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Community Perception of Service Delivery a Case Study of Impendle Local Municipality

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Community Perception of Service Delivery a Case Study of Impendle Local Municipality Community perception of service delivery A Case Study of Impendle Local Municipality By Emmanuel Xolani Muthwa A Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of Master of Administration at the University of KwaZulu-Natal 2016 Supervisor: ____________________________________ Professor Maurice Oscar Dassah DECLARATION I, declare that: 1. The research reported in this thesis, except where otherwise indicated, is my original research. 2. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university. 3. This thesis does not contain other persons’ data, pictures, graphs or other information, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other persons. 4. This thesis does not contain other persons' writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers. Where other written sources have been quoted, then: a. Their words have been re-written but the general information attributed to them has been referenced b. Where their exact words have been used, then their writing has been placed in italics and inside quotation marks, and referenced. 5. This thesis does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged, and the source being detailed in the thesis and in the References sections. ___________________________________________________________________________ Student Name Name of Supervisor _________________ ___________________ Signature Signature _________________ ___________________ Date Date i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity and thank God for the strength He gave me to complete this work. I will not be doing justice to myself and Almighty God if I do not give a special thanks to my supervisor Professor M.O. Dassah for his dedication and support that I received from him for the past 3 years. It is so important to thank my family for their love, support, and encouragement. I then wish to thank my dear friends for all what they have done for me up to this point. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my brother from Kenya, Muna Wilson for his support and encouragement. This is an appropriate time to give a special thanks to my comrade and friend Dr E.V Nzama for his words of wisdom and encouragement, there are times where he used to say: “i MBA/MPA akuyona into yokudlala.” Lastly I would like to acknowledge and thank my department, UMDM especially for giving me sufficient time and resources to complete my studies. I acknowledge that many people have contributed towards the completion of this thesis but may not have enough space to mention each one of you by name. May the almighty God bless you abundantly. There is a truth in saying that ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed’. I thank you all. Ningapheli amandla nikwenze nakwabanye. ii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the community and local Council of the Impendle Municipality. iii ABSTRACT With an ever increasing number of service delivery protests recorded each year, an inquiry into the quality of public service in South Africa might well be overdue. The fact that most service delivery protests have turned violent, upsetting community life and damaging private and public property is an urgent call for action from government. Yet as some have argued, this state of public service, though not deliberate, might be largely a direct consequence of government action. The government is thus accused of laxity in staffing, monitoring and evaluation, as well as implementing the audit and evaluation reports. As the prime implementer of government policy, programmes and projects, local government bears much of the brunt of this government inaction. The result is compromised quality in service delivery. This study investigates one such impact of government action on a Category B municipality. As a victim of boundary re-adjustments in 2009, Impendle Municipality has not received any financial complement to meet the service demands of its expanded jurisdiction. The assumption has been that with the increased number of communities within the municipality and no complementary budgetary increase, service quality at Impendle Local Municipality will be compromised. Using the service quality (SERVQUAL) theory, the study investigated this assumption through an assessment of: access, communication, competence, courtesy, credibility, reliability, responsiveness, securities and tangibles. Using mixed methods of data collection and analysis, the study purported to understand community perceptions on the quality of municipal services. Data was gathered through a triangulation of focus groups (conducted in each of the four wards within the municipality) and self-administered questionnaires with 80 of the 7432 municipal residents. The data was then triangulated in analysis to assess the community perceptions on the status of service quality. The study concluded that, in as much as the quality of service is low at Impendle, the problem is more with procedural issues of service delivery than it is an impact of boundary re-adjustments. Lack of access, poor communication, unstandardized service, and lack of reliability, credibility and courtesy, were viewed by participants as major issues compromising service delivery. However, the fact that these challenges are direct contraventions of the South African blueprint on service delivery – Batho Pele – re-affirms the need for effective co-operative governance in South Africa. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ANC African National Congress Batho Pele People First CDW Community Development Workers COGTA Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs DA Democratic Alliance DBSA Development Bank of Southern Africa DPLG Department of Provincial and Local Government DPSA Department of Public Service and Administration IDASA Institute of Democracy in South Africa IDP Integrated Development Planning KZN KwaZulu-Natal LED Local Economic Development MECs Members of the Executive Committee NP National Party NYDA National Youth Development Agency PAMB Public Administration Management Bill PALAMA Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy PMB Pietermaritzburg RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme SALGA South African Local Government Association SAMDI South African Management and Development Institute SAPS South African Police Services SEDA Sector Economic Development Agency SERVQUAL Service Quality Theory SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................................................ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .......................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF TABLES ..........................................................................................................................xii CHAPTER 1: .................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background of the study .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Preliminary literature study and rationale ............................................................................... 2 1.3 Delimitations of the research ................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Research problem and objectives ............................................................................................ 5 1.4.1 Research objectives........................................................................................................... 5 1.4.2 Research questions ............................................................................................................ 5 1.5 Broader issues to be investigated ............................................................................................ 6 1.6 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................ 8 1.7 Research methodology ............................................................................................................ 9 1.7.1 Sampling ......................................................................................................................... 10 1.7.2 Data collection ................................................................................................................ 10 1.7.3 Data analysis ................................................................................................................... 11 1.8 Structure of the dissertation ................................................................................................... 11 1.9 Summary ..............................................................................................................................
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