Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanisms for Sustainable Development in Sedibeng District Municipality

The restructuring of local governance in South Africa requires municipalities to serve the communities within their areas of jurisdiction. This has brought capacity challenges for the municipalities. They are charged with delivering acceptable standards of services to the residents. The current lack of deliverance is evident in the widespread protests, with community members showing their dissatisfaction with sub-standard service delivery and backlogs. Furthermore, municipalities are required to formulate their own by-laws to improve the lives of community members, and to implement their legislative mandates satisfactorily. In order for the municipalities to perform more effectively a transformative model is necessary. The quality of services currently delivered at municipal level must be reviewed. Monitoring and evaluation, key elements of assessment must be undertaken. The rationale behind this monitoring and evaluation is to make the system of governance more effective by an even-handed assessment of policies, programmes, projects, strategies, performance of personnel, and indeed of the organization as a whole. The article is based on a study conducted to investigate the implementation of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms at South African municipal level. The local government structure requires more attention because of marked skill challenges. However, there is a need not only to enhance the performance of employees but also the quality of services provided and the effective management of municipalities as a whole. The focus area of this research is Sedibeng District Municipality (SDM), a Category C municipality in the Gauteng Province. The study was based on the hypothesis that effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms can provide sustainable development in Sedibeng District Municipality with improved service delivery. In order to validate the hypothesis, empirically based questionnaires on the monitoring and evaluation, and service delivery were utilized. Frequency analysis, which lends itself to correlation analysis, of employees’ responses and residents’ responses was conducted using the Pearson Correlation. The study tried to identify gaps within municipal capabilities to assess community needs. The quantitative study has revealed gaps in infrastructure delivery related to lack of capability mainly in primary resources, viz. financial, technical and human. The capabilities of Sedibeng District Municipality require effective utilization of these primary resources, resulting in acceptable standards of service delivery to satisfy community needs. The municipal performance to address community needs can be identified, reviewed, prioritized and strategized through a Municipal Assessment Tool, discussed in a proposed model called as Monitoring and Evaluation for Sustainable Development (MESD). Once the above model is in place the municipality may well achieve a level of efficiency towards sustainable development