In South Africa, the period between 1994 and 2001 has been referred to as the policy development and review era, whilst 2002 to 2006 was regarded as the implementation period. Yet, policy implementation remains problematic. The South African policy environment is experiencing fundamental challenges, more especially in the area of implementation. Although research in this area is substantial, it does not particularly assist in understanding how the policy implementation vacuum can be addressed, in terms of service delivery in the public service. Addressing the mismatch between policy intentions, policy practice and policy effects serve as the central theme of this paper. Moreover, the policy gap is viewed as what transpires in the implementation process between policy expectation and perceived policy results. The paper seeks to propose a model to address the policy implementation vacuum in the context of service delivery in South Afri