Governance and service delivery: assessing the impact of public management decentralization at eThekwini municipality: a study of Sizakala centres.
Loading...
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Public administration scholars have for long proposed that most public services benefited largely from economies of scale and should be produced by one government serving a metropolitan area. This view was modified by the1960s and early 1970s this as developments came about through diverse challenges brought about by complex political, social and economic policy problems, as many government employed Keynesian economic policies mostly leading to consequences of high level of government deficits causing economic crises for countries. The management of resources therefore in the public sector has culminated in the development of the new public management theories which at their core underpin the analyses of institutional arrangements with respect to public policy design and implementation..
With the study at hand primary aims are to analyse the impact of governance and service delivery decentralization through Sizakala centres. This is intended to be achieved by way of exploring the context and motivation for establishing Sizakala Centres as part of governance and service delivery processes of eThekwini Municipality, as well as exploring its impact from the user perception. With the Post democratic dispensation in South Africa, the government decided to adopt an institutional arrangement of governance that was simply designed to operate at the level of the people and effectively respond to their demands.. Such reforms brought about the need for a decentralized public service system in South Africa. Transitioning from a contextual history of extensive marginalization of some groups from public service benefits, or minimal access to these essential services for some groups with no efforts being made over time to improve the status of such groups. There was need for a complete shift in the system of government and need for new institutional arrangements, and since 1994, such institutional re-engineering towards more decentralization can be seen and directed towards material improvement of livelihoods. So having experience decentralization the broader objective of the study is to contribute to the research literature and policy debates about the role decentralised service delivery arrangements have contributed in both service delivery improvements and governance innovations.
The institutional analysis and transactional theoretical framework was used. The theory identified three players in any institutional arrangement namely legislators, administrators
and constituency. As a result survey questionnaires were designed as means for data collection which would collect homogenous data on demographics, public services and feedback on the interaction of the communities with the centres. These were administered on legislators, administrators and the general public in the diverse constituents who are Centre service users. The questionnaire contained sections collecting the same information for all participants and then an extension with respect to Legislators and Administrators, particularly with respect to information concerning operational premises of the Sizakala centres.
The concerted development and progress by Sizakala centres in their current arrangement as institutions of service delivery was significant with more than 50% of constituencies indicating their satisfaction with most of the services they are rendered at the centres. However I notable dissatisfaction was recorded by mostly residents in the rural and township Sizakala centres, where the turnaround time of reported issues was primary and lack of other services in demand. The lack of departmental integrated system to Sizakala centres was identified as a key set back to the model progress. It lack of managerial authority to supervisor responsiveness of department of reported faults contributes negatively to the centres as it serves as the interface for the municipality. The Sizakala centres as model are positioned well to where people are, decreasing social cost for accessing services. However as aforementioned the current challenges of Sizakala, highly in the recommendation list would be the need to have an integrated departmental system that will be used to log, trace and locate complaints reported and turnaround time monitored. This will require the design of the ICT interface system for all department through the front desk at the Sizakala centres.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.