The aim of the study is to investigate why, despite the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa’s (1996) provision of the rights, privileges, and benefits of citizenship in Post-Apartheid South Africa, the country is still being viewed as a service delivery protest country. South Africa after 27 years of democracy is still experiencing service delivery protests. The phenomenon ‘service delivery’ is located in national government industry as a value added for citizens in South Africa across all the government departments. Service delivery can be defined as any contact with the public administration during which customers – citizens, residents, or enterprises – seek or provide information, handle their affairs or fulfil their duties. The function is governed by the Public Service Regulations of 2016 emanating from the Public Service Act of 1994 (www.dpsa.gov.za/).
The available multitude of research papers focuses on service delivery protests causes without looking at how the public servant’s contribution to the causes of these protests. The objective of this study is to investigate how the public servants influences or contribute to the root causes of service delivery protests in South Africa across all spheres of government. A mixed method was most appropriate and employed the qualitative method, which adopted an interprevist approach, and a quantitative method, which employed a positivist approach, to investigate the root causes of service delivery protests. The data collection tools used are surveys questionnaire and , interviews. The participants were from four provinces and four departments within the provinces. The findings are that service delivery protests are a perennial problem for South Africa and can be curbed by providing continuous feedback on government interventions to both public sector and private sector; mainstream financial management and accountability at all levels; and service delivery issues should form part of performance contracts of all employees, citizens and employing competent staff, who can interpret legislation and translate it into service delivery implementation plans. Good legislation is not enough, as it requires competent employees to implement. It is
recommended that the South African Government develops a common training to develop competencies for all frontline staff so that citizens are treated the same in private and public sector.