Performance measurement as a veritable catalyst to good governance and conveyer belt for policy implementation : the case of south Africa’s outcome based approach

Abstract EN

In response growing concern over a serious deficit in service delivery South Africa has introduced the Outcome Based performance Management System (in this paper ‘the Outcome orientation’).

To the extent that some of government policies have fallen victim to abysmal governance, question is: to what extent will this change of focus close the yawning gap between policy intent and actual implementation ? This modest contribution reflects on some of the germane features of the new focus whilst highlighting the potential pitfalls that the implementing agencies will have to grapple with.

The view taken is that the Outcome orientation does offer an attractive option to elaborate accountability mechanisms by accentuating blockages and focusing resources on the achievement of flagship projects.

In this manner, interventions multiply chances of impacting on the lives of service users at a point of the most pressing need.

The obverse view is that the new approach is no quick fix panacea to the myriad societal needs that straddle the service delivery landscape