Managerial skills and institutional capacity for municipal service delivery

[摘要] English: Since the early nineteen nineties a number of social and political changesemanated from the transformation process in South Africa. These changes hadan effect on all spheres of government. The local sphere of government hasparticularly been affected by the changes since it is the sphere closest to thepeople and directly responsible for municipal service delivery. The Constitution ofthe Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) has furthermore outlinedvalues and principles for public officials to comply with, pertaining to servicedelivery to inhabitants. It is therefore necessary to have skilled and competentpublic officials in order to comply with constitutional requirements.The purpose of the study is to identify and analyse the status and relevance ofmanagerial skills in the local sphere of government as well as its influence onmunicipal service delivery. Managers in municipalities should exhibit particularskills and competencies in order to fulfil their developmental role and providequality municipal services to inhabitants. The study focuses specifically on theNokeng Tsa Taemane Municipality which is categorised as a category Bmunicipality in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996(Act 108 of 1996). The government of South Africa has promulgated legislation and official policiesto assist managers in municipalities pertaining to their roles, functions andresponsibilities towards municipal service delivery. Managers in the local sphereof government are compelled to implement the legislative directives in order toimprove the effectiveness and efficiency of municipal service delivery and to fulfiltheir mandate.This study furthermore investigates the institutional capacity in the Nokeng TsaTaemane Municipality as well as its influence on municipal service delivery. Theinstitutional capacity of a municipality should support managers in the exercising of their duties. It investigates the ability of the necessary resources, systems,procedures and managerial tools at the municipality in order to determinewhether it could provide adequate support to managers. It became evident thatthe majority of systems and procedures at the municipality are not in place or notused to its fullest potential, which reflects on the substantial lack of institutionalcapacity. Not only are inadequate human resources a restricting factor tomunicipal service delivery, but financial impediments are the single mostimportant obstacle to the delivery of municipal services of quality.The government of South Africa has furthermore committed itself to theimprovement of the skills levels of public officials and to establish a culture oflearning in the public service. For these purposes legislation and policiespertaining to skills development and training have also been promulgated. Thisstudy outlines the various legislative requirements pertaining to skillsdevelopment and training, and furthermore make recommendations in thisregard. It became evident that managers of the Nokeng Tsa Taemane Municipality,especially on middle management level do not possess the required skills andcompetencies to provide quality municipal services to inhabitants. It is thereforerecommended that municipalities should make use of training opportunities forsenior and middle managers to improve the skills levels of managers.The Nokeng Tsa Taemane Municipality should in conclusion make it a priority toimprove not only its managerial skills, but also the institutional capacity of themunicipality. It is imperative for the municipality to increase its revenue-base as ameans to improve the financial situation of the municipality which could result inthe eventual improvement of municipal service delivery.

[发布机构] University of the Free State