South Africa

South Africa

Research Title:

E-Governance for Social and Local Economic Development (Gauteng Province, South Africa)

Abstract

The South Africa component of the LOG-IN Africa research project is focused on the Gauteng province, the economic hub of South Africa, and its 14 municipalities that constitute its system of local government.  The choice of Gauteng as a study area is informed by its vision to re-create the province as a globally competitive city region.  This is dependent, inter alia, on ICT innovation broadly and, in particular, on introducing effective e-governance for social and local economic development.

The research problem relates to whether the current strategic planning, application and evaluation of e-governance in Gauteng Municipalities contributes to social and local economic development, resulting in a consciously selected range of high quality services.  The second dimension of this research problem is whether the e-governance initiatives reviewed illustrate selected good governance characteristics namely strategic vision, responsiveness and transparency.

The purpose of the research is to assess the current state of e-governance in relation to social and local economic development and to make recommendations for the further evolution of e-governance initiatives to enhance the realisation of social and local economic development objectives, with due attention to characteristics of good governance.  These recommendations will be situated within the context of Gauteng as a “globally competitive city-region”, which addresses the need for increasing social and economic strength across historically advantaged and historically disadvantaged municipalities.

Research Questions

§         Is there alignment between e-government initiatives and social and local economic development objectives?

§         Do these initiatives promote the selected good governance characteristics of strategic vision, responsiveness and transparency?

Team Leader

Ms. Lucy Abrahams

E-mail: Abrahams.l@pdm.wits.ac.za, Lucienne.Abrahams@gauteng.gov.za

Researcher

Ms Lutske Reid

E-mail: lutske@reidconsulting.co.za

Institution

LINK Centre Wits

Graduate School of Public & Development Management