African Journal of Public Affairs Volume 8, Number 4 (2015)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/59918

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Front matter, African Journal of Public Affairs, Volume 8, Number 4
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015)
Partnership and outsourcing as tools for increased access to Consular Services : a case of the South African High Commission in the United Kingdom
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Diedericks, Melvin; Tiba, Johannes Kgotso
The provision of consular services is an obligation of every government to its citizens who are living abroad. In providing such services, efforts must be made to ensure that they are accessible to all citizens, wherever they may be. In the current economic climate, maintaining an extensive network of embassies and consulates around the world is an expensive venture. It is against this background that governments must be innovative in providing services by ensuring that private and third sector organisations are involved, in order to complement their work of guaranteeing that consular services reach their citizens at affordable costs–wherever they are in the world. This article makes a vital contribution to the concept of using partnership and outsourcing as tools for increased access to consular services in one of the critical missions of South Africa (SA) abroad–the United Kingdom (UK), by showing that the traditional way of rendering consular services from a diplomatic mission is inadequate to reach potential customers scattered throughout the host country. The research makes use of a mixed methods approach and concludes with significant recommendations that, inter alia, include even using post offices and the internet to ensure that consular services reach all parts of the UK where South Africans reside. Given that consular services have inherent security implications, the article also notes that, amongst factors that must be taken into account before outsourcing consular services, or even setting up a partnership, the chosen service providers must be able to maintain and protect the confidentiality of their customers.
A review of local government experience in South Africa : successes and failures
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Govender, Jayanathan; Reddy, P.S.
South Africa’s public policy approach since 1994 has been robust and forwardlooking. The policy process has been stretched over all areas of governance. Many policies have been translated into law, regulations and institutions which aimed explicitly as serving the public good. The key is narrowing the gap between the institutions of governance and people’s needs. However public dissatisfaction and mass protest in the local government sphere continue. Mass public protest consumes public capability and is therefore wasteful and counterproductive. The response of the authorities entering the contested space is usually reactionary and is hardly successful at addressing the core grievances of communities. Crucially, political representatives, i.e. ward and proportional representative councillors, are crowded out of resolution processes. Communities argue that mass protest and the appropriation of public space is an essential tactic of gaining the attention of the highest authorities. Most community protests are accompanied by acts of violence. Sometimes, the presence of policing services and/or the media exacerbates the crisis. The concern is that communities are acting outside democratic processes as well as institutional arrangements meant to bridge local delivery issues and intended community beneficiaries. It is possible that communities are either unaware of public policy instruments or that they do not respect them as bona fide channels of engagement with the local state. Consequently, protest, usually lacking organisation, strategic direction and leadership pervade the local government landscape. Accordingly, the purpose of the article is to examine how and why public policy provisions fail the public. The focus will be on policy provisions in local government legislation and the recent (2007) local government policy review process, which were intended to address, among others, good governance and public participation approaches, thereby enhancing service delivery. Overall, the article will attempt to evaluate policy gaps at the local government sphere.
Accounting information for performance management in the public sector
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Hendriks, C.J.; Botha, G.
Performance information indicates how well an institution is meeting its aim and objectives and which policies and processes are working. This article argues that the current system of accounting used by government for the preparation of its accounts has certain limitations in as far as the provision of performance information is concerned. Existing theory points to the fact that performance in the public sector is measured in terms of the economical, efficient and effective use of resources. However, the traditional government accounting system was developed to respond to the accountability requirements of the public and not to promote the economical, efficient and effective use of resources. Based on a case study conducted at the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature, it was determined that the modified cash basis of accounting used by government does not provide management with the information needed to enable performance management. The outcomes point to the fact that the accrual basis of accounting is a more effective basis for accounting and can contribute to more economical, efficient and effective use of resources. This is relevant because other government institutions also make use of the modified cash base of accounting to prepare their financial statements.
Way forward for agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Ingle, M.
This review article argues that rural sub-Saharan Africa has suffered from a wide range of disadvantages that have stunted its agricultural development. Agricultural areas have been characterised by policy voids and neglect, and have failed to achieve sustained development. A lack of incentives, rural investments, and institutional support has hobbled African farmers. Any way forward for the agricultural areas will rest on decisively tackling rural poverty. Many analysts have remarked on the debilitating effects of traditional tenure whereby most Africans do not hold secure title to the land they farm. Land tenure reform must be coupled with the pursuit of the best that modern technology and research has to offer. African farmers are also seriously disadvantaged by the subsidies that developed nations pay their farmers. A renewed commitment to a more open trading regime between Africa and its main trading partners is a sine qua non for Africa to prosper. In essence, for Africa fully to realise its agricultural potential it needs urgently to transcend the methods and cultural institutions of its past even though this may entail something of a shock to the system and alienate certain vested interests. But this cannot happen without political stability and good governance.
Towards an inclusive South African state : the role of equality and human rights in promoting equal opportunities for persons with disabilities in the workplace
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Pillay, Shandran; Raga, Kishore; Taylor, Derek
The practice of democratisation at the centre of development in South Africa has brought about dual impacts of change. Diversity within South African societies has increased challenges facing the state. While emphasis has been continually placed on promoting processes of transformation, there has simultaneously been a challenge of deceleration in state developmental practice during pursuits of social change in working environments. Persons with disabilities continue to be secluded, regardless of increased pressure for inclusiveness in workplaces. Diversity in employees as an inevitable element of social groupings has surfaced as a precept of both strengths and challenges to organisational structures in private and public organisations. In light of diversity in public organisations, the primary focus nonetheless remains fixated on the divisions etched in the workplace as a consequence of disablism, in particular. Persons with disabilities have been pinpointed as one of the targets of exclusion, continuing to be undermined in their contributions to effective organisational practices. To transform organisational attitudes affecting persons with disabilities and embracing diversity, attention is to be directed towards the application of principles of equality and human rights in creating enabling environments that are inclusive of persons with disabilities. The article reviews the concept of disablism as a societal phenomenon affecting persons with disabilities in organisations. Furthermore, the principles of equality and human rights are explored in terms of their contribution to diversity and an enabling environment in the workplace.
Conceptual perspectives on factors and considerations for enhancing ethical governance in Public Administration
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Sing, D.
Throughout the world, establishing and promoting a proper foundation for ethical governance in public administration has become in itself, a daunting challenge, given the constantly changing internal and external environments impacting on public administration. The goodness of ethical governance in public administration can be enhanced through conceptual perspectives on factors and considerations– such as values as ethical anchors; ethical organisational culture; ethical foundations of decision making; ethics in leadership; and responses to ethical issues. These conceptual perspectives can contribute to discovering and identifying what is in the public interest; perpetuating assured and consistent individual and collective behaviour by aligning own values to those underpinning ethical governance in public administration; making judgments and assessments which can be articulated and justified in any institutional or public forum, through deep self-reflection, engagement and dialogue; and realising and understanding that individual and collective behaviour in day-to-day practice may have their roots or origins in some ethical dispute, ethical question or tension.
Mobile phones as means for extending e-governance in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015) Uwizeyimana, Dominique E.
Literature tells how well and successful e-governance, or e-service, and many more other names, given to the process whereby government services are provided to the citizens via electronic means in developed countries. Literature accounts for developing countries such as the USA, UK to name but a few, which have made headway in implementing e-governance. The general assumption in the current literature is that Africa, and Sub-Saharan African countries in particular should replicate what developed countries such as the UK and USA have done in order to achieve the same results. The author of this article challenges these widely accepted views by showing that the reported success of e-governance in developed countries has been the result of widespread availability of computers and of high levels of computer literacy which are not available in most, if not all Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Thus the researcher asks the question: Given the socio-economic conditions in which the majority of people in rural areas of Limpopo live, what practical options of ICT can be used to extend e-services/e-governance to them and the people living in similar socio-economic conditions elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa? The research design comprised a critical literature analysis and assessment of the available publications on the topic at the time of writing.
Impact evaluation as a reform mechanism, to assess performance of Gauteng’s metropolitan municipalities in delivering basic services : a case of Millennium Development Goals
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015-12) Maepa, Kgosi Lucas; Thornhill, Christopher
Metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng Province of South Africa are responsible for more than nine million inhabitants. This implies that they are the largest providers of municipal services to the inhabitants of the Gauteng Province. The research focused on only the services identified as basic to society. This was done to establish the extent to which the three metropolitan municipalities viz. Tshwane, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg meet the Millennium Development Goals. The research focused on the delivery of services to informal settlements to determine how the respective municipalities identified the need for services and how they provided the services to a rather unknown number of inhabitants in the selected settlements. A sample was used in each municipality to guide the researcher in determining the impact of the services in relation to the Millenium Development Goals. The article discusses the essence and importance of programme performance information as reform mechanism in metropolitan municipalities in the South African context, Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] and the provision of basic services by the South African government since 2003 – 2013. The approach adopted in this article, is to use Impact Evaluation (IE) – which is a process used to conduct evaluations and provide publication of results in Gauteng’s metropolitan municipalities (Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Tshwane). For a scientific and balanced output – various sources of information will be consulted, results analysed and compared to calibrate a view and formulate an opinion on how metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng are performing in terms of the provision of basic services.
"Attacking the bureaucratic Elephant" - the State of selected public administration, political and policy reforms in new democracies: From decentralisation and partnership to the responsive citizen in the governance of the state
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015-12) Saloojee, A.; Kuye, Jerry O.
This article argues that there are several assumptions that guide and shape the issues of decentralisation and partnership in creating a responsible and citizen-focused public service in South Africa, in developed countries and in other developing countries. The first assumption is that decentralisation as a normative ideal ought to be pursued everywhere. The second assumption is that public administrators simply need to make decentralisation work for the citizenry and not question it at all. The third assumption is that decentralisation can work because centralisation has not. The fourth assumption is that if decentralisation is not working in the interests of the citizenry the fault lies elsewhere than with decentralisation itself – the corollary of this is to be found in the assumption where two public administrators simply need to find ways of making it work in the interests of the citizenry. And the fifth assumption is that centralisation equals bad and decentralisation equals good and the corollary of this is that states ought to pursue decentralisation both as an end and as a means to an end.
South Africa’s exports to China : higher quantity or bigger variety?
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015-12) Jordaan, Andre Cillie
In general, a country’s “fundamentals”, namely its endowments of physical and human capital, labour and natural resources along with the quality of its institutions, largely determine what it produces. Any attempt to reshape the production structure beyond the boundaries of these fundamentals is likely to fail and limit potential economic performance. Although fundamentals play an important role, it does not necessarily pin down exactly what a country will produce and export. Export expansion is pivotal in a country’s attempt to promote economic growth and can be based on either the intensive margin, involving expansion in the quantity of existing exports or the extensive margin, involving expansion in the variety of products exported. Furthermore, a country also needs to evaluate its domestic production capacity given a specific trading partner. South Africa and China are moving closer to one another as trading partners, presenting ample trade opportunities. South Africa’s sectoral exports to China identifies key trade opportunities, while export sectors with potential to export more existing products (intensive margin) or more product varieties (extensive margin) are identified in this article. This analysis could provide valuable insight into the government’s trade institutions. The information could assist in providing guidance to exporting firms to ensure increased effectiveness in a very competitive environment.
The journey toward forgiveness : a case of reconciliation and strategic governance in Burundi and the Great Lakes Region of Africa : recent leadership developments and policy decision-making
(African Consortium of Public Administration, 2015-12) Kuye, Jerry O.; Tshiyoyo, Mudikolele Michel
The process of justice and reconciliation is not only a matter of healing memories and receiving forgiveness. It is rather a matter of addressing the social structures that provoked, promoted, and sustained the occurrence of acts of violence. This article examines the journey toward forgiveness focusing on the case of reconciliation and strategic governance in Burundi. An emphasis will be essentially placed on the recent developments. In this article the intention is not to examine the social structures but to identify some of the theories that can assist the Burundian people to engage in the peace-building process in the aftermath of conflicts. The case of Burundi is not unique hence the ideas outlined in this article are also applicable to other countries in the Great Lakes region and even beyond. The article will suggest the adoption of a leadership model most suited for the region, as it contains the elements that are appropriate for a leadership paradigm that could work in sub- Saharan Africa. This article further interrogates the assumption that, decisionmaking and policy analysis in the public sector realm can be ‘rational’, against the inherent messiness of politics in the developing world.

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