Integrated Development Plan Implementation and the Enhancement of Service Delivery: Is There a Link?

Abstract

South African municipalities are legislative-bound to develop and implement an Integrated Development Plans (IDPs). IDPs are strategic documents designed to address service delivery imbalances of the pre-democratic dispensation and promote integrated and politico-socio-economic welfare of the general citizenry. Services delivered by municipalities are therefore incorporated within the IDP of each municipality.The aim of this paper is to interrogate the relationship between IDP implementation and service delivery using four (4) selected municipalities found within the Limpopo Province, South Africa as unit of analysis. This is done through qualitative and quantitative research approaches to comprehensively understand some of the factors leading to poor IDP implementation and poor service delivery to communities within the jurisdiction of selected municipalities. A structured questionnaire and supplementary interviews were used to collect primary data.The sample of the study comprised of 68 employees from the selected municipalities during the year 2014. The paper therefore concludes that efficient and effective implementation of the IDP has a potency of accelerating service delivery levels thus curbing service delivery protests. Proposed recommendations can contribute to both the body of knowledge and an instrument for policy making decisions.