Thesis (M. Dev. (Planning and Management)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / The provision of basic water services delivery to all South African citizens is one of the
huge challenges for the local government and it is at the coalface of service delivery. The
objective of the study was to determine the factors that influence water service delivery
challenges in the local municipality of Makhuduthamaga, in Sekhukhune District
Municipality. The statement of the problem, therefore, provided the foundation within
which the aims of the study are explained. The significance of this research cannot be
over-emphasised, especially against the backdrop that local government is the third
sphere of government and is in the front line of service delivery.
This study aimed at investigating the water service delivery challenges in the municipality
of Makhuduthamaga in Sekhukhune District, Limpopo province. This research was
necessitated by the lack of water in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality. It is evident that
there are several challenges in the delivery of water services in the local sphere, however,
for the sake of this research only one municipality was selected as a case study. The
study employed a qualitative case study research design to collect data from participants
who were selected through a purposive sampling technique. The study participants
included the local community representatives and the municipal officials responsible for
water services in the municipality and the water resources available in the locality such
as the Vergelegen, Nkadimeng and De Hoop dams.
The finding shows that the available water sources are not adequate to cater for all the
residents of the municipality; hence this affects the water delivery efforts of the
municipality significantly. As a result, local residents have expressed their dissatisfaction
through violent service delivery protests in different wards of the municipality. The study
further reveals that the municipality has been facing serious water services challenges
over several years. The issue emanates from the water sources which are dried up, illegal
connections, incomplete projects by contractors, financial constraints, and poor
maintenance planning. The main challenge here is the lack of water sources, poor
maintenance, lack of skills and expertise from the employees in the water department,
insufficient budget to relieve the water crisis in the municipality and the district at large.
The municipality has implemented all the interventions, such as public participation to
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encourage communities to use water sparingly, to pay for services of the municipality for
the sake of revenue enhancement and have drilled more boreholes to augment the water
services to the communities.
This study recommends that the municipality should prioritise their budgeting and align
this to the community needs, hiring the correct personnel with relevant skills and expertise
in the water related function. Also, the municipality needs to work on the turnaround time
for the maintenance of pump stations and fixing of leaking water pipes. They should
penalise all the illegally connected households so that they can curb all the recurring
illegal connections. The other issue is to improve communications with the communities
with relevant stakeholders to ensure that everyone is informed in case of water cuts due
to maintenance or cleaning of water reservoirs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/3670 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Moagi, Percy Kapudi |
| Contributors | Asha, A. A. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | xi, 76 leaves |
| Relation |
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