EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY STRATEGY ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION: A PANACEA FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION IN INKOSI LANGALIBALELE MUNICIPALITY

Over the past twenty years, service delivery has increasingly received much attention to promoting positive social effects that address social inclusion and exclusion issues. A growing body of research suggests that central to the need to improve service delivery, at both national and local government level, is the need to guarantee that all groups within the community are integrated in the sustainable development effort development trajectory. This paper investigates the role of service delivery in fostering social inclusion in a typical local municipality in post-apartheid South Africa. The study used a qualitative case study approach to examine the role of service delivery in promoting and ensuring inclusive communities in Inkosi Langalibalele Municipality. In-depth interviews(n=26) including community members (n=16) and councillors (n=10) were conducted to understand the impact of service delivery towards social inclusion. The research had two main interests: (i) to unpack the service delivery strategies is implemented in the Inkosi Langalibalele Municipality; and (ii) To find out if these service delivery strategies are enhancing the prospects of social inclusion. Three broad strategies were identified from the data: increasing citizen participation, flexible response to service user complaints, and partnering with other players and outsourcing services. The results of this study reveal that, while the strategies may have enhanced the prospects of an inclusive municipality, the Ilangalibalele municipality needs to do more to ensure that their strategies are equitable and thus inclusive and foster social inclusion.