Mediating coalition politics at the local government level in South Africa, 2016-2019

This rapid review focusses on whether there is international evidence on the role of non-partisan elections as a form of decentralised local government that improves performance of local government. The review provides examples of this from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. There are two reported examples in Sub-Saharan Africa of non-partisan elections that delink candidates from political parties during election campaigns. The use of non-partisan elections to improve performance and democratic accountability at the level of government is not common, for example, in southern Africa all local elections at the sub-national sphere follow the partisan model. Whilst there were no examples found where countries shifted from partisan to non-partisan elections at the local government level, the literature notes that decentralisation policies have the effect of democratising and transferring power and therefore few central governments implement it fully. In Africa decentralisation is favoured because it is often used as a cover for central control. Many post-colonial leaders in Africa continue to favour centralised government under the guise of decentralisation. These preferences emanated from their experiences under colonisation where power was maintained by colonial administrations through institutions such as traditional leadership. A review of the literature on non-partisan elections at the local government level came across three examples where this occurred. These countries were: Ghana, Uganda and Bangladesh. Although South Africa holds partisan elections at the sub-national sphere, the election of ward committee members and ward councillors, is on a non-partisan basis and therefore, the ward committee system in South Africa is included as an example of a non-partisan election process in the review.

Get full-text (via PubEx)

Ideology based incapacity on hydropolitics in South Africa Sudáfrica: an ontological assessment

Relaciones Internacionales UAM ◽

10.15366/relacionesinternacionales2020.45.013 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 289-304

Author(s):

Roy Jankielsohn ◽

Rami Zahrawi Haj-Younes

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Water Resources ◽

Local Government ◽

Case Studies ◽

Water Scarcity ◽

State Education ◽

Current Water ◽

Local Government Level ◽

The Impact ◽

Government Level

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of hydropolitics in South Africa. The country remains one of the driest countries in the world with a below average rainfall of 450 mm per annum. The country’s economic hub in the Gauteng province is largely dependent on water from the neighbouring Kingdom of Lesotho. On a geopolitical level the country also shares various water sources with neighbouring states. This is especially relevant due to the dependence on South Africa, as the regional hegemon, for access to markets and income. However, large areas of South Africa experience extreme water scarcity due to a combination of factors that include climate change related drought, urbanisation and government-related water management failures. In many local government municipalities across the country the lack of government capacity to supply water resources and manage waste water have reached crisis proportions. Many towns and communities across South Africa have been left with unreliable access to sustainable water resources. This is mainly due to a combination of corruption, poor management and the lack of institutional capacity at local government level. The institutional incapacity of government is a result of the governing party African National Congress’ ideological approach to government, combined with political factionalism, which has stripped the civil service of expertise and led to the exodus of skilled individuals from both government and the country. The government’s implementation of the communist ? based Leninist democratic centralism, commonly known as a cadre deployment strategy, has resulted in large scale state capture and corruption that has had a devastating impact on the delivery of basic services such as water. Hydropolitical civil unrest has increased to an extent that, in instances such as the Majakeng and Maluti-a-Phofung municipalities, unrest became extremely violent and disrupted businesses and well as state education and health facilities. This article is an ontological investigation into the hydropolitical impact of, and ideological reasons for, state incapacity to manage water resources and deliver safe and sustainable supply of water to the population. While reference will be made to the general situation in the country, the Majakeng and Maluti-a-Phofung municipalities will be used as a case studies for the impact of water insecurity on political stability. On the other hand, the City of Cape Town’s ability to manage water scarcity and avert a drought related “day zero” scenario is used as an example of what can be achieved through sound management. The article will combine ideological considerations with theoretical explanations of ideology and state failure within a hydropolitical context in order to explain the current water crisis at local government level in South Africa and the threat that this poses to the political order in the country. Being a regional hegemon, any political disruptions in South Africa also threaten the geopolitical stability of the entire Southern African region. There remains a great deal of scope for future geopolitical co-operation around water within the Southern African Development Community that can secure a sustainable sources of future water supplies for South Africa and generate further income for the country’s neighbours. The article evaluates the current water situation in the country, explains the water related geopolitical considerations that the country has to take into account, investigates the ideological basis for government policy and institutional strategy and the impact that this has on the capacity of the state to deliver sustainable and reliable water access to local communities, and then evaluates some case studies that include both failures and a success story. This assessment includes various sources of literature that supply a theoretical conceptual basis for terms such as hydropolitics and ideology. These academic concepts provide the basis for the practical considerations that are an integral part of the ideologically ? based hydropolitical ontological assessment. The article concludes with some broad recommendations on how the country could mitigate some of the hydropolitical challenges that it faces.

Get full-text (via PubEx)

Participatory Democracy in Theory and Practice: A Case Study of Local Government in South Africa

Africa’s Public Service Delivery and Performance Review ◽

10.4102/apsdpr.v3i3.88 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 31

Author(s):

Ntsikelelo Breakfast ◽

Itumeleng Mekoa ◽

Nondumiso Maphazi

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Local Government ◽

Public Administration ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

The Political ◽

Local Government Level ◽

Political Spectrum ◽

Scholarly Contribution ◽

Government Level

The idea of democracy is a curious oneand puzzling. There is reason for this;everyone talks about democracy no matter whether their views are on the left, centreor right of the political spectrum. Various politicians, regimes, whether in Africa, Europe or America claim to be democratic;yet what each says and does is usuallydifferent. Democracy as a practice is supposed to bestow rules, laws and decisions that are justifiable on democraticgrounds. Democracy also has evolved through social struggles. This article examines the practice of democracy withinthe context of local government in South Africa, and is an attempt to explore the concept of democracy without escaping other historical aspects of the idea and practice. From a methodological standpoint, this article is based on a literature assessment. Lastly and most importantly, this paper has made a scholarly contribution to the scholarship of Political Science and Public Administration with regard to the nexus between democracy and public participation at local government level in South Africa.

Get full-text (via PubEx)

Understanding Water Security at Local Government Level in South Africa

10.1007/978-3-030-02517-5 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Local Government ◽

Water Security ◽

Local Government Level ◽

Government Level

Get full-text (via PubEx)

Entrepreneurship Management at the Local Government Level: The Experience of the Cities for Entrepreneurs Program

Journal of Business and Economics ◽

10.15341/jbe(2155-7950)/05.09.2018/002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (5) ◽

pp. 388-407

Author(s):

Patricio Gigli ◽

◽

Donatela Orsi ◽

Marisel Martín Aramburú ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Capital ◽

Local Government ◽

Local Governments ◽

Structural Characteristics ◽

National Level ◽

Development Issue ◽

Starting Point ◽

Local Government Level ◽

Micro Level ◽

Government Level

This paper aims at describing the experience of the Cities for Entrepreneurs Program (Ciudades para Emprender or CPE) of the National Directorate of Community and Human Capital (which belongs to the SEPYME), National Ministry of Production. This paper starts from the premise that entrepreneurship takes place at the most micro level of the offer and, therefore, is a concept associated with the characteristics of the environment closest to that offer: the local territory. However, there is little history in the country of public policies relating the issue of entrepreneurship with the local management. That is why we take as a starting point the conceptualization of the chosen framework: local governments and the development issue, seen from the perspective of entrepreneurships. Moreover, an overview is given on the structural characteristics of municipalities in Argentina. In addition, some international experiences and attempts to promote entrepreneurship at a national level are analyzed. Finally, the Cities for Entrepreneurs Program (CPE) is outlined, based on a summary of the diagnoses of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystems of the selected cities and the tools used and their execution status at the time of publication of this paper.

Get full-text (via PubEx)

An Empirical Study of the Financial Mismanagement of Internally Generated Revenue in Ife South Local Government of Osun State, Nigeria

Think India ◽

10.26643/think-india.v19i2.7786 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 29-38

Author(s):

Adeola Ajayi

Keyword(s):

Local Government ◽

Financial Management ◽

Town Planning ◽

Primary Data ◽

Revenue Generation ◽

Secondary Sources ◽

The Poor ◽

Local Government Level ◽

Government Level ◽

Descriptive Statistical Analysis

This study focused on financial mismanagement of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in Ife South Local Government. It also identified viable sources of revenue in the local government and examined problems militating against effective collection of revenue. This study was necessitated by the need to ensure increased revenue generation in Ife South local government of Osun State, Nigeria. Primary and secondary sources of data were utilized for the study. The primary data were collected through structured questionnaires. Respondents were selected from career officers in GL. 03-16 in departments and units of finance and supplies, administration, primary healthcare, agriculture, town planning and estate valuation of the local government, thus 180 respondents were sampled representing 29.31% of 614 staff strength of these departments and units of the local government. The questionnaires were administered using descriptive statistical analysis such as frequency and percentage value. The study revealed that there are many viable and non-viable sources of revenue in Ife South local government, the myriad of problems militating against effective collection of the revenue and the poor financial management of internally generated revenue which aptly explains why the local government could not be developed. The study concluded that the share of local government from the statutory allocation be increased, routine auditing and post-auditing from the supervising ministry should be encouraged at the local government level and that the local government should also intensify her effort on increase revenue generation in order to withstand the challenges posed by the current global economic crisis.

Get full-text (via PubEx)