Public service delivery in South Africa: The political influence at local government level

Abstract

This paper analyses poor service delivery at local government level, which is attributed to the politicisation of administrative components in municipalities, resulting in poor local governance. The public service delivery system has been perceived as one of the most important ways of reducing poverty through poverty alleviation programmes. As part of the South African government's cooperative system, key stakeholders in municipalities ought to adopt an integrated approach to public service delivery. An integrated approach to public service delivery demands that local municipalities, together with relevant stakeholders, integrate processes and services to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. This ultimately will result in an improved standard of living and sustainable livelihood for communities. With regard to public service delivery, local municipalities have the obligation of creating income opportunities people, especially the poor, with the sole aim of contributing towards poverty reduction and the realisation of the expectations of people, as stated in the South African government's White Paper of transforming public service delivery. The political interface in local municipalities greatly affects effective and efficient administration, as well as growth opportunities. Administrators, therefore, have the important function of ensuring that explicit assignments of objectives and administrative functions are wholly separated from the policymaking activities of government. This paper, therefore, suggests that municipalities adopt the merit system and abandon the spoils system that is highly characterised by political favours and political interferences. Political favours and interferences are dominant in local South African government, and they hinder the process of providing services equally.

The Effects of Organizational and Political Factors on the Development of Performance Measurement System (PMS) of Local Government Institutions

“…Political support is essential, especially for local governments that have political instability (Gron & Salomonsen, 2017). In addition, public support is also needed in the adoption and implementation of new policies (Wicki, Huber, & Berauer 2019;Masuku & Jili, 2019). Toshkov, Mader, and Rasmussen (2018) proved that legislative support and public support had a positive effect on policy change.…”

Exploring the determinants of an organisational talent culture for a Botswanan local government institution

“…The public sector delivery system is one of the most critical methods to improve public welfare (Masuku & Jili 2019). Local government authorities are expected to provide sustainable services in the right amount and time (Huragu & Chuma 2019).…”

“…On a national level, diverse social needs, ageing societies, economic pressures, income equality and unequal access to services are challenging efficient service delivery (Lopes et al 2017). Masuku and Jili (2019) emphasise the continuous political interference that undermines the effective rollout of public service delivery strategies. Other disrupting factors include flawed management interpretation of policies, corruption and maladministration of resources (Mabitsela 2012), a lack of accountability (Odaro 2012), limited public participation in decision-making (Hasan 2013) and low capacity (Shaidi 2013).…”

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“…According to Masuku and Jili (2019), inadequate municipal capacity has contributed towards the lack of basic services such as housing, water and sanitation. However, the Public Servants Association (2015) argues that the popular sentiment is rather that there is institutional dysfunctionality across municipal government.…”