beneficiaries is another contributing factor to the many challenges that are faced by the Communal Property Institutions. Beneficiary training and capacity building are key recommendations in the findings. From the start of the land reform programme, it was recognized that, given South Africa’s Agricultural history, transferring skills to beneficiaries was to be one of the key challenges and determinants of the land reform programme’s success. In the light of this study, a more integrated method of skills transfer at the community level would have many advantages, as it would help alleviate a number of the challenges currently experienced by the land reform projects. Lastly, the study also indicated that land reform beneficiaries were rarely experienced in making independent decisions. It is clear from this research that there is no blueprint approach to land reform, as each project should be designed for the particular conditions to be effective. The important aspects of both individual and communal tenure should be properly understood when reform initiative attempts to change social relations in rural areas are undertaken. There must be flexibility in policies regarding farm size, while support must also be given to proper training and extension aimed at increasing the individual farmer's managerial ability. / Thesis (MPA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

To strengthen democracy, the South African government established the ward committee system in accordance with Sections 72-78 of the Municipal Structures Act, 1998. The objective was to improve service delivery by bridging the gap between the respective communities and the municipal structures. Ward committees should be able to enhance participatory government. Public participation is essentially a process that engages communities from the planning to the implementation and the evaluation phases of a particular activity or a project. The ward committee structure should focus on increasing the involvement of the municipal communities when decisions are made within the local government sphere. The primary objective of this research was to establish the role of ward committees in enhancing local governance, with particular reference to Maphumulo Municipality. The objectives of the study were to provide an overview of the new mandate for future ward committees and trends in local governance affairs; review the roles of ward committees and transformation processes with particular reference to Maphumulo Municipality; and evaluate the concept of ward committees in the context of participatory developmental local government and the mandate enshrined in the Constitution. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand the scope and nature under which ward committees operate to enhance local governance. The research has established that there are still important aspects regarding the roles of ward committees and community participation on which Maphumulo Municipality has still to improve. The municipality structures, particularly the Public Participation Unit, should work closely with the ward committees so that they will be able to drive community initiatives. / Thesis (MPA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health highlighted in the 2005-2009/2010 Strategic Plan many challenges. One of the major challenges was an inadequate management information system at Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS). It was further stated that decision-making becomes risky in the absence of reliable and accurate information. EMRS provides an ambulance service to the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal. This research will focus on EMRS in eThekwini District. In order to provide the best possible service to the citizens there has to be effective information management. The questionnaire survey used in this research project attempted to reach a broad cross-section of the various groups of people (management, operations and administrative staff) who take part in information work, and hence develop a broad sense of their perceptions and beliefs about how information is managed and used at eThekwini EMRS. The answering of questions varied between the groups. This showed that managers, operational staff and administrative staff have different perceptions on information management. Some of the recommendations included: EMRS has to adopt information as a strategic resource; information must be used in addressing problem areas; staff must have access to information that EMRS gathers; and further research has to be conducted at EMRS to address the challenges the organisation faces. / Thesis (MPA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1985.

With the advent of democracy in South Africa in1994, a plethora of old pieces of legislation and policies have either been revised or new ones promulgated to address the gross inequalities of the apartheid state. In the context of education new policies were designed to improve the standard of education across public schools in the country. One such policy is the Integrated Quality Management System intended to support teachers in achieving quality education. Policy Design and Policy Implementation are separate concepts and it is well known that the intentions of the policy are not always achieved during implementation. It is clear that the State President, Jacob Zuma was cognizant of the disconnection between Policy and Policy Implementation when he stated at a meeting with school Principals in 2009 that “our wonderful policies that we have been implementing since 1994 have not essentially led to the delivery of quality education for the poorest of the poor”. He questioned as to why the policies have failed to deliver excellence and what should be done about it. Further, the Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga in her maiden Budget Speech asserted that: “The findings of Professor Jonathan Jansen’s committee on National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU) confirms what we all know, what the view is outside there and reasons for a general lack of public confidence in our education system”. The study explores the extent to which the implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System has indeed led to the delivery of quality education. The Policy was also intended to restore public confidence in the education system and the study aims to explore the extent to which this has been achieved. The Integrated Quality Management System was intended to ensure that the State is obtaining value for the money expended on education, the largest portion being allocated to the salaries of educators. It would appear not to be the case. In this regard, a Report issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD 2008) found that international studies have shown that the “returns to investment” in teacher education, or the quality of performance one might expect from learners in return for money spent on educators, is very low in South Africa, to the extent that “low educator productivity has been cited as the main reason for South Africa’s relatively poor performance” It is for the above reason that the National Policy on Whole School Evaluation which includes the Integrated Quality Management System, designed to address the problems of educator performance and poor learner attainment were put under the spotlight. The success of Policy Implementation, and the possible adaptation of existing policies to ensure that the desired results are achieved are also investigated in the study. Recommendations are made as to how policy might be reviewed or changed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

This thesis aimed at evaluating Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) policy in public schools in the Empangeni Region. Although South Africa is now a free and democratic country with a new system of education, some inequalities still exist among public schools which make it very difficult for them to implement OBE policy in the same way. It is therefore necessary to evaluate how educators view OBE policy. This research aimed at finding out (a) the policy measures that apply to OBE as a policy, (b) the extent to which normative factors apply in the implementation of education policy, (c) factors that hinder or promote effective implementation of OBE policy in public schools and (d) the model that can be recommended for the effective implementation of OBE policy. For purposes of orientation of the study it had to be located within its background which motivated it. The field of education in South Africa has always experienced problems especially with its policies. Some of these problems motivated the researcher to undertake this study and because of their significance they had to be stated in this research. The statement of the problem provided a foundation within which the aims of the study were explained. The significance of any research cannot be overemphasized. However, this one becomes even more significant because it comes up at a crucial period in South African education. This is a period when policies that were implemented in the country after 1994 should be evaluated. It is true that not all problems that relate to education policy can be solved at once. This therefore necessitated that delimitation of the study be clearly stated. There is virtually no study without its limitations, especially if it has to be done in public schools. These limitations were stated. For the purposes of clarity the terms that were constantly used in the study were defined and explained. The demarcation of the study provided a clear picture of the outline of chapters. The study had to be contextualized within the existing theoretical and conceptual perspectives that apply to public policy, policy-making process and OBE policy. Theory had to be drawn from different sources to find out whether OBE policy does adhere to the expectations of public policy in general. The policy-making process is one area that plays a very important role in the success of the implementation process. This necessitated that OBE policy be evaluated in terms of whether it followed necessary policy processes before and during its implementation. It also became necessary to present critical viewpoints on OBE policy as understood by its critics. This criticism culminated in the Revised National Curriculum Statement which was also discussed in great details in this study. This study had to outline the research methods and techniques used. The nature of the study necessitated the use of only questionnaires and interview schedule to elicit information from educators. It is true that there is no single research instrument without its limitations. It is for this reason that information obtained through the questionnaire had to be validated through the interview schedule. The researcher presented, analyzed and discussed research findings at the same time. The nature of the study enabled the use of tables and frequency distribution to present data. Because there was a lot of information to analyze, it sufficed to use descriptive statistical analysis. Discussion of data entailed interpretation and integration of data based on its presentation and analysis. In drawing conclusions the researcher realized that the present South African education system still has problems. To obviate these problems recommendations were made to the government, the education department in KZN and schools. This research culminated into a model of implementation which is the researcher's own creation intended to help all stakeholders have a clear direction in the implementation of OBE policy. The researcher did not only experience challenges inherent in the research process but also professional development. This learning experience is discussed as reflections on learning. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

On the first October, 1954 the Tomlinson Commission submitted its report to Parliament. Inter alia, it recommended that it should be the ultimate aim in the implementation of the policy of separate development of the races that as the Blacks become sufficiently advanced to manage their own affairs in their own areas, the administration of such affairs should be gradually transferred to the Blacks. In order to achieve this, it became necessary to employ Blacks in the areas to manage their own affairs where they might qualify. The Department of Development Aid and that of Education and Training therefore, collaborate with the national states to localize posts if need be or identify them for occupation by seconded officials in case they cannot be localized. The progressive localization of posts advances with self-government. There are constrains militating against the localization of posts. The main ones being the shortage of skilled manpower generally and of sufficiently qualified management personnel in the higher echelons in particular. Some problems are culture - based. For example, the inability of some Zulu civil servants to accept posts in strange and remote areas even if they are in senior positions. Since localization implies the gradual transfer of administrative decision-making it has transpired that KwaZulu civil servants are keen to localize whatever posts they possibly can localize especially in the Department of Education and Culture. The technical, medical and engineering fields are the most difficult to localize. Localization however, does not mean a mere replacement of one race with another. It means the transformation of a foreign system of administration into a local, indigenous one. The whole ethos, philosophy, system of values and procedures change from being legalistic and law enforcing. It assumes new duties of promoting, empowering and managing African development. The purpose of this thesis is to find out how far the policy of localization has been applied in KwaZulu especially in the Department of Education and Culture. It traces the fundamental assumptions and implications of localization in general, drawing on the literature available on other African countries and analyses the process in the KwaZulu civil service specifically. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1990.