Performance management systems implementation in South African municipalities : the case of Matlosana City Council

Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.Local government in South Africa has undergone significant transformation since 2000. There is a growing need to modernise this sphere of government, and part of this transformation process in South Africa has been to ensure that municipalities deliver according to their mandate in terms of services and become more responsive to communities’ needs. The role of municipalities, as local sphere of government, is to ensure that all citizens have access to at least a minimum level of services. These services have to be accessible, easy and convenient to be used by all citizens. A performance management system must ensure that the municipality administers its affairs in an economical, effective, efficient and accountable manner. This mandate can only be realised when municipalities establish a workable Performance Management System (PMS) as stipulated in Chapter 6 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. PMS is a tool meant to deliver service and to stop the culture of non-performance that is prevalent amongst the municipality personnel. This is basically caused by lack of proper training and knowledge of what PMS entails. The Municipal Systems Act, Chapter 4 makes room for the community to be involved when decisions are taken through ward committees. Municipalities should regard the PMS as an on-going process where managers monitor and evaluate the system. The primary objective of this study was to investigate Performance Management Systems implementation in South African municipalities, with specific reference to the case of Matlosana City Council. This study espoused recommendations on how the performance management system can be implemented in the Matlosana Municipality through the relevant statutory framework for regulating PMS implementation within the local government sphere. This study clarified the fact that the implementation of performance management is a lawful obligation and will be established if Matlosana Municipality has made commendable progress in addressing the developmental backlog inherited from the past in some areas .Moreover, this study recommended that efficient and effective management systems, practices and attitudes must be put into practice so as to assist with the monitoring of the performance of managers and to meet the set targets of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), and lastly, made recommendations based on the empirical study on how to improve the implementation and administration of the PMS at Matlosana Municipality.Master