Explore publications.

The emergence of the fourth industrial revolution has seen governments around the world seeking new ways of delivering services to the people. The infusion of technological aspects in governance seeks to enhance service delivery in the public sector. This paper sought to investigate the role played by technology in facilitating service delivery to the people. To showcase the impact played by technology on issues of local government, the diffusion of innovation theory was utilised as a theoretical foundation of this paper. The literature indicated that technology plays a fundamental role in the service delivery process. Studies conducted in this research area revealed that technology plays a pivotal role in the dissemination of public services to the residents by municipalities. This paper adopted a mixed method approach and a case study research design. The quantitative data was collected through closed ended questionnaires while the qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews. This paper sampled a total of 36 participants in the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality through simple random sampling technique in the few selected different wards of the municipality. The closed ended questionnaires were distributed to 30 participants while 6 municipal officials were interviewed. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS while the qualitative data was analysed through a thematic approach. The findings of this paper revealed that King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality appreciates and embraces the technological reforms. A significant percentage of the respondents further indicated that King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality is average in terms of utilising technology in terms of service delivery. The study further concluded that municipalities must improve and adopt the technological advancements that are present in the public sector. The study also concluded that municipalities cannot turn a blind eye to the ever-changing environment and thus need to improve service delivery through the introduction of technology. This paper thus recommends that technological changes be adopted to improve service delivery within local government. It further recommends that technology should be exploited to fast-track service delivery.

Since the first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa in 2020, public participation in municipalities took a knock as COVID-19 regulations prohibited large crowds from gathering. Because the Matjhabeng local municipality's valuation roll was about to be renewed, this became a major point of contention. As a result, this article investigated how Matjhabeng local municipality conducted public participation to comply with the law during the pandemic. The study is primarily quantitative, but qualitative aspects are also included. According to the findings, the municipality failed to use other platforms to ensure that no one was left behind while drafting the rates policy. As a result, it is suggested that the use of m-government in Matjhabeng local municipality is necessary for public participation during COVID-19 and beyond.