Batho Pele Principles in the 21st Century: The case of the Department of Home Affairs, South Africa

Abstract

This article examined the relevance of the Batho Pele Principles in the 21st century. The Department of Home Affairs in South Africa was used as a case study. In 1997, the Batho Pele Principles were established as a mechanism to aid the improvement of service delivery in South Africa. However, there has been an increase in service delivery protests across the country over the last few years. Research has shown that the increased service delivery protests since the dawn of democracy in South Africa have often been linked to the fact that the needs of the general public have not been met by the incumbent government. The citizens, and more especially the poor, are not satisfied with the lack of service delivery (or poor service delivery in some instances) where service has been delivered. The unhappiness of the citizens towards government’s lack of, or poor service delivery, seems to be compounded by public officials, who refuse to be accountable and responsive to the needs of the public they are expected to serve when they were appointed in public offices. The methodology used in this article is qualitative and quantitative. It is based on content analysis of the literature available on the application of Batho Pele Principles in South Africa to determine whether these principles are being applied in the provision of services at the Department of Home Affairs.