The research investigates the devolution of decision-making at the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM). The research sets out to investigate the extent to which the Municipality offers resources to its politically elected representatives and whether the support enables a devolution that includes local citizens in decision-making. The study was demarcated within the NMBM, using an empirical survey, a population group composed of councillors and officials who work very closely with politicians in mobilizing the community in public participation. The data collection tool of choice for the study was a selfadministered questionnaire, supplemented by document analysis, unstructured interviews and the researcher’s observations. The purpose of the study is to investigate reasons why devolution is not having the desired results at NMBM, Investigate and find alternatives to how devolved decision-making can be enhanced, using the viable local political process at the NMBM and similar municipalities. The study argues from a theoretical base of good governance and public participation. The findings made were inter alia: Politicians in public office are not using the resources at their disposal optimally; tussles amongst politicians and with officials do have a negative effect on devolved decision-making; and vandalism and closing down of ward council offices are not purely a reflection of a ward councillor’s failure to account to the constituency, and the ward committee system at NMBM has not since 2009. The recommendation is that deliberate efforts need to be made to establish democratically elected ward committees in all sixty wards of NMBM. The establishment of ward committees has to be a joint effort between political office bearers, the broader political landscape and officials as previous efforts have failed to produce legitimate structures. The politicians and officials need to work together to win over public opinion and community buy-in towards the establishment of ward committees that are representative and functional.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:9053 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Adams, Sandiswa |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MA |
| Format | vii, 79 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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