The effects of the restructuring of the Johannesburg City Council on emergency services

Municipal employees as well as the Unions see the restructuring of Local Government in South Africa as the main cause of unemployment while it is a process of making municipalities more efficient and effective. Restructuring is perhaps the first step towards improving service delivery, though it is not the only way to solve inefficiency and ineffectiveness within local government structures. This dissertation identifies the need to employ additional emergency personnel, describes the current situation and proposes further steps that the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services should take to resolve matters affecting effective delivery of services. The sample targeted for the assessment was 120 participants which was large enough to draw conclusions and make generalisations. The assessment was carried out at the following five Fire Stations, viz. Florida Park, Jabulani, Fairview, Sandton and Midrand. Primary use was made of interviews where open- ended questions gave participants enough opportunity to express themselves in an informal environment which proved to be very effective.