Pumela Msweli

The authority of South Africa is in the midst of a profound economic crisis precipitated by high levels of unemployment and inequality, marked by political shifts unprecedented in scope subsequent to the 2016 local government elections. The recent election outcomes reveal disturbances in the social, political and economic systems of the country. These disturbances have been precipitated by low economic growth trajectory and poor investment in service delivery infrastructure. The central thesis of this paper is that in addressing the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment, a symptomatic approach of addressing social ills and service delivery will not work. This paper draws from institutional theory as a sense-making mechanism to produce a scientific approach to integrated service delivery. Using the tenets of the critical reflecting methodological approach, institutional theory is deconstructed to provide an understanding of how to operationalize integrated service delivery across functions in a scientific fashion.

Keywords: service delivery, institutional theory, poverty, inequality and unemployment.
JEL Classification: L8, J64, J71, I32

This paper uses the legitimacy theory as a lens to identify the most sustainable performance model to defend and maintain the legitimacy of higher education institutions in the midst of ‘fees must fall’ crisis. The body of evidence presented demonstrates that universities have at least seven critical stakeholders that control resources needed for survival, growth and legitimacy. Using this evidence, this study builds a model that looks at the impact of fee income and workload on success. The model was tested using annual time series panel data for the period 2009-2013 across 23 public universities in South Africa. The model examined the effect of fee income and workload on success rate. Basing the arguments on the notion that students are a critical constituency, with a strong influence on the amount of fee income an institution may amass, the model tested the relationship between performance and fee income using success rate as a proxy for performance. The findings showed that not only is fee income a stronger predictor of success rate, but also that fee income is negatively related to success rate of students. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords: higher education, fee income, institutional theory, performance legitimation, workload model.
JEL Classification: I23, D31, L26

The Commonwealth Games Federation recently awarded the hosting of the 2022 Games to Durban, South Africa. This will be the first time the Games are hosted in the African continent. The paper looks into whether tangible benefits for hosting mega-events are less or more important than intangible benefits. In investigating this issue, the paper takes a political geography theoretical stance for its ability to provide normative ideological content for explaining intangible and tangible values for hosting Commonwealth Games. The paper looks at pros and cons for investing in mega-event infrastructure and also looks at the cost of hosting the Games for cities. The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi budgeted $240 million for the entire Games, but the actual costs after the Games were found to be $1.7 billion. Similarly, in 2014 Glasgow, the cost of the Games was calculated at £575 million ($690 million). The paper looks at whether South Africa as the 2022 Commonwealth Games host can afford the games. It also considers the impact of the Games on national identity, national pride and patriotism here identified as novelty values that preserve social cohesion, a social attribute that has to be in place to build a robust economy. The paper concludes by noting that the success of the Games will depend on deliberate investment in catalytic facilities in areas that will be sustained post event. The amount of novelty value generated out of the Commonwealth Games will depend on how successful the Games are and on how the communities are able to interact with the facilities post event.