There have been major social, political and economic changes in South Africa that required organisational change and transformation. The government has put in place mechanisms to transform the public sector organisations in order for them to be capable of addressing the needs of the citizens. Municipalities are no exception in this matter. Being the closest service delivery agencies to the people, municipalities are therefore required to position themselves and conduct their business in a way ...

Read More

2021-Jun-16 11:06:42

Canada and New Zealand are recognised as leaders in implementing restitution programmes. Both countries saw fundamental changes in government policy shaped by the 1973 Calder decision and the Treaty of Waitangi Act, 1975. These changes in policy-making commenced from views that contested indigenous land claims and resources towards a two-way communication in which negotiations between communities became the key to success. The evolving agreements moved governments towards the stance that the ...

Read More

2021-Jun-16 11:01:31

One of the noblest functions of government is securing for its citizens their individual and collective well-being. This can be achieved through honouring and safeguarding human dignity and the constructive mediation between individual freedoms and collective action. When government succeeds, this assures the social and ecological integrity of the community. In every profession, there is both the need and call for the people within that profession to conform their behaviour to certain ethical ...

Read More

2021-Jun-16 10:53:47

Infused in the context of the democratic epoch, public or community participation becomes the life blood through which the notion of democracy qualifies to be for people and by the people. The available evidence from the literature, point out that by engaging the citizens in matters of governance, not only that there could be a panacea for looming democratic deficit (Gaventa, 2004; Luckham et al., 2000), but people could also be afforded an opportunity to exercise their democratic right to in ...

Read More

2021-Jun-16 10:48:46

The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are an integrated framework of specific targets and commitments to halve global poverty by 2015 as agreed to by all UN member nations and leading development institutions. Global demographic trends demonstrate that ever-increasing urbanisation translates into key development challenges at the local sphere. Therefore it is necessary to disseminate MDG efforts from the national level to sub-national and local levels to ensure the poor are being met at ...

Read More

2021-Jun-16 10:43:19

The Constitution of Republic of South Africa, 1996 places an obligation on municipalities to satisfy basic needs and to promote the social and economic development of local communities. For this developmental role to occur, municipalities often act as developers when providing services such as housing, roads and sanitation. These activities may have environmental impacts that need to be managed in such a way that resources are used optimally and not at the expense of both present and future g ...

Read More

2021-Jun-16 10:39:33

The introduction of the current system of local government and administration has resulted in the transformation of the political and the administrative systems of municipalities. The transformation is most obvious in municipalities making use of the type contemplated in section 7 of the Local Government : Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act 117 of 1998). The types inter alia provide for a mayoral executive system for the three categories of municipality. The mayoral system provides for the e ...

Read More

2021-Jun-16 10:34:08

Local government, pre - 1994 in South Africa was characterised by a strong top-down approach. There was little perceived need for gathering information or for directly involving the community in the process of governance. Information about the living conditions or opinions of the majority of the citizens was not required to inform policy directions. The official statistics produced were often of unknown representation and made it difficult to draw broader conclusions from their findings. The ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 12:31:35

Local Economic Development (LED) is an international tool, which is also tried and tested in South Africa in the post apartheid democratic government to initiate and accelerate local development for effective service delivery. As an outcome based on local initiatives and driven by local stakeholders, it has a contribution to make in South Africa if it is properly implemented. The broader aim of the LED is to create employment opportunities in the local government sphere, alleviate poverty and ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 12:11:11

Public participation is an integral part of local democracy and local governance. Currently, public participation permeates all legislation impacting on local government in South Africa. It enhances individual and group esteem and enables municipal functionaries to understand crucial issues that serve as an impetus for policymaking. The issues are prioritised so that the available resources can be used efficiently and effectively to address community needs. Legislation has been introduced to ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 12:05:16

Local government has been constitutionalised as a sphere of government and this has signified a conceptual shift from serving as administrative service delivery agents to the promotion of developmental goals and principles, namely local democracy, sustainable development, a safe and healthy environment and co-operative government. The White Paper on Local Government mandates municipalities to involve communities in facilitating development. Participation is an integral part of local democracy ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 11:57:33

Rapid organisational transformation in South African municipalities has meant fundamental changes in the character of these organisations. What has remained as a constant factor amid these changes is the requirement for municipalities to render services to and promote development within local communities. Furthermore, strides have been made in terms of establishing a framework within which municipalities should exist and operate in order to fulfill their constitutional mandate. Continuous que ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 11:48:52

Public trust in government is key to achieve stability, peace and development in both developed and developing countries. In recent times, however, trust in government declined and various efforts were undertaken to improve trust in government. Unfortunately these efforts did not emanate in improved performance, a factor leading towards the improvement of trust in governance, by local government in South Africa. Mechanisms such as leadership with emphasis on the characteristics of trusted lea ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 11:39:25

This article makes a critical survey of the literature and provides an analysis on the emerging issues that underpin governance imperatives in Africa under the different administrative and paradigmatic settings. The article further provokes an informative debate on the examination of governance dilemmas at nation-state level and corporate level dimensions before analysing the global governance trends spearheaded, especially under the aegis of the global economic multilaterals (GEMs), in the w ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 11:32:16

Due to the fact that skilled, competent staff is in high demand, it is important for strategic managers to give precedence to talent management. This calls for obtaining and retaining top talent and making a talent management strategy a priority. This paper aims to find solutions for strategic managers to successfully obtain talent, internally and externally, and retain their best employees. The value of talent management and succession planning will be investigated. The paper will also focus ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 11:18:23

Leadership and ethics are concepts which are seen as important factors in human resources and organisational capacity in a developmental state. Leadership is necessary within the context of decision making and organisational performance whilst ethics refers to the particular conduct of those within organizations who are responsible for decision making. Recent examples of corruption, and less than exemplary conduct by South African public officials presented the vexed question as to how proble ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 11:07:40

What provides a public organisation with its competitive edge? What makes it evolve into a more productive, better managed and efficiently organised entity? The argument can be made that the organisation's product is its reason for existing, but without the appropriate human resource capacity, the product would not get delivered. This might be too simple an explanation, but authors agree that an organisation's most important resource is its human resource. Talent is the product of abi ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 11:00:36

The local government sphere plays a significant developmental role in the provision of public goods and services to the communities of South Africa. The effectiveness of municipalities in this sphere, to deliver on their mandate is largely dependent on their ability to plan and allocate public resources in a developmental and sustainable manner. This paper defines the relationship which exists between a municipality's integrated development plan (the IDP) and the budget process (the budge ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 10:39:16

The democratisation and decentralisation of local government in post-apartheid South Africa was put in the spotlight due to demands on service delivery, poverty alleviation and the provision of sustainable basic services. Traditionally municipalities were the providers of services but its role has since shifted in that it is now expected to facilitate and implement developmental programmes. In an attempt to address developmental challenges, which are mirrored in the devastating effects of pov ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 10:20:26

This paper acknowledges that, despite increasing expenditure in education in South Africa, there are indications that outputs and outcomes in education are not responding fast enough to increase spending in education within the country. Although parents and learners are also major stakeholders within education, the paper argues that any attempt to improve outputs and outcomes needs the support and commitment of teachers. This, therefore, calls for a need to promote sound ethics and profession ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 10:13:19

A universally acceptable administrative culture is perhaps an illusive concept in the administrative sciences. Different countries have different administrative cultures and at times different administrative cultures exist within the same country. The problems of developing a universal administrative culture may also vary, ranging from politics, social and economic factors, exacerbated by unequal levels of development of different countries and political instability, especially in developing ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 10:03:22

The advent of democracy and the first democratic non-racial local government elections in 1994 and 1995 respectively, brought about a new era of leadership at the local sphere of government. According to the Constitution of 1996 municipalities must be established throughout the country including the rural areas. This resulted in the election of councillors in the area of jurisdiction of traditional leaders. The inclusion of municipalities in rural areas brought about two kinds of leadership i ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 09:44:39

A tone deaf will never be able to appreciate the music of maestros. Only a seasoned jeweller would know that all that glitters is not real? And, only those who can recognise the worth of a diamond can value it, for others it's just a stone! Talent is doing easily what others fine difficult (The Hindu 2004). As South Africa embarks on its journey into the second decade of democracy, major strides have been made on the political, economic, social and legislative spheres. A plethora of legis ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 09:37:49

The Constitution, 1996, stipulates that all citizens have a right to enjoy a better quality of life ... free from fear and free from crime. To give effect to this right, and as a key partner in the South African criminal justice system, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) plays a critical role in ensuring that perpetrators of crime are investigated, charged and held responsible for their criminal actions. The aim of this article is to explore the inception and authority of the NPA, with ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 09:26:35

The Constitution, 1996, stipulates that all citizens have a right to enjoy a better quality of life ... free from fear and free from crime. To give effect to this right, and as a key partner in the South African criminal justice system, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) plays a critical role in ensuring that perpetrators of crime are investigated, charged and held responsible for their criminal actions. The aim of this article is to explore the inception and authority of the NPA, with ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 09:26:19

In the history of South Africa, the supply of potable water and basic sanitation services to all its inhabitants has never been higher in the national, provincial and especially the local government sphere agendas than at the end of April 1994. As a result of the change in Government, all the executive public institutions on all three spheres had to revisit and transform their executive authorities, acts, regulations and work procedures in such a manner that equally benefit all citizens of th ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 09:16:41

As a developmental state, South Africa's local government are continuously facing major challenges. KwaZulu-Natal itself experiences severe poverty, incessant HIV / Aids casualties and unemployment. Being the foot-soldiers of democracy, our municipalities carry the brunt of discontent and societal pressures. Hence, elected political office bearers and municipal administrators are mandated to undergo training so as to enhance their municipalities' capacity and delivery record. But wher ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 02:23:38

This article reflects on the implications of unconditional scholarship in public administration for the setting of a research agenda. By doing so, the implications of the concept unconditional scholarship for public administration in a new democracy such as South Africa are considered. The literature on agenda setting for public administration research is consequently reviewed to trace a possible research agenda for public administration. There is no evidence of any common ground regarding an ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 02:16:55

The objectives of local government in South Africa, as outlined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and amplified in the White Paper on Local Government, clearly delineate a mandate of local government steeped in a developmental and people centred paradigm. Following the publication of the White Paper on Local Government, supportive legislation have been promulgated to enable the functioning of local government institutions to promote economic, social and political devel ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 02:11:45

This article focuses on the progress made with rendering essential basic services to especially previous disadvantaged communities in South Africa, with special reference to metropolitan municipalities. A brief outline is provided of the meaning of the concepts sustainability and metropolitan area/municipalities. Metropolitan municipalities being a combination of some of the previous existing municipalities comprise nearly one third of the population of South Africa and have a unique role to ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 01:58:49

The transformation of the public service has marked a new wave of performance and public financial management. Government institutions are required to subscribe to statutory performance measures including efficiency, effectiveness, economy (3Es) and professional ethics thus ensuring an outcome-based governance approach to service delivery. Central to this mandate, amongst other things, performance auditing is pivotal for state institutions in general and for municipalities in parti ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 01:53:45

The meaning of the concept public administration as contemplated in section 195(1) (C) of the Constitution, 1996 is simple to understand. However, an addition of the qualification that public administration must be "development-orientated" complicates such conceptual simplicity. For development is a contested concept, nebulous and value-laden. The constitutional value and principle that public administration must be development-orientated are therefore predisposed to conceptual inex ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 01:33:42

Better life for all is a moral obligation as well as the collective responsibility of all the public service delivery agencies in all spheres of government. At the heart of these service delivery agencies are public policies that serve as government strategies for addressing the problems and challenges facing society. It is imperative for these policies to be efficiently and effectively implemented if the government is to deliver services that will ensure that the vision mentioned above is at ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 01:18:12

In democratic countries such as South Africa, participation of community members in governance matters (in all three spheres) is a right. This is because the government is elected to improve the general wellbeing of the people and, therefore, community participation are required to ensure that the most pressing needs of the people are prioritised. While the government may have an indication of what the needs of the people are, a two-way relationship between community members and the governmen ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 01:12:45

In essence public service delivery is the responsibility of public officials. They are the first and real contact the community has with government departments in terms of services delivered. They participate in decision making regarding what, how, when, where and for whom, services are to be provided. When public officials undertake these decisions, a certain degree of understanding, knowledge, training, skills, and access to information is required in order to turn policy objectives into re ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 01:08:33

In the information society the use of technology is becoming increasingly important. This is especially relevant to government institutions in South Africa. In South Africa the public service is the sole supplier or provider of particular products or services that citizens in the country have to utilise. It therefore goes without saying that in order to be able to provide these services the South African public service is in need of educated, trained and professional public servants. Initiati ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 01:04:13

Developing country governments are struggling to meet the basic needs and demands of citizens, and especially so for the rural poor. With tightly constrained budgets, these governments have followed the lead of developed countries that have sought to restructure public service delivery through privatisation, contracting out, public private partnerships and similar reforms. Such reforms in service delivery are generally welcomed when it is believed that private sector partners are better equip ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:58:42

A developmental state like South Africa requires a capable and effective public service to implement its national development plan. In essence, to achieve its developmental goals, South Africa will have to depend upon the commitment, strength and competence of public servants who must convert the stated developmental goals into coherent programmes. Currently, the South African government is structured into three spheres; the national, provincial and local. Each of the three spheres derives it ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:50:52

The policy implementation process encompasses various activities which aim at converting the goals and objectives of various policies into public goods and services for a better life for all the citizens. These activities are carried out by various public service officials who are at different hierarchical levels, with different qualifications, expertise, behaviour, beliefs, norms and values. A concerted effort by all public officials at all levels is required for the South African government ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:46:21

The environment within which the South African public service renders a variety of services is always changing. Some needs may be justifiable and some may not meet the expectations of the South African citizens as their expectations increase while the human resource and financial capacity do not increase in the same proportion. A direct consequence of this situation is a backlog in service delivery, unresponsive service delivery and impatience on the part of consumers. Human resources, theref ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:41:07

In South Africa, the period between 1994 and 2001 has been referred to as the policy development and review era, whilst 2002 to 2006 was regarded as the implementation period. Yet, policy implementation remains problematic. The South African policy environment is experiencing fundamental challenges, more especially in the area of implementation. Although research in this area is substantial, it does not particularly assist in understanding how the policy implementation vacuum can be addressed ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:34:03

The right to free collective bargaining, with a right to freedom of association and freedom from victimisation, has been protected by labour legislation in South Africa The Labour Relations Act, 1995 (LRA) (Act 66 of 1995) regulates collective bargaining in South Africa and all collective agreements are now binding and enforceable in terms of this Act. Prior to the LRA, state employees did not have access to the labour courts and statutory bargaining mechanisms and their conditions of service ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:25:35

The post-independence Africa adopted a command and control economy with state ownership seen as an essential instrument for achieving economic independence and planned development. The belief that a core category of essential goods and services, such as electricity, water, telecommunications, transport, education, should be served by state either for security reasons or purposes of economic redistribution strongly influenced this view. State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) were seen as vehicle to pr ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:20:36

Considerable attention has been focused on human resource capacity (HRC) development in the South African public service and although significant strides have been made in recent years in some departments, the delivery of meaningful results in others is still lacking. With claims of HRC contributing to underperformance in service delivery, there has recently been an outcry from the public for this issue to be addressed. Concomitant to this, higher education transformation initiatives during t ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:14:22

As various reviews on the functioning of a modern administrative state continue to highlight the persistent maladies of bureaucratism in the public sector realm. The establishment of ombudsman institutions, the world over, is given credence by the need to foster improved performance in public administration and enhance governmental accountability to the public in ways that nurture the ideals of good governance. This paper examines the role of Ombudsman institutions in the procurement of legal ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:08:27

The introduction of the SPS Bill in South Africa brought afresh speculations that the government was moving towards recentralisation after a period of 14 years of democracy. Assumptions are that the decentralisation policies adapted after the 1994 elections to enhance the quality and the effectiveness of public administration, have failed. Although developed and developing countries have shown a tendency towards decentralisation during recent decades, the present indications are that some gov ...

Read More

2021-Jun-15 00:05:00

First and foremost, the paper is delimited to the examination of intergovernmental relations impact on local government with regards to the oversight role of the Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Traditional Affairs. However, there are critical issues raised in the paper that cut across spheres of government and this poses a challenge to Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act 13 of 2005). Critical to interrelations and interactions at play, is the role played by Parlia ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:57:27

The rationale for control and accountability in public administration and management is to ensure efficient and effective resource utilisation to foster public service provision, good governance and development. Thus, any movement towards more professional ethos in public sector management demands improved prudence in resource utilisation, increased responsiveness to the citizenry, transparency and, generally accountability. This paper presents and discusses the findings of a research study c ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:53:30

The Niger Delta region in Nigeria is a well resourced region and accounts for most of Nigeria's foreign exchange earnings through the supply of petroleum oil to the international market. While it has been a source of economic benefit for the nation state - Nigeria, it has also become a source of poverty for the millions of local residents in the areas where crude oil has been discovered. Ogba community which provides the site of this investigation is no different. This is primarily becaus ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:49:25

Since 1994, the need to address the effects of globalisation in South Africa has been placed at the centre of the nation's agenda. Several measures have been undertaken through the introduction of a range of policy and strategic changes aimed at addressing some constitutional and socio-economic issues which could create bottlenecks for the young democracy, especially on the urgent need of re-integration of South Africa into the global terrain. The integration of South Africa into the glob ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:44:14

Local government is the key role player of service delivery and development and has to fulfill its rightful role in intergovernmental relations. Without the full participation of the local sphere of government the essential contribution of locally articulated preferences namely, municipalities' participatory governance procedures, the role and function of ward committees and the integrated development planning (IDP) processes will be missing. Since 2000 a range of best practice in intergo ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:36:56

The moral and ethical crises in South Africa have reached such proportions that social pressure and pressure from government and semi-government institutions have to re-consider where they stand regarding ethics, ethical behaviour, accountability and professionalism. There is an urgent need to stop the culture of corruption, lack of accountability and unprofessional conduct that have gathered momentum in the public sector. In practice this means that the ethical and accountable repair task th ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:31:36

The post-democratic South Africa saw a dramatic change of management and management approaches. The National Peace Accord, the African National Congress' Ready to Govern document and the constitutional dispensation paraded an intertwined alignment of government operations to new policies. Amongst these alignments is the accountability of the managers within the public service, and particularly the criminal justice system in this instance. Accountability is one of the hallmarks of democrac ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:26:00

Ethical behaviour and professionalism are cherished values in public service. Public officials, including politicians, are expected to demonstrate them in discharging their official duties. However, in many developing countries these values are honoured more in their breach than observance. Public sector corruption occurs when politicians and / or public servants improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them by misusing the public power entrusted to them. Corruption has e ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:21:43

The emergence and reform of performance budgeting in the Department of Public Works Roads and Transport (DPWRT) can be traced back to the fact that public managers are faced with challenges to ensure that expenditure plans are based on reasonable estimates of resources and that budget preparation, control and the distribution of funds are in accordance with the prescribed guidelines and strategic goals set by government. This paper provides a framework about how the DPWRT can attain sound bud ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:15:51

Almost throughout the history of trade unionism in Botswana, the Botswana labour force is often picked out as one of the prime candidates for blame. Not only is it blamed for economic inefficiency, administrative malaise and managerial incompetence, but also for its presumed incompatibility with the social plans and strategies for fast development and industrialisation. On occasions, the government, managers and employers of labour have described the Botswana work force as ingrates, as a crip ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:10:17

Public finance, the bedrock of stability for every nation, comprises the art of generating, custody of, spending and controlling public money. A part of the money generated goes into procurement of goods and services. Government procurement managers face a unique set of challenges. Firstly, speed and efficiency to deliver service are difficult to achieve because financial transactions must be fully documented and audited. Secondly, financial managers on a daily basis endeavour to adapt to new ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 23:00:07

SAAPAM is an academic, independent, professional and non-profit association established in 1999 and registered with the Department of Social Development (Registration number 039-162NPO). At the time, the founders of the Association placed their faith in the future potential of the academics and practitioners of Public Administration and Management and the South African Public Service, sharing a common belief and vision of a high performing and leading edge, people-valued government in the pro ...

Read More

2021-Jun-14 22:52:46