An Exploratory Study of Service Delivery by Local Government Councils in Zimbabwe: A Developmental State Perspective

Abstract

This study is about service delivery problems which are affecting local authorities in Zimbabwe. The researcher was inspired to carry out this study by the need to address the issue of poor service delivery particularly, on the provision of houses, maintenance of the roads network, provision of clean water and better sanitary conditions among others.

The aim of the study was either to come up with practical guidelines which could help both policy-makers and executive in addressing those problems or to develop theories on the local government administration.  The research was a case study of Epworth Local Board, and it was carried out without a research assistant. Three approaches in this study were adopted which were semi-structured interviews, document analysis and participant observations. The three approaches were chosen in order to allow triangulation of the results.

Literature review was carried out on similar studies which had initially been done by other researchers and it was realized that a lot of work had already been done in this area, however, it was observed that there were some research-gaps which were to be covered. Literature review of research methodology and innovation techniques was also carried out so as to come up with new ideas which could contribute in the running of local authorities.

During data presentation and analysis, new findings came up which contributed to the generation of new theories. Practical guidelines in the operation of local authorities were also developed. New insights also came up during the research such as those which are associated with distressed economies.

In terms of challenges, the research experienced problems in terms of funding the study. There were also limitations in regard to this study and one of them was that it was a single study whose results may be difficult to generalize. The research was also limited in terms of time. Despite the existence of some limitations which were observed, it is still being felt that the results can still be generalized since most of the findings had been triangulated.

At the end, recommendations were made and other areas for future studies were identified in the same process, and one of those future studies would be looking at issues which concern local authorities. The other area of study which would also be required would be to look at other issues which are outside local authorities in Zimbabwe.