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02 September 2024 Photo Supplied
Dr Harlan Cloete
Dr Harlan Cloete is an academic and research fellow in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State. He is the founder of the Great Governance ZA podcast and a founder member of community radio KC107.7 in Paarl in 1996.


Opinion article by Dr Harlan Cloete, Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, University of the Free State.

In the 2022-2023 Local Government Audit, the Auditor-General (AG) notes inadequate skills and capacity, a culture of no accountability and consequence, together with governance failures, as the main weaknesses impeding progress in municipalities. But this is not new, we have heard this before. A predictable surprise, argues Michael Watkins, Canadian-born author of books on leadership and negotiation, arises out of failures of recognition, prioritisation, or mobilisation – when leaders inevitably had all the information about an imminent disaster but failed to act.

In April 2024 the University of the Free State (UFS) handed over a report commissioned by the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSeta) titled: “An evidence based human resource development (HRD) assessment to measure and manage its implementation in South African municipalities”.

HRD not effectively measured and managed

This was not smooth sailing, and it was a mission to convince municipalities to participate, as expressed by one official. “Good morning Dr Cloete. I am glad that you are finding a breakthrough elsewhere. Unfortunately, where I am, politics and laziness have been the biggest stumbling blocks. I have even tried to convince them to invite you to our next steering committee meeting and I was told to wait. It just shows these people do not care about improving and changing the status quo through this collaboration. I am just sad.”

Drawing from the responses of a research sample of 572 participants (managers, non-managers and HRD professionals) in 17 municipalities across five provinces, the report concluded that HRD is not being effectively measured and managed, despite a 26-year-old enabling policy framework (Skills Development Act, 1998 and the Employment Equity Act, 1998). The evidence points to a lack of understanding, application and integration of evidenced-based HRD, which if addressed, would increase municipal capability.

Ethical values are poorly practised, evident in the lack of managerial commitment to equal opportunities for the development of people. People development is not a priority and performance management is not taken seriously. The competencies and contributions of staff to service delivery are not fully recognised. The implementation of HRD policies is poor and employees lack insight into these policies. They stand in isolation and fail to connect with the Integrated Development Plan (strategy) and internal transformation (employment equity and performance management).

Because skills development audits are poorly conducted, HRD interventions are not undertaken in line with employee development plans. The municipalities do not apply a variety of approaches, such as formal and informal development, and employees are not presented with sufficient opportunities to practise new competencies and post-skills development interventions. Recognition of prior learning is poorly implemented.

HRD in municipalities 

The organisation of HRD in municipalities is problematic and line managers are not equipped to manage the implementation of projects. HRD outputs are not included in the key performance areas for line managers and interventions are not monitored by the department managers. Line managers, HRD professionals and non-managers are also not collaborating effectively to achieve the objectives.

Councillors and shop stewards (key internal stakeholders) do not understand their roles and responsibilities and senior managers are not supportive of HRD programmes for employees. This, despite people management being identified as a key competency for senior managers. The LGSeta, the South African Local Government Association (Salga) and the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) and Department of Traditional Affairs (DTA) (Cogta) could be collaborating better, as the evidence suggests, but are not doing it.

Employees are not aware of the potential impact of the municipal staff regulations on municipalities. The Municipal Staff Regulations (2021) place municipalities on a new trajectory with a renewed emphasis on increasing organisational capabilities through linking organisational structure and strategy and focusing on performance and development. In the process potential new organisational capabilities and knowledge that could benefit the municipalities are developed but not applied. There is also a glaring absence or awareness of change-management plans.

Recommendations

From the research findings it is further concluded that key indicators in support of knowledge management are not implemented effectively. More than half the participants indicated that they do not know about knowledge management, indicating a clear lack of communication. The performance and development system is not being implemented effectively and data analytics are not used to inform HRD decisions. It is also not known among the research participants whether HRD systems integrate with existing municipal ICT systems. What is more worrying is that the work skills plan evaluation report is the only tool used by the LGSeta to evaluate municipal HRD performance (capability) and is not applied consistently across the provinces.

Our report made a number of recommendations. One being that the LGSeta, as the authority on HRD, should align with the office of the AG through auditing the management performance of HRD in municipalities. Evidenced-based HRD practices provide municipalities with an institutional model to ensure that the performance of managers is included as part of material irregularities reporting (Public Audit Act). An increase in HRD management controls will ensure solutions to the many challenges (financial and human resources) facing local government. Human resources (people) are the most important strategic resources in municipalities and their effective management will foster trust and increase municipal implementation capabilities. This will place local government on a completely new trajectory with effective and efficient management of human resource development and knowledge at the centre of the transformation efforts of local government. This will contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 16 (strong institutions) and hasten the professionalisation of local government as advocated by Salga and the office of the AG. The AG concludes that municipalities should strive for a culture of performance, accountability, transparency and institutional integrity, which will ultimately result in a better life for our people. We agree with the AG. The UFS, as a knowledge partner to local government, is committed to not just produce knowledge for understanding, but for action. If we are to turn around the fortunes of local government then we must act on the recommendations. Phantsi politics and laziness! No more predictable surprises.

News Archive

First doctorate in Thoracic Surgery in Africa awarded
2009-05-12

The University of the Free State (UFS) has become the first university in Africa to award a Ph.D. degree in Thoracic Surgery. The degree was conferred on Prof. Anthony Linegar from the university’s Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery during its recent graduation ceremony.

Thoracic surgery is a challenging subspecialty of cardiothoracic surgery. It began in South Africa in the 1940s and is a broad medico-surgical specialist discipline that involves the diagnosis, operative and peri-operative treatment of acquired and congenital non-cardiac ailments of the chest.

Prof. Linegar became the first academic to conduct a mixed methods analysis of this surgical specialty, which included a systematic review of all the research done in this field in South Africa. The title of his thesis is A Model for the Development of Thoracic Surgery in Central South Africa. The research was based on the hypothesis of a performance gap between the burden of disease in the community and the actual service provision. It makes use of systems theory and project management concepts to develop a model aimed at the development of thoracic surgery.

The research proved that there is a significant under provision of clinical services in thoracic surgery. This was quantified to a factor of 20 times less than should be the case, in diseases such as lung and oesophagus cancer. According to Prof. Linegar, there are multiple reasons for this. Listed amongst these reasons is the fact that thoracic surgery is not part of the undergraduate education in medical training. There tends to be a low level of awareness amongst clinicians as to what the thoracic surgeon offers their patients. The diagnostic and referral patterns in primary and secondary health facilities, where diseases must be picked up and referred early, are not functioning well in this regard. In addition, relatively few cardiothoracic surgeons express an interest in thoracic surgery.

Prof. Linegar’s model is named the ATLAS Mode, which is an acronym for the Advancement of Thoracic Surgery through Analysis and Strategic Planning. It includes the raising of awareness of the role of the specialist thoracic surgeon in the treatment of patients with thoracic diseases as part of the solution to the problem. Furthermore, it aims to develop an accessible and sustainable specialist service that adequately provides for the needs of the community, and that is appropriately represented in health administration circles.

His promoters were Prof. Gert van Zyl, Head of the School of Medicine at the UFS, Prof. Peter Goldstraw, from the Imperial College of London, United Kingdom (UK) and Prof. Francis Smit, Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the UFS.

Prof. Linegar has been with the UFS since 2004, is a graduate from Stellenbosch University in 1984 and completed his postgraduate training in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the University of Cape Town. He was granted a Fellowship in Thoracic Surgery at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, UK and has since held consultant positions at the UFS, Stellenbosch University and in private practice. He has been involved in registrar training since returning from the UK in 1994 and has extensive experience in intensive care medicine. He has published widely, has presented papers at many international conferences, has been invited as a speaker on many occasions and has won awards for best presentation on three occasions.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
12 May 2009
 

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