Management of basic service delivery tracking and reporting system in the south african local government

Abstract

The South African Local Government is currently experiencing a backlog in providing basic services to its citizens due to financial constraints, lack of planning, poor project management and integration between sector departments. The South African Local Government also needs a centralised and automated system that can track and report how far the government is in delivering basic services in its local municipalities. The Bill of Rights lists the following as the basic services everyone must have access to health care, clean drinking water, sanitation, electricity, waste removal/management and basic education. This research focuses on a future service delivery tracking and reporting system that can be used to capture data on how far the local government is in achieving its goal of ensuring that everyone in South Africa has access to essential services. Relevant literature reviewed for this study includes literature on local government, service delivery, service engineering, and systems engineering will be sought in books, research journals and articles and government reports that have been published. The knowledge gained from the literature review and the concept model development led to four research propositions. The results from the proposition evaluation showed that the South African municipalities and sector departments use different tracking and reporting systems. There is a need for a centralised tracking and reporting system. The results also showed that this system would benefit all three spheres of government (national, provincial, and local.)