Appropriating Digital Citizen Engagement in Resource Constrained Local Government Service Delivery: A Case Study in South Africa

Designing strategy formulation in the midst of uncertainty in digital citizen engagement: A critical reflection of the application of Design Science Research augmented by Soft Systems Methodology to the design of strategy formulation

“…To add on, prior to the conducted strategy formulation process (undertaken with this study), no investigation had been conducted to understand the existing service delivery reporting structure employed by the local government, a necessary yet neglected practice in under‐resourced local government contexts of South Africa such as that focused on in this study (Twinomurinzi & Ghartey‐Tagoe, 2011). Such an investigation is required in order to adequately determine how tech should support local government operational processes (Machiri & Pade‐Khene, 2020; Twinomurinzi & Ghartey‐Tagoe, 2011). This was essential to deal with the observed complexity that emerged from a heterogeneous mix of stakeholders possessing varying views of how MobiSAM should support service delivery.…”

“…Projects of this nature are situated at a confluence of a heterogeneous mix of stakeholders, governing structures, organizational cultures, financial constraints and technical considerations, which make them complex in nature. These complexities have challenged the sustainability of these initiatives (Machiri & Pade‐Khene, 2020; Osah & Pade‐Khene, 2020; Quaintance, 2017), resulting in growing pessimism around their effectiveness and the emergence of what has been coined as the ‘civic tech graveyard’, a field saturated with impressive tech innovations with little to no uptake or impact. Many failures have resulted from the following: unfounded confidence that tech is the panacea to issues of governance, futile tech solutions, unplanned projects, funding termination, and unconscious exclusion of key stakeholders, among other reasons (Camargo, 2020).…”

A retrospective analysis: ICT for improved municipal service delivery amidst COVID 19

“…The magnitude of the importance of 4IR was spotlighted when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the Presidential Commission on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (PC4IR), emphasising the country's willingness to transition to a more industrialised state. Despite the commission's formation, implementation remains a major challenge, associated with local government service delivery and administration [4][5][6]. Further to this, an example includes the ATM pharmacy projects, implemented in 2018, focusing on easing the process of medical prescription procurement in rural areas.…”