Mpofana municipality : an investigation of the perceptions of municipal stakeholders towards service delivery.

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating perceptions of different stakeholders, which were the community, administration (staff) and councillors on service delivery by Mpofana Municipality. This research provided recommendations that would assist in terms of accelerating service delivery, which is noted as the most fundamental responsibility of all municipalities in South Africa as the fulfillment of the constitutional mandate. The study provided recommendations that will assist in terms of accelerating service delivery, not only in urban areas but in rural areas as well. The study focused on Mpofana Municipality using the Servqual model to measure perceptions in terms of service delivery, i.e. what is expected compared with perceptions of service experienced. The overall SERVQUAL score of the councillors and the staff revealed that the perceptions were equal to the expectations. The results showed that the SERVQUAL calculated from the responses of the staff and councillors were very similar and the gap between their perceptions and expectations was minimal. These results confirmed that staff and councillors hold similar expectations and perceptions in relation to customers. The results of the staff and the councillors were very similar because they were internal respondents associating themselves with the Mpofana municipality. The results showed that the community's expectations about the service which they received from Mpofana Municipality did not match their perceptions. This presents a great challenge to the councillors, as well as to the management of the municipality. The Mpofana Municipality is expected to provide excellent service to its customers all the time. What customers/clienUcommunity wanted and what they got from an institution did not match. This was not a satisfactory indication of the quality of service that the Mpofana municipality was displaying. These SERVQUAL scores also indicated that there were definite areas needing attention e.g. reliability, responsiveness and assurance. Service delivery could be improved if both councillors and staff were to align their expectations to those of the community and design services to the specifications and expectations of the customers.