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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

Dr Francois Deacon appears in international film, Last of the Longnecks, due to research on giraffes
2017-04-04

Description: Giraffe research read more  Tags: Giraffe research read more

Dr Francois Deacon was invited by the producer of Last
of the Longnecks
to be part of a panel handling a question-
and-answer-session about the film.
Photo: Supplied

A great honour was bestowed on a researcher at the University of the Free State (UFS) when he was invited to the preview of the documentary film, Last of the Longnecks. Dr Francois Deacon, lecturer and researcher in the Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences at the UFS, who also has a role in the film, attended the preview at the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Smithsonian National Museum in Washington DC, in the US, in March this year. The preview formed part of the DC Environmental Film Festival.

The Environmental Film Festival in the US capital is the world’s leading showcase of films with an environmental theme and which aims to improve the public’s understanding of the environment through the power of film. During the festival, the largest such festival in the US, more than 150 films were shown to an audience of 30 000 plus. 

Dr Deacon was invited by the producer of Last of the Longnecks to be part of a panel handling a question-and-answer-session about the film directly after the show. He described it as the greatest moment of his life. 

Role in the film Last of the Longnecks

“My role in the film was as the researcher studying giraffes in their natural habitat in order to understand them better, so that we may better protect them, and be able to provide better education on the problem in Africa,” says Dr Deacon. 

“Together with Prof Nico Smit, also from the UFS Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences, Hennie Butler from the Department of Zoology, and Martin Haupt from Africa Wildlife Tracking, we were the first researchers in the world to equip giraffes with GPS collars and to conduct research on this initiative,” he says. This ground-breaking research has attracted international media attention to Dr Deacon and Prof Smit. 

“Satellite tracking is proving to be extremely valuable in the wildlife environment. The unit is based on a mobile global two-way communication platform, utilising two-way data satellite communication, complete with GPS systems.

“It allows us to track animals day and night, while we monitor their movements remotely from a computer over a period of a few years. These systems make the efficient control and monitoring of wildlife in all weather conditions and in near-to-real time possible. We can even communicate with the animals, calling up their positions or changing the tracking schedules,” says Dr Deacon.

The collars, which have been designed to follow giraffes, enable researchers to obtain and apply highly accurate data in order to conduct research. Data can be analysed to determine territory, distribution or habitat preference for any particular species.

Over a period of three years (2014-2016), the Last of the Longnecks team from Iniosante LLC captured on film how Dr Deacon and his team used the GPS collars in Africa to collect data and conduct research on the animals.

“With our research, which aims to understand why giraffes are becoming extinct in Africa, we are looking at the animal in its habitat but not only the animal on its own. If the habitat of these animals is lost, they will be lost as well. Therefore, our focus is on conservation and better understanding the habitat. The giraffe is only a tool to better understand the habitat problem,” says Dr Deacon. 

Since the beginning of his research Dr Deacon and his team have had six new collar designs, with animals in four different reserves being equipped with the collars. The collars use the best technology available in the world and make it possible to determine how giraffes communicate over long distances, and how their sleep patterns function. Physiological and biological focus is placed on the giraffe’s stress levels, natural hormone cycles, and milk quality in cows. 

Description: Giraffe 2017 Tags: Giraffe 2017

Photo: Supplied

Experience at the film festival

“Absolutely amazing. Totally beyond our frame of reference as South Africans.” This is how Dr Deacon describes his experience of the three days in Washington DC during the film festival.

“It was an absolute honour to be part of the global preview of the film and to be able to work with Ashley Davison, the director of the film, and his team. I am just a rural farm boy who dreams big, and now this dream is known worldwide!” he says. 

The film, which will be launched in April, will be screened in South Africa on the National Geographic channel in May 2017. Meanwhile, the film will also be shown at eight other film festivals in the US. 

Work will start on a follow-up documentary in October and Dr Deacon is excited about the prospect. A mobile X-ray machine will be available from October. Internal sonars could also be performed on each of the animals. Researchers from around the world will form part of the team which will be led and co-ordinated by Dr Deacon and his co-workers at the UFS.

Former articles: 

18 Nov 2016: http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=7964 
23 August 2016: http://www.ufs.ac.za/templates/news-archive-item?news=7856 
9 March 2016:Giraffe research broadcast on National Geographic channel
18 Sept 2015 Researchers reach out across continents in giraffe research
29 May 2015: Researchers international leaders in satellite tracking in the wildlife environment

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