An assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of service delivery: a case study of eDumbe municipality.

Abstract

This study’s purpose was to investigate the extent to which the eDumbe municipality had progressed in providing service delivery effectively with the intention of strengthening good governance. In post-apartheid South Africa, the government is compelled to respond to global and economic changes by investing more on resources that can improve the lives of the people. To respond to these changes, government-formulated policies and legislation as mechanisms to assist local government; to carry out its developmental mandate aim to improve the status of communities and improve lives of the people. This study argues that the initiatives and intervention of local government to out carry its mandate has made limited progress in as far as the provision of service delivery and in upholding the principles of good governance at the eDumbe municipality are concerned. There is a great need to fast-track service delivery at local government level. These initiatives include: community satisfaction surveys; operation clean audit and back-to-basics. This study adopted a mixed methodology, that is, a combination of both the qualitative and quantitative methods and did an assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of service delivery: A case study of the eDumbe Municipality. A mixed-method-approach means synthesising quantitative and qualitative data. This was seen as suitable for this study because the main purpose of the study was to assess how management of resources influences the effectiveness and efficiency at the eDumbe Municipality. The study commenced with the review of relevant literature, then presented a model developed for factors influencing efficient and effective service delivery and assesses the management of resources against this model. It also interpreted data that had been collected from the respondents. Findings of this study revealed the municipality had poor administrative capacity and infrastructure to carry out its mandate. This was as a result of inadequate financial resource (low tax base) as the municipality relied on a government grant. It is recommended that the managers should be visible to the community they serve and that the municipality must make it its obligation to inform the community about the availability of the financial statements.