Escalating debt in municipalities: a case study of financial sustainability in the Amahlathi Municipality
- Authors: Mashiyi, Buntu
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Municipal finance -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Local government -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape -- Finance Debt
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22651 , vital:30045
- Description: Municipalities have recently been in the media for the wrong reasons with certain allegations being levelled against these institutions. The allegations range from lack of service delivery, corruption and lack of good governance. This has resulted in communities showing frustrations through protests that result in the destruction of the existing infrastructure and, in some areas, boycotts towards payments of rates and services. The study seeks to establish the reasons that lead to ratepayers and communities not paying for rates and services. In the process of establishing the above, it seeks to come up with suggestions and solutions that can be implemented by municipalities to ensure that the ‘going concern’ is addressed. To achieve the above purpose a literature review was conducted on available sources of information looking at financial sustainability, the role of municipalities, powers and functions of municipalities and how these institutions are funded. The study also looked at literature regarding the strategies to increase revenue and improve debt collection. The study used Amahlathi Local Municipality as a case study where a sample was selected from the population. Questionnaires were developed and distributed to the sample and responses were received to the tune of 203 respondents. Questionnaires were both qualitative and quantitative as they had both open-ended and closed questions. Quantitative questionnaires were distributed to the community and the qualitative questionnaires were distributed for expert opinion. Analysis was done against the research questions to establish if there were any links to the literature and the findings of the study. The study found that communities are fed up with unsustainable or a lack of service delivery that the municipality is providing. This has been linked to some information gaps between the councillors and the community in terms of municipal programmes. More needs to be done in terms of ensuring that ward meetings are held on a regular basis so as to improve communication. There is also an observation of a ‘culture of non-payment’ emanating from political canvassing during voting periods which negatively affects the cash flows of the municipality and that public representatives need to champion debt collection endeavours.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Patients and healthcare professionals’ experiences of medicine unavailability at a primary healthcare centre in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole
- Authors: Ndzamela, Sisipo
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Primary care (Medicine) -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality , Pharmacy -- Practice -- South Africa -- Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Medical economics
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPharm
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22431 , vital:29969
- Description: Medicine stock-outs and shortages are being increasingly reported throughout South Africa. Primary healthcare centres are largely affected as many of them don’t have pharmacists and pharmacist support personnel to manage medicine stock levels. With the efforts to improve medicine availability and accessibility healthcare professionals have adopted informal networks through a borrowing system of medicines with other facilities The aim of this study was to explore and describe the experiences of patients and healthcare professionals of the unavailability of medicines at a primary healthcare (PHC) centre in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole. Using a qualitative approach, indepth interviews were conducted with 8 patients and 12 healthcare professionals including doctors, a pharmacist, pharmacy support personnel and nurses at a primary healthcare centre. These interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using Atlas.ti® network. The following major themes were identified; types of medicines that are unavailable, causes of stock-outs, psychological influence on both patients and healthcare professionals, compensatory measures and the central chronic dispensing and distribution program. Patient experiences included dissatisfaction and loss of confidence in the healthcare service delivery. Dissatisfied patients expressed emotions of anger and frustration. Also, unavailability of medicines resulted in stressed and burnt out healthcare professionals who have endured violence and verbal abuse from patients because of medicine stock-outs. Participants suggested that medicine stock-outs and shortages are most often due to delays in the delivery of stock by the depot. To counteract these effects healthcare professionals have adopted a borrowing system with other clinics. Furthermore, it was evident that the Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution program (CCMDD) implemented by the Department of Health to improve availability and accessibility of medicines was perceived to be ineffective. Therefore, the issue of medicine stock-outs negatively affects service delivery, and those involved experience psychological harm which then affects inter-professional relationships. Overcoming this issue would promote a better healthcare system within the country.
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- Date Issued: 2018
Critical success factors in implementing an IT project plan within a South African automotive assembly firm
- Authors: Meyer, Harold
- Date: 2014
- Subjects: Project management , Information technology projects , Management information systems
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MBA
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/9173 , vital:26471
- Description: Research shows that information technology (IT) projects have a poor success rate. Many IT projects exceed the allocated budget, take longer than the time allocated or do not meet the project requirements. The purpose of this study is to identify the critical success factors for implementing an IT project plan in automotive assembly firms in South Africa. The factors identified during the study cover the following topics: the project manager as a factor of success; project communication; knowledge management; the role of management; business strategy; project success measurements; and training and development. For the empirical study an online questionnaire was used as a data collection tool. The study consisted of 40 participants who are involved in the implementation of IT projects in automotive assembly firms with a minimum of 1 year experience. The questionnaire requested the biographical information of the participants and then asked the participants about their perception of the current project activity as well as their perceived importance of the project activities mentioned. The participants’ responses were structured according to a Likert-type scale. Participants had to indicate the extent to which they agreed with each statement in the questionnaire. The responses obtained from the survey were presented and analysed. The researcher observed in this study that aspects of the critical success factors were in place however there were areas which showed large variances. The researcher recommends that management of automotive assembly firms in South Africa should look into project communication and knowledge management. These factors showed large variances with regards to the current project activities and the perceived importance of the activities.
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- Date Issued: 2014