ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Comparative Governance
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1579256
Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child': Navigating Consequence Management in Local Government Transformation in South Africa
Provisionally accepted
- School of Management, IT and Governance, College of Law and Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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The phrase “Spare the Rod and Spoil the Child” aptly describes the state of South African local government, where the lack of consequence management has fostered systemic inefficiencies, corruption, and declining service delivery. Municipalities envisioned as strategic focal points for developmental governance under the White Paper on Local Government (1998) have become unresponsive and plagued by governance failures. This study investigates how the absence of accountability has contributed to service delivery deficiencies in ten selected municipalities. It also explores strategies to implement consequence management to address these challenges. A qualitative research design was adopted, involving semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 50 participants, including municipal managers and community leaders. Thematic analysis revealed key issues, including weak institutional frameworks, a culture of protecting transgressors, and resistance to reform. These challenges perpetuate inefficiency, poor compliance with legislation, and political interference, undermining municipalities' ability to fulfil their developmental mandates. The findings emphasise the need for robust consequence management frameworks to curb financial mismanagement and enforce compliance with governance standards. Strategies such as strengthening performance management systems, fostering ethical leadership, and integrating digital innovations are proposed. Breaking the culture of impunity and institutionalising community participation are also highlighted as critical reforms. By framing local government inefficiencies as the result of “spoiling the child” through lax governance, this study provides actionable insights for policymakers and governance practitioners. It offers practical recommendations to enhance accountability, restore public trust, and transform municipalities into responsive and effective service providers.
Keywords: Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child1, Consequence Management2, Local Government Transformation3, South Africa4
Received: 18 Feb 2025; Accepted: 22 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shava, Muringa and Oladejo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tigere Paidamoyo Muringa, School of Management, IT and Governance, College of Law and Management Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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