Compliance with the supply chain management policy in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District

Abstract

In South Africa, Supply Chain Management (SCM) is critical in the quest for service delivery excellence in the municipalities. The SCM drive in South African municipalities started in 2003 with reforms to introduce internationally accepted procurement best practices. The previous system failed the country due to deficiencies and malpractices resulting from the interpretation, implementation and governance of the preference procurement policy. Recently, SCM has become a talking point about which citizens are raising major concerns and it is perceived as being handled in a way that benefits only a few individuals. Laws and regulations governing municipal SCM are intentionally ignored by municipal officials resulting in corruption, or fruitless, wasteful and unauthorized expenditure. In an effort to address these challenges, the National Treasury continuously provides guidance in terms of policy revision, clarity in the provisions of the SCM policy, as well as training to SCM officials. Against this background, this study focuses on obtaining an understanding of the level of compliance with the SCM policy in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality of the North West. The substantive area of research was the five local municipalities. The study used the mixed method research design with semi-structured face-to-face interviews to collect qualitative data and questionnaires for quantitative data. The instruments were administered over four weeks. The population of the study was the five local municipalities. Through purposeful sampling 30 participants were selected for interviews while another 400 were selected through the use of proportional stratified sampling fractioning for the quantitative data. Data collected were analysed through open-coding and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 24 accordingly and findings that emerged were presented according to themes and categories for the qualitative study supported by quantitative presentation of closed ended questions in tables and figures. The findings of the study revealed that, to a certain extent, the five local municipalities in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District of the North West, depicted the practice of some of the elements of SCM. SCM implementation policy is currently in its infancy and these municipalities do not fully comply with SCM policy. The municipalities are faced with problems of lack of knowledge, skills, lack of effective monitoring systems, communication flow, and lack of transparency, lack of proper infrastructure, lack of clarity, training and capacity. The study concludes with the development of propositions that need to be tested on SCM policy implementation and recommendations on how the five local municipalities can improve the SCM policy implementation process.