Zulu P, Yalezo B, Mutambara E
It is generally accepted that cadre deployment has not been effective and efficient in KwaZulu-Natal local government. This has been attributed to the fact that incompetent and unqualified political connected cadres have failed to deliver efficient and effective service to the communities they serve. This has led to the demoralization of the public service workforce within the province. This paper assesses the effectiveness of the cadre deployment practices in KwaZulu-Natal local government. A far-reaching literature review was undertaken to incorporate various sources that provided information on cadre deployment practice. The study was approached from a qualitative design using interviews to gather data from 14 participants who were purposively selected based on experience, knowledge and positions they occupy in the KwaZulu-Natal local government. Interviewees revealed that factionalism, political interference and infighting as well as deteriorating service delivery as the main challenges arising from the practice of cadre deployment. The study also confirmed that cadre deployment through nomination lists created dominant factionalism within the political parties in KwaZulu-Natal leading to alleged political assassinations of some high-profile leaders in the province. Several municipalities across the province have continuously failed to effectively plan, manage their projects skilfully and wisely due to scarcity of qualified experts in technical fields. The study proposes that the African National Congress led government should review its cadre deployment practice to combat the high level of disfunctionalities, instabilities, service delivery protests and factionalism in municipalities across the province. The meritocratic approach should be applied in order to recruit qualified and experienced individuals in the KwaZulu-Natal local government.