RURAL HOUSEHOLD’S SATISFACTION WITH ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES IN LEPELLE-NKUMPI LOCAL MUNICIPALITY, LIMPOPO PROVINCE

Abstract

The decline in public service satisfaction is one of the challenges that democratic South Africa faces. Many municipalities in South Africa have been experiencing difficulties due to poor service delivery. The South African local communities often express their dissatisfaction with municipal service delivery by means of protests. The purpose of this paper is to investigate rural household’s satisfaction with access to basic services in the Lepelle Nkumpi municipality, Limpopo province. This research adopted a descriptive survey research design and a standardised questionnaire was used to collect data from 80 participants who were selected randomly. The finding reveals that most of the sample households have access to the services rendered by the municipality, such as water, sanitation and electricity. The municipality has extended its provision of basic services to the rural households. The finding further shows that the majority of the sample households have expressed their dissatisfaction with service provision. The service delivery challenges faced by the municipality include frequent water cutoffs, aged water taps, stolen water pipes and non-existent refuse removal. The municipality is struggling with backlogs due to a shortage of resources, lack of capacity and improper targeting. It is recommended that the municipality should accelerate water provisions inside the dwelling/yard and there should be a mechanism to respond immediately to water faults as well as a need for regular monitoring and maintenance. The municipality should apply the electrical subsidy to indigent households, impose heavy fines on illegal connections and electrify new settlements. Regarding sanitation service, the municipality should provide sanitation by using quality material for building toilets and put in place a mechanism for regular monitoring and upgrading of dilapidated toilets. It is also suggested that the municipality should enhance its institutional capacity to address the aforementioned challenges to accelerate the provision of basic services to the rural households.