A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Commerce,
Law and Management, University of the
Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for
the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
31 March 2014 / This thesis was designed to examine the South African state’s capacity in
the provision of basic services. State capacity is defined as the ability of
the political system to enforce rules and deliver services. This
reinforcement of control by the state over persons and resources within
governments is critical for the performance of a political system. State
capacity is therefore vital in ensuring that the provision of basic services is
satisfactory and sustainable so as to optimise client satisfaction.
Sedibeng is a District Municipality in one of the nine South African
provinces called Gauteng Province. In spite of its rich and enduring
political history and heavy industry, the situation in Sedibeng is partly
attributable to the lack of adequate skills capacity with which to drive
service delivery in the area. Within this context, this investigation sought to
explore the role of state capacity in the provision of basic services to
citizens at local government level by focusing on three local municipalities:
Emfuleni, Midvaal and Lesedi.
The research was underpinned by four inter-related and mutually
reinforcing concepts positioned within the context of local government,
namely skills capacity-building, leadership and governance, performance
management and service delivery. This conceptual framework was based
on the assumption that skills capacity-building is a catalyst or enabler in
enhancing leadership, governance and the overall performance of
organisations.
A qualitative research approach through interviews, focus groups and
document analysis was adopted. The researcher also used a case study
design and its advantage is that, apart from it enabling understanding of
the contextual issues impacting skills capacity-building, it also provided an
ideal opportunity for the researcher to tap into the vast municipal
experiences of Emfuleni, Midvaal and Lesedi. Of importance was the
contribution of executive managers, senior managers and ward councillors
regarding the state of skills capacity, the process followed to implement
skills capacity and to learn whether skills capacity efforts have been used
to improve employee performance in the provision of service.
From the cross-case analysis involving the three municipalities, it emerged
that despite the common difficulties encountered in organisational culture,
resource for capacity-building initiatives, recruitment, selection and
retention strategies and aligning skills capacity with the municipal strategic
direction, the skills capacity-building initiatives were being implemented
with some degree of success.
The findings of the study concluded that although there had been
significant progress in the implementation of skills capacity-building
programmes in Emfuleni, Midvaal and Lesedi, it is not clear whether these
training initiatives were producing the desired outputs across Sedibeng’s
three municipalities as a step to provide and improve service delivery, as
the scope, intensity and sustainability of these efforts varied markedly
across the three local municipalities.
The investigation also revealed that there was no evidence of monitoring
and evaluation with intense feedback and review of the progress made
through skills capacity-building. Further findings were the loss of skilled
and highly experienced employees and managers, which undermined the
organisational memory which is critical for strategic planning and effective
service delivery in any institution.
Even though the researcher had assumed that skills capacity-building was
the most important ingredient in service delivery, the findings of the study
revealed that training is not the only important variable needed to improve
service delivery in local municipalities. Other crucial variables include the
alignment of training with performance management, career management,
reward systems, skills transfer, employee welfare and retention strategy
for the protection and preservation of organisational memory.
The study concludes that learning provides the intellectual basis which
stimulates the impetus for effective and sustainable organisational
memory, which in turn plays a key role in facilitating strategic planning,
skills formation, staff motivation and retention to improve service delivery.
This learning emphasises the important consideration to locate the
problematic of organisational memory towards possible improvement of
service delivery where skills capacity and other related factors play a
major role.
The contribution of this thesis to the body of knowledge is underpinned by
the interface between learning and organisational memory as surfacing
beyond skills capacity and as a necessity to enhance service delivery in
municipalities. / MT2016
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21132 |
| Date | 10 October 2016 |
| Creators | Marule, Innocentia Ntomboxolo |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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