Public officials should reinforce their experience with academic research to respond to service delivery challenges more effectively from local government spheres.
That is a challenge posed by former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize and Umzimkhulu local municipality manager Dr Andile Ngqoyiya, two of the graduates at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Westville Campus on Tuesday.
Mkhize graduated with a master of administration degree for his study, “Service Delivery at the Provincial Sphere of Government: a Case Study of Operation Sukuma Sakhe (OSS) in KwaZulu-Natal”.
He told TimesLIVE Premium his inspiration for pursuing the study was being part of the team that initiated the Operation Sukuma Sakhe (OSS) programme during his eight-year tenure (2009-17) as KZN premier, which they implemented without doing proper research on it.
“We implemented this before it was researched, but we had not gone back to study how government service delivery has been implemented, how it’s going and what new lessons we can take, particularly for this District Development Model, which is best on OSS,” he said.
“I then came back to do a case study afterwards. I’ve done the research, interviewed 22 respondents and analysed it from an academic perspective and used the various theories to come up to a lot of new findings around this OSS.”
The programme seeks to strengthen service delivery and ensure strong community participation and governmental relations, he said.
Despite his wealth of experience in administration in local and national government, Mkhize insists it didn’t count for much this time because his research had to be approached from a fresh angle.
“Experience as part of the leadership didn’t really make a huge difference here. It’s like you’re starting something you have never had to deal with before. The theories that you have to go through are the major contribution that one has been able to learn,” he said.
“The academic research is the aspect that was new here: going to study all the various theories of government as well as new public management theories and then apply it to the situation as we have analysed it.”
Mkhize described the journey as “challenging but rewarding”, especially since he had to conduct his research during the Covid-19 period.
The 68-year-old said he hopes his journey inspires the next generation of leaders to focus on education and that his research helps government learn from the OSS programme.
“We need to have guidance over what lessons we get from OSS to guide the rest of the government. I think there will be very useful lessons for them.”
“We need leaders who will be driven by knowledge acquisition so that it’s new information that guides how people lead. There’s never going to be an age where you’re too old to learn.”
Ngqoyiya also shared a similar view about the need for officials to educate themselves further.
“As an accounting officer you’re responsible for the general and financial management of the institution while also having to comply with highly legislated local government, so you strive to equip yourself adequately to perform your duties to the satisfaction of every member of the community.”
The 52-year-old from a village called Delamuzi in Umzimkhulu on the south coast received a PhD in public administration for his research on the complexities of leadership approaches in local government, using Umzimkhulu as the case study.
Explaining his research, Ngqoyiya said he coined a leadership style called the “complex, adaptive leadership approach”, which seeks to approach different stakeholders according to their unique challenges and needs.
That approach, he said, has been applied in Umzimkhulu municipality and brought “stability” to the council as well as in the political and administrative arms.
“There are different political organisations; traditional leaders; business and religious sectors with different demands and challenges. You can’t apply a one-side-fits-all when you’re managing them,” he said.
“Also, the respondents in my research included members of senior and middle management who all realised the importance of applying a number of strategies to address behavioural patterns in any environment.”
He said the approaches he identified will be more relevant now during coalition arrangements in local government.
“You will be successful in attending the needs of all parties if you’re not rigid. If you’re adaptive to the practical circumstances in taking place in that particular area.”
Like Mkhize, Ngqoyiya said the pandemic proved another obstacle during his research and taught him to use “other instruments”.
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