scholarly journals The illusion of ethics for good local governance in South Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Ababio ◽  
Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
The Public

Ethics, the legislation and upholding of good conduct by public officials is a sine qua non for sustenance of good governance and service delivery. The White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service 1994 identified the need for a code of conduct in South Africa as an essential element to enhance high standards of ethics and professionalism. In 1996, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa prescribed the values and principles of Public Administration. Subsequently, the Public Service Commission developed a Code of Conduct in 1997. The legitimacy of local government is based on the same principles of ethics and professionalism as that of the national government. It is imperative to implement an ethical framework for social and economic development at the grass-root level. This article examines the theoretical terrain of ethics in public management and posits that, whereas there exist some state-of-the-art legis lation that regulate the conduct of public functionaries at the local government sphere, outcomes of ethics in practice are rather unethical and illusive. There is therefore an advocacy for the need to intensify implementation of ethical guidelines for councillors and municipal employees. The fiduciary, management, operational and accountabil ity framework is further upheld through the implementation of a code of conduct for local officials. Theoretically, the framework should be scientifically accountable and practically feasible in implementation.The article recommends the need to strategise measurable implementation plans, conduct the on-going fraud risk assessments and sensitise the community through education and training regarding good governance and the code of ethics. The approach used is descriptive, though analytical.

scholarly journals The Effect of Bureaucratic Reforms Implementation for Optimizing of Governance in Indonesia (Focus on the Public Service Innovation in Local Government Institutions)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Elvira Mulya Nalien ◽  
Teguh Ilham
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Service Innovation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
The Government ◽  
Bureaucratic Reforms

The deep-rooted pathology in public services and the high demands on its quality improvementencourage the government to focus on service functions, especially during the Joko Widodoand Jusuf Kalla Administration. In line with Nawacita (nine programs), their electionpromise, and the bureaucratic reforms planning of 2015-2019, the improvement of publicservice delivery becomes one of the most important issues. This paper uses the descriptivemethod and inductive approach with interviews, observation, and documentation as datacollection techniques. The result shows that the Public Service Innovation Competitionheld by the Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reforms (PANRB)can generate innovations that succeeded in bringing changes and greatly affect theimplementation of the Bureaucratic Reforms to the optimization of governance in Indonesia,especially in local governments.Keywords: innovation, public service, bureaucratic reforms, good governance

scholarly journals The politics of service delivery in South Africa: The local government sphere in context

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Purshottama S. Reddy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Development ◽  
African State ◽  
Political Management ◽  
The Republic

The post-1994 democratic developmental South African state opted for a strong local government system which has been constitutionalised, in terms of Chapter 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996. The politicisation of the local bureaucracy was inevitable as the ruling party sought to ensure that the executive leadership of municipalities shared the same political ideology and vision to facilitate local development. This raises the question, where does politicisation commence and end, and what is the ideal local political interface for efficient and effective service delivery and, more importantly, to ensure good governance? These questions have to take cognisance of the fact that South Africa is a ‘struggle democracy’ and development has to take place in historically disadvantaged areas, where services have been poor or non-existent. The historically advantaged areas have to also be maintained and upgraded, as they are key to financial sustainability of the municipalities. The increasing service delivery protests is a matter for concern, if one has to take cognisance of the popular adage highlighted in official literature, ‘if local government fails, South Arica fails’. Given that the struggles for a democratic South Africa were fought at the grassroots level, this has to translate to an improved quality of life for local communities. Consequently, sound political management is key to enhanced municipal service delivery and ultimately good local governance. This paper reviews political trends and developments up to 2016, but excludes any discussion on the recent local government elections.

Judgments of Value, Judgments of Fact: The Ethical Dimension of Biohistorical Research

2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-99
Author(s):  
Russell Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Dna Analysis ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Ethical Dimension ◽  
Dna Testing ◽  
Ethical Guidelines ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
The Public ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
Scientific Analysis

The public increasingly views DNA testing as an unassailable way to verify the identity of historical figures. The Chicago Historical Society explored the appropriateness of DNA analysis and other forensic scientific methods to authenticate Lincoln assassination-related artifacts in its collection. The study concluded that DNA testing would damage or destroy the artifacts. More importantly, it determined that DNA and other scientific analysis of historical artifacts or historical figures' remains should be done only in the context of an ethical framework. The article discusses the development of ethical guidelines for museums and historians to follow when considering such studies.

scholarly journals Fostering public accountability in South Africa: A reflection on challenges and successes

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pandelani H. Munzhedzi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Public Accountability ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current State ◽  
Public Service Provision ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government

Accountability and oversight are constitutional requirements in all the spheres of government in the Republic of South Africa and their foundation is in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996. All spheres of government are charged with the constitutional mandate of providing public services. The level of responsibility and public services provision also goes with the level of capacity of a particular sphere. However, most of the direct and visible services that the public receives are at the local sphere of government. As such, enormous resources are channelled towards this sphere of government so that the said public services could be provided. It is imperative that the three spheres of government account for the huge expenditures during the public service provision processes. The parliaments of national and provincial governments exercise oversight and accountability over their executives and administrations through the Public Accounts Committees, while the local sphere of government relies on the Municipal Public Accounts Committees. This article is theoretical in nature, and it seeks to explore the current state of public accountability in South Africa and to evaluate possible measures so as to enhance public accountability. The article argues that the current public accountability mechanisms are not efficient and effective. It is recommended that these mechanisms ought to be enhanced by inter alia capacitating the legislative bodies at national, provincial and local spheres of the government.

scholarly journals Bureaucratic Reform and The Challange of Good Governance Implementation in Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Muhadam Labolo ◽  
Etin Indrayani
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Government Bureaucracy ◽  
Local Government Level ◽  
Important Note ◽  
Corrupt Behavior ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact

Bureaucratic reformation is the fundamental structuring efforts are expected to havean impact on changing systems and structures. The system deals with the relationshipbetween the unsure or the element that influence each other and are associated to makea form totally. The change in one element can influence the other elements in the system.The structure relates with the order of who arrayed a regular basis and systematically.Structure changes is also included with the mechanism and procedure, human resources,facilities and infrastructure, organization and organization’s environment in terms of theachievement of the efficiency of government bureaucracy. These changes include allowingall of the aspects of the bureaucracy has sufficient capacity to carry out the duties and thebasic function. Bureaucratic failure in a term for service the public until now representpoor government both at central and local government level. The urgency of bureaucraticreform in Indonesia is driven by a number of important note. First, the increased apparatusexpenditure is caused by increased of apparatus recruitment without unmeasured control.Second, the ballooning cost of democracy (election) affected the floated of local governmentbudget have increased significantly. The magnitude of the election budget and the impact ongovernmental bureaucracy resulted not ready to close the budget deficit. More than thesebureaucracy has loyalty dilemma caused by dispersed of concentration in every election’sactivity. Third, increased of develop the bureaucratic organization without planning andanalysis of the measured trigger financing and recruitment of apparatus that not less. Asa result, the bureaucracy in most areas are overload, or even lack in outside of Java. Inother side, less of local incomes make dependence to central government, while the localgovernment expenditure is to far from efficiency, even tend to be less controlled due to thehigh cost of the organization. Fourth, extensive corrupt behavior in almost all public sectorbureaucracy encourages lose confidence as a public servant.Keywords: Bureaucratic Reformation, bureaucracy design, local government, GoodGovernance

scholarly journals Whistleblowing: Impediments to effective implementation within the South African public sector

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirmala Dorasamy ◽  
Soma Pillay
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
The South ◽  
The Public ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
The Cost

This purpose of this article is to explore impediments to effective whistleblowing as a strategy for promoting anti-corruption practices within the South African public sector. Corruption, which violates the public service code of conduct; deters foreign investment, increases the cost of public service delivery, undermines the fight against poverty and unnecessarily burdens the criminal justice system. The article addresses the question on whether legislation on whistleblowing is adequate to encourage whistleblowing in the public sector. A review of literature determines that the effective implementation of whistleblowing legislation is largely dependent on addressing the challenges identified in the article. The quantitative research method was employed in the study to ascertain the views of employees in the public sector on whistleblowing. Empirical findings confirm the hypothesis that the protection of whistleblowers through legislation is inadequate to encourage whistleblowing. The article provides a conceptual framework for the effective achievement of the intended outcomes of whistleblowing in the public sector.

The Paradox of (De)politicisation in a Selected South African Municipality: An Afrocentric Ethical Reflection

Politeia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kgothatso B. Shai
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
African Culture ◽  
Government Administration ◽  
Traditional Leadership

South Africa’s local government administration is complex in that both traditional leadership and elected municipal councils play a role in it. Traditional leadership occupies an essential position and status in local government administration, in particular in rural South Africa. However, the contemporary administrative jurisdiction of municipalities cuts across both rural and urban areas. In the rural areas, the conflict over the division of roles between traditional leaders and elected councillors is evident. Due to the influence and dominance of the neo-liberal global order, modernists often accuse traditional leadership of being undemocratic and authoritarian. However, the reality is that elected councils’ administration also leaves much to be desired, and the consequences of their poor administration are not uniformly understood. Since South Africa is a democratic state, it is expected that there should be a clear separation in government institutions between party (i.e., the ruling African National Congress) politics and public administration; a phenomenon that some describe as depoliticisation. Nevertheless, the realities on the ground suggest otherwise. This article, which is based on the theory of Afrocentricity, examines a selected rural municipality (Maruleng) in South Africa’s Limpopo province to critically reflect on the ethics and the value system of African culture in the context of local governance vis-à-vis Westernised governance principles. The aim of this research is achieved through interdisciplinary critical discourse and thematic analysis in its broadest form.

FORMATION OF THE BASIC KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM IN THE PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION SPHERE

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-216
Author(s):  
Valerii Bakumenko ◽  
Oleksiy Krasnorutskyy ◽  
Anatolii Hatsko
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Knowledge System ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Administration Reform

The modernization of the management system and the knowledge management model is needed in the context of the public administration reform, taking into account the concept of decentralization and Good Governance. That is why the article focuses on the author’s approach to substantiating the formation of a modern knowledge system in public management and administration in Ukraine. It is proved that the approach to the knowledge system formation should be based on the identification of the needs of public administration objects. The need to comply with the necessary diversity law for a management subject of public entity regarding its knowledge of the entity has been identified. The content of the principle «from general to specific» for the objects of public administration is considered. The formation structure of the basic knowledge system in the public sphere is presented, which unites a number of blocks. The first block deals with the system of basic knowledge of public management and administration. The second block deals with the idea of a public authorities system at different levels. The third block concerns the formation of basic knowledge about public service. The fourth block concerns the formation of a basic knowledge system about current trends in the development of domestic public administration. The fifth block deals with the knowledge about the development and implementation of public policy and implementation of public administration. The sixth block deals with the consideration of public administration as a deliberate activity to establish internal procedures and processes in public administration to ensure their smooth functioning. The seventh block concerns the knowledge system for ensuring social stability. The eighth block is a glossary of basic terms and the ninth is a bibliography. The proposed approach is the scientific substantiation of the development of educational and professional programs of the basic textbook and standards for the specialty 281 – «Public Management and Administration». Keywords: knowledge, public administration, the necessary diversity law, public policy, public service, public authorities, public stability.

Using Web Sites to Improve Fiscal Transparency

2012 ◽  
pp. 232-260
Author(s):  
Tolga Demirbas
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Public Management ◽  
New Public Management ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Public Administrators ◽  
Governance System ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fiscal Transparency ◽  
New Public

Fiscal transparency today is considered as an essential element of both good governance and e-governance. Therefore, in the new public management and budgeting reforms made by governments, it is clearly observed that fiscal transparency is one of the key elements. E-government technologies, and especially the internet, are supportive to the efforts on the part of governments offering unprecedented opportunities to public administrations enabling the dissemination of fiscal information and improving the e-governance system. In Turkey, where there is the tradition of Continental Europe, the reforms made through new laws in early 2000 contain various legal and institutional regulations to improve fiscal transparency and encourage the public administrators to use websites in an attempt to enhance fiscal transparency. This chapter, within the context of evaluating the endeavors in question, examines the websites of municipalities in Turkey in terms of fiscal transparency and eventually presents some suggestions for the improvement of the e-governance system.

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