The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa passed in 1996 created three spheres of government
- national, provincial and local governments. The local government sphere is at the coal face of
service delivery as it is closest to the local communities. The goods and services required by the state
to provide services to communities are procured from the private sector. Section 217 of the
Constitution stipulates that procurement should be done by a supply chain management system that is
fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective. The Constitution made provisions for the
creation of supply chain management departments in municipalities whose policies would be guided
by the ideals of Section 17 of the Constitution.
This study explores the nature and role of local government and provides insight into the concept of
service delivery in the South African context. The aim of the study was to provide insight into public
sector procurement supply chain management in order to determine how an effective supply chain
performance management system could possibly improve service delivery by local government. The
nature of this study is descriptive and exploratory. Primary data was collected using in-depth
interviews with eight participants at four metropolitan cities. The literature review section of this
study discusses three aspects: (1) the nature, roles and responsibilities of local government; (2) supply
chain management in the public sector; and (3) performance management. The literature review
revealed that local government has a constitutional mandate to deliver quality services to communities
using effective and efficient supply chain management processes. Monitoring of and reporting on
projects is critical as it informs future planning and budgeting. Feedback is given on progress and
where necessary control measures are introduced to ensure effective service delivery to local
communities.
The findings of this study indicate that all the participating cities follow the prescribed requirements
of the Public Finance Management Act, Municipal Finance Management Act and the Municipal
Systems Act amongst others. Challenges identified include: weak internal controls, inadequate
contracts management, lack of performance monitoring and reporting, lack of proper and integrated
planning, and unresponsive supply chain processes. It is suggested that internal controls need to be
strengthened in all areas of supply chain management. Personnel should be held accountable for their
actions at all times. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/10867 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Bizana, Nothando. |
| Contributors | Naude, Micheline. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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