A critical assessment of the inter-governmental relations clusters system in the south African local government context: the case of Raymond Mhlaba Municipality by infrastructure
- Authors: Mkosana, Luvo
- Date: 2022-11
- Subjects: Infrastructure (Economics) -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26841 , vital:66035
- Description: This research is focused on the premise that intergovernmental relations cluster system can be a precondition for improving the state of infrastructure in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality. It follows, logically, that engaging stakeholders in all the three spheres of government and allowing them to fully participate in IGR processes has the potential to play a central role in improving infrastructure sector. Without effective and efficient implementation of IGR in the South African public sector, the transformation of the infrastructure sector will continue to menace many local government departments. Given the critics levelled against the processes involved in IGR, the qualitative and method was used as an investigative method to gain a deeper understanding of IGR cluster systems and its general contribution on infrastructural development. The findings showed a general consensus on the importance of the concept of IGR and its potential in ensuring that stakeholders come up with efficient ways to improve the infrastructure sector. Evidence also showed that the main components of infrastructure such as electricity, housing, water and sanitation and roads are still facing challenges and there are backlogs despite the efforts by all the three spheres of government to ensure that the collaborate in improving the sector. This knowledge allows the adoption of a bottom-up approach to IGR cluster system in the South African local government sector. , Thesis (MPA) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-11
Innovative management in the South African public service: a case of the Department Of Health in Limpopo province
- Authors: Shipalana, Machanduke Lucas
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Public administration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/40192 , vital:35981
- Description: Public institutions across the globe are usually faced with challenges of adopting creative ways for service delivery improvement in the form of innovative management. The development of innovative management in public institutions would be seen as a contribution in addressing the underlying challenges regarding service delivery, specifically in the developing countries such as South Africa. It is, however, observed that public institutions are often characterised by ineffective innovative management strategies and approaches that affect the provision of quality services.The aim of this study was to investigate innovative management challenges and measures necessary for enhancing health innovation in a quest for public service delivery improvement. The focus was based in the Limpopo Department of Health which served as a unit of analysis. The research utilised a qualitative approach with data collection methods, which included semi-structured interviews, focus group interview and document analysis. The semi-structured interviews included 52 participants selected through purposive sampling from various categories of management, clinical managers and community liaison officers within the Limpopo Department of Health. A focus group interview consisted of members of district health councils representing each district in the province. The documentary analysis included a consultation and use of official documentary sources such as departmental Annual Performance Plans (APPs) for the 2012/13 to 2016/17 financial years and departmental audit opinion outcomes issued by the Auditor General of South Africa as part of primary data sources. The findings of the study reveal among others, that there is ineffective innovative management caused by poor diffusion of innovations, lack of innovative management support structures and, lack of innovative management strategies and approaches within the Limpopo Department of Health. Furthermore, the study’s finding about lack of integrated innovative managerial functional areas motivated the researcher to propose the development of an integrated innovative managerial functions model for service delivery improvement. A development of such an integrated model is intended to harness health innovation efforts to key service delivery components within the public institutions, specifically in the Limpopo Department of Health.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Public sector employees and their right to just administrative action
- Authors: Kemp, Matthew
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Administrative acts -- South Africa , Administrative law -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , LLM
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/30616 , vital:30980
- Description: Prior to the enactment of the Constitution, common law notions such as the audi alteram partem rule, the nemo iudex in sua causa rule and the doctrine of legitimate expectation were extended to protect public-sector employees against unlawful decisions taken against them by their employers. Courts noted the unique relationship between public-sector employees and their employers and that administrative law remedies could be extended to those employees. The enactment of the Constitution brought about two distinct sections in the Bill of Rights which provided for the right to fair labour practices (section 23) and the right to “lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair” administrative action (section 33) respectively. Legislation such as the LRA, BCEA and EEA has been enacted to give effect to section 23 of the Constitution, while the PAJA has been enacted to give effect to section 33. Whether public-sector employees retain their right to seek administrative law remedies against their employers has been the subject of debate for some time. On the one hand it is argued that there should be no problem with there being more than one right affected in a given case and there being more than one legal remedy available to a litigant who finds themselves in such a scenario. On the other hand, it is argued that certain perils, such as forum shopping and dual systems of law will arise if public-sector employees could simply choose either legal remedy. In Fredericks v MEC for Education and Training, Eastern Cape 2002 (2) BCLR 113 (CC) the Constitutional Court held that the applicants could claim relief in terms of sections 9 and 33 of the Constitution as they had specifically based their claims on the rights which they enjoyed in terms of those sections. The court therefore held that the High Court had jurisdiction to hear the matter. X In Chirwa v Transnet Limited 2008 (3) BCLR 251 (CC) the applicant approached the High Court on the basis that her constitutional right to just administrative action as contemplated by the PAJA was violated as a result of her dismissal. The majority decision of the Constitutional Court held that the High Court did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter. The applicant’s claim was based on an unfair dismissal dispute for alleged poor work performance. The Constitutional Court therefore held that the applicant should have exhausted the procedures and remedies specifically provided for in the LRA in the case of such a labour dispute. In order to bring clarity to the position of public-sector employees the Constitutional Court in the matter of Gcaba v Minister of Safety and Security [2009] 12 BLLR 1145 (CC) provided an explanation of why the failure of the state as employer to appoint a candidate to a certain position is quintessentially a labour issue and therefore not administrative action. It followed that the High Court indeed lacked jurisdiction as the dispute was primarily a labour matter, cognisable by the Labour Court. The Gcaba judgment raises a number of interesting legal challenges, such as whether the Constitutional Court has overruled its own judgment in the Fredericks case and to what extent administrative law remedies are still open to public-sector employees. The treatise will discuss the complex constitutional framework which is at play when labour law and administrative law overlap. With a critical analysis of the Gcaba judgment and the principles which it sets, this treatise will discuss the administrative law rights available to public-sector employees.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Decentralised cooperative governance in the South African metropolitan municipalities
- Authors: Zimba, Anthony Andile
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Community development -- South Africa , Local government -- South Africa , Intergovernmental cooperation -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa , Human services -- South Africa , Municipal government -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Social Science Dev)
- Identifier: vital:11427 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/536 , Community development -- South Africa , Local government -- South Africa , Intergovernmental cooperation -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa , Human services -- South Africa , Municipal government -- South Africa
- Description: The study emanates from the constitutional imperatives with regard to the role of local government in community development. The notion of cooperative governance is envisaged in the South African Constitution which stipulates that all spheres of government must adhere to the principles of cooperative government and must conduct their activities within the parameters prescribed by the Constitution. The purpose is to support and strengthen the capacity of the local governments to manage their own affairs and to perform their functions. The basic values and principles governing public administration entail that: it must be broadly representative of the people of South Africa in order to redress the imbalances. The existing gaps in the legislation on decision making power at the local level of the municipality, be it in a ward committee or sub council, have not been adequately addressed in the post 1994 democratic dispensation. It is in this context that this study seeks to address these gaps and obstacles, and contribute to the design and development of a decentralized cooperative governance model, specifically to the six metropolitan municipalities and also provide a basis for further research. The findings of the research could be adapted as a national policy in the empowering of municipalities through the dispersal of democratic power which is an essential ingredient of inclusive governance. Based on a case study of six metropolitan municipalities, the research is intended to contribute to the development of empirically grounded; praxis and practical guideline in decentralized cooperative governance which can be adopted and institutionalized in public administration. It is believed that a study of decentralized cooperative governance adds value in that it seeks to link decentralized power and local development. Rather than civil society organisations being seen as adversarial, a creative partnership with the state in local development is crucial. This political assimilation is critical in the construction of democracy through fusing the substantive values of a political culture with the procedural requisites of democratic accountability. This serves to fragment and disperse political power and maintain a system of checks and balances with regard to the exercise of governmental power. The capacity for innovation, flexibility and change can be enhanced at the local level, and it is a cliché that local decision making is viewed as more democratic in contrast to central, top-down decision-making processes. A syncretistic model for local government based on the political adaptation of political and inclusive decentralisation is outlined.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Intergovermental policy integration and poverty eradication in a developmental state: the case of the PGDP and Amathole IDP in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
- Authors: Hofisi, Costa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2571-6991
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Poverty -- Government policy -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/25744 , vital:64475
- Description: The post-apartheid South African government inherited an economy characterised by a dichotomy between well developed and affluent whites and the underdeveloped and impoverished African blacks. This dichotomy was manifest in sharp divisions with regard to access to decent housing, health, education and transport just to mention a few, thus reflecting poverty, as a widespread phenomenon. Since 1994, the South African government has made major efforts aimed at addressing poverty, however, that poverty persists, despite the efforts, cannot be contested. One of the major challenges has been the disjuncture between policies at various spheres of government. This study examines the articulation between two spheres of government focusing on the Provincial Growth and Development Programme of the Eastern Cape and the integrated development plan of Amathole District Municipality. Currently not much research has been carried out in this area. This study illuminates various analytical and practical issues and hopefully provides a useful basis for improvement in the government’s declared commitment to poverty eradication. Triangulating qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, the study aimed to investigate the integration of the Provincial Growth and Development Program and the Integrated Development Plan and the contribution of these policy instruments towards poverty eradication in the Eastern Cape. A further aim was to analyse community participation in and knowledge of the PGDP and Amathole IDP and how they have been effective. This was an empirically grounded study, based on the use of a combination of data collection methods, analysis of primary and secondary sources of data including government documents, administering in-depth interviews to a range of informants within government, the community and a questionnaire survey of a sample drawn from members of the community in the Amatole District Municipality and, finally the use of Amatole district as a case study which was the major unit of analysis. The findings from the study revealed that there is a plethora of challenges confronting policy integration, often resulting in institutional paralysis and inertia. Such challenges vary from lack of capacity in local government, lack of political will, policy shifts, a plethora of legislation, competing if not conflicting priorities, nonattendance of Intergovernmental forums, lack of cooperation by sector departments, contradictions between legislation, policy inconsistencies, conceptual imprecision and conceptual blurring. Moreover, the neo-liberal ideology informing development planning not only in the province, but in South Africa as a whole as propagated by western main stream economists leaves benefits indeed merely ‘trickling down’ to the poor and not ‘pouring’, such that the transition in South Africa has been reduced to an ‘elite transition’. The research results confirm, as observed elsewhere, that experiences of several developing countries over the past decades do not appear to support the trickle down hypothesis. On the other hand, community participation is also stifled by lack of participatory spaces, poor participatory methodologies and structures which make participation difficult while the poor remain trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. Real participation goes beyond ‘passive development objects’ and ‘recipients of development’ to ensuring that people are empowered to become ‘masters of their own development’ within the context of a participatory democratic developmental state. There is need for not only a thorough examination of the political use of the ‘local’, the ‘poor’ but even the very conceptualisation of participation and its methodologies for effective community participation to be realised. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2009
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- Date Issued: 2009
The mangement of government immovable assets
- Authors: Mavasa, Tamari Tlangelani
- Date: 2007
- Subjects: Government property -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: vital:9669 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/561 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1011726 , Government property -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Description: Immovable asset management is the key element in enabling better service delivery by the national government. An improvement in the management of government’s immovable assets is required in South Africa to ensure that assets are optimally utilised for service delivery. The entire research attests to the importance of excellent management of government immovable assets throughout its life cycle within a framework of cost effectiveness, efficiency and reduced risk. The study discusses three technical challenges which comprise the incompleteness of the asset register, immovable asset life cycle management, a lack of implementation of the immovable asset management plan, the asset performance measures and standards for the immovable assets. The National Department of Public Works was targeted as a potential candidate to participate in this research. Primary data was collected through questionnaires and interviews to reveal the strengths and weaknesses and to develop the current theories and models. Secondary data was collected from books, journals, internet and conference papers. The asset management branch in the department was formed recently. The results of the research indicated that the asset management frameworks and the immovable asset management plans are not implemented as designed and there is no integration between the asset’s life cycle processes. The corrosion of information in the asset register was because of a lack of asset-computerized systems, competent personnel and adequate skills. In conclusion, immovable assets should be managed through integrated life cycle processes, policies and procedural documents should be developed and planning is important to the management of immovable assets. The asset register should work as a basic system for the management of immovable assets.
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- Date Issued: 2007
Die toepassing van die proses van geïntegreerde ontwikkelingsbeplanning deur kategorie B plaaslike owerhede
- Authors: Els, Christoffel Gerhardus
- Date: 2004
- Subjects: Local government -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Language: Afrikaans
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Public Management)
- Identifier: vital:10768 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/266 , Local government -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Description: Samevattende oorsig: In hierdie skripsie, is 'n studie onderneem ten opsigte van die Geïntegreerde Ontwikkelingsbeplanningsproses, wat die proses van beplanning en die toepassing van hierdie beplanningsresultate ten opsigte van twee klein B-munisipaliteite in die Wes-Kaap Provinsie insluit. Die skripsie bestaan uit sewe hoofstukke en is gebaseer op die veronderstelling dat die beplanningsproses van so 'n tegniese aard is dat kleiner owerhede nie in staat is om die proses na behore te kan bestuur nie. Dit gaan verder van die onderstelling uit dat die implementeeringskapasiteit by kleiner owerhede ontbreek om dievoorsiene uitkomste na behore te realiseer. Die primêre doelwitte van die navorsing sluit die volgende in: 'n basiese oorsig van openbare bestuur, die rolle en funksies van funksionarisse binne hierdie omgewing en die veranderende aard van openbare bestuur. Die proses van geïntegreerde ontwikkelingsbeplanning binne plaaslike regering word bestudeer met 'n volledige proses toeligting. Die noodsaaklikheid van beplanning en prestasiebestuur word bevestig tesame met die uitdagings en probleme wat die nuwe benadering bring aan klein plaaslike owerhede. 'n Finale waardebepaling rond die studie af. Die studie bestaan uit bronnavorsing om die veranderende aard van openbare bestuur toe te lig tesame met die werklike aard van die beplanningsproses soos vereis binne relevante wetgewing. Die impak van hierdie vereistes op klein plaaslike owerhede in die Wes-Kaap word ontleed aan die hand van twee geïntegreerde ontwikkelingsplanne soos deur die skrywer hiervan gefasiliteer by dié owerhede. Die gevolgtrekkings gemaak uit hierdie studie word dan ook aangedui met 'n aanbeveling oor die mees sinvolle inkrementele benadering ten opsigte van ontwikkeling as proses en die deelname van rolspelers daarbinne.
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- Date Issued: 2004
The origins and subsequent development of Administration Boards
- Authors: Humphries, Richard G
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century , Influx control -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2854 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006873 , South Africa -- Politics and government -- 20th century , Influx control -- South Africa , Public administration -- South Africa
- Description: Until the introduction of administration boards in 1972-1973, the responsibility for administering the urban black townships in "white" South Africa was vested with the municipalities as agents of the Department of Bantu Administration and Development. The establishment of administration boards to replace the municipalities' Non-European Affairs Departments reflected the determination of the Department of Bantu Administration and Development to secure tighter direct control over the implementation of policy, particularly that affecting influx control and labour regulation. The decision to end municipal control was made after the report of the Van Rensburg Inter-Departmental Committee of Inquiry into Control Measures, which reported in 1967. The report's concern that influx control was not working as intended, coupled with doubts about the political autonomy of Opposition controlled municipalities, which dated back to the 1950s, were the major reasons for the introduction of administration boards.
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- Date Issued: 1983