Evaluating service delivery improvement programme in South Africa

Abstract

There is no doubt that nearly three decades since the first democratic election South Africa's democratic government has made significant progress in extending basic services to areas that were previously excluded. However, the unpredictable delivery and upkeep of these utilities greatly inconvenience and endanger the communities and therefore overshadows the accomplishments made. This is evidenced by the increasing number of service delivery protests across most municipalities in various provinces. As a result, there are growing calls for the government to improve service delivery as the public service delivery system is regarded as one of the most significant ways of reducing poverty and inequality. Service Delivery Improvement Plans (SDIPs) were developed to assist government departments to identify inefficiencies and challenges in delivering services and find solutions to these challenges. A study by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) from January 2019 to March 2020, evaluated Service Delivery Improvement Plans (SDIPs) that were implemented between 2012-2015 and 2015-2018. The study evaluated four focal areas of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of SDIPs. There is consensus that Public Service Regulations (PSR) (as amended in 2016), White Paper on Service Delivery (i.e. Batho Pele), and SDIPs are clear and coherent, however, at a practical level, they are not very clear. Secondly, SDIPs are not aligned with other important government frameworks such as Strategic Plans (SP) and Annual Performance Plans (APPs).