LD2668 .T4 1947 G8 / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / abstract / China Development Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / abstract / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Thesis (M.M. (Public and Development Management))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits School of Governance, 2016. / The political and constitutional changes in South Africa brought about fundamental features through the transformation agenda in the public service. Of primary importance is that the South African political transformation processes have been characterised by a culture of transparency, participation and accountability. These values are in direct contrast to what presently obtains in the Department of Health’s exmineworker compensation system. Within this context it emerged as a concern that that the system of governance that managed the compensation system was not responsive to the needs of ex-mineworkers. Ex-mineworkers experienced serious delays in time before accessing government compensation. There were claimants that were deceased whilst awaiting an outcome of their applications for compensation. The enormity and complexity of the system was underestimated by government departments. Legal firms and related professionals handling the cases of ex-mineworkers earned more than £1.3-billion in fees for taking up the cases of claimants. The costs of administration in the handling of claims surpassed the actual amounts paid out to claimants eventually. At the centre of the civil service management in South Africa, was the Department of Public Service and Administration. It was here that policies on governance were developed. The Department of Public Service and Administration was responsible for the establishment of norms and standards for the entire Public Service. Under the auspices of this centralised function, service delivery mechanisms were ensured, there was access to integrated systems, the framework for human resources management was developed, and in the development of policies focus was given to the needs of the citizens. ii The purpose of this study was to explore reasons for the low compensation uptake, and to examine systems and inform changes that would allow exmineworkers in the Eastern Cape, Oliver Tambo District to better manage their access to government compensation. The mining industry plays a significant role in the South African economy long after the discovery of gold in 1886. With little evidence of policy and legislative reform, and after 22 years into South Africa’s democracy, the scourge of failing respiratory health amongst ex-mineworkers has not decreased. miners face an epidemic of occupational lung disease. The challenge of tracking and tracing ex-miners to capacitate them on their rights and benefits of compensation, owed and owing to them, forms the basis of this study. The governance of the system of compensation for ex-miners is not bringing the large numbers closer to easy access. Whilst the challenges may well be present, this study is intended to raise awareness of the problem, investigate the cause/s and offer recommendations that will provide relief to a population in South Africa that could be seemingly lost if not told of what benefits are available to themselves (if alive) and nominated beneficiaries (in the case of those who are deceased). This study was concerned with gaining a better understanding of why exmineworkers in the OR Tambo District of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa were not accessing their compensation benefits, rather than to measure certain outputs and outcomes. It was primarily interested in gaining an in-depth understanding of how information is being disseminated and how it is being influenced by different variables. A qualitative approach was chosen in order to portray the detailed understanding and specific dynamics experienced by ex-mineworkers in accessing compensation benefits from the Department of Health. iii The importance of good governance in improving service delivery was explained and spoke to what constituted good governance, the importance of proper planning during periods of transition and why governance should be a continuous activity as well as the importance of planning in public institutions. In this study, the need for good governance to improve service delivery, were identified, with specific reference to those aspects of good governance that could better equip the ex-mineworkers in the Eastern Cape to better understand the compensation and in so doing would guide the research process. / GR2018

Why does merit-based elite recruitment exist under authoritarianism, notwithstanding its adverse impact on elites' private interests? In my dissertation, I develop an argument that centers on the role of upward mobility in authoritarian regime dynamics. I argue that merit-based elite recruitment provides individuals from non-elite background an opportunity to move into the ruling class by effort; it enhances their perception of upward mobility and thus reduces their discontent with the status quo. An authoritarian ruler, therefore, may deliberately adopt and institutionalize meritocracy in elite recruitment to engineer limited but sustained upward mobility, which co-opts large numbers of non-elites and helps stabilize the regime. Focusing on the case of China and its national civil service examination (NCSE), I draw on qualitative, quantitative, and experimental evidence to triangulate the complex dynamic between the CCP leadership, local officials, and ordinary citizens in merit-based elite recruitment. I employ two survey experiments to demonstrate that, by imposing institutional constraints on local officials, the CCP leadership can make its commitment to merit-based recruitment credible and enforceable. Analyzing data from two national representative surveys, I find that the institutionalization of NCSE forges a widespread and persistent perception of upward mobility among citizens eligible for the exam and weakens their pressure on the regime for income redistribution; it also strengthens public support for local government and contributes to the legitimacy of the CCP regime. These findings contribute to our understanding of the effects of meritocracy under authoritarianism and highlight the importance of upward mobility in relation to regime resilience.

Doctor of Philosophy / Public private partnerships [PPPs] are a product of policies and processes to modernise the delivery of infrastructure-based services. An examination of the modernisation literature establishes the broad analytical frame within which this thesis investigates PPPs. The macro-level overview of the recent transformation of the Australian public sector confirms that the dominant principles underlying modernisation are grounded in new institutional economics [NIE] that are implemented through private-sector derived accounting and management implementation technologies. It highlights the contextual complexities stemming from Australia’s federal system of government, explaining the decision to focus on investigating PPP experiences in Victoria. At the conceptual level, PPPs rely on risk management and modernisation of service delivery to achieve value for money [VFM] for governments. In Victoria, 2000 signals a change in the modernisation role of PPPs. Thereafter, risk inherent in PPPs was reduced by excluding the contractor from the delivery of core social services. Also, the state began to develop a number of PPP policies to guide, aid, control and rationalise decision making in the pre-contracting stage, and to clarify objectives. Analysis of PPP contracts and the failure of one pre-2000 PPP hospital project are illustrative of the controversies identified in the literature about ‘hidden’ aims, the role of technologies designed provide ‘objective’ evidence of VFM inherent in PPPs at the time of contracting, and the ‘fallacy’ of risk transfer to private contractors. An examination of prison contracts indicates the changing nature of the management and control of PPPs in the execution stage. Analysis of pre-2000 prison contracts reveals that these projects were intended to drive significant financial and nonfinancial modernisation reforms throughout the correctional services system. Despite problems with contractual specification of performance and payment mechanisms, and the failure of one of the three pre-2000 prisons, recent evidence suggests, contrary to conclusions in the previous literature, that sector-wide modernisation objectives are being achieved in PPP prisons. PPPs have been criticised on the grounds that they enable governments to avoid accountability for service provision. A survey of the extent, focus and characteristics of the performance audit of PPPs confirms that little PPP auditing has been undertaken in Australia per se, and also that much of the performance auditing has focused on examining adherence to mandated procedures in the pre-contracting stage. However, this thesis demonstrates that the Victorian government has undertaken significant evaluation of the operation of its pre-2000 PPP prisons, and that its thinking and policy development reflect lessons learnt. The evidence presented in this thesis challenges findings in the previous literature that modernisation has delivered less than promised. This thesis confirms the potency of longitudinal research to investigate outcomes of what is essentially an iterative process of reform and that ‘successful’ implementation of modernisation change is sensitive to the context to be reformed. In finding that the presence of goodwill trust is critical to the implementation of recent modernisation reform in the correctional services sector (including in the PPP prisons), this thesis also confirms recent critiques of the power of NIE theories to explain contracting practices in the PPP setting.

Australia has been engaged on a comprehensive process of federal public service reform for more than 20 years. It began in the 1970s, when the long undisturbed Australian Public Service (APS) was confronted with a major review process and with a set of administrative law reforms. This was followed in the 1980s by the introduction of a set of ambitious administrative reforms, which drew strength from similar developments occurring overseas, notably in Britain, the United States, New Zealand and Canada. This created the setting for the commercialisation of the APS that began in the late 1980s, which itself created a further set of organisational and management imperatives for the APS. The articulation of the desired management competencies became a pressing priority to consolidate the administrative and commercialisation reforms and a broad consensus emerged. The next challenge was to determine how best to inculcate the desired APS management competencies. The overall conclusion drawn was that while the administrative and commercialisation reforms have moved the APS some way towards attaining the distinctive characteristics that well-performing public agencies should have, they have created a wide variety of challenges and threats yet to addressed adequately. Within an organisational and politico-administrative environment that leaves APS managers vulnerable, especially those in APS 'quasi-businesses', because they are expected to improve service delivery productivity, so as to reduce costs, while at the same time to enhance service quality. This management task requires them to confront a variety of these threats and challenges, which purveyors of public management education must help them address, if they are to meet their idiosyncratic learning needs. This requires the adoption of a learner-based, problem-centred approach to learning for, rather than about, public management. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.