Corporate Governance and the Quality of Service Delivery in Local Authorities: Case of Masvingo Municipality

Abstract

It is arguably true that local authorities are expected to play a pivotal role in improving the economy of any nation in general and the standard of living for the citizens. However, governance challenges have been reported as one of the causes of poor performance and lack of sustainability in institutions. In recent years, local authorities have been experiencing poor governance, deplorable service delivery, misuse of public funds and failure to comply with laws. Upon realising that the quality of life of the urban residents in any country is to some extent related to the quality of service delivery by the local municipality of that city, the researchers felt primed to explore corporate governance (CG) issues. The main objective of the study was to examine the impact of CG on the quality of service delivery in Masvingo city. In probing the problem at hand, the study adopted a mixed methodology to generate data from a sample size of 70 research participants drawn from Masvingo Municipality. Questionnaires and interviews were administered to collect data from municipality employees, the Town Clerk, auditor, Councilors and residents of Masvingo city. The study revealed that CG impacts the quality of service delivery both positively and negatively. It was noted that failure to uphold the elements of CG could translate to poor service delivery while religious implementation of the elements of CG could create a conducive environment for achieving enhanced quality service delivery. Challenges such as nepotism, corruption, political interference and lack of financial resources were identified as rampant in Masvingo city. Measures to improve the quality of service delivery were suggested, namely, employees to be trained to improve their professional competence; nepotism, political interference and corruption be shunned to encourage good CG. It was also recommended that an all-stakeholder approach be put in place so that the elements of CG are taken into consideration for the sake of improving the quality of service delivery in Masvingo city