Ethical leadership, accountability and transparency in promoting good governance in the South African public sector

Clearance Certificate No | 2022_FBMSREC 011Despite the 30 years of democracy, the South African public sector has faced various challenges of poor governance, which include lack of ethical leadership, lack of accountability, lack of transparency and increased corruption. South Africa is therefore, labelled as a country lacking good governance, which hinders the delivery of public services. In 2016, the late Vytjie Mentor, a former African National Congress (ANC) Member of Parliament (MP) and Mcebisi Jonas, a former Deputy Finance Minister, came forward with the allegations that the Guptas presented Cabinet positions to them. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, South African citizens witnessed numerous incidents of poor accountability from public officials and political office-bearers, while also witnessing the undermining of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 by South Africa's former president, Jacob Zuma. Thus, a study addressing the importance of ethical leadership, accountability and transparency in promoting good governance in the public sector of South Africa is essential and more urgent nowadays than ever before.The study was underpinned by mixed-methods research and an explanatory sequential research design. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 15 senior management public officials and a semi-structured interview were conducted with five purposely selected senior executive management public officials. The data collected emanated from two selected public sector institutions in South Africa, based on their reputations of consecutive clean audits rooted in good governance. The findings revealed that the existing legislative frameworks, accountability mechanisms and systems located in the South African public sector are inefficient in resolving governance issues such as lack of ethical leadership, accountability and transparency. Due to a lack of appropriate processes and mechanisms, South Africa has encountered several challenges, which have overshadowed the country's growth and positive developments over the years.The study developed a comprehensive framework to promote good governance in the South African public sector. It thus contributed to the Public Administration discourse in the areas of leadership and public sector governance. A further benefit to the academic discipline is that the study highlights the significance of the theoretical underpinnings of good governance. Confronted with the immense obstacles that hinder the promotion of good governance in the public sector of South Africa, the study’s practical contribution is that the developed framework can be adopted specifically by low-performing municipalities and government departments into their daily operations as this framework was developed through lessons learnt from the two selected public sector institutions on how to promote good governance. In summary, this framework can also be considered for implementation by the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) at the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA).

准许证书编号 | 2022_FBMSREC 011 尽管南非历经三十年的民主历程，但其公共部门仍面临着诸多治理难题，诸如道德领导力不足、责任缺失、透明度低下以及腐败现象加剧。因此，南非被贴上治理不善国家的标签，这严重阻碍了公共服务的高效提供。2016年，已故的非洲国民大会（ANC）前议员维蒂·门托（Vytjie Mentor）与前任财政副部长姆切比西·乔纳斯（Mcebisi Jonas）揭露，古普塔家族曾向他们提供内阁职位。在新冠疫情高峰期，南非公民目睹了众多公职人员和政治领导人在责任担当上的不足，同时见证了南非前总统雅各布·祖马（Jacob Zuma）对1996年南非共和国宪法的践踏。因此，一项旨在探讨道德领导力、责任与透明度在促进南非公共部门良好治理中重要作用的研究显得尤为必要且迫切。该研究基于混合方法研究及解释性顺序研究设计。通过结构化问卷向15位高级管理人员进行了调查，并针对五位有意挑选的高级管理官员进行了半结构化访谈。收集的数据来源于南非两所声誉良好的公共部门机构，这些机构连续多年通过良好治理原则的审计。研究发现，南非公共部门现有的法律框架、责任机制和系统在解决诸如道德领导力不足、责任缺失和透明度低下等治理问题时效率低下。由于缺乏适当的流程和机制，南非遭遇了诸多挑战，这些挑战掩盖了该国多年来的增长与积极发展。该研究构建了一个旨在促进南非公共部门良好治理的全面框架，从而丰富了公共行政领域关于领导力和公共部门治理的讨论。对学术领域而言，该研究凸显了良好治理理论基础的深远意义。面对阻碍南非公共部门良好治理推进的巨大障碍，该研究的实践贡献在于，所开发的框架可以具体应用于表现不佳的市政当局和政府部门，作为日常运营的指导，因为该框架是基于所选两所公共部门机构在促进良好治理方面的经验教训而构建的。总之，该框架亦适用于公共服务创新中心（CPSI）在公共服务和行政部（DPSA）的实施。