Addressing the Endemic Consequences of Corruption in the South African Local Government Public Sector

Abstract

Corruption is a broad concept involving various acts perceived to be illegal or unethical at the very least. Corruption is informally defined as any act which unfairly or illegally influenced a decision-making process, through giving or receiving of a benefit (monetary or otherwise) to the decision-maker or another party connected to the decision-maker. South Africa (SA) is known for its well-developed framework to promote sound public administration, consisting of the Constitution, supportive legislative instruments including the Public Finance Management Act, Municipal Finance Management Act and various National Treasury Regulations and Notices. Sadly, SA is also known for high levels of fraud, corruption and collusion amongst public officials with apparently very little consequence management to date. Corporate governance was institutionalised in South Africa (SA) through the four King Reports, which have since 1994 served as cornerstones with a Code of Good Practices and Conduct to promote ethical standards and curbing corruption in corporate governance. The article aims to draw conclusions from an in-depth comparative qualitative literature review of national legislative documents, reports and recent articles to determine the extent of corruption and how effective the current SA Public sector corporate governance framework measures at local government level are implemented.