Governance, Restructuring and the New Public Management Reform: South African Perspectives

Abstract

In the last two decades an array of management techniques and practices have been adopted and implemented by most governments to ameliorate public administration. This was principally because most governments got ensnared in huge debts, operational inefficiency, and ineffectiveness in service delivery including lack of accountability from political elites and public servants. These problems emanated from the quaint methods of fiscal management that were implemented and practiced resulting in rampant corruption and feeble public services. This led to widespread disgruntlement and demand for good governance hence the rise of the New Public Management (NPM). Theories like public choice theory and principal–agent theory propelled the rise of the New Public Management (NPM) with its consonant reforms and practices of restructuring. The colonial–independence-globalization theory also gave impetus to the emergence of the NPM theory for most former colonies like South Africa which had colonialism of a special type. Most African countries including South Africa have socio-political and economic conditions different from their Western counterparts because of decades of colonialism and apartheid and therefore experienced NPM uniquely. This paper explores the concepts of governance, restructuring and the NPM in the context of South Africa.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n6p43