Service Delivery

Introduction

Challenges’ facing our country as a developmental state is the need for the government to address issues of poverty, underdevelopment, and marginalization of legacies of apartheid and discrimination (Munslow& McLennan, 2009; 35). This challenge is best addressed by providing for administration in the 3 spheres of government to be organized and to function in ways that ensure efficient quality, collaborative and accountable service delivery to alleviate poverty and promote social and economic development for the people of the Republic. This essay will examine the current challenges face by local government in relation to service delivery and will be deciding on ways to address these challenges within the municipalities.

Local government has been under the public eye in recent years as a result of public protests. This carried about clashes between protesting residents and law enforcement authorities. A number of concerns have been logged, many of which have been characterized as service delivery protests against local authorities which have been accused of poor service delivery (The Research Unit, 2009). Service delivery in the democratic Republic of South Africa has been characterized by mass protests, demonstrations, and petitions. Many of the protests have been marketed by extremely high levels of violence, destruction and vandalism. In 2009, during a 6 month period, January to June, an overall total of 26 protests were recorded, of which the main provinces affected were Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Northwest, Western Cape, Free-State, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape delivery (The Research Unit, 2009) .

The reasons for these protests included lack of/ poor service delivery and inadequate housing, evictions, high levels of unemployment, maladministration, lack of leadership in the municipalities, and nepotism. Local authorities struggle with a number of constraints and challenges which hinder their capabilities to service delivery (The Research Unit,...