Abstract
The purpose of this study was to discuss the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) in improving public service delivery in South Africa, particularly in the Midvaal Local Municipality (MLM). The municipality’s economic contribution to the economy of South Africa through different sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and small-scale industries has supported its local development. In addition, the municipality has a well-planned road network, which positions the MLM well to adopt the IoT to enhance service delivery. IoT research has mainly focused on the private sector and international scenarios. This study aimed to bridge this gap by examining how the IoT can be used to improve public service delivery in local government. It also aims to assess service delivery in Midvaal, evaluate municipal officials' and community members' awareness and readiness for IoT adoption, and identify key challenges and opportunities, while also exploring perceptions of emerging technologies in municipal service delivery. The study explored the potential of the IoT in areas such as water supply, waste management, energy provision, transportation, and infrastructure maintenance, and its potential to address local municipal challenges. The research took a quantitative research approach, which was descriptive in nature, to address the formulated research questions. Public service delivery will be fundamentally altered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR or Industry 4.0). It is apparent that IoT technologies can enable organisations to implement new services more rapidly and at lower risk. The study surveyed 105 participants from the MLM. The results presented in this study suggest that the MLM is performing well in most areas of service delivery to its residents. However, several areas require the immediate attention of the municipality, namely public transportation, public safety and security, and waste management. Furthermore, the study found that residents from well-developed areas tend to have a positive appreciation of the possible introduction of emerging technologies as part of service delivery, while residents of underdeveloped, informal settlements felt the opposite. In addition, the results suggest that residents with more trust in the MLM’s governance have confidence in the potential impact of emerging technologies on public service delivery within the municipality and that it will eventually have a significant and positive effect on productivity and economic growth. These findings suggest that the MLM ought to consider installing IoT infrastructure in areas of waste management, pothole detection, water leak detection, and streetlight
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monitoring systems that consume less energy, as well as in public transportation. Despite the positive findings, one must appreciate the number of challenges that are likely to hinder the successful implementation of these systems as part of the service delivery packages, which include a lack of skilled personnel with knowledge of networks, hardware, and software. Scalability, fault tolerance, and power supply are also significant challenges in South Africa.