Local government and human resource development: A case study of the City of Cape Town

Abstract

In order to make the Masakhane campaign (see definition of terms used) a success, local governments are required to improve service delivery to the previously marginalised communities. Many departments are not able to satisfy the basic needs of the community. They do not possess ample resources nor the staff that are adequately trained and motivated to achieve this objective. A major concern for the City of Cape Town that impacts on service delivery and productivity is the adversarial role between management and workers. The City of Cape Town consist of a heterogenous workforce where white employees have a better chance of being selected for managerial positions and black employees face barriers to equal employment opportunities. These inequalities have enabled labour unions to play a prominent role in creating suspicion among workers when management genuinely tried to bring about change. This change could benefit both the employees of the City of Cape Town as an organisation and the community. Where there has been an attempt by management to train its employees, the training methods used have focused more on the development of tasks related skills. Hardly any thought is given to development of the employee's lifelong skills that he or she will require to interact successfully with the social environment. Employees also find that some training is not relevant to their work practices. Many white managers in the City of Cape Town have a negative attitude towards training of blacks and women and this has hampered the advancement of both groups. During apartheid white males in particular have been trained and constrained by discriminatory work practices and it will take considerable time and effort to change these negative attitudes. Hence the saying "to transform the City of Cape Town city needs to transform itself first" -especially the attitude of its white male management.