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In the research reported on here we explored teachers' understanding of what they perceived as core values of ethical leadership in education. Using qualitative research within an interpretivist design, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers and school management team (SMT) members and analysed using Tesch's coding method. The theoretical underpinnings of the paper are grounded in 3 distinct ethics of care, justice and critique. The findings cannot be generalised since the results highlighted in this article only report on those applicable to this small qualitative sample. The main themes that emerged from the findings included the participants' understanding of 3 core values of ethical leadership. They emphasised trust, respect and transparency as vital components of ethical leadership. Recommendations include more training and research for secondary school teachers who are not well equipped with the knowledge, skills and tools to approach the needs of disenfranchised and disadvantaged learners at their schools. A more nuanced understanding of transparency in schools, policy and practices is needed.

South Africa, like the rest of the world, was affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. From March 2020, the country's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, imposed lockdown regulations in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which led to the closure of universities. When the national regulations allowed for the resumption of university activities, the University of Limpopo had to set up quarantine and isolation facilities as a strategy to manage infections. As a new initiative, challenges would be expected in managing this unfolding situation. Against this background, this paper considers the findings of a study which focused on the establishment and operations of quarantine and isolation facilities at the university. Documents were analysed for the purpose of data construction and substantiated with data collected through semi-structured interviews. The university staff members responsible for the facilities were purposively selected to participate in this study. Data were analysed through thematic content analysis. The study found that the university established the quarantine and isolation facilities according to government guidelines; the facilities were well managed; and activities were implemented as expected. However, operational challenges that require improvements were identified and this article accordingly makes recommendations.

In South Africa, the scholarship of epistemic justice has taken on an historical gaze with higher education framed as a social institution that might ameliorate the historical traumas of colonialism. Undoing the legacies of colonialism has been framed as the democratisation of the knowledge project. Using the White Paper 3 of 1997 that posits academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability as fundamental to institutional governance, in part I (EJ1285191) of this analysis I broadened public accountability to include the social, political and economic factors that inhibit or act as catalyst to the attainment of educational desire. In this second part publication, I am interested in developing and proposing epistemic impartiality. This concept is developed from Mitova's proposition of 'decolonising knowledge without too much relativism', which ultimately fosters epistemic justice through rigorously scrutinising each epistemic tradition. My suggestion is that epistemic impartiality enables dialogue between divergent traditions.

Objective: Schools are important settings for health promotion. In schools, children and adolescents can be reached regardless of their social background, which represents a unique opportunity for promoting health. Several studies have demonstrated the importance of school leadership in initiating and sustaining health promotion; however, efforts to systematically review the influence of school leadership on school health promotion are still lacking. Hence, this paper analyses empirical studies published in scientific journals on school leadership and health promotion in schools. Design: Systematic literature review. Method: Informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, a review was conducted using two main databases: Web of Science and Scopus, which retrieved 51 eligible articles. Results: The review of these articles resulted in the identification of seven main themes -- school leaders' health; attitudes, knowledge and behaviour; accountability; support from school leaders; shared leadership approaches; capacity building and parent engagement. Conclusion: This systematic literature review expands the literature by highlighting the school leadership factors that promote school health promotion in Oceania, Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia continents. Future systematic literature reviews could explore studies and different aspects of health promotion by teachers, especially in the Asian context.

In South Africa, the scholarship of epistemic justice has taken on an historical gaze with higher education framed as a social institution that might ameliorate the historical traumas of colonialism. Undoing the legacies of colonialism has been framed as the democratisation of the knowledge project. Using the White Paper 3 of 1997 that posits academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability as fundamental to institutional governance, in part I of this analysis I broadened public accountability to include the social, political and economic factors that inhibit or act as catalyst to the attainment of educational desire. In this second part publication, I am interested in developing and proposing epistemic impartiality. This concept is developed from Mitova's proposition of 'decolonising knowledge without too much relativism', which ultimately fosters epistemic justice through rigorously scrutinising each epistemic tradition. My suggestion is that epistemic impartiality enables dialogue between divergent traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since democratisation, South Africa has struggled to create a stable system of local governance. There are constant municipal failures. Higher levels of government have to intervene in municipalities regularly. This study, therefore, set out to assess the effect of intervention mechanisms, including preventative measures, as part of the broader accountability and oversight setting. Based on a qualitative research approach, this paper argues that both prospective and retrospective accountability forms are weak. Post-factum interventions yield only limited results. Overall, these mechanisms are not able to form stable local governments and prevent municipal failures. Ultimately, this paper infers that strengthening prospective accountability and oversight mechanisms has the capacity to increase the stability of the local governance system. This finding has important implications for developing new accountability and oversight practices in South Africa and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of malus and clawback provisions has increased in recent years due to the demand for tighter controls on incentive-based compensation. The alignment between executive pay and individual performance creates a culture of responsible decision-making and accountability within an organisation. This paper seeks to evaluate the current state of governance legislation on the clawback of remuneration in the South African context. A systematic literature review was conducted to provide descriptive insight on the technical and procedural approach applied to the clawback of remuneration. These findings were then compared to other countries so that similarities, differences, and areas of further research could be identified. Through detailed content analysis, it was found that the South African governance regime lags behind its international counterparts regarding remuneration clawback. Due to the absence of relevant statutory guidelines, discretion is frequently applied, leading to inconsistent treatment of clawback amongst listed companies. The use of clawback as a risk-mitigation mechanism is also relatively new in South Africa and comparative studies provide useful insight on the technicalities and administration processes applied abroad. The lessons learnt and strategies applied internationally serve as a benchmark for the development of clawback legislation in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) came into South African politics in 2013. Its inception came when most of the prominent leaders of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), including Julius Malema, Floyd Shivambu and Sindiso Magaqa, were expelled and suspended from the mother body - ANC. The EFF's emergence was aligned with a robust Sankarist and Marxist perspective from ideology to their parliamentary uniform. Furthermore, it assumed a left-wing of the working-class approach to political, governance and human rights issues, which has conspicuously been missing in postapartheid South African politics. From the public to the private sector, the party has radically sent a strong message in an unpopular fashion against labour exploitation, poor working conditions, racism and poor governance, among other social issues. Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper was to critically debate the EFF's approach to upholding the government accountable to its constitutional and developmental mandate. The article adopted a secondary research approach whereby the available literature related to the topic was reviewed and analysed. The paper concluded by arguing that, despite being disruptive in their approach, the EFF has unquestionably transformed politics and significantly influenced the course of governance in South Africa. Furthermore, it has noticeably enhanced accountability from the national to the local sphere of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, the Constitution established the Office of the Public Protector to promote and protect the rights and interests of vulnerable members of the public against unlawful government conducts. In discharging this constitutional duty, the holder of the office must be above board, impartial, and function without fear, favour or prejudice. However, if the holder of the office fails to act in accordance with the rule of law, there would and should be consequences. This paper examined the consequences of an erring Public Protector in discharging the duty of the office using a literature review approach, searching and generating contemporary scholarly works in the subject area from the google search engine and jurisprudence from courts. The paper found that the courts shall impose punitive monetary sanctions and the Parliament might institute processes to remove the erring public protector for infractions and indiscretions. This study attempted to plug this legislative lacuna by proposing to Parliament and the National Assembly mechanisms that can be used to ensure that, not only the PP but other incumbent leaders of Chapter 9 institutions may be held to account for their actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation of powers among the three branches of government, in most Constitutional democracies, is a design to avert the tyranny of a personalized rule. With specific roles, in relationships characterized by separated but shared powers, each branch of government is a watchdog against the other in case of any abuse. In the South African governing system, the Constitution guarantees functional power relationships among the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary branches of the government. Nevertheless, the dominant party system, in practice, has weakened the legislative oversight and accountability powers to tame the excesses of the executive, contrary to the intendments of the drafters of the Constitution. Judicial review of the various legislative and executive actions, however, has created precedents that seek to reassert legislative capacity to hold the executive accountable. At one time or the other, the judiciary had indicted the legislature and the executive of dereliction of duties. Using primary and secondary data from judicial pronouncements, constitutional provisions, and other public documents, with extant literature, respectively, this paper reviewed the environment that prompted the activist posture of the South African judiciary. An entrenched culture of party loyalty and the incapacity of the legislature to enforce accountability have bolstered the need for assertive judicial review in ensuring accountability. The failure of the legislature to exercise its oversight power has provided the platform for the judiciary to rise as a formidable accountability instrument. Judicial independence, guaranteed by The Constitution, would continue to sustain the tenets of South African representative democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the findings of a qualitative study conducted in 2018 in five schools (three primary and two secondary schools) in a rural community in the south of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (SA). It adopted a case study methodology and explored principals' understandings and practices of servant leadership (SL), which is assumed to be part of principals' leadership approaches. A review of literature suggested a dearth of empirical studies in this area in SA despite its importance. The findings indicate that close to three decades since SA became a democratic country, research suggests that the notion and values of putting people first has not taken root. The findings also suggest that principals have a limited understanding of the concept of accountability as an inextricable component of SL. Consequently, accountability to external bodies is prioritized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Translating health policy into effective implementation is a core priority for responding effectively to the tuberculosis (TB) crisis. The national TB Recovery Plan was developed in response to the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on TB care in South Africa. We aimed to explore the implementation of the TB Recovery Plan and develop recommendations for strengthening accountability for policy implementation for this and future TB policies. Methods: We interviewed 24 participants working on or impacted by TB policy implementation in South Africa. This included perspectives from national, provincial, and local health department representatives, civil society, and community representatives. In-depth interviews were conducted in English and isiXhosa and we drew on reflexive thematic methods for analysis. Results: Participants felt that there was potential for COVID-19 innovations and urgency to influence TB policy development and implementation, including the use of data dashboards. Implementation of the TB Recovery Plan predominantly used a top-down approach to implementation (cascading from national policy to local implementers) but experienced bottlenecks at provincial level. Recommendations for closing the TB policy-implementation gap included using phased implementation and enhancing provincial-level accountability. Civil society organisations were concerned about the lack of provincial implementation data which impeded advocacy for improved accountability and inadequate resourcing for implementation. Community health workers were viewed as key to implementation but were not engaged in the policy development process and were often not aware of new TB policies. At local level, there were also opportunities to strengthen community engagement in policy implementation including through community-led monitoring. Participants recommended broader multi-stakeholder engagement that includes community and community health worker representatives in the development and implementation phases of new TB policies. Conclusions: Communities affected by TB, with the support of civil society organisations, could play a bigger role in monitoring policy implementation at local level and need to be capacitated to do this. This bottom-up approach could complement existing top-down strategies and contribute to greater accountability for TB policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines whether the customer complaints management policy in the Department of Employment and Labour in the Free State province is effectively and efficiently implemented. Skilful and committed policy implementers are required to ensure that policies are implemented successfully. A descriptive qualitative research design was employed in this study using semi-structured online interviews, to gather data from 20 participants who were purposively selected. The major findings of the study reveals that a lack of clarity and accessibility of complaint channels, inadequate training of newly appointed officials in customer complaint management processes, and user-unfriendliness of the complaint processes flow are prohibiting factors of the implementation of the policy. Additionally, there was a lack of effective communication and coordination among both the internal and external stakeholders, and a noticeable absence of consequence management. The study recommend that the Department of Employment and Labour should consider to design a user-friendly customer complaints management processes flow as well as to incorporate customer complaints module during the induction of newly appointed employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African municipalities have continued to demonstrate weaknesses or inadequacies in monitoring and evaluation (M&E). A possible barrier in South African municipalities is a lack of M&E expertise. While M&E can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness and efficiency of a programme, some potential pitfalls and gaps were discovered during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A case study design was employed to conduct in-depth and detailed examination within two metropolitan municipalities in the Eastern Cape. A mixed methods approach was adopted in a convergent manner for data collection and analysis. In-depth interviews were utilised to collect data from 13 senior municipal managers at the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM). A total of 191 questionnaires were despatched to municipal employees and 186 were returned, giving a 97% response rate. The findings reflect the weaknesses of M&E policies in the municipalities and paints a picture of M&E not being prioritised in the municipality. The findings also reflect the current situation at the municipalities concerned, which is that there are pitfalls and gaps when it comes to evaluation measures. Thus, the study concludes that accountability for financial and performance management is non-existent This study attempts to make a valuable contribution by providing technical assistance, capacity building to ensure that municipalities have effective M&E systems in place to monitor and evaluate service delivery and improve the lives of communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Leadership and governance are critical for achieving universal health coverage (UHC). In South Africa, aspirations for UHC are expressed through the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) system, which underscores the importance of primary health care, delivered through the district health system (DHS). Consequently, the aim of this study was to determine the existence of legislated District Health Councils (DHCs) in Gauteng Province (GP), and the perceptions of council members on the functioning and effectiveness of these structures. Methods: This was a mixed-methods, cross-sectional study in GP's five districts. The population of interest was members of existing governance structures who completed an electronic-self-administered questionnaire (SAQ). Using a seven-point Likert scale, the SAQ focuses on members' perceptions on the functioning and effectiveness of the governance structures. In-depth interviews with the chairpersons of the DHCs and its technical committees complemented the survey. STATA® 13 and thematic analysis were used to analyze the survey data and interviews respectively. Results: Only three districts had constituted DHCs. The survey response rate was 73%. The mean score for perceived functioning of the structures was 4.5 (SD = 0.7) and 4.8. (SD = 0.7) for perceived effectiveness. The interviews found that a collaborative district health development approach facilitated governance. In contrast, fraught inter-governmental relations fueled by the complexity of governing across two spheres of government, political differences, and contestations over limited resources constrained DHS governance. Both the survey and interviews identified gaps in accountability to communities. Conclusion: In light of South Africa's move toward NHI, strengthening DHS governance is imperative. The governance gaps identified need to be addressed to ensure support for the implementation of UHC reforms. Key messages: In 2018, only three of the five health districts in the Gauteng Province of South Africa established district health councils, the governance structures for primary health care. The mean score for the perceived functioning of the District Health Council (DHC) was 4.5 out of 7 (SD = 0.7), with the three lowest scoring items being for orientation of DHC members (score 3.8; SD = 2.1), punctuality of meetings (score 4.4 SD = 1.8), and the regular review of DHS performance data (score 4.7 SD = 1.9). The mean score for perceived effectiveness of the DHC was 4.8 out of 7 (SD = 0.7) with the lowest scoring items for tension among members of committees and management (score 3.4 SD = 1.6), the existence of criteria to monitor progress towards goals (score 4.6 SD = 1.7), and accountability to communities (score 4.6 SD = 1.7). The interviews found that a collaborative district health development approach facilitated governance. In contrast, fraught inter-governmental relations fuelled by the complexity of governing across two spheres of government, exacerbated by political differences, and contestations over limited resources constrained DHS governance. Both the survey and interviews identified gaps in accountability to communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption in all its forms, from bribery to influence and distortion of oversight, accountability and justice systems, in order to protect the criminal behavior of functionaries (public officials and political officials) is a global phenomenon. Corruption as a phenomenon is found in well-established democracies such as Canada, and is often endemic in young democracies such as South Africa, who fall into a cycle of political corruption and administrative accountability avoidance. What are the cross-cutting risk factors and mitigation factors that shape the functionality of anti-corruption mechanisms? This comparative analysis of corruption and state capture provides insight into the functionality of oversight, anti-corruption and accountability mechanisms in both countries. Findings indicate that both Canada and South Africa are at risk of the erosion of safeguards and at risk of the deterioration of the levels of vigilance required to prevent state capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To analyze the usefulness or quality of annual reports formulated by the municipalities in the context of decision-making and accountability in the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Methodology: In this study, we employ a 21-index research tool designed by Beest, Braam, and Boelens (2009). Findings: The results of the study indicate that the quality of the KwaZulu-Natal municipalities' annual reports is quite satisfactory. However, there is scope for enhancement as far as the quality of the annual reports is concerned Originality/Value: This study contributes to the current body of knowledge and further contributes to the enhancement in the usefulness and quality of financial reporting in public sector and belyond. This study has also provided a very robust plan for future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accountability is one of the important principles and values for the proper and effective management of municipalities in the local government in South Africa. This article provides an overview of the challenges affecting the accountability of the municipal manager in Mahikeng local municipality. The article identifies the failure to account, the failure to comply with the legislative framework for accountability, the lack of compliance with the ethical standards, the municipality having too many creditors, the failure to follow proper communication channels as some of the challenges affecting the accountability of the municipal manager in the Mahikeng local municipality. These challenges have affected the effective service delivery in the Mahikeng local municipality. To this end, the authors argue for enhancing the enforcement approaches and compliance with the relevant laws and prescripts in order to curb the irregular, unauthorised, wasteful and fruitless expenditure in the Mahikeng local municipality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic values and principles of public administration guide the service delivery in the South African context. Despite the government's commitment to improve basic service delivery to the citizens in this era, the South African municipalities are still faced with serious challenges of service delivery and governance. This study discusses the basic values and principles governing public administration in the context of municipal service delivery. Thus, the purpose of this study is to unpack the implementation of the values and principles of public administration on service delivery as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. Accountability, transparency, public participation, professional ethics, and access to information are some of the basic values and principles provided by section 195(1) of the Constitution. In this pandemic of COVID‐19, municipal officials in local government are expected to conduct their business in line with the values and principles as enshrined in the Constitution. Theoretically, this study relied on the theory of implementation sometimes referred to "Policy Implementation" by Pressman and Wildavsky (1973). Pressman and Wildavsky defined "implementation" as "to carry‐out, accomplish, fulfil, produce, complete." Thus, this theory is relevant to this study as it discusses the implementation of the basic values and principles governing public administration. The study proposes how municipal officials should execute their duties within the Thuma Mina program which requires them to be at the forefront of service delivery. Furthermore, municipal officials should provide services within the parameters of basic values and principles of public administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accountability for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) is a collaborative endeavour and documenting collaboration dynamics may be key to understanding variations in the performance of MNCH services. This study explored the dynamics of collaboration among frontline health professionals participating in two MNCH coordination structures in a rural South African district. It examined the role and position of actors, the nature of their relationships, and the overall structure of the collaborative network in two sub-districts. Methods: Cross-sectional survey using a social network analysis (SNA) methodology of 42 district and sub district actors involved in MNCH coordination structures. Different domains of collaboration (eg, communication, professional support, innovation) were surveyed at key interfaces (district-sub-district, across service delivery levels, and within teams). Results: The overall network structure reflected a predominantly hierarchical mode of clustering of organisational relationships around hospitals and their referring primary healthcare (PHC) facilities. Clusters were linked through (and dependent on) a combination of district MNCH programme and line managers, identified as central connectors or boundary spanners. Overall network density remained low suggesting potential for strengthening collaborative relationships. Within cluster collaborative patterns (inter-professional and across levels) varied, highlighting the significance of small units in district functioning. Conclusion: SNA provides a mechanism to uncover the nature of relationships and key actors in collaborative dynamics which could point to system strengths and weaknesses. It offers insights on the level of fragmentation within and across small units, and the need to strengthen cohesion and improve collaborative relationships, and ultimately, the delivery of health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of retrospective accountability assume that voters punish poor governance and reward improvements, yet empirical evidence remains mixed. We extend this research to a new context, assessing the impact of audits on electoral outcomes in South African municipalities. Our novel identification strategy focuses on by-elections triggered by deaths in office of local councilors and compares those taking place before and after audit results are announced each year. We find that timely audit information affects the vote share of the responsible party, with voters rewarding improvements and punishing poor audits by about 5 percentage points. Additional individual-level survey evidence confirms the underpinning behavioral response more generally. Our study is the first to demonstrate the electoral accountability effects of audit information at full scale, involving universal spatial and temporal coverage as well as public and organic dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's move towards implementing National Health Insurance includes a commitment to establish a health technology assessment (HTA) body to inform health priority-setting decisions. This study sought to analyse health rights cases in South Africa to inform the identification of country-specific procedural values related to health priority-setting and their implementation in a South African HTA body. The focus on health rights cases is motivated in part by the fact that case law can be an important source of insight into the values of a particular country. This focus is further motivated by a desire to mitigate the potential tension between a rights-based approach to healthcare access and national efforts to set health priorities. A qualitative content analysis of eight South African court cases related to the right to health was conducted. Cases were identified through a LexisNexis search and supplemented with expert judgement. Procedural values identified from the health priority-setting literature, including those comprising Accountability for Reasonableness (A4R), structured the thematic analysis. The importance of transparency and revision-two elements of A4R-is evident in our findings, suggesting that the courts can help to enforce elements of A4R. Yet our findings also indicate that A4R is likely to be insufficient for ensuring that HTA in South Africa meets the procedural demands of a constitutional rights-based approach to healthcare access. Accordingly, we also suggest that a South African HTA body ought to consider more demanding considerations related to transparency and revisions as well as explicit considerations related to inclusivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been, and will continue to be, exposed to young democracies who are grappling with deep-seated multi-generational and multi-layered traumas which are embedded in past and present conflicts as well as injustices. In the lead-up to the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa, being a young democracy, has experienced an increase in anger, violence and vengeance due to on-going poverty, lack of service delivery, housing and land, etc., at all levels of society. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the injustices that are based on the legacy of generational trauma and pain that are caused mainly by an unjust political system, centuries of colonialism, violence, and conflict. These injustices have also exposed the commitment and promises that the religious sector made, during the hearing of the faith communities at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), to the reconstruction and development of the country as well as to reconciliation and healing of the nation. Since South Africa became a democracy, the transition process, the first democratic election, the TRC process, political promises, corruption and currently the COVID-19 pandemic have restrained the state of trauma in the country. This restraint has led to a state of frozenness. This contribution argues that the concept of divine discomfort and specifically the notions of accountability and justice can contribute to exploring new ways for religion to deal with the eruption of multi-generational and multi-layered 'frozen trauma'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to explain stark local-level inequalities in public goods access in South Africa and put forth a new framework as to how local electoral competitiveness and accountability influence public service delivery. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data, the article shows that local electoral competitiveness (or ruling party dominance) drives variation in accountability and public goods provision at the local level. In competitive municipalities, South Africa's robust fully decentralized democracy and independent media, along with institutionalized accountability mechanisms, allow citizens, dissenting ruling party members, and opposition figures to exert positive pressures on public goods delivery. By contrast, in municipalities dominated by the ruling party, accountability mechanisms are less likely to be effectively utilized and local governments face less pressure to deliver some of the goods that citizens need most—water, sanitation, and refuse removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the New Nation case, the Constitutional Court declared the provisions of the Electoral Act that prevent independent candidates from competing in provincial and national elections unconstitutional. It ruled that the impugned provisions violated independent candidates' constitutional rights to stand for public office, to freedom of association and to dignity. In a minority judgment, Froneman J disagreed and held that the Constitution contemplates a right to contest elections as a party-nominee only. The differences between the majority and minority judgments are largely the result of distinct interpretive approaches. The majority conducted an analysis of the right to stand for public office within a restricted textual framework that has the potential to disturb the harmonious inter-relationship between the right and the electoral and parliamentary framework for its realisation. This result flows from the fact that the Constitution still reflects the exclusively party-based electoral and parliamentary systems of its predecessor in several important respects. At best, this situation may result in independents being largely at the mercy of political parties for meaningful execution of their legislative and oversight obligations. At worst, they may be excluded from exercising core parliamentary functions altogether. Therefore, to avoid disturbing the normative coherence between the right to stand for public office, the foundational democratic values, and the electoral and parliamentary arrangements, constitutional amendments appear to be necessary for the implementation of the court's order. In any event, expectations about the contribution to electoral reform of allowing independents to contest elections must be tempered by the low political impact of independent representatives on governance, as well as the ambivalence surrounding the democratic functionality of independent candidacy, when measured against the values of transparency and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of poor corporate governance measures has to date given rise to many problems of corruption, embezzlement of public funds and maladministration in several municipalities in South Africa, including the Mahikeng local municipality. The Mahikeng local municipality has had a bad reputation of corruption, embezzlement of public funds and maladministration challenges in the recent years. These challenges are reportedly perpetrated by the municipal manager who is responsible for the management of the municipal budget and related funds. Moreover, irregular expenditure, wasteful and irregular expenditure, non-compliance with the relevant laws, poor management, political interference, lack of political will and lack of accountability are further challenges that have crippled the proper and effective management of the Mahikeng local municipality. In light of this, this article investigates the adequacy and enforcement of the relevant laws to promote good corporate governance in Mahikeng local municipality. This is done to recommend the adoption and utilisation of good corporate governance principles and related measures to, inter alia, promote accountability and consequent management of the Mahikeng local municipality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite governments striving for responsive health systems and the implementation of mechanisms to foster better citizen feedback and strengthen accountability and stewardship, these mechanisms do not always function in effective, equitable, or efficient ways. There is also limited evidence that maps the diverse array of responsiveness mechanisms coherently across a particular health system, especially in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts. Methods: This scoping review presents a cross-sectional 'map' of types of health system responsiveness mechanisms; the regulatory environment; and evidence available about these; and assesses what is known about their functionality in a particular local South African health system; the Western Cape (WC) province. Multiple forms of indexed and grey literature were synthesized to provide a contextualized understanding of current 'formal' responsiveness mechanisms mandated in national and provincial policies and guidelines (n = 379). Various forms of secondary analysis were applied across quantitative and qualitative data, including thematic and time-series analyses. An expert checking process was conducted, with three local field experts, as a final step to check the veracity of the analytics and conclusions made. Results: National, provincial and district policies make provision for health system responsiveness, including varied mechanisms intended to foster public feedback. However, while some are shown to be functioning and effective, there are major barriers faced by all, such as resource and capacity constraints, and a lack of clarity about roles and responsibilities. Most mechanisms exist in isolation, failing to feed into an overarching strategy for improved responsiveness. Conclusion: The lack of synergy between mechanisms or analysis of varied forms of feedback is a missed opportunity. Decision-makers are unable to see trends or gaps in the flow of feedback, check whether all voices are heard or fully understand whether/how systemic response occurs. Urgent health system work lies in the research of macro 'whole' systems responsiveness (levels, development, trends). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]