Media as a Catalyst for Good Governance in South Africa

2013 ◽  
pp. 117-134
Author(s):  
Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Good Governance

Good Governance

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk Addink
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
National Level ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Modern State ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Third ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
Further Development

The pivotal aim of this book is to explain the creation, development, and impact of good governance from a conceptual, principal perspective and in the context of national administrative law. Three lines of reasoning have been worked out: developing the concept of good governance; specification of this concept by developing principles of good governance; and implementation of these principles of good governance on the national level. In this phase of further development of good governance, it is important to have a clear concept of good governance, presented in this book as the third cornerstone of a modern state, alongside the concepts of the rule of law and democracy. That is a rather new national administrative law perspective which is influenced by regional and international legal developments; thus, we can speak about good governance as a multilevel concept. But the question is: how is this concept of good governance further developed? Six principles of good governance (which in a narrower sense also qualify as principles of good administration) have been further specified in a systematic way, from a legal perspective. These are the principles of properness, transparency, participation, effectiveness, accountability, and human rights. Furthermore, the link has been made with integrity standards. The important developments of each of these principles are described on the national level in Europe, but also in countries outside Europe (such as Australia, Canada, and South Africa). This book gives a systematic comparison of the implementation of the principles of good governance between countries.

scholarly journals Critical Analysis of the Oversight Role of the Education Portfolio Committee in Parliament of South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. W. Manona
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Government Expenditure ◽  
Adverse Consequence ◽  
Senior Executives ◽  
Effectiveness And Efficiency ◽  
Ruling Party

There is a prevalent assumption in South Africa that Parliament is guided by the ideals of democracy, accountability, transparency and accessibility. However, there are still gaps and challenges as far as theoversight role of Parliament is concerned, despite the presence of committees that have been established to oversee the executive and relevant structures of government, government activities and public finances. There is widespread maladministration and misuse of government expenditure in government departments. This paper investigates the oversight role of parliamentary committees to determine their relative influence on accountability and democracy in the execution of functions by public functionaries. The aim of the paper is to provide an understanding into inherent problems in the oversight role of Parliament in the democratic dispensation in South Africa, which seems not to have been given serious attention in the academia, considering the pivotal role Parliament plays in the lives of citizens of the country. These oversight committees have selectively held Senior Executives or Ministers accountable for their ineffectiveness, misuse of government expenditure and maladministration. This could be attributed to the fact that oversight in South Africa does not seem to be properly understood and implemented as it should be. Moreover, the influence of the majoritarian authority of the ruling party in committees seems to be colluding with the executive. Failure to take action against cases of omission brings questions on the effectiveness and efficiency of the oversight role of Parliament. The adverse consequence is the delay in the provision of good quality services to poor communities. This paper employed the theoretical approach as a method of data collection. Conclusions have been drawn that the shortcomings of the parliamentary committees compromise accountability and good governance in service delivery.

Implementation of the Principles of Good Governance on the National Level outside the EU

2019 ◽  
pp. 209-242
Author(s):  
Henk Addink
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
National Level ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Fourth Power ◽  
Review Section ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Equality Rights ◽  
Good Government

In this chapter, the focus is on the implementation of good governance norms in three countries outside Europe: Australia, Canada, and South Africa. Relating to the implementation of the good governance principles in Australia, we start with the historical background and good governance approaches in the country. There is a classical rule of law and separation of powers but also new administrative law reforms and including the position of the fourth power. Important is the role of the Ombudsman and the relation between good governance and human rights. Especially the principles of participation, transparency and accountability have been worked out. The idea of integrity goes beyond matters of simple ‘legality’. Important is the influx of integrity commissions, ombudsmen and means of judicial and merit review. Although Canada does not have specific legislation that explicitly outlines good governance principles, it is clear that Canada has put them into practice. The Constitution guarantees Canadian citizens ‘peace, order, and good government’. The rule of law provides that every person must abide by the law and Section 15 guarantees equality rights to Canadian citizens. The judiciary is also a source for good governance. Finally, administrative officials are held accountable by judicial review, section 24 of the Charter, and with the ombudsmen. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement. South Africa has extensively integrated good governance principles into its legal system, but faces the same problems that other developing countries in Africa have. Thus, although South Africa has a sound legal foundation for good governance, lessons can still be learned on how to translate these legal norms into practical application.

scholarly journals Corporate municipal governance for effective and efficient public service delivery in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 98-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulin Mbecke
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Municipal Governance ◽  
Governance Systems ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Code Of Corporate Governance

This research acknowledges the current service delivery chaos manifested through numerous protests justifying the weakness of the “Batho Pele” good governance principles to facilitate, improve and sustain service delivery by local governments. The success of corporate governance in corporate companies and state owned enterprises is recognised prompting suggestions that local governments should too adopt corporate governance principles or King III to be effective. The research reviews the King III and literature to ascertain the lack of research on corporate governance in local governments in South Africa. Considering the particular set-up of local governments, the research doubts the successful application of King III in local governments. Through critical research theory, the current service delivery crisis in local governments in South Africa is described. The success of corporate governance systems in the United Kingdom and Australian local governments justify the need for a separate corporate municipal governance system as a solution to the crisis. A specific change of legislation and corporate governance guidelines is necessary to address the uniqueness of local governments. Hence, corporate municipal governance should be compulsory and based on ten standardised good governance principles via a code of corporate governance and a corporate governance framework responding to specific prerequisites for success

scholarly journals PRESIDENTIAL POWERS IN SOUTH AFRICA – MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

Obiter ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
George Barrie
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Abraham Lincoln ◽  
United States Congress ◽  
Executive Authority ◽  
Head Of State ◽  
The Republic

This note attempts to analyse the essence of presidential powers in South Africa. These powers are in essence found in sections 83−85 of the Constitution, which relate to “The President”, “Powers and functions of President” and “Executive authority of the Republic” respectively. After being in operation for close to two-and-a-half decades, questions still remain as to the precise meaning of the Constitution’s reference to the President as “head of state”, “head of the national executive” and being vested with “executive authority”. The existence of such questions, it is submitted, should be of some concern. Since the role of the President is critical in ensuring effective executive government, is it not imperative that, by this time, there should be a consensus as to the meaning of the terms “head of state”, “head of the national executive” and “executive authority”? The role of the President can be extremely politically demanding. Executive aggrandisement must be averted. Because our system of executive government is relatively unexplored given that the Constitution only dates from 1996, it needs to be developed in a truly democratic context with a keen sense of constitutionalism. This implies that the executive must be “unable to employ the strong arm tactics that an autocratic executive is by its very nature able to do”.The dilemma facing the South African President as head of state and head of the national executive and being vested with executive authority (sections 83, 84 and 85 of the Constitution) is similar to that faced by Abraham Lincoln on 4 July 1861 in his historic address to the United States Congress after the outbreak of the Civil War. Lincoln posed this question: “Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?”.In discussing the terms “head of state” and “head of the national executive”, the terms as they feature in the Constitution are referred to; the terms as interpreted and applied in practice are analysed and lastly the myriad questions raised by the terms are highlighted. It will emerge that when it comes to analysing these terms, there appear to be more questions than answers. It is submitted that these unanswered questions are not consonant with good governance and can only result in constant litigation.

scholarly journals The Role of Good Environmental Governance in the Sustainable Development of South Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Loretta Feris
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Decisions ◽  
Value Choices

This article seeks to analyse good governance decision-making in the environmental context through an understanding and interpretation of the relationship between good environmental governance (evidenced inter alia by decision-making by public authorities) and sustainable development in South Africa.  It critically assesses recent case law in an attempt to understand the way in which our courts are evaluating authorities’ environmental decisions.  In reaching its objectives, this article considers also how environmental decisions are made in the first place and asks the question: what are the value choices underlying government’s decisions and what role does sustainable development play in informing decisions for good environmental governance.

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