The study revolves around factors influencing the perceptions of service delivery by local
municipalities in the Central District Municipality in the North West Province. Service
delivery in general, as perceived by communities, has been a serious dilemma for most
South African local municipalities.
Factors in service delivery, as applicable in service marketing, have been examined
through a detailed SERVQUAL research method. The focus areas have been service
quality dimensions:
• Reliability : the ability to deliver the promised service dependably and accurately;
• Responsiveness : willingness to help and provide prompt customer service;
• Assurance : knowledge, courtesy and ability of service providers to inspire trust
and confidence
• Empathy : caring and individualised attention given to clients; and
• Tangibles : appearance of physical facilities, equipments, personnel and written
materials.
All five local municipalities in the Central District were involved in the study, and the
main findings indicate that the residents in all the affected municipalities do not have
confidence in the local government for service delivery. All five municipalities
performed badly on the aspect of reliability and there is negative perception on
responsiveness and willingness to provide prompt service by all the municipalities. The
municipalities are perceived not to be able to command respect and instil confidence on
their residents. The performance on empathy, where individual customised services are
expected is poor. It is only on tangibles, where physical facilities are regarded as
satisfactory.
It is recommended that all municipalities should look inwardly and improve on their
capacity on skills, financial management as well as bench-marking with international
cities and towns for effective municipal service delivery. Service marketing as a
management principle should be implemented immediately to save the current situation
of loss of clientele and customer confidence. Other areas of quality improvement to be
looked at are Total Quality Management and Work Improvement Team Strategy. / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/11204 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Mogapi, Pule Glenelg |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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