This case study does not contain text, graphics or tables copied and pasted from the Internet, unless specifically acknowledged and the source is detailed in the case study and reference sections. In the case of public companies, restructuring refers to significant changes affecting ownership, responsibility, function and location in the public sector. Prosecution of this particular problem in the Durban metropolitan region has been ineffective due to a lack of trained personnel and adequate equipment.
To combat this problem a joint venture was established in the form of a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Durban Metropolitan Police Service and the Vululeka-TMT Consortium. Yet endemic to this PPP was increased accountability that resulted in increased productivity and a 'protective' situation that certainly helped prevent corruption. The government would either sell part of its assets to a private entity while remaining the major shareholder in the partnership, or sell the entire entity to the private sector.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF CASE STUDY
One of the contributors to increased inventory costs is the long shipping distances in South Africa, which not only lead to higher than normal shipping costs, but also add to the time that inventory is delayed. Not all offenders can be prosecuted due to enforcement limitations such as less police personnel on duty, lack of vehicles and infrastructure such as non-availability of equipment. Damaged roads in turn affect other road users and all of the above costs invariably increase the cost of goods or service provision, which ultimately affects the municipal consumer.
Not only do overloaded vehicles pose an increased safety risk on the road, they also increase the rate of deterioration of road infrastructure and increase the cost of road maintenance, which in turn makes many of the roads dangerous for other road users to drive on (CSIR, 2005: i).
LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK REGULATING PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (PPPs)
RATIONALE OF CASE STUDY
- WHAT IS A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP)?
- USAGES OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
- PPPs AS MANAGEMENT REFORM
- PPPs AS PROBLEM CONVERSION
- PPPs AS MORAL REGENERATION
- PPPs AS RISK SHIFTING
- PPPs AS POWER SHARING
- BENEFITS OF PPPs
- DISADVANTAGES OF PPPs
A PPP is a contract between a public sector institution or municipality and a private party in which the private party assumes significant financial, technical and operational risks of a project (National Treasury online: 2010). PPPs allow the government to retain ownership while forcing the private sector to perform a specific task, such as building, maintaining and operating infrastructure such as roads and ports, or providing basic services such as water and electricity. Long-term contracts that will enable the private sector partner to develop different approaches to service delivery, focus on life cycle costing and recover the initial capital investment;
Private sector organizational skills, distribution of efficiency and innovation in the financing, construction and operation of the overall project. The PPP preparation period includes the initiation, feasibility study and procurement phases of the project cycle and concludes with the signing of the PPP agreement. The PPP project cycle clearly indicates when approvals are required and which modules from the PPP Manual are relevant for the different phases.
Integration – Effective convergence of public and private sector philosophies will bring benefits to both parties and the public. Management reform partnerships are seen as an innovative instrument that will change the way government works, primarily by leveraging market discipline. While the above perspectives describe partnerships as a means of bringing government closer to the private sector, a more subtle distinction becomes apparent when reflecting on the effects partnerships have on the personnel involved.
The private sector is likely to be more innovative in the use and management of assets than the public sector and this reduces the cost requirement and increases competition. The private sector offers greater advantages in terms of providing specialized management knowledge, especially where large and complex programs are involved. PPPs with insufficient business experience always increase the risk profile and lead to a fear of the unknown.
Public sector entities lack the skills needed to manage PPPs, and public officials tend to resist private sector involvement for fear of loss of control, potential downsizing or potential risk of failure.
GENERAL CHALLENGES
Lack of visibility can lead to PPPs not meeting required service standards. The reputation of PPPs and the accompanying delivery process is seen in a bad light, as in most cases PPPs raise tariffs to meet greater consumer demand for infrastructure and delivery services, despite a larger customer base and the fact that the customer will benefit from more efficient services (www.dbsa.org). It is essential that appropriate private sector incentivized delivery arrangements are outlined in the contract from the outset.
ECONOMIC CORRIDORS
The Port of Durban is a busy hub of economic activity and the largest of South Africa's seven ports. It manages more than 31.4 million tonnes of cargo per year, with a value of over R100 billion per year, which is approximately 65 percent of the value of all cargo passing through South African ports. More than R3 billion has been earmarked for investment in Durban Port's infrastructure since 2002 for expansion and development, which includes widening the harbor mouth and building cargo terminals (http://sharondavis.co.za).
Durban, the Southern Hemisphere's busiest port, is set to become one of the world's largest container stacking ports. Globally, in maritime terms, Durban is the heart of the southern hemisphere's maritime universe (Tom, 2009: 26). Given its commercial importance to important markets such as China, India, America and Europe, Transnet, the para-state that owns the port, is investing huge sums of money to expand capacity, improve and promote the port not only as a key destination. but for transshipment purposes.
DURBAN METROPOLITAN POLICE PPP AND THE CHALLENGES FACED
SAMWU and IMATU are considered key players within the eThekwini Council's policy-making and implementation process. SAMWU, which aligns itself with the ANC's tripartite political partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), has long been opposed in principle to private sector involvement, fearing that restructuring would, among other things, affect their interests and circumstances of employees will threaten. of employment. Unions have expressed concern that their members may lose their jobs, be redeployed elsewhere within the public service, be transferred to a new company, lose job prospects and/or be subjected to different work processes .
In addition, the unions have also raised reservations about the future of their bargaining rights, their right to representation at the workplace in relation to the private organizations and in wage negotiations. The alleged impact of PPPs on job security and to a lesser extent on bargaining rights has increased opposition to PPPs (www.mbendi.co.za).
OPERATION OF THE DURBAN METROPOLITAN POLICE WEIGHBRIDGE PPP
This put further pressure on the capacity of the existing facility and became a source of frustration for DMPS officers. The facility operated on a three-shift, 24-hour basis and included 4 full-time employees in the consortium per shifts responsible for the administration of the bridge scale and 6 full-time police officers per shifts that were responsible for all statutory enforcement activities. Therefore, all the administrative tasks corresponding to approx. 50% of the bridge scale's operational functions performed by consortium personnel, freeing up more police officials for the enforcement arena.
One of the benefits of joint training was that personnel from both sides were exposed to a holistic view of the operation. As mentioned earlier, the dismissal process in the public sector is much more complicated due to the power of trade unions. In 2005, the eThekwini municipality did not renew the PPP contract with the Vululeka-TMT consortium and DMPS took full control of the bridge scale.
All replacement staff consisted of active duty police; additional resources such as police vehicles and two-way radios were needed. The following statistics belong to the period after the end of the Vululeka-TMT Consortium's PPP contract. It should be noted that after the contract ended, the entire Bayhead Weighbridge operation was run by uniformed DMPS officers and a different operational strategy was used.
As a result, enforcement officers without proper training in the operation of the weighing equipment were transferred to the unit, some against their will. The effect of the increase in enforcement officers after the PPP resulted in a 44% increase in offenses imposed However, it is clear that more emphasis has been placed on defect and movement offenses compared to weight related offences. The decline in the seriousness of criminal offenses is also attributed to the lack of accountability brought about by the existence of the PPP.
Even supervisory staff have reduced their focus due to the lack of accountability component.
CONCLUSION
It is more convenient for the enforcement officer to charge a fault or moving violation, especially on a truck, than to stop and enforce a weight violation, which is also time-consuming. It could be argued that the trend of continued enforcement could be the cause of the decline in trucking-related crime; however, a counterargument would be that a similar trend should be seen in the movement errors and violations category, as it would not make sense for trucking companies to consider the weight aspect and still risk time and financial loss due to delays associated with error violations. We can only assume that its sudden termination was due to a political decision and by no means operational inefficiency, as can be seen from the comparative data above.
Specifically targeted offenders such as freight forwarders fit the PPP model and its operational format demonstrated several benefits through combined efficiencies. Of particular importance is the reduction of corruption and abuse of state resources, and an increase in efficiency. Overall, statistics also revealed a decline in prosecutions and an inevitable increase in offenders once the PPP contract was terminated.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
