Thesis (MBA) -- University of Limpopo, 2010 / The research focuses on the effectiveness of Polokwane Local Municipality to provide basic infrastructure services, adherence to project management principles and the involvement of communities in project implementation. Provision of basic infrastructure project has always been a challenge to local government. Polokwane Municipality as part of local government is mandated to fulfil constitutional obligations to ensure that provision of sustainable, effective and efficient municipal services to the communities, while promoting social and economical development. Quantitative research methodology was used in this research; the primary source was the questionnaire while the secondary sources include books, journals, dissertations and reports. The population in the study include community members, ward committee members or councillors, managers and technicians of the Polokwane municipal area. The findings revealed that the municipality is performing well in project scope management. Other project knowledge area such as project time management, project quality management, project human resource and project communication management requires more attention as they are not performing well. Project cost management is perceived to be performing well from the community and councillors side while officials see it differently. The research recommends that the municipality should ensure that the community members are involved during the project implementation. It further recommend that the municipality should implement cost recovery, develop policies to deal with quality management, train officials, instil project ownership to the communities and do proper project planning analysis before project implementation.

Thesis (MPA) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The study deals with the service delivery challenges facing the Limpopo Department of Public Works with regard to the discharging of its mandates “Provision of government infrastructure, management and maintenance of government immovable assets”. Literature review was conducted as a secondary source of information and primary information was collected from a sample of 61 respondents. The study used both qualitative (focus group discussions) and quantitative (questionnaires) in data collection and analysis. The findings revealed that the root causes of the challenges and the challenges themselves that the Department of Public Works: Limpopo is facing are internal and are as follows; Unavailability of work tools, low morale, budget constraints, long supply chain management processes and a lack of skilled personnel. Recommendations for these challenges are developing human resource capacity coupled with a good human resource plan, availability of a proper budget, business process reengineering, the introduction of a monitoring and evaluation system, a customer relationship management system and lastly a change of the organisational culture.

Thesis (LLM) --University of Limpopo, 2010.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 90-92).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 146-152).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Development Planning / At the birth of the democracy, there were countless hopes, promises and desires that came with the new era. Many South Africans had a renewed hope for improved living conditions and economic opportunities. The new hope and desires are well articulated in the African National Congress 1994 election slogan ‘a better life for all’. Provision of housing was amongst the list of promised goods. While many South Africans have received the houses they were promised, millions still reside in poor living conditions, crammed in shacks and squatter camps. Other communities have felt the brutal hand of the government, and have been uprooted from their homes to make way for new developments. The ferocious acts have not gone unnoticed by the affected communities as they have taken on the streets as a platform to demand for basic services to be delivered in their locations. In recent years, service delivery related protests have become the order of the day where communities are disregarding the current channels of engagement in favour of new insurgent practices. The new platforms of engagement create a labyrinth of complex situations that planners have to muddle through. With the mounting public protests and increasing demands for basic services, planners are inescapably knotted in complex situations that require immediate response. Planning in diverse and multi-cultural contexts is challenging as planners are confronted with a web of contextual, administrative and political issues. It is from this premise that the study explored the planning challenges of service delivery in local municipalities. The challenges were probed through exploring the planning challenges of delivering housing in local municipalities. From the discussions in the report and the chosen case study of Sicelo Shiceka informal settlement in Midvaal Local Municipality it was evident that there were complexities encountered when it came to delivering services in a context entangled in complex party politics. Issues of power, politics, limited capacity, multiple stakeholders, unrealistic demands and the multi-cultural contexts are just some of the few challenges planners stumble across. From the study, it was evident that the South African rhetoric on service delivery makes it difficult to deliver houses in such contexts as people feel entitled to the services but have no responsibility to the services. The study highlights the difficulty of planning within a maturing democracy. The research further suggests that planning is influenced by politics even when it comes from an objective approach.