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.