Managing public policy implementation : a critical review of the implementation of the child support grant in South Africa between 2000 and 2004.

Abstract

Policy implementation is an important aspect of service delivery. It is a

process that requires all the involved parties to work together. In addition, the

policy to be implemented has to be preceded by extensive planning and

capacity to ensure effective implementation. According to Parsons

(1995:465), "effective implementation requires a good chain of command and

a capacity to co-ordinate and control...".

The Child Support Grant (CSG) is one of the social security grants created by

the South African Government to offer financial support to children in need.

The CSG is the one that is widely accessed by children. This grant has

reached millions of children in South Africa since its initial implementation;

however a large number of children still do not receive this grant due to

administration problems (Skweyiya 2005:2).

This research project provides a critical analysis of the implementation of

CSG between the years 2000 and 2004. A conceptual analysis (content

analysis) of secondary studies on the implementation of the Child Support

Grant is the scope of this investigation. The study analysed the manner in

which the CSG had been implemented by the Department of Social

Development (DSD) between the years 2000 and 2004. The findings show

that there were many problems that related to the administration of the CSG.

The problems ranged from lack of capacity (human as well as organizational)

by government officials, to the mode (top-down) of implementation, the

employment of bureaucratic methods of implementing policy, lack of system

upgrade, street level bureucrats methods of implementing policies and

insufficient monitoring and evaluation by the National Department of Social

Development.

The DSD neglected to provide infrastructural support to facilitate the

additional number of beneficiaries that resulted from the extension of the CSG

to children under 14 years old.

These organizational capacity development problems manifested in the lack

of sufficient equipment in welfare offices. Many welfare offices did not have

essential equipment (such as chairs, working computers and working

telephones) needed to perform their duties. Technical resources such as

working computers and telephones are an essential part of implementation.

Lack of proper monitoring and evaluation of the administration of the Grant

has created loopholes in the system that have cost the Department about

R1.5 billion each year from 2000 to 2004.

Another problem was that there were staff shortages in most areas. In areas

where staff was available they lacked the capacity to administer the Grant. As

a result, wrong information was disseminated to the public concerning the

eligibility for the CSG. The data capturing system the Department uses,

Social Pension System (SOCPEN), had not been upgraded to handle greater

numbers of applicants. This has led to applicants not being processed, thus

affecting service delivery.

The study has shown the impacts these problems can have on policy. Due to

the manner in which policy was implemented the DSD ended up losing

money, which was intended for beneficiaries, through fraud and

maladministration. In addition to money lost, potential beneficiaries could not

access the Grant due to obstacles created by government officials as their

way of implementing policy effectively. According to Lipsky (1980:149), low

ranking street level bureaucrats create ways of coping with their duties

through simplifying their authority. This enables them to utilise their authority

and impose their job restrictions for reasons of lack of service delivery on their

clients .

Due to the scope of "allowed" discretion that street level bureaucrats can

exercise, fragmentation of policy is most often experienced during

implementation.