The influence of the Klerksdorp City Council's restructuring on the Department of Civil Engineering
Abstract
The political transition in South Africa had a dramatic effect on the broader public
service and specifically on local government. The Constitution of South Africa
Act 108 of 1996 and the White Paper on Local Government, 1998 provided the
framework according to which the transformation of local government was
realised and it was further directed by key legislation such as the Local
Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, the Local Government:
Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 and the Local Government: Municipal
Demarcation Act 27 of 1998.
This legislation, along with the presidential appointed Demarcation Board's
reduction of South Africa's 843 municipalities to 284, had a radical impact on the
Klerksdorp, Orkney, Stilfontein and Hartbeesfontein municipalities due to the fact
that it was legally compelled to amalgamate into a single local municipality. A
complicated restructuring process followed to enable the newly amalgamated
Klerksdorp City Council to meet its constitutional mandate and local government
objectives.
In this study an analysis of the statutory framework for the South African public
service and resulting local government transformation processes is done in
conjunction with a literature study of the phenomena transformation,
restructuring and resistance to change as organisational change processes in
order to analyse the Klerksdorp City Council's transformation and restructuring
process as well as its effect on the employees and managers of the Department
Civil Engineering as role-players in the process.
THE INSTITUTION RESEARCHED
Research was done at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher
Education and the Department Civil Engineering of the Klerksdorp City Council
was chosen for the empirical research.
THE RESEARCH METHOD
This is mainly a literature study aimed at establishing a theoretical basis and all
information on the subject was gathered by studying relevant legislation, reports
and literature. Empirical research was done by means of questionnaires
completed by and semi-structured interviews conducted with the respondents.
The relevant legislation and information obtained were discussed, analysed and
evaluated in accordance with the research objectives.