Imperatives of on–the–job training for service delivery at the Emfuleni Local Municipality

Abstract

On-the-job training, the inculcation and development of skills of employees at the workplace, is a sine qua non for increased productivity and morale. These latter attendant attributes are the bedrock of the broader human resource management strategy, to enable municipalities to improve governance systems. The government has created an enabling environment through the enactment of legislations such as the Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act 97 of 1998) and the White Paper on Public Service Training and Education (Notice 422 of 1997) amongst others, to ensure that municipalities are able to realise this mandate. The ultimate objective is to establish a clear vision and policy framework to guide the introduction and implementation of new policies, procedures and legislation aimed at transforming public service training and education into a dynamic, needs-based and pro-active instrument. Against this background, the role of the training department of the municipality becomes central in enabling the council to counteract employee poor performance levels and poor service delivery by the municipality. This article employs the case study approach at the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM), as well as literature review on training and postulates that sustainable human resource management in public service institutions and the ELM in particular, are inextricably linked with the capacity of the municipality to provide on-the-job training to its employees. This is a basic requirement to enable a municipality to provide effective and efficient service delivery.