Skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities

This study explores skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities. This study was motivated by the need to expedite local government service delivery, hampered by municipal employees' poor capacity and skills over the years. Many municipalities need help t...

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Main Authors: Sarah Sibiya, Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: UAB Sustainability for Regions 2023-12-01
Series:Insights into Regional Development
Online Access:https://jssidoi.org/ird/article/143
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author Sarah Sibiya
Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad
author_facet Sarah Sibiya
Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad
author_sort Sarah Sibiya
collection DOAJ
description This study explores skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities. This study was motivated by the need to expedite local government service delivery, hampered by municipal employees' poor capacity and skills over the years. Many municipalities need help to fulfil their service delivery obligations because of the requisite skills' scarcity, absence, and shortage. The study explores the skills development of municipal employees (focus) in South African municipalities (locus). It does not focus on one chosen municipality but looks at the situation holistically from a broader perspective. The study aims to find answers to the research question: what are the causes of skills shortage on employee performance in South African municipalities? A qualitative desktop study was adopted to find answers to the guiding question, and various secondary documents were analysed to gather information. The human capital theory was used as a framework for the study. The findings show that most local government employees' skills are outside the dictates of the current era. The study recommends interventions, among other things, improving local government skills development funding, adequately implementing monitoring and evaluation practices, developing soft skills for the current fourth industrial revolution era, and performing regular municipal skills audits.
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institution Kabale University
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publisher UAB Sustainability for Regions
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spelling doaj-art-1cbc8da307c34489946384bd34acae7d2025-08-20T03:54:51ZengUAB Sustainability for RegionsInsights into Regional Development2669-01952023-12-0154102210.9770/IRD.2023.5.4(1)Skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalitiesSarah SibiyaShikha Vyas-Doorgapersad https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8146-344XThis study explores skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities. This study was motivated by the need to expedite local government service delivery, hampered by municipal employees' poor capacity and skills over the years. Many municipalities need help to fulfil their service delivery obligations because of the requisite skills' scarcity, absence, and shortage. The study explores the skills development of municipal employees (focus) in South African municipalities (locus). It does not focus on one chosen municipality but looks at the situation holistically from a broader perspective. The study aims to find answers to the research question: what are the causes of skills shortage on employee performance in South African municipalities? A qualitative desktop study was adopted to find answers to the guiding question, and various secondary documents were analysed to gather information. The human capital theory was used as a framework for the study. The findings show that most local government employees' skills are outside the dictates of the current era. The study recommends interventions, among other things, improving local government skills development funding, adequately implementing monitoring and evaluation practices, developing soft skills for the current fourth industrial revolution era, and performing regular municipal skills audits.https://jssidoi.org/ird/article/143
spellingShingle Sarah Sibiya
Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad
Skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities
Insights into Regional Development
title Skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities
title_full Skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities
title_fullStr Skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities
title_full_unstemmed Skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities
title_short Skills development for improved employee performance in South African municipalities
title_sort skills development for improved employee performance in south african municipalities
url https://jssidoi.org/ird/article/143
work_keys_str_mv AT sarahsibiya skillsdevelopmentforimprovedemployeeperformanceinsouthafricanmunicipalities
AT shikhavyasdoorgapersad skillsdevelopmentforimprovedemployeeperformanceinsouthafricanmunicipalities