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The role of Local Government in mitigating the impact of the recession

The economic recession is, in public administration, recognised as an
environmental condition that emanates from the external economic
environment within which government institutions operate. Its impact is felt
by business, government and communities. The typical impact of the recession on
business holds negative implications for government, in particular municipalities
and communities. Despite the existing, though limited general research on
recession in public administration as a field of study, the recession’s impact on
communities and the reverse implications such impact has on municipalities
remain unacknowledged. In South Africa, much debate, often outlining unclear
and questionable strategies, about the recession is evident at the national sphere
of government. Notwithstanding the increasing pace of the debate, municipalities
have maintained a deafening silence, which leads one to assume that they imagine
they are immune. Not a single municipality has acknowledged the impact of the
recession on communities or the reverse implications such impact has for them,
and therefore they have not developed strategies indicative of their readiness to
circumvent it. This silence depicts municipalities not only as dependant extensions
of national spheres of government, but also as closed systems that are unresponsive
to environmental changes. The impact of the recession is felt in local communities
where municipalities have a significant developmental role to play. The recession
necessitates local government’s power of influence, adaptation processes and
sustenance.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001172
Date01 June 2010
CreatorsMalefane, S, Khalo, T
PublisherJournal of Public Administration
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
FormatPdf
RightsJournal of Public Administration
RelationSouth African Journal of Public Management

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