Measures that may assist non-performing municipalities in improving their performance

Abstract

Background: Municipalities’ non-performance in terms of service delivery is often considered to be a significant concern that affects the community. Municipalities constitute the most important sphere of government as they operate at grassroot level and are mandated to provide essential services to communities. A lack of governance, poor financial management reporting, poor supply chain and asset management processes are some impediments that affect the service delivery.

Aim: This study aimed to identify performance enhancing measures that non-performing municipalities in South Africa could apply.

Setting: The article focused on all 44 district municipalities and identified the best performing ones from the period 2017 to 2020 financial years before examining measures that assisted well-performing municipalities.

Method: A sequential exploratory research design was used in the study. The municipal performance measures were identified from the literature, confirmed, and validated through the content analysis of performing municipalities’ annual reports. The performance of these municipalities was based on the audit outcomes from the Auditor General South Africa (AGSA).

Results: Forty-two measures were recommended to enhance non-performing municipalities’ performance.

Conclusion: The overall view of all district municipalities and the identification of measures to focus on may assist municipalities in reflecting and implementing the suggested measures.

Contribution: Most of the available literature focuses on metropolitan municipalities and tends to focus on corporate governance. This study examined change drivers in district municipalities and focuses on governance, financial management, supply chain management, and asset management. Areas for improvement were flagged and improvement measurements were put in place to enhance performance.