What's trust got to do with it? Non-payment of service charges in local authorities in South Africa

2004 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odd-Helge Fjeldstad

A major financial problem in many municipalities in South Africa is the inadequate collection of service charges due to widespread non-payment. The prevailing view is that non-compliance is caused by poverty and the existence of an ‘entitlement culture’. However, huge variations in compliance exist both within poor communities and between communities with similar socio-economic characteristics. How can these differences be explained? Moreover, what factors determine citizens' compliance? This paper argues that non-payment is related not only to inability to pay and ‘a culture of entitlement’, but also to whether citizens perceive the local government to act in their interest. In particular, three dimensions of trust may affect citizens' compliance: (1) trust in the local government to use revenues to provide expected services; (2) trust in the authorities to establish fair procedures for revenue collection and distribution of services; and (3) trust in other citizens to pay their share.

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukio Mrutu ◽  
Pendo Mganga

Outsourcing revenue collection in Local Government Authorities  has been adopted as a mechanism to solve the previous problems of revenue collection which resulted into loss and missmanagement of the whole process. One of the expectations was to increase revenue collection which will  provide a room for fiscal autonomy. However, experience from few local government authorities which have outsourced their revenue collection shows that, the whole process of outsourcing has not yielded the expected outcome especially on enabling local authorities to have fiscal autonomy instead it has turned to benefit the private agent who collect Tax. By using secondary data this paper attempts to show how the process of outsourcing is benefiting the private agent and therefore it is like giving everything out. It concludes that, though outsourcing seems to benefit local authorities by reducing some tasks especially on tax collection, outsorcing benefits much a private agent and therefore quick meausures should be adopted including building the capacity of Local Authorities in identifying the sources of revenue and  in estimating the actual collections so as to have clear picture of how much will be generated by the agent and what should be the appropriate amount to be submitted to the Local authority.


Author(s):  
A Du Plessis

Modern times see an increased emphasis on the importance of sound governance in and by the local sphere of government. This holds particularly true for South Africa where, since the coming into effect of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996,1 a number of objectives, critical functions and developmental duties have been laid before the door of local authorities. A comprehensive resource book on domestic local government law in South Africa has, therefore, been long-awaited. In his reference and source book entitled Principles of South African Local Government Law, Bernard Bekink makes a significant contribution to local government law and governance in South Africa.


2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Edward Hutagalung

The fi nancial relationship between central and local government can be defi ned as a system that regulates how some funds were divided among various levels of government as well as how to fi ndsources of local empowerment to support the activities of the public sector.Fiscal decentralization is the delegation of authority granted by the central government to theregions to make policy in the area of   fi nancial management.One of the main pillars of regional autonomy is a regional authority to independently manage thefi nancial area. State of Indonesia as a unitary state of Indonesia adheres to a combination of elementsof recognition for local authorities to independently manage fi nances combined with the element oftransferring fi scal authority and supervision of the fi scal policy area.General Allocation Fund an area allocated on the basis of the fi scal gap and basic allocation whilethe fi scal gap is reduced by the fi scal needs of local fi scal capacity. Fiscal capacity of local sources offunding that comes from the area of   regional revenue and Tax Sharing Funds outside the ReforestationFund.The results showed that the strengthening of local fi scal capacity is in line with regional autonomy.


Author(s):  
Fajar Hardoyono

: Education deals with enlightening people and developing human resources. The reasecher concluded that cultural background of students influences their learning attitude in the school. Therefore, the developing learning process of Natural Sciences insist student to elaborate principles of Natural Sciences without ignoring cultural valuesof local community. The policy of decentralization of Indonesian Government had authorized and legitimated local authorities to develop curriculum based on the local cultures. To do so, each local government through the officers of Education has to create a curiculum by involving some curriculum experts, instructures, natural sciences theachers, and the lectures of universities who adequately understand learning model of Natural Sciences.


e-Finanse ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-75
Author(s):  
Adam Mateusz Suchecki

AbstractFollowing the completion of the process of decentralisation of public administration in Poland in 2003, a number of tasks implemented previously by the state authorities were transferred to the local level. One of the most significant changes to the financing and management methods of the local authorities was the transfer of tasks related to culture and national heritage to the set of tasks implemented by local governments. As a result of the decentralisation process, the local government units in Poland were given significant autonomy in determining the purposes of their budgetary expenditures on culture. At the same time, they were obliged to cover these expenses from their own revenues.This paper focuses on the analysis of expenditures on culture covered by the voivodship budgets, taking into consideration the structure of cultural institutions by their types, between 2003-2015. The location quotient (LQ) was applied to two selected years (2006 and 2015) to illustrate the diversity of expenditures on culture in individual voivodships.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mbuzeni Mathenjwa

The history of local government in South Africa dates back to a time during the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. With regard to the status of local government, the Union of South Africa Act placed local government under the jurisdiction of the provinces. The status of local government was not changed by the formation of the Republic of South Africa in 1961 because local government was placed under the further jurisdiction of the provinces. Local government was enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa arguably for the first time in 1993. Under the interim Constitution local government was rendered autonomous and empowered to regulate its affairs. Local government was further enshrined in the final Constitution of 1996, which commenced on 4 February 1997. The Constitution refers to local government together with the national and provincial governments as spheres of government which are distinctive, interdependent and interrelated. This article discusses the autonomy of local government under the 1996 Constitution. This it does by analysing case law on the evolution of the status of local government. The discussion on the powers and functions of local government explains the scheme by which government powers are allocated, where the 1996 Constitution distributes powers to the different spheres of government. Finally, a conclusion is drawn on the legal status of local government within the new constitutional dispensation.


Author(s):  
Jan Abel Olsen

This chapter considers two different ways of organizing revenue collection in statutory healthcare schemes: social health insurance and taxation. The two models are commonly referred to as ‘Bismarck vs Beveridge’ after the men associated with the origin of these systems: the first German chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), and the British economist Lord William Beveridge (1879–1963). The differences between these two compulsory prepayment schemes are discussed and compared with private health insurance. Based on a simple diagram introduced by the World Health Organization, three dimensions of coverage are illustrated. Some policy dilemmas are highlighted when attempting to achieve universal health coverage. Finally, various combinations of public and private prepayment schemes are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. S17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Meissner ◽  
Nikki Funke ◽  
Karen Nortje ◽  
Inga Jacobs-Mata ◽  
Elliot Moyo ◽  
...  

Diplomatica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-199
Author(s):  
Nicholas J. Cull

Abstract This essay considers the phenomenon of British local authorities mobilizing to oppose the policies of apartheid in post-war South Africa. Activities include boycott, divestment, twinning agreements, media campaigns, and re-naming/memorialization. The activity is placed in the context of a transnational anti-apartheid network overseen by the United Nations organization. The campaign is shown to be inversely related the level of national government activity and especially associated with opposition to Margaret Thatcher and her government.


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