scholarly journals Strategy And Planning As An Enabler For Strategy Execution In South African Municipalities

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1231
Author(s):  
J. H. Leibbrandt ◽  
C. J. Botha
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Strategy Execution ◽  
Strategy Formulation ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Made In

Literature confirmed that whilst progress has been made in recent years, there is still a pressing need amongst communities in South Africa for improved service delivery. There is also increasing frustration and anger at the inability of municipalities to do what is expected of them. Municipalities, in general, have a poor record in respect of execution of strategy. The research problem - what prevents Gauteng municipalities in South Africa to successfully execute its strategies and what can be done to address the situation?- will be answered and dealt with when the findings and conclusions relevant to each research objective are discussed. Research and literature to date focused primarily on planning and strategy formulation but neglected the very important execution process. Whilst strategy execution is a dismal failure in most organizations, to date, very little research has focused on strategy execution. Managers and their employees must apply new ways of thinking and they point out that todays high performing organizations are able to bridge the strategy-execution gap due to the fact that their strategies translate to specific operational goals, their employees understand the context and purpose of their work, and they can readily measure how well they are performing.

Group structural elements in e-Government strategy formulation at local municipal level in South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Osah ◽  
Caroline Khene
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Strategy Formulation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Local Government Level ◽  
Degree Of Differentiation

Purpose This study aims to identify group structural elements that should be assessed in e-Government strategy formulation processes at local government level for service delivery in South Africa. These elements influence the success or effectiveness of the strategy formulation process. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework of group structural elements by Asplund and nine other strategy formulation-related approaches are reflected upon. Weick’s approach of theory development is used to guide the theoretical analysis. A pragmatic approach is applied to conduct the empirical investigation using a case study of a digital citizen engagement project in South Africa. Findings The paper highlights the following group elements that influence the strategy formulation process: group member relations, degree of differentiation within the group and resources of the group. Not addressing these structural elements may result in a lack of creativity or a reluctance to participate in the context of public sector engagement. Research limitations/implications The paper does not provide an exhaustive list of all aspects that necessitate assessment before and during a strategy formulation process, for example, organisational and environment structural elements. Practical implications Assessing group structural elements provides valuable knowledge on how to engage stakeholders in a joint problem-solving activity. This is particularly pertinent where citizen engagement is fundamental to addressing basic service delivery concerns. Originality/value In the South African local municipal context, there is no existing literature that discusses the need to assess group structural elements influencing the outcome of an e-Government strategy formulation process.

Social innovation and service delivery in Belgium and South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maréve Inge Biljohn ◽  
Liezel Lues
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Value Proposition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Sector Service ◽  
Sector Service

Purpose Social innovation (SI) remains a latent area in the South African local government (LG) sphere despite its growing use in public-sector service delivery globally. This paper aims to investigate the use of SI in the service delivery of LG through a comparison between the City of Ghent (CoG) (Belgium) and the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) (South Africa). Design/methodology/approach Through a comparative case study approach, qualitative research methods were used to both collect and analyze the data. Data collection instruments included document analysis (naturally occurring data), semi-structured interviews (generated data) and focus group discussions (generated data). Findings Although LG is obliged to collaborate with citizens, various factors influence citizens’ ability to make contributions, even when platforms are created. Collaborative initiatives aid in the realization of collective development visions and enhance citizen participation in a more responsive and inclusive approach to service delivery. Collaborations would require citizens and LG officials to be empowered by finding new ways of working together, as well as developing skills. Practical implications Citizens’ participation when SI is used to enhance service delivery should be meticulously planned. Co-producing services require a conducive internal organizational context that advances citizen participation in the governance and decision-making of service delivery, which is likewise optimal for enhancing the use of SI during the respective co-production service delivery stages. Achieving a conducive internal organizational context is influenced by the role of LG officials and politicians in understanding the value proposition of participation in service delivery to citizens. This value proposition is crucial to building and establishing a trust relationship between citizens, LG officials and politicians. Finally, consensus concerning the concept of SI and its use and implementation is important to ensure its consistent use and application by a municipality, and thus calls for further in-depth investigation. Originality/value SI is a nascent area for which the discourse is still under development, and it is a concept that is often the subject of debate in literature. This paper is justified by the fact that the use of SI in the South African LG sphere lags behind the growing use thereof in public-sector service delivery by LGs globally. In addition, the study presents novel insights regarding similarities and differences in the use of SI through a comparison between two LGs, namely, the MMM and the CoG.

Security Council

1964 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 468-485
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Security Council ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
South African Government ◽  
The South ◽  
African Government ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Made In

The Security Council considered the situation in the Republic of South Africa resulting from the apartheid policies of the South African government during its 1073rd–1078th meetings held from November 27 to December 11, 1963. The Council had before it the request made by 32 African and Asian states in a letter of October 23, 1963, addressed to the President of the Security Council; and the report by the Secretary-General submitted pursuant to the request made in the Security Council's Resolution of August 7, 1963, that he keep the situation in South Africa under observation and report to the Security Council by October 30, 1963. At the President's invitation Mrs. Pandit (India), Mr. Grimes (Liberia), Mr. Rakotomalala (Madagascar), Mr. Slim (Tunisia), and Mr. Karefa-Smart (Sierra Leone) took places at the Security Council table.

scholarly journals The militarisation of the Platfontein San (!Xun and Khwe): The initial years 1966–1974

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A S Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Northern Cape ◽  
Liberation Movements ◽  
Made In

The resettlement of 372 San (Bushmen) soldiers with dependents from 31/201 and 203 Battalions in Namibia to Schmidtsdrift in the Northern Cape during March 1990 was the last chapter in the process of militarisation of the !Xun and Khwe communities. However, there is a popular perception that the South African Defence Force (SADF) was primarily responsible for the militarisation of this particular San community, with the founding of 31 Battalion during 1974. This ignores the fact that the !Xun and Khwe originated in Angola, where they were actively involved with the Portuguese security forces. With one exception, only superficial mention is made in the literature about the role of the San soldiers in Angola before independence in November 1975. This article shows that the militarisation of the San actually started in 1966, when members of the !Xun were recruited by the Portuguese Security Police (PIDE) and successfully used against the Angolan liberation movements MPLA, FNLA and UNITA. The lifestyle of the San before the PIDE era is discussed, as is the period in which they were raised to a superior status as flecha fighters. This period of military prowess ended with the independence of Angola and resulted in the !Xun and Khwe seeking refuge with the SADF. These geo-political events led to the founding of 31 Battalion, situated in the Western Caprivi, where former flecha soldiers were retrained and incorporated into SADF structures. In closing, brief mention is made of the resettlement of the !Xun and Khwe to Schmidtsdrift in South Africa.

scholarly journals An Empirical Study of Service Delivery within the Provincial Hospital of Kwa-Zulu Natal South Africa-A case Study

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 439-448
Author(s):  
A. Deen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Provincial Hospital ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Key Participants

Health care services are an essential component of South African government policy and this is regulated by the Health Act, Act 61 of 2003. The study explores the services offered by the Provincial Hospital KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in relation to service delivery and management practices. The key participants to the study are the patients and staff of the hospital. A structured questionnaire to the patients and departmental heads of the hospital was applied. A structured interview was conducted with strategic level management of the hospital. The results of the study were organized thematically and were triangulated between the results of the various data collecting instruments. A presentation of graphs and tables would be used to facilitate the results of the data. The paper provides sound conclusions and recommendations for efficient and effective management and service delivery within the provincial hospital and which are applicable to many of the provincial hospitals in the country.

E-Government’s Role in Poverty Alleviation

2011 ◽  
pp. 104-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Mutula
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Majority Rule ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
User Involvement ◽  
Public Sector Reforms ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
White Majority ◽  
People First

Governments the world over are increasingly implementing e-government systems as part of public sector reforms to enhance good governance and service delivery. This chapter reviews successful e-government projects in South Africa. E-governance is seen as a panacea to country’s several challenges of service delivery, poverty, inequality, democracy, respect for human rights, and corruption. The South African government understands the urgency of addressing poverty and improving service delivery to majority of citizens who were marginalized during white majority rule. Most of South Africa’s black majority, for example, lives in poverty compared to their white counterparts. To address these imbalances projects are guided by the principle of public service for all under the brand Batho Pele (meaning people first). Some e-government projects in South Africa have borne fruits; they empowered people to overcome development obstacles, have helped fight poverty and uplift the socio-economic and living standards of citizens. The challenges facing the e-government projects include high costs of broadband access, diversity of languages that need to be converted to the language of the Internet, red tape and bureaucratic system, as well as financial sustainability and the use of top down design approaches in projects with little or no initial user involvement.

Price Comparisons under the South African Anti-dumping Laws

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saloni Khanderia
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Real World ◽  
Export Price ◽  
Market Price ◽  
Domestic Market ◽  
Domestic Industry ◽  
Price Comparisons ◽  
Physically Identical ◽  
Made In

South Africa has been one of the most prolific users of anti-dumping, where the number of investigations initiated by it has far outweighed the number of imports. The methods adopted by South African anti-dumping authorities have been quite polemic given the consistent faux pas in determining if the prices of the imported product and the domestic product are even comparable. Moreover, in the real world, it rarely happens that the products being sold in the domestic market of the exporting country and the ones being sold to the importing country are physically identical, and sold under the same conditions in both these markets. Accordingly, it becomes fundamental for South Africa’s anti-dumping authority—the International Trade Administrative Commission—to ensure that these prices, namely the normal value and the export price, are comparable, before adjudging whether or not the domestic industry has suffered injury as a result of dumping. Hence, both these prices would need certain adjustments to be made, in compliance with the WTO’s Anti-Dumping Agreement, to ascertain that they have occurred at the same level of trade. Additionally, because anti-dumping duties, either in the form of provisional or definitive duties, can only be imposed by investigating authorities after they have determined that the dumped imports have caused injury to the domestic market, price comparisons become increasingly vital and in turn influence the analysis of the effect of prices on the domestic like product. This article thus analyzes price comparisons under South Africa’s most recent anti-dumping investigations, to determine whether these are even consistent with the Anti-Dumping Agreement requirements on the same.

scholarly journals Screening Winnie and African Feminist Herstories

2021 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. 71-74
Author(s):  
Awino Okech
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Pedagogical Decisions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Liberation Struggle ◽  
Made In

This teaching note offers reflections on the screening of Winnie an autobiographical documentary about the life of Winnie Mandela, South African liberation struggle actor. I explore the pedagogical decisions I made in screening this film which deals with the history of apartheid South Africa to a mixed audience at a university in London.

scholarly journals Might first-hand experience of ill-health and economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic strengthen public support for vaccination and the reallocation of health sector funding towards health emergency preparedness in South Africa?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Mattes ◽  
K Dalal ◽  
H Rhoma ◽  
S Lambert ◽  
T De Wet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Economic Hardship ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy

AbstractAimsWe examined whether first-hand experience of ill-health and economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic might strengthen public support for vaccination, and for the reallocation of health sector funding towards health emergency preparedness in South Africa – a country in which high rates of vaccine hesitancy go hand in hand with widespread discontent regarding public service delivery.MethodsUsing data from 1,600 South African respondents who were surveyed during 2021 for the Eighth Round of Afrobarometer (AB-R8), discrete measures of household- and individual-level sociodemographic and economic factors were generated to permit confounder-adjusted analyses of probabilistic causal relationships between self-reported measures of: personal/household COVID-19 illness and job/income/business loss as a result of COVID-19; and the likelihood that respondents would accept a (government-approved) COVID-19 vaccine, or support the reallocation of health sector funding towards health emergency preparedness.FindingsThere was little evidence that personal/household experience of COVID-19 illness was associated with the likelihood that respondents would (or would not) accept a (government-approved) COVID-19 vaccine (OR: 0.96; 95%CI: 0.72,1.28); or that these respondents would (or would not) support the reallocation of health sector funding towards health emergency preparedness (OR: 0.95; 95%CI: 0.71,1.26), even after adjustment for individual- or household-level sociodemographic and economic covariates considered likely confounders. There was similarly little evidence that personal/household experience of job/income/business loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with support for the reallocation of health sector resources for emergency preparedness (OR: 1.02; 95%CI: 0.80,1.30); again, even after adjustment for potential confounders.However, respondents who reported that they or someone in their household had lost their job/income/or business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic had only around half the odds of reporting that they would accept a (government-approved) COVID-19 vaccine (OR: 0.60; 95%CI: 0.47,0.77) – and this finding, like the others in these analyses, was largely unaffected by the inclusion/exclusion of covariates considered susceptible to change following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e. those covariates potentially operating as colliders rather than genuine confounders).ConclusionsThese findings suggest that – despite the postulated ‘experiential dividend’ of COVID-19 illness (i.e. its expected impact on vaccine hesitancy and support for the reallocation of health sector resources for health emergency preparedness) – no such ‘dividend’ was observed in this broadly representative sample of South African adults. Indeed, job/income/business loss (and associated economic hardship) also had little effect on support for the reallocation of health sector resources for health emergency preparedness; yet this was somewhat paradoxically associated with a much lower odds of vaccine acceptance – paradoxically, since vaccination has been widely viewed as a pragmatic (if somewhat neoliberal) intervention to protect economic activity. However, these findings might simply reflect inadequate confounder adjustment for preceding and entrenched attitudes towards vaccination amongst those South Africans who are also most vulnerable to job/income/business loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Protecting the livelihood and health of such individuals and households is likely to remain a substantial challenge and key priority for future emergencies in which economic activity is compromised.AimThe aim of the present study was to examine whether first-hand experience of ill-health and economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic might have strengthened public support for vaccination, and for the reallocation of health sector funding towards health emergency preparedness in South Africa – a country in which high rates of vaccine hesitancy go hand in hand with widespread discontent regarding public service delivery. To this end we drew on data generated by the eighth round of household surveys undertaken by Afrobarometer (AB-R8) which interviewed 1,600 respondents across South Africa during 2021 – more than a year after the country’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 on 5 March 2020.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document