Commonwealth Local Government Forum

Southern Africa \ Local democracy

This section contains information relating to all aspects of lcoal democracy and good governance at the local level. The Commonwealth principles on good practice for local democracy and good governance - known as the Aberdeen Agenda - which have been adopted by all CLGF members and are incorporated in the Commonwealth Charter, set the framework for the promotion of local democracy in the Commonwealth. The materials in this section relate to the constitutional and legal provisions for local government and include a range of studies, policy and training materials on local elections, leadership, community participation, representative local government, local government management and partnerships between local government and other key stakeholders such as traditional authorities.

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Public service delivery in South Africa: The political influence at local government level

This paper analyses poor service delivery at local government level, which is attributed to the politicisation of administrative components in municipalities, resulting in poor local governance. The public service delivery system has been perceived as one of the most important ways of reducing poverty through poverty alleviation programmes. As part of the South African government's cooperative system, key stakeholders in municipalities ought to adopt an integrated approach to public service delivery. An integrated approach to public service delivery demands that local municipalities, together with relevant stakeholders, integrate processes and services to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. This ultimately will result in an improved standard of living and sustainable livelihood for communities. With regard to public service delivery, local municipalities have the obligation of creating income opportunities people, especially the poor, with the sole aim of contributing towards poverty reduction and the realisation of the expectations of people, as stated in the South African government's White Paper of transforming public service delivery. The political interface in local municipalities greatly affects effective and efficient administration, as well as growth opportunities. Administrators, therefore, have the important function of ensuring that explicit assignments of objectives and administrative functions are wholly separated from the policymaking activities of government. This paper, therefore, suggests that municipalities adopt the merit system and abandon the spoils system that is highly characterised by political favours and political interferences. Political favours and interferences are dominant in local South African government, and they hinder the process of providing services equally.

Author: Mfundo Mandla Masuku, Nokukhanya Noqiniselo Jili Publisher: Journal of Public Affairs Publication year: 2019


The sustainable development goals and the global state of democracy indices

This issue of the GSoD In Focus explores the contribution that the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices can make to the review of progress on the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The GSoD Indices can be used to complement the official indicators of the SDGs, to acquire in-depth knowledge on trends in achieving the specific targets of individual SDGs. In this regard, the GSoD Indices can be used to provide data on the SDGs for poverty (SDG 1), hunger (2), health and wellbeing (3), education (4), gender equality (5), inequalities (10), sustainable cities and communities (11), peace, justice and institutions (16), and partnerships for the goals (17), as well as across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Author: International IDEA Publisher: International IDEA Publication year: 2019


Decentralisation, Local Governance and Path Dependency Theory

Tanzania has embarked on several radical measures to restructure its economy and governance structures, including local governments. For more than four decades, Tanzania has been striving relentlessly for effective decentralisation measures, yet the progress has been slow. The country has passed through several phases of decentralisation, with each phase inheriting some criticised characteristics that have been difficult to dismantle in the successive phases. For example, previously recognised mistakes have continued to block any attempts to diverge from the direction set by the Ujamaa policies. It is argued here that various attempts at decentralisation by the central government since the 1960s in Tanzania have fallen short of the government’s intentions to establish effective local governance. This being the case, two important questions prevail: Why has Tanzania made little progress towards effective decentralisation, despite various attempts to devolve powers from the centre? Why has Tanzania not fully decentralised, as echoed in the policy paper on Decentralisation-by-Devolution (D-by-D)? There have been a number of explanations for this retardation along the path to decentralisation. This article reflects upon the tenability of path dependency theory which posits that the longer an institution has been in place, the more resilient it is to change.

Author: Ambrose T. Kessy Publisher: Utafiti journal Publication year: 2018


The Effects of Political Leadership on Public Administration Within South African Local Government

Politics-administration interface is perceived as the heart of practice of public administration and aims at fostering relationships between administrators on one hand and political leaders and the public on another hand. The interface is the direct opposite of the dichotomy and advocates for a complementary model to be adopted where both politicians and administrators work hand in hand. Woodrow Wilson, widely acknowledged as the founder of Public Administration as an academic discipline, famously asserted that proper administrative questions were not political questions, meaning political questions are different from administrative questions. In his view, politics was outside the purview of public administration. However, it can be argued that politics cannot be separated from public administration because one needs the other. The findings indicate that politics do play an important role in public administration of the country however; the problem starts when the discipline of public administration tries to separate the two. The academic writings try to separate politics from administration nevertheless; it may be possible in writing but difficult in practice. Hence the paper seeks to probe the effects that politics has on public administration specifically in South African public administration. The political leadership in the South African context contributes to the effectiveness of public administration in the country. The paper seeks to analyse the benefits or rather seeks to look at how the political leadership contributes or affect running of public administration. Furthermore, the relationship between politicians and administrators at the local level is the point of view. A comprehensive literature survey or review in the study was the most important research method to gather relevant data that supports the study. Thus, recommendations are that, since politics cannot be separated from administration in practice, the relationship between political leadership and public administration should be strengthened.

Author: MM Mehlape Publisher: University of Limpopo Publication year: 2018


Democratization (2nd Edition) A Critical Introduction

The second edition of this popular and authoritative text provides a truly global assessment of democratization in theory and practice in the contemporary world. It has been systematically revised and updated throughout to cover recent developments, from the impact of 9/11 and EU enlargement to the war in Iraq.

Author: Jean Grugel, Matthew Louis Bishop Publisher: Macmillan Publication year: 2013


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