Municipal Employees' Perceptions of Service Delivery in Limpopo–South Africa: A Critical Need for Good Governance

Abstract

Public service delivery protests in post-apatheid South Africa has come to characterize community life at the local sphere of government. Negative consequences of corruption, maladministration, mismanagement of public resources and poor service delivery, all negatively impact good governance in South Africa’s young democracy. This paper intends to investigate the perceptions of municipal employees regarding service delivery and governance at the local government level. More often in South Africa, the assessment of the perceptions of service providers regarding service delivery has received minimal attention at the local government sphere as compared to those of service recipients. This paper fills this gap through literature analysis and an empirical survey conducted among the service providers at municipalities in the Limpopo province to obtain an insight of the perceptions of critical role-players and to provide recommendations to improve service delivery at municipalities in South Africa. The study adopts both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.