An official sits in her office, sleeping at her desk. Elsewhere, meanwhile, three labourers are hard at work with pickaxes, fixing yet another problem in the troubled town.
An official sits in her office, sleeping at her desk. Elsewhere, meanwhile, three labourers are hard at work with pickaxes, fixing yet another problem in the troubled town.
As they work, they mutter loudly about the many things that need their attention – from potholes to broken pipes. The all-too-familiar scene is set for yet another unproductive day in a municipality that seems to struggle with everything from bad management to ageing infrastructure.
All at once a man dressed in a smart blue suit walks in and introduces himself as "OD". The sleepy official jumps up and down, clearly thrilled about OD's arrival on the scene. She explains to the other unhappy employees that they, too, should be happy because this man OD – short not for overdose, but "Organisational Diagnosis" – will cure their sick institution.
There's a burst of applause from a group of people in green overalls, real municipal workers and the intended audience for the short play staged by a local dance group. They clapped enthusiastically and laughed heartily in recognition of the familiar scenario.
The municipality had combined its annual Christmas party with the launch of a change-management plan, termed organisational diagnosis, intended to guide the municipality to a better space. "The municipality continuously gets bad [audit]opinions," said Municipal Manager, Ntombi Baart, saying that this time, instead of looking at "soft issues" to turn around the opinion, they intended to assess the root causes.
She said the exercise would provide a framework for the municipality’s transformation and ultimately improve service-delivery. The transformation vision embraced continuous renewal, regular reflection, improving performance and embracing a culture of performance excellence, Baart said, and the municipality had hired the services of PriceWaterCoopers for the exercise.
Sibongile Mafutshane, from PriceWaterCoopers, explained that the process included questionnaires to assess whether the structure and culture was an enabling one, and to assess whether an employee's skills matched their job. "At the end of February we will produce a final picture of the project," she said.
According to the Trevor Amos, of Rhodes University's Department of Management, organisational diagnosis can be described as a "planned approach to transform an organisation". He says it is useful to any institution that aims to improve and transform their processes.
Amos said an institution undergoing this process would systematically diagnose the current situation, intervene for change and then conduct an evaluation.
Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter found himself somewhat on the back foot, however, apologising for the poor attendance and suggesting that it might be due to miscommunication.
Apart from a few municipal employees, the event at the Indoor Sport Centre was attended by DA and Mind councillors and only a handful of ANC councillors. "Everybody has his weak points and strength," Peter said, adding that they should ensure the finances of the municipality were intact. "The day the municipality collapses, this council will not collapse for Peter, it will not collapse for the municipal manager, directors. It will collapse for everybody and families here," Peter said.
"We must prove the people wrong who want to collapse the municipality. We need to ensure that there is productivity and the people are happy. Once workers are happy, then you will see productivity."
At the function, Peter also briefly referred to grievances voiced by Samwu during their strike in August last year, ranging from controversial employment practices to alleged victimisation and nepotism. He said while they would prioritise these issues before the council broke for recess, he didn't want that to detract from the spirit of the season.
"Just for today, we need to forget about the challenges at work, so that you can enjoy the end-of-year function," Peter said. Peter also mentioned 23-year-old Joza resident Nolubabalo "Babsie" Nobanda, who was arrested in Bangkok last month on drugs charges, saying her family needed moral support.
