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Public administration
The state is assuming an increasingly dominant role in the life of citizens. The delivery of basic services to all underpinned by universal human rights, especially the right to dignity; collection of taxes; safety of citizens; and environmental protection brings into sharp focus the role of the state. In the course of meeting its most basic functions, the state needs to codify its interventions and/or roles in the form of laws, policies and regulations. The state delivers its responsibilities through a myriad of vehicles or platforms, namely: the public sector institutions. Thornhill (1985:1) argues that public sector thus represents a group of institutions having in common some reliance on the power of the State, from which they can justify their activities, and a political conviction which assigns greater merit to collective rather than to individual action. From Thornhill’s assertion, it is apparent that the adjective “public” implies invocation of the power of the state. It can further be deduced from Thornhill that there is a considerable distinction between the public and private sector the latter has an obvious political orientation.
Thornhill (1985: 2) further argues that the endowment of State power varies from one institution to another, but it is possible to identify three broad groups. First, are those bodies which exercise the functions of government and are readily recognisable: government departments, local authorities, and similar bodies. These bodies exist to achieve predetermined goal(s) or policies. This study utilised Morrow’s (1980:1) definition of administration as ‘all those processes that contribute to the efficient implementation of a predetermined goal or policy. These processes could be the application of organisational, decision-making and staffing theory procedures’.
Therefore, for public administration, the extent to which these processes help to resolve the public problems is examined.
Leadership
Leadership referred to in the problem statement makes reference to public leadership which is inclusive of political leadership (elected officials and high-level political appointees) and public service leadership (leadership for and in public service). In this study, leadership is considered an independent variable.
Chapman et al. (2015) notes that scholars examining public leadership have measured a variety of variables encompassing traits, styles and behaviours; however, there is a lack of convergence both empirically and theoretically that presents challenges to advancing an integrative theory or even encouraging a more coherent dialogue of what is known about public leadership. Leadership is important as both a dependent and an variable. However, greater emphasis on examining and understanding leadership as a dependent variable is needed to develop a sound conceptual understanding that can feed into both research and training. Many models of leadership are not prescriptive.
Reframing leadership as a dependent variable could facilitate for testing and identification of concepts that could apply across contextual and individual characteristics.
This research does not prescribe a particular definition of leadership, but accentuates the contextual circumstances. This research will not make any claim to contributing to the formulation of a theory of public leadership, but examine the City’s incumbents public sector leadership in contributing towards the realisation of the GCR.
Description of the research process
Research is a process that is popularly perceived as an activity far removed from everyday living, yet some of the great discoveries that enhance the frontiers of human knowledge and well-being is a product of this activity. Research is not just a process to gather information, as occasionally suggested. Rather it is about responding to unanswered questions or formulating that which does not currently exist. In many instances research can be perceived as a process of broadening the boundaries of our ignorance. The person who believes that he/she knows everything reveals not only arrogance, but a profound ignorance (Goddard & Melville 2001). Research can either be labelled as applied or pure. Applied research is about solving a particular practical problem, whilst pure research is simply about gaining knowledge.
Leedy and Ormrod (2005: 2) define research as “a systematic processes of collecting, analysing, and interpreting data in order to improve our understanding of the phenomenon about which we are concerned or interested. It follows, therefore, that research originates with a question or problem. Alternatively put, what is it that we want to know? The information that one wants to know could be triggered one’s quest to answer unanswered questions and/ or unresolved problems”.
Statement of the Problem
City-regions have emerged as the undisputed drivers and leaders of their respective national economies (OECD 2013). Their significance is being reinforced by globalisation, migration, and urbanisation. Again, the city-region space is confronted by many challenges such as: growing unemployment, increased inequality, spatial injustice, marginalisation of the voices of the poor, growing competition among cityregions globally, environmental degradation, disparities between urban and rural areas, migrations and poor governance. Given its relative share of the South African population and the its disproportionate contribution to the GDP of the country, as recorded by Stats SA 2015, the Gauteng Province (hereafter referred to as the Province) holds the key to helping South Africa meet the targets as presented in the NDP. However, for this to happen, the province needs to organise itself differently with regard to coordination and co-operation of the programmes of the Gauteng Provincial Government and the municipalities within. This will require a fundamental rethink of the institutional, spatial, and administrative design of the Gauteng space. The establishment of the GCR is one plausible way of offering the proposed rethink. The successful
realisation of the GCR requires bold and visionary leadership at a political and administrative level across the three spheres of government. Given the constitutional arrangements in South Africa, the desire of realising a fully functional GCR is a function of the extent to which there is buy-in by the province and municipal spheres of government within. The City of Tshwane leadership demonstrated an unparalleled commitment to the idea of the GCR and has initiated a number of programmes that helps to advance its realisation.
1 CHAPTER one: BACKGROUND AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Background
1.3 The City of Tshwane: Profile
1.4 GCR Leadership
1.5 Clarification of key concepts
1.6 Framework of the Research
2 CHAPTER two: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Description of the research process
2.3 Research design and approach
2.4 Limitations of the study
2.5 Ethical considerations
2.6 Summary
3 CHAPTER three: THE ROLE OF LEADERSHIP IN THE EMERGENCE OF CITYREGIONS
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Public Administration: An analysis
3.3 Leadership: An examination
3.4 Summary
4 CHAPTER four: CITY OF TSHWANE’S PROJECTS IN SUPPORT OF THE EMERGENCE OF CITY REGIONS
4.1 Case 1: Tshwane public free WiFi
4.2 CASE 2: Tshwane Bus Rapid Transport: A Re Yeng
4.3 Case 3: Tshepo 10 000 (Tshepo-10k)
4.4 Case 4: City of Tshwane War Room (Kuka Maoto)
5 CHAPTER Five: DATA AND INFORMATION ANALYSIS
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Tools of analysis
5.3 Summary
6 CHAPTER six: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Synopsis of previous chapters
6.3 Findings and Recommendations
6.4 Leadership approach to enhance GCR
6.5 Meeting study objectives and areas of future research
7 REFERENCES
