The purpose of this article is to highlight the challenges in recognising, for the first time, public sector entities' assets such as property, plant and equipment in their statements of its financial position. Currently government departments do not have reliable fixed assets registers. The process of applying accrual accounting is therefore seriously hampered. The research revealed that the asset capturing process would take more than three years and might be ready only by 2011 - 12 yea ...

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2021-Jun-14 12:50:52

While carrying out responsibilities there is no doubt that Corruption impacts on service delivery. The impact is very real and damaging. Without having to provide empirical evidence, there is no doubt that service delivery is either inefficient or there is a lack of quality service delivery. If this occurs the poorest of the poor targeted for government programmes are the main victims of corrupt activities. ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:44:20

The mere existence of good policies does not automatically result in successful implementation. Problems with policies often lie in the implementation thereof, thus forming a policy gap. The policy gap pertains not only to practice but also to research in the field of policy implementation. The policy gap can vary, as do the variables involved with failed policy implementation. Policy implementation can therefore be regarded as the missing link of policy. This article draws attention to the p ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:40:49

The mere existence of good policies does not automatically result in successful implementation. Problems with policies often lie in the implementation thereof, thus forming a policy gap. The policy gap pertains not only to practice but also to research in the field of policy implementation. The policy gap can vary, as do the variables involved with failed policy implementation. Policy implementation can therefore be regarded as the missing link of policy. This article draws attention to the p ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:40:22

In the process to survive, organisations are dependent on what happens in their environment in which they operate. There are a number of critical components in the changing role of organisations that are, creating a decision-making culture, the aspects of co-ordination and integration, leadership style element, service delivery element, human resource development and personal dedication. The complexity of change will increase and will ultimately influence every organisation. The manager of th ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:36:55

Informal trading is a phenomenon prevalent throughout the world, but nowhere more visible and contributively to local economies than in the developing world. South Africa faces similar challenges as any other emerging economy, which demonstrates a duality insofar as its formal and informal arrangements are concerned. In addition, poverty and unemployment, HIV/AIDS and concomitant social problems all form part of the Country's current socio-economic landscape. The Constitution of the Repub ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:33:48

Municipal leaders (municipal managers and council members) are at loggerheads with traditional leaders to a certain extent despite the provisions of Municipal Structures Act,1998 and Municipal Systems Act, 2000 vis-à-vis traditional leadership and Governance Framework Act, 2003. The two structures have one locale and focus. They have a common home ground focusing on serving one clientele being the citizenry in their jurisdiction and their paradox is a cause for concern, as it frustrate ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:30:30

Local politics is intertwined with local development. And democratic decentralisation can only promote such development by transforming procedural democracy into an ecumenical democracy. Based on empirical evidence from Kerala, West Bengal and Porto Alegre, this article argues that the success of democratic decentralisation, by and large, hinges on cultivating politics with a human face through ideological interpellation. ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:26:57

The transformation of the Republic of South Africa as a result of the 1994 democratic elections included fundamental changes in a number of areas. One such area is the restitution of land rights which, is part of government's attempt on land reform. Restitution of land rights is a process meant to restore land to persons and communities which were forcefully removed from their land after 19 June 1913. The Makuleke Community is one of the first communities in South Africa to regain their a ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:23:47

Donor assistance by developed countries to developing countries is an important feature of international relations. Since the Second World War, Overseas Development Assistance has been a vital instrument used by developed countries to promote their geopolitical and socio-economic interests within the developing nations. Literature abounds with evidence indicating that the process of aid giving and receiving is fraught with contradictions and inconsistencies. Though aid is primarily intended t ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:20:26

This article addresses the subject of corruption and how it impacts on effective service delivery with specific reference to the Limpopo Provincial Government. The primary reason for concern about corruption is that it reduces public trust and confidence in the integrity and impartiality of elected representatives (political office bearers and public officials). The different categories of corruption identified and explained are those related to conflicts of interest which include using insid ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:17:03

The article deals with the concept of accountability in public administration in relation to the needs of the community. It argues that the community needs not only to understand but also be involved in the process of accountability. It proposes that while community members need not become auditors in a technical or financial sense, they should be involved at various stages of accountability. This is especially so with regard to setting programme goals, discipline and other processes in which ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:11:27

This article proposes to reflect on the patterns of service delivery in South Africa and the attendant leadership challenges that go with these trends. This article further argues that, contrary to popularly held beliefs, leadership is possible at all levels of the organisation. In addition, this article posits that there is a need for a strategic orientation of leadership in so far as service delivery is concerned. Local government in South Africa has in the recent past been embattled, in se ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:08:53

The South African public service will be judged by its effectiveness in delivering services which meet the basic needs of all South African citizens. As provided for in the White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (Batho Pele White Paper), the matter is not about which services are to be provided, but the decisions about what services should be delivered need to be improved through a participatory public administration. To give effect to the principle of participatory public admini ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:05:53

Local Economic Development (LED) has become one of the South African Government's strategies for the creation of robust and sustainable local economies which can help combat the scourge of unemployment and poverty in the country. Important as the concept may be, its implementation has met with mixed success and it has faced many challenges. The article reviews the problems and argues that fundamentally, they are a manifestation of the absence of visionary leadership for the development of ...

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2021-Jun-14 11:02:41

The article reflects on the progress the South African government is making in realising the imperatives of a developmental state. It examines contemporary engagements on the issue of a developmental state. At the outset, the article unpacks the theoretical antecedents of a developmental state to develop a framework for analysis. In the context of this framework, the article argues that a developmental state is premised on two dimensions, namely social and economic. These dimensions are used ...

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2021-Jun-14 10:57:15

This article sets out to explore arguments for the developmental state in Africa and South Africa in particular. A fundamental case for the developmental state is the pursuit of interventionist economic policies as against absolute neo-liberalist and even protectionist policies. However, in a highly globalised and utilitarian world, the gains of the developmental state examples of the Asian Tigers are considered as difficult to replicate in other developing regions like Africa by public gover ...

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2021-Jun-14 10:52:07

The history of Pan-Africanism is a subject that has attracted considerable interest among scholars and practitioners in African development issues. Pan- Africanism is associated with the quest for political independence by the early African leaders and freedom fighters alike. Soon after Ghana, obtained independence in 1958 (the third country to do so after the Second World War), Kwame Nkrumah warned the African continent that without serious commitment to a people-centered development process ...

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2021-Jun-14 10:47:13

The production of research output has become a complex and competitive pursuit. Basic, experimental and strategic research compete more for scarce state and donor funding. In South Africa, research output is recognised through government subsidy-earnings guided by the policy for the measurement of research output of public higher education institutions. In this context, the management of research output at higher education institutions has become a highly professional task that requires the a ...

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2021-Jun-14 10:39:40