Abstract:

Service delivery remains one of the challenges of the 21st century in developing countries around the world. South Africa also forms part of distressed countries in terms of service delivery backlogs. It is for this reason that a management planning tool such as the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) has been adopted to enhance service delivery in municipalities. An IDP is aimed at the integrated development and management of the area of jurisdiction of the municipality concerned in terms of its powers and functions with a view of improving and sustaining service delivery. This article emanate from an empirical study undertaken to assess the IDP as a management planning tool for effectively enhancing service delivery using selected local municipalities found within the Mopani District Municipality in order to establish the existing gaps and realities on the ground. A mixed-method approach was used with structured questionnaires and supplementary unstructured interviews, documentary analysis and observations to collect data. The findings show that Municipalities have a challenge of engaging in management planning processes in the formulation and the implementation of the IDPs. This has a tendency of resulting in the planning process with predetermined service delivery objectives other than those to be implemented in terms of the needs of the citizenry. The findings justify the poor state of service delivery in municipalities within the study area and the country at large

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