Local government in South Africa is entrenched in the Constitution as a sphere of government as opposed to a tier. However, the financial and poor leadership related challenges encountered by municipalities render them ineffective in the delivery of basic services to residents.
The inability to render services necessitate the administrative and financial intervention by National Government at a wider scale and not as an exception to a few municipality.
In this context, can municipalities be considered a sphere of government with executive authority, and how can they ensure that services are rendered in an inclusive and sustainable manner that promotes the human rights of local residents.
Brian,
Respectfully, it will ALWAYS be the people that make the difference -- and not the framework. The significant problems we face, Einstein reminded us, cannot be solved at the level that we were at when we created them.
Human rights problems are people issues. Laws do not guarantee human rights. Defining the problem is insufficient. Developing a great strategy is often ineffective. Execution matters most (Pfeffer, 1998). And execution is performed by people with integrity, commitment, and ability.
The history of government reminds us the truth of the limitations of poor leaders . . . . as well as the enormous contributions of great leaders who had the integrity and courage to change the world.
Electing better leaders is a challenge unless people can be identified who have the vision to see that their contribution can serve a noble purpose -- and are willing to put service over self-interest (Block, 2013).
CC
It is the most critical input by Caldwell as for an example South Africa is a Constitutional Democracy, but often the leaders are the ones who disregard the fundamentals of such.
However, it still remains important to transmit a good culture of leadership ethics and human rights particularly in the deprived post-colonial societies who are subjected to understanding development related issues through
the Western experience and overlooking the specificity of our own
social and historical context.
Thank you for the profound and illuminating angle of the role of Human Agency.
Cam: I was getting ready to say "it is about the leaders, elected and appointed" when I read your response. No need for me to do anything but echo your comments and share an old article I did that had published back in 1997 that supports our contention that it is the people who make things great, good, or bad ..:-)..
It is important to continue with this critical inputs on governance and leadership at all levels. Thank you very much for the reference.
I agree with Cam that the people always make the difference and that electing and even appointing good leaders is a challenge. I think the law can help by improving transparency for example requiring open meetings, and access to government records and documents. Laws can also minimize the degree to which nepotism and cronyism are used to filled government positions. Finally the citizens must be actively involved in the functions of government and this may be best accomplished through educating the members of society to become actively engaged and responsible civic citizens.
I share the view with regard to Citizen Participation. However, the unethical leaders and managers often ensure malicious compliance when it comes to the involvement of communities. This is always done at a great cost from the public coffers.
Citizen mobilisation through civil society agencies could also contribute towards challenging corruption and related patronage culture. Needless to overemphasise this particular point as alluded from your contribution.
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