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

Abstract

During the 30 years of democracy, the South African public sector has faced various challenges of poor governance, which include limitation of ethical leadership, limited accountability, limited transparency and increased corruption. Therefore, South Africa is characterised as a country with limited good governance, which impedes the effective delivery of public services. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, South African citizens witnessed numerous incidents of poor accountability from public officials and political office-bearers, including that of the Minister of Health, while also witnessing the undermining of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 by South Africa's former president, Jacob Zuma. A number of other incidents were recorded. These pointed to the need for ethical leadership, accountability and transparency – more urgently needed now than before in South Africa. The core objective of the study was to determine the importance of ethical leadership, accountability and transparency in promoting good governance in the South African public sector. An explanatory research design, which is a mixed-methods research method, underpinned the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five purposively selected senior executive management public officials and a structured questionnaire was distributed to 15 senior management public officials. The quantitative data generated in the study was analysed by a registered statistician using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), whilst the qualitative data was analysed through content analysis. The study focused on two purposively selected public sector institutions based on the characteristics of clean audits where one institution received 15 consecutive clean audits and the other six successive clean audits, receiving top rankings amongst South Africa's metros in the most recent Good Governance Performance Index (GPI) 2024. The study's findings indicated that the current legislative frameworks, accountability mechanisms and systems within South Africa's public sector are ineffective in addressing governance challenges such as limited 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. As a result, it is recommended that the Oversight Committees, in charge of promoting good governance and accountability for public resources, review and amend the existing accountability measures. Each Directorate needs to have a Portfolio Committee that holds the Director accountable in order to provide effective and efficient oversight and financial accountability and transparency. Additionally, these committees should improve oversight measures such as reporting, auditing and monitoring systems to guarantee that public funds are spent responsibly and efficiently by senior management public officials. This is an accountability technique used by the selected metropolitan municipality in South Africa. Both selected public sector institutions adhere to the rule of law, excellent financial and performance management and quality service delivery as the cornerstones of good governance. The study forwarded a detailed framework based on the analysis, interpretation and findings of the study as well as a variety of aspects that were discovered during the different phases of the study. This framework could be adopted by the selected public sector institutions, as well as by public offices that have either a direct or indirect interest in promoting and institutionalising good governance in South Africa.