·         While policies, strategies, and plans are adequate in all government departments, they are not reviewed regularly. This explains why many well-constructed strategies fail.

·         There is unwillingness among staff to carry out their functions properly. There is also a lack of clear communication to lower levels of management.

·         Most departments have high staff turnovers and critical staff vacancies are not filled by individuals with appropriate skills.

·         Misappropriation or inadequate distribution of funds and other resources is common in most departments – especially at operational level.

·         There is inadequate record management, as well as control and monitoring measures.

Some departments have implemented procedures to tackle some of these issues, although their success cannot be ascertained as yet. Interventions include reducing red tape, service delivery improvement plans, and customer satisfaction surveys. An intervention named ‘Project Kaedu’ was initiated for all departments and is aimed at empowering senior managers in government departments to identify, analyse, and resolve service delivery challenges. However, most senior managers do not attend training sessions and other Kaedu meetings.

Although these challenges refer to central and provincial government departments, they are also common at most municipalities.

While most of these findings are common knowledge for citizens, it is refreshing that now the government has become aware of these shortcomings. The challenge now is really to put people first and start delivering.

-          Nthamaga Kgafela