In post-apartheid South Africa, the disparity between constitutionally promised services and actual delivery has led marginalised citizens to protest for their right to human dignity and equality....Show moreIn post-apartheid South Africa, the disparity between constitutionally promised services and actual delivery has led marginalised citizens to protest for their right to human dignity and equality. With this in mind, this thesis explores the impact of public financial management on South Africa's service delivery crisis and examines the role of historical patterns of racialised socioeconomic segregation. Using a mixed methods approach, including a literature review and quantitative analysis, the paper identifies three primary factors hindering access to municipal services: historical (apartheid-era spatial divisions), economic (poverty and municipal boundaries), and political (financial mismanagement and poor governance). For the quantitative analysis, data was derived from the Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes, Poverty Trends in South Africa: An Examination of Absolute Poverty Between 2006 and 2015, and General Household Survey (GHS), all of which are publicly available and published by either Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) or the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA). Chapter 2 reveals that historically wealthier and whiter provinces continue to enjoy better access to services, while poorer, previously disadvantaged provinces lag behind. Chapter 3 analyses the relationship between public financial management and service delivery, showing that while poor financial practices hinder municipal services, there does not seem to be a strong correlation between clean audits as a proxy for sound financial management and service delivery. However, it appears that historical patterns of racialised socioeconomic segregation play a much more significant role. Consequently, historically poorer provinces continue to suffer from the perpetuation of apartheid-era inequality, thereby hindering their access to key services such as water, sanitation, electricity, and refuse removal. South Africa's entrenched service delivery inequality further infringes on marginalised citizens' constitutional right to dignity and equality.Show less
