Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2001 / Refer to the document

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2006 / Refer to document

Thesis (MPA) --University of Limpopo, 2010

Thesis (MPA) -- University of Limpopo, 2011 / The study explores the role of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature in promoting public awareness activities at the Fetakgomo Local Municipality. The study reveals that lack of awareness about the activities of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature has been identified. The study critically analyzed method and models of public participation and the role of the Limpopo Provincial Legislature in terms promoting public awareness activities. The findings of the study will assist the Legislature with interventions that are necessary for the improvement of public awareness activities. The study concluded that the Limpopo Provincial Legislature had not created an enabling environment for meaningful community participation, and had consequently limited the impact of community engagement on the Legislature activities. As a result, guidelines and recommendations were proposed for public awareness activities.

Thesis (M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / The study has been prompted by the initiative of the Local Government of South Africa in introducing the Integrated Development Plan in local municipalities in 1998 as an interim integrated plan. Local Municipalities in South Africa have to use “integrated development planning” as a method of planning for future developments in their areas. Apartheid planning left South Africa with cities and towns that have racially divided business and residential areas; are badly planned to cater for the poor; have long travelling distances to work and poor access to business and other services; have great differences in levels of service delivery between rich and poor areas; have sprawling informal settlements and spread-out residential areas that make cheap service delivery difficult. Rural areas were left underdeveloped and largely unserviced. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the IDP on service delivery in Emfuleni Local Municipality. The objectives of this study were: to evaluate the effectiveness of the IDP on service delivery and its implementation; to assess the capacity of the municipality to meet the IDP objectives and targets; to investigate the perceptions of the Emfuleni Local Municipality ward and Proportional Representative (PR) Councillors on their mandate and service delivery; and to identify and recommend strategies to enhance the effectiveness of the IDP on service delivery. The study was qualitative in design and collected data using interviews. The study found out that the public participation process, the Integrated Development Plan, service delivery protests and state of service delivery in Emfuleni has clearly shown that the Emfuleni Integrated Development Plan does not have significant impact on service delivery. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made: that there should an alignment of projects with community needs, establishment of a monitoring and evaluation unit, strengthen the intergovernmental relations system and regular feedback, communication and interaction with communities. These systems and structures will ensure that there is regular and coherent participation and involvement of the community as far as possible.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The research study attempts to understand levels of service delivery facing Lenyenye Township falling under the jurisdiction of Greater Tzaneen Local Municipal Council. The main focal point of the study is to ascertain the effectiveness of the provision of basic services such as electricity, water and roads by the Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality. This study takes into account that there are other townships such as Nkowankowa, Khutjwana and Tickeyline that are also under the jurisdiction of Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality, and therefore, the research made no attempts to compare levels of service in these towns as its main focus is Lenyenye Township. The findings of this case study are by no means a representation of the state of service delivery in the entire Greater Tzaneen Local Municipal area. The study is qualitative in nature as it attempts to understand how residents of Lenyenye Township perceive service delivery in their area. To get to the bottom of this investigation, interviews were conducted to supplement the data that is needed to make a case. The central elements of this study are community participation and financial management. According to White Paper on Local Government (1998), the above elements are the cornerstone of democracy, and that democracy should be visible and practical at grassroots. The study argued that provision of municipal services is also influenced by a high number of legislative frameworks some of which are still at a grappling stage by municipalities, for example; the implementation of White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (1997). The study also discovered that a local sphere of government interacts with other organs of state, private sectors and non-governmental institutions in programmes and projects meant to advance the provision of municipal service. Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality like any other municipality is experiencing its fair share of the challenges such as financial management, community participation, and skills shortage. The study revealed that Lenyenye Township is experiencing poor service delivery from the municipality.

Thesis (PhD. (Public Administration)) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / Developmental local government was introduced in South Africa after the finalisation of the local government transformation in 2000. The notion was however provided for in terms of Chapter seven of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. The introduction of the policy framework through the 1998 White Paper on Developmental Local Government provided a platform for the promulgation of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 which was followed by the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 to give effect to the notion of developmental local government as envisaged in the Constitution. Realisation of such system of developmental local government required interactions determined through various interactions ranging from structures necessary for establishment of municipalities to systems necessary for the municipalities to be functional. Those structures and systems comprise of a congleromate of agents that derive their way of interactions from various schemas. Those schemas are informed by the mainstream positivist modern scientific public administration discourse that dominates the paradigm of public administration in South Africa. Yet interactions that give effect to developmental local government do not conform to the rational modern scientific prescription that are linear and seek to unveil a unified solution to all problems associated with the realisation of developmental local government. That is where the science of complexity comes to play through its conformity to postmodern ontology of seeking local solutions that are non-linear. It is however necessary to acknowledge that the rational scientific discourse is necessary within developmental local government realisation, it just have limitations that need to be complemented by complexity thinking as local governments together with its establishing structures and systems are by nature complex. It came about through complex interactions that do not always conform to modern scientific analysis. The state of public administration discourse in South Africa is still predominantly rational and adheres to the modern or mainstream public administration. These are exarbated by the praxis of developmental local government itself in terms of its character and its constitutional founding of being a sphere of government that remain ideal than pragmatic. The characteristics of developmental local government themselves cannot be realised within the ambit of a single municipality. The notion of development also provide a conundrum of being translated to developmental which is adjectival to be reduced to a static meaning for proper rational analysis. Being a complex system developmental local government inhabit the charateristics or elements of complexity that cannot be unified to address problems facing municipalities within the country. The complexity of such systems transcend from the initial contextualisation of developmental local government to various persona, multiplicity and pluralism, as well as accountability and responsibility. These create the form of morphogenesis from the inception in the form, structure, function and state of developmental local government. Developmental duties, being Integrated Developmental Plan (IDP), Performance Management, and Community participation remain the ideals that in reality might not be realised unless a complementary view of complexity thinking is considered. The engagement of literature in developmental local government, the state of Public Administration discourse in South Africa, Complex Reflexive Science and the empirical evidence gathered in municipalities found within the Vhembe District municipality area provide a scientic justification to the idea. Developmental local government needs to be dealt with as a complex adaptive system that is informed by the realities of the circumstances of its constituency. That in essence will require creative and innovative practitioners that do require uniform prescripts that need to be applicable to all municipalities irrespective of context,persona, multiplicity and pluralism, as well as dynamics of accountability and responsibility.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The study has focused on the evaluation of effectiveness of public participation programmes towards service delivery within the Capricorn District Municipality. Public participation is supported by various pieces of legislation, such as the Constitution (1996) and the Municipal Systems Act (2000), which has placed the community at the centre of development in the local government sphere. It also occupies a key position for development within local government, as it is important in assessing successes and failures of programmes. In this study, the researcher used interview schedules as an instrument to assess the effectiveness of public participation programmes towards service delivery within the Capricorn District Municipality. The researcher used this instrument to get the views of the respondents - in this case ward committees - about effectiveness of public participation programmes in the Aganang and Blouberg Local Municipalities as the area of the study. The findings of the research revealed that there is lack of effective participation in municipal programmes by the community due to a lack of confidence in the local authority, in terms of providing regular feedback on commitments made about service delivery. The findings also revealed that a lack of education plays a significant role for the effective participation of communities within the municipal programmes. Based on the findings of the research, recommendations were made that mechanisms should be implemented to monitor the impact of public participation programmes, building community capacity to engage with municipalities as well as strengthening current public participation mechanisms (such as the IDP consultation process, public hearings and outreach programmes).

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012 / Service Delivery in South Africa has been one of the critical concerns of the government lately. The departments have been unable to meet the targets as set in the major policies and strategies such as AsGISA, Millenium Goals of SA and other documents. The provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, housing, health and poverty as a whole were key to those service deliver plans. In spite of many attempts by different spheres of government, to deal with the problem, this proved to be failure. Issues such as poor interpretation of policies, corruption, maladministration of resources, lack of coordination and aligned programmes as well as lack of skills and monitoring by officials were to be dealt with in length in order to curb the problems of service delivery. The department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs came up with measures to speed up the process of delivering quality services to the communities of South Africa. This Turnaround Strategy was introduced in December 2009 and will hopefully deal with such problems. This is testimony to many protests by different residents in South Africa who are frustrated and in need of response by the government promises. This study attempts to outline the problems facing the development of human settlements in South Africa. This reveals that such service delivery problems are not unique and specific to individual settlement but are similar in all respects. Recommendations thereof may be specific and assist in the rapid finalisation of service delivery in Protea South. The contribution to be made by study will ensure that there will be no more protests and that each sector will have a better understanding of the other sectors.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / This study undertook to look into the management of service delivery by the Limpopo Department of Public Works. Over the past four years the researcher, through his interaction and work with departmental officials, identified various weaknesses with management. The study examines various literature relating to management and service delivery issues. A comprehensive review was made by the researcher of the available departmental documentation. The study method used was qualitative. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed and provided to management. This study found that indeed there are issues with management in the Limpopo Department of Public Works. Key findings were that the maturity and experience of management is critical to the functionality of an institution and that institutions need to embrace change, particularly within a technical environment.