Former health Minister Zweli Mkhize has graduated with a Master of administration degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). He was a Chancellor at the university from 2009 to 2017.
Mkhize is also a medical doctor and politician who served as the fifth premier of KZN.
His study was titled “Service delivery at the Provincial Sphere of Government: A Case Study of Operation Sukuma Sakhe (OSS) in KwaZulu-Natal”.
He said the background to the study on OSS started when he became premier in 2009.
Talking about the journey, Mkhize said it was a challenging but rewarding.
“I personally interviewed all 22 respondents during the difficult days of Covid-19 with restrictions while balancing it with all other demands and responsibilities of the time.”
He added that the study revealed various shortcomings in service delivery despite the effectiveness of the OSS model.
“The study highlighted many subjective and objective factors that affect our public service such as poor and uncoordinated planning and budgeting and poor implementation of programmes as well as poor supervision and a lack of community consultation to address community discontent,” he said.
He added that academic advancement would enable public administrators to contribute to generating new information in their field of practice and create an environment that deepens professionalism and improves service delivery.
“Senior public administrators should be engaged in continuous learning and academic research as they would acquire new knowledge that bolsters their experience to improve their performance.”
On his achievement, Mkhize said he feels fulfilled and is grateful to his family, peers and supervisor for their inspiration throughout his research journey.
“I hope this will inspire younger generations, leaders and public servants to embrace postgraduate education and pursue ever-widening horizons in academic research,” he added.
Mkhize resigned as Minister of Health in 2021 amid allegations that he benefited improperly from a state contract awarded by the Department of Health to a communications company called Digital Vibes.
Mkhize has gone to court to have the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report into the matter reviewed and set aside and had requested evidence, documents and arguments before the court so he could clear his name.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
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