SA’s local government service delivery failures and how to fix them

How can local government improve service delivery?

This is an important question as poor services are becoming the norm throughout the country.

People are angry that most of what they voted for is not being delivered.

Communities are mired in protests because they are fed up with the lack of service delivery.

Not so long ago, the City of Ekurhuleni was under attack after it failed to supply water to its residents for weeks.

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The same happened to Joburg residents who also experienced water shortages due to water shedding. These are just two unfortunate scenarios out of many.

Throughout the country, people are aggrieved by the state of their local governments.

Communities every day demand waste removal, safe drinking water, electricity, proper toilets, sewerage and drainage systems, functional streetlights, well-maintained roads and homes instead of shacks.

Adding to the woes, coalition governments are not making it easy for service delivery to take place. Every political party has different mandates to fulfil and this is evident in Tshwane, Joburg and Ekurhuleni.

Nothing seems to be functioning and residents of these cities feel the brunt of their needs not being met.

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This brings us to the understanding that the problem lies not in the ANC, Democratic Alliance or the Economic Freedom Fighters.

It is a structural problem that cannot be merely solved by a change of government but only by a system change that is sufficient to deliver services to people.

We must look deeper into the structure of our government.

We need a legislative framework that will coordinate the work and manage the relationship of national, provincial and local governments clearly.

We can’t have different spheres of government pulling in different directions because that undermines the effectiveness of delivering services.

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Especially if different parties or coalition governments are managing these spheres.

We also need a public service that is professionalised to suit the needs of the country.

At the moment, the public service is mired in challenges that make it difficult for public services to be offered to the public.

It seems like taxpayers’ money is being fruitlessly spent.

Corruption is rampant and is a cancer that continues to bleed the coffers of our state.

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And this, coupled with deep historical social and economic divisions, makes it hard for a capable and an efficient public service to emerge.

Our public service is burdened by staff that have low morale, lack accountability and, in some instances, are poorly skilled.

In addition to that, there are challenges when it comes to the administrative leadership which is now synonymous with instability and is sometimes missing to provide the leadership that will steer the ship in the right direction.

Sad as it may be, our public service is on autopilot and this renders it ineffective to offer services to the public.

Therefore, there needs to be a culture that advocates for anticorruption in a way that makes it abnormal to be corrupt.

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This can be done by initiating harsher sentences for government officials who have been found wanting.

Furthermore, educational programmes on ethical behaviour should be continuously implemented to reprogramme our government officials.

This will go a long way towards eradicating the problem of mismanaging public funds and will instil the norm of public servants who look forward to account to those they are mandated to serve.

Regarding the issue of having a skilled public service that is able to carry out its duties effectively and efficiently, this will require a compulsory public service curriculum that will serve to skill and upskill public servants in a manner relevant to the needs of our public service.

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This will help public servants to understand what is it that they are expected to do without being controlled or influenced by their political principals within various government departments.

When that happens, we can then rely on those who deliver these services, even while politicians come and go.