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Theses and dissertations (Management Sciences)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/14

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    An examination of community perceptions on service delivery : a case study of Ntabankulu Local Municipality
    (2022) Dabula, Mphumzi; Fagbadebo, Omololu M.
    This study examined community perceptions on public service delivery in Ntabankulu Local Municipality. Members of the communities in Ntabankulu Municipality often protest their dissatisfaction with public services being delivered by the government. The study investigated the root causes of poor service delivery in the Municipality. Using interviews and questionnaires as methods of data collection, the study engaged 93 participants, selected randomly to participate in the interview and administration of questionnaires. These participants were drawn from community members, councillors, and ward committee members. The study found that the lack of capacity jeopardises effective service delivery to the communities in Ntabankulu Local Municipality. Other factors that hinder effective service delivery in the municipality include a shortage of financial resources and grant dependency. The findings revealed further that the high backlog of service delivery in Ntabankulu and the non-service delivery is negatively affecting the standard of living of members of the community. The study also found that Ntabankulu Local Municipality limited technical resources in the handling of certain services that required expert knowledge. The use of consultants in place of this absence has not been able to provide the necessary services to the satisfaction of citizens. Other findings suggested that service delivery protests in Ntabankulu are about water and road infrastructure. The recommendations highlighted that Ntabankulu Local Municipality should procure its plant machinery to maintain the access roads and not outsource such services. It was recommended that the municipality should deliver water in water Tanker Trucks at least twice a week while it is trying to provide them with water taps to ensure that community members have access to clean water
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    South African comprehensive universities' community engagement : $b towards establishment of a best practice framework for community engagement
    (2021-02) Mkuzo, Luleka; Govender, Ivan Gunass
    In this study, the researcher interrogated the core fundamental purpose of community engagement (CE) in an attempt to understand the role of higher education institutions in communities. Community engagement as a phenomenon is viewed with much ambiguity, having a very broad and open interpretation and being seen as both positive and negative by others. There is no governing document that mandates how institutions should develop, implement and monitor community engagement. Consequently, each institution has developed their own guiding documents as per their purpose, mission and context. In South Africa, the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) focused on community engagement in higher education because it recognized the need for academic reconstruction. Community engagement was seen as a potentially powerful instrument that could be used in the transformation agenda in higher education. To date, this view has not changed. The challenge is to shift the academic perspective from the traditional notion of viewing university community engagement as charity to begin to see it as that of pedagogy. In working with five comprehensive universities and a total of fifty participants ranging from Community Engagement Directors, Managers, Project Leaders, students and community members, the study’s aim was to understand how community engagement is defined with regard to restraints, exclusions and inclusions. The study explores the nature of its definition; its purpose and challenges; utilizing a transformative approach proposes a framework that can be used as a guide to community engagement. The study revealed the need for both universities and communities to break their tangible and intangible boundaries to allow community engagement to be conducted in an effective manner using ubuntu, deep democracy and a scholarship approach that can bring about change and add value for both universities and communities. The study also revealed that the ambiguous contextual nature of community engagement makes it difficult for academics and community members to understand what it is, hence making it open for various universities to develop and implement it according to their own mission and vision. The study therefore recommends that community engagement be approached with a framework of Ubuntu, deep democracy and scholarship. Furthermore, there should be a clear funding model for community engagement or engaged scholarship, along with a monitoring and evaluation framework that measures the community engagement impact.