DECENTRALISATION OF GOVERNMENT TO ACHIEVE EFFECTIVE AND
EFFICIENT DISPERSE OF SERVICE DELIVERY IN MUNICIPALITIES
BY
NONHLAKANIPHO MFEKA
STUDENT NO 62527886
Submitted in preliminary fulfillment of the
BA Honours Degree
Public Administration
UNISA
10 June 2024
, 1. Introduction
In South Africa the decentralization of government has been used as a solution for
improving service delivery in local municipalities. The aim behind this strategy is to bring
services closer to the people by shifting decision making powers, resources and
responsibilities from the central government to municipalities (Muller & Ndevu, 2018:182).
Decentralization aims to provide effective and efficient service delivery to citizens, by
giving power to local leaders who know the needs and priorities of their local people. This
means that municipalities are the ones who are primary tasked to provide basic service
delivery such as water, sanitation, electricity, sewerage, and refuse removal in
communities (Thabang, Makhanya & Nel, 2022:440).
According to Dick-Sagoe (2020) municipalities are decentralized in four (4) ways in order
to achieve effective and efficient service delivery which are political, administrative, fiscal
and economic. Political decentralization gives autonomy and self-governance power to
municipalities. Administrative decentralization gives municipalities power to regulate and
implement programs and policies. Fiscal decentralization gives municipalities the power
to regulate revenues, expenditure and budget decisions. Economic decentralization gives
munipalities power to find ways to promote local economic development. However, it has
been an ongoing challenge for municipalities to provide satisfying service delivery.
This research report aims to explore whether decentralization improves service delivery
in municipalities. This chapter 1 of the research report will firstly have a background and
mention the motive of the study. Secondly, it will state the problem statement, research
question and research objectives. Thirdly, it will clarify some of the important concepts so
that the reader can fully understand the report. Finally, it will state the propose headings
for the research report which will be discussed in detail in chapter 2 and then a conclusion
of the chapter.
2. Background and motivation of the study
In 1996 a constitutional democracy was introduced in South Africa and it came with the
introduction of the decentralized system of governance. The Constitution of South Africa
EFFICIENT DISPERSE OF SERVICE DELIVERY IN MUNICIPALITIES
BY
NONHLAKANIPHO MFEKA
STUDENT NO 62527886
Submitted in preliminary fulfillment of the
BA Honours Degree
Public Administration
UNISA
10 June 2024
, 1. Introduction
In South Africa the decentralization of government has been used as a solution for
improving service delivery in local municipalities. The aim behind this strategy is to bring
services closer to the people by shifting decision making powers, resources and
responsibilities from the central government to municipalities (Muller & Ndevu, 2018:182).
Decentralization aims to provide effective and efficient service delivery to citizens, by
giving power to local leaders who know the needs and priorities of their local people. This
means that municipalities are the ones who are primary tasked to provide basic service
delivery such as water, sanitation, electricity, sewerage, and refuse removal in
communities (Thabang, Makhanya & Nel, 2022:440).
According to Dick-Sagoe (2020) municipalities are decentralized in four (4) ways in order
to achieve effective and efficient service delivery which are political, administrative, fiscal
and economic. Political decentralization gives autonomy and self-governance power to
municipalities. Administrative decentralization gives municipalities power to regulate and
implement programs and policies. Fiscal decentralization gives municipalities the power
to regulate revenues, expenditure and budget decisions. Economic decentralization gives
munipalities power to find ways to promote local economic development. However, it has
been an ongoing challenge for municipalities to provide satisfying service delivery.
This research report aims to explore whether decentralization improves service delivery
in municipalities. This chapter 1 of the research report will firstly have a background and
mention the motive of the study. Secondly, it will state the problem statement, research
question and research objectives. Thirdly, it will clarify some of the important concepts so
that the reader can fully understand the report. Finally, it will state the propose headings
for the research report which will be discussed in detail in chapter 2 and then a conclusion
of the chapter.
2. Background and motivation of the study
In 1996 a constitutional democracy was introduced in South Africa and it came with the
introduction of the decentralized system of governance. The Constitution of South Africa
