Abstract
The study focuses on the particular nature of an autoethnographic study titled, Mjita wa ko kasi’s journey from Soweto to Jozi government leadership: An autoethnography. The study entails a self-conscious introspection of the author guided by a desire to better understand his and other’s actions, interactions and perceptions in a social cultural setting post-1994. Employing autoethnography, which is a novel research strategy in the discipline of Public Management and Governance, the author shares several important, if not turning point experiences in his personal, social, and political world. It is a rare in-depth study of a well-known local political leader’s life in present day South Africa. It is a story focusing on local governance challenges between 2014 and 2019 and offers an evaluation of the successes and failures of urban governance in four metropolitan municipalities in South Africa (Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane and Johannesburg). It investigates situational factors that have an impact on effective and efficient local governance in these municipalities. The study provided an integrated focus on the challenges of coalition-led governance in South Africa and incorporated selected inputs, activities, milestones, targets, assumptions, and outcomes to ensure compliance to the spirit and requirements of good metropolitan governance.
The study entails an autoethnographic methodology and as a result, also adopted a triangulated qualitative approach including in-depth interviews and unobtrusive research methods as data collection instruments.
The study found that there is a lack of institutional strategic objectives, complicated cooperative governance processes, insufficient funds, lack of capacity and a proper implementation strategy for coalition governance in South Africa. The study proposed an analytical framework incorporating certain building blocks for an effective and sustainable strategy for effective metropolitan governance.
Keywords: coalition governance; good governance; local economic development; local governance; metropolitan municipalities, service delivery.