CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION
7.2 CONCLUSIONS
7.2.1 Facilitative Structures
There are a number of structures that have been created to facilitate intergovernmental relations in OSS. At the ward level, there are WTTs (war rooms); at the local municipality level, there are LTTs; at the district municipality level, there are DTTs; and at the provincial level, there is the PTT. These structures serve as information-sharing forums for the various stakeholders involved in OSS. They are supported by oversight and administrative
183 committees. They also boast high-ranking politicians and government officials. Despite this, the programme still faces major challenges in living up to its promise.
7.2.2 Reliance on Government Assistance
Contrary to the aims of OSS, community members are still relying heavily on the government for assistance. The reason for this is that other key role players like the private sector are not involved in the programme. Another reason is that community members lack the resources required to help themselves. Poor representation of the private sector in OSS indicates that not enough effort is being made to improve/ strengthen extra-governmental relations. Local government, community members, and non-governmental stakeholders were not involved in the formulation of the programme. The programme was announced by the former President Thabo Mbeki in 2008 and then in 2011, it was adopted by the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government under the leadership of Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize.
One of the reasons why the programme is facing major challenges is that it was initiated in a top-down approach. If a diverse group of stakeholders had been involved in the formulation of the purpose of the programme, they would have a sense of ownership of the programme and as a result, they would be more committed to it.
7.2.3 Collaborative Efforts
Those who are involved in the management of OSS believe that collaborating with different stakeholders ensures efficiency in the delivery of services. Working in collaboration with other stakeholders also allows for the sharing of ideas and best practices. The study also found that stakeholders collaborate because they realise that they cannot achieve their objectives working individually. This is in line with the argument made by collaboration scholars (Bryson, et al., 2006), that organisations collaborate only if they cannot achieve their goals individually, therefore, denoting personal interest in the decision to collaborate.
Trust is viewed as an important ingredient for collaboration success in OSS. Reporting is one of the strategies used to build trust. Members of the task teams are required to report on what they have been able to achieve every time the task team meets. This does not indicate the presence of trust but actually, indicates the opposite. Nevertheless, collaborative implementation of projects and interventions is a measure that is used to build trust in OSS,
184 although, despite these measures, there is still a lack of trust. Some community members have lost trust in OSS. This is caused by lack of and slow service delivery to communities.
Lack of participation by some government departments leads to lack of trust among task team members. Lack of consultation between local government and provincial government is another factor which diminishes trust. Local politicians believe that the reason they are not consulted is that politicians from the provincial level want to wrest votes away from them. This mistrust between the two spheres of government negatively affects intergovernmental relations and consequently service delivery.
7.2.4 Conflict Management
The study found that there are few conflicts recorded in OSS. The reasons for this are that there are a number of strategies that are used to prevent/manage conflict. The most used conflict management strategy is deliberations. Deliberations are favoured because they are grounded on Ubuntu where the views of every member are treated with equal respect. In this conflict management strategy, forgiveness and respect play a central role. The study also found that traditional leaders play an important role in preventing conflict in War Rooms. This is an indication that having a diverse group of stakeholders helps rather than hurts collaborations. The study further found that prayer is used to prevent conflicts. This strategy must, however, be used with caution since people belong to different religious groups. If not used cautiously, this strategy can cause rather than prevent conflicts. The few recorded cases of conflicts in OSS were caused by political differences and the lack of participation by some government departments.
7.2.5 Organisational Management
Organisational ownership of the programme in government departments is weak which negatively affects intergovernmental relations. The reason for the weakness in organisational ownership in government departments is that frontline staff do not have OSS as a deliverable in their performance agreements. Because of this, frontline staff are not motivated to work in OSS. They prefer to focus on delivering what is contained in their performance agreements. The study also found that those who are tasked with managing OSS in uMsinga are not able to get key resource holders to buy into the programme.
185 7.2.6 Implementation of Decisions
Implementing OSS decisions is fraught with difficulties. One of the causes of this is the lack of participation by some government departments. If government departments are not represented in the War Room, that means that interventions which require the attention of that department will not be attended to. This causes delays in the implementation of interventions. When this happens, community members start to lose trust in the programme as a platform to solve problems. The lack of financial resources also negatively affects implementation. Sometimes the households that have been identified as needing assistance cannot be assisted because of the shortage of financial resources. This necessitates the capacitation of task team members with the skills to attract key resource holders including business people.
7.2.7 Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation happen in both top-down and bottom-up fashion. With regard to the top-down approach, politicians and senior government officials visit War Rooms to assess whether they are delivering services to communities in the manner they are supposed to. The major weakness of this approach is that it is infrequent. The bottom-up approach to monitoring and evaluation entails task team members using logbooks to track the performance of provincial government departments. Despite these approaches monitoring and evaluation in OSS remain weak; testimony to this is the lack of participation by government departments. Those departments who do not attend War Room meetings are not made to account for non-attendance and this has negative consequences for the sustainability of the programme.
7.2.8 Intergovernmental Relations
There are numerous challenges which affect intergovernmental relations and the general functioning of OSS. The main challenge facing the programme is that many government officials do not attend meetings. Government departments are given meeting dates in advance but despite this, they still do not attend meetings. This shows that poor communication is not the cause of government‟s non-participation in the programme. The
186 causes of non-attendance are understaffing in government departments and the pursuit of self-interest by government officials. These challenges can be solved by hiring more staff that will focus on OSS and by including OSS as a deliverable in the performance agreements of government officials. The researcher is aware that hiring more staff might not be the most feasible of options given the economic climate prevailing in the country currently. The mistake that was committed by the KwaZulu-Natal Government was to assume that there is capacity in both government departments and the community. The study has shown that a lack of results has prompted community members to stop attending OSS meetings and events.
As noted above, another challenge facing the programme is the lack of capacity in the community. Community-based conveners do not have the capacity to carry out the duties of a convener. They lack the resources required to carry out their duties effectively.
Community-based conveners also lack legitimacy, indicated by the fact that when they try to do their work they face resistance from some government officials.
Another challenge to intergovernmental relations is political conflicts between the provincial government and local authorities. This conflict is caused by the lack of consultation between the two spheres. Some councillors feel that the provincial government is encroaching into their area of jurisdiction with the intention of winning votes. This is a major problem because it creates mistrust and breeds uncooperative behaviour.
Another major challenge facing the programme is the general lack of resources. The study argues that OSS has all the signs of an unfunded mandate. The local municipalities are expected to coordinate the initiative but they are not provided with the necessary human and financial resources to do so. The lack of resources also negatively affects the administration of the programme. There is a chronic shortage of basic office equipment across the War Rooms which negatively affects monitoring and evaluations and consequently accountability. The lack of resources is another tell-tale sign that the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government did not assess capacity before launching the programme.
187 7.2.9 Alleviation of Poverty
Regarding whether the programme has played a role in the alleviation of poverty, there are two contrasting views. Some thought the programme had played an identifiable role in poverty alleviation while others thought it had not had any impact. Those who argued that it has played a major role in poverty alleviation pointed to things like bursaries given to students to further their education at tertiary institutions, the houses built for the poor and the agricultural projects which have been launched under the auspices of the programme.
Those who argued that the programme was failing to alleviate poverty pointed to the fact that people still relied on unsustainable means of livelihood, such as food parcels. They argued that these measures were not sustainable in the long-term. By and large, community members are not participating in the programme. This is caused by the politicisation of the programme, non-participation by government departments and the lack of positive results.
Furthermore, community members do not know about the programme. Social networks could play an important role in the coordination of activities and the sharing of information in OSS.