Community perception of water service delivery in Greater Giyani Municipality

Abstract

This study reports on water service delivery and it is a research that was undertaken in the Greater Giyani Municipality situated in Mopani District of Limpopo Province of the Republic of South Africa (RSA). The main aim of the study is to present the community’s perception on water service delivery challenges facing municipalities in the RSA and to make recommendations towards the development of both the community and the municipality. The motivation for this research was an upsurge in water delivery protests throughout South Africa and some of these protests have resulted in an unfortunate killing of citizens in the country during 2012, 2013 and 2014. In order to accomplish the aim of the study, several objectives were addressed. In the first part of the study, a literature review and identification of the context within which water is rendered in Greater Giyani Municipality is explained. The thesis then presents findings from the survey and an evaluation of the community perceptions of the quality of water service delivery. Following the survey report are the findings from the interviews held with municipal managers. From these combined findings recommendations are made towards water service delivery improvement. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used in the study. A questionnaire collected data from eighty five (85) participants (households) of Kremetart Township. Following the community survey, interviews were held with eight (8) municipal officials within the Greater Giyani Municipality. Respondents from the community (households) were randomly sampled, while municipal officials were purposefully sampled to represent those responsible for water service delivery. The questionnaire distributed to community members comprised of both closed and open ended questions with completion duration of 30 minutes. Semi-Structured interviews were used to derive an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon from the municipal officials. Major findings arising from the community survey are that clean water, sanitation, aging pipelines, lack of infrastructure and free basic services were the main service delivery challenges. However, from the municipal officials, issues of maladministration appeared more prevalent. The issue of maladministration emanates from the confusion of duties and functions between councillors and the council officials. Also of concern from the officials are issues of community engagement. The last area of concern raised by both the community and the municipal officials is payment for services. Whilst the municipal issues are centred on old infrastructure, the communities’ issues weigh more on payment of inadequate and unreliable services. The study makes several recommendations to the municipality, which if addressed, may improve service delivery and lead to positive perceptions by the community and towards significant development of the town. In order to overcome the challenge of service delivery, municipalities may consider prioritising capacity building, ensure that staff are recruited and employed on the basis of merit and also ensure that public participation is not hindered, especially functionality of ward committee structures.