The Impact of the Performance Management System in South African Local Government (Municipalities)

Any meaningful success of the organization is measured through its ability to achieve its organizational objectives and the impact it has on the environment. Municipalities are measured by their ability to deliver services and whether or not citizens are satisfied with service delivery and more often than not they are not satisfied. This then calls for active participation by the public or citizens so that they have a say and contribute to how services should be delivered to them. Public participation practitioners have long been advocating for participation by the public in administrative decision-making processes. Although citizens or public participation is highly rated and recognized, there is very little evidence of its impact on performance management. It is for this reason that this study sought to examine the impact of the Performance Management System in South African local government (municipalities). The methodology used was descriptive analysis. It found that the South African local government Performance Management System does not effectively impact the lives of the citizens and the public is not fully involved in performance management. The study therefore recommends that the whole Performance Management System should be overhauled so that it can have an impact on the lives of citizens.

Keywords: Performance Management, Performance Management System, Public Participation, Performance Planning, Performance Measurement, Performance Targets, Performance Evaluation, Performance Review, Performance Reporting, Performance Auditing