Tshwane is conducting a survey to help identify tools to improve the municipality's capacity to respond to residents' demands regarding local governance and service delivery.

THE City of Tshwane is running a survey in the five regions of Tshwane. The purpose is to determine the perception of residents and the business sector of the municipality's strategies and developments to improve service delivery and the quality of life of residents.

The survey is held every two years and will help identify tools to improve the municipality's capacity to respond to residents' demands regarding local governance and service delivery.

The City of Tshwane appointed the Bureau of Market Research of the University of South Africa (Unisa) to conduct the 2011 Resident Satisfaction Survey. The survey has started in early January 2011 and will run until the end of February 2011.

Personal interviews will be held with 1 800 households and 250 informal businesses, and telephone interviews will be held with 1 200 households, 500 businesses and 20 embassies.

The respondents will be drawn randomly and will therefore include all areas and household types in Tshwane, ranging from informal settlements to affluent suburbs. All business types will also be covered, ranging from small, informal businesses on street corners to small, medium and large formal businesses. A separate sample will be drawn from embassies in Tshwane.

The primary objectives of the survey are to:

• ascertain the general perceptions of residents about services provided by the Municipality;
• identify major future challenges;
• establish residents' level of satisfaction with core services such as electricity and water delivery, and with municipal community services such as bus transport, clinics, libraries and licensing;
• ascertain perceptions of public safety and by-law enforcement;
• establish the usage of and satisfaction with customer care services rendered through telephone contact and personal visits; and
• identify possible measures to improve voter turnout in Tshwane.

The outcome of the survey will assist the City of Tshwane to look into areas where it is lacking in terms of local governance and service delivery. All departments in the City of Tshwane will use the identified problem areas to draw up and implement plans to improve service delivery.

The City of Tshwane appeals to residents to complete the questionnaires or give about 15 minutes of their time for personal interviews. The interviews will be conducted by experienced fieldworkers living in the areas where the interviews take place. They will all carry a letter of introduction from Unisa to identify them.

Source: Tshwane