Critical analysis of corporate governance implementation and control systems within the municipal sector in Gauteng province in South Africa.

Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville 2016.By utilising the King III Report as a conceptual framework, this study sought to critically analyse corporate governance implementation and control systems within the municipal sector in the Gauteng province, South Africa. For a municipality to be trusted by and accountable to the public, it needs to implement an effective governance process. However, the absence of the municipal sector corporate governance implementation framework poses a major sector challenge for municipalities. For example, unsuccessful basic service provision and unsuccessful Operation Clean Audit (OPCA-2014) interventions have failed to correct poor governance, which gave rise to municipalities not receiving clean audit opinions from the Auditor-General of South Africa. In addition, it has become clear that the municipal board, charged with the implementation of effective governance practices, do not fully understand their governance roles. This can be evidenced by the fact that the majority of councillors need training and development in corporate governance. The ultimate aim of this study is to provide municipal boards with the skills and knowledge that will eventually translate into increased and sustainable development and good governance. The study used a combination of research approaches, where the quantitative approach was used to generate statistical data and reports, while the qualitative paradigm was used to substantiate numerical data. Data was collected by means of a questionnaire and interviews. Quantitative data was analysed through SSPSV 22 for factor analysis, descriptive and correlation analysis while qualitative data was transcribed and loaded into a qualitative data analysis software application known as NVivo. It was then coded and grouped into categories or themes. The data interpretation was done by illustrating different points with quotes, either verbatim or paraphrased. The study revealed that the challenge that municipal boards face is that they do not understand their governance role, resulting in service delivery protests as programmes are not implemented. In addition, the absence of a sector-specific framework is also a major contributor to ineffective administration and negative audit outcomes. The study proposes a model that municipalities can customise when implementing corporate governance. It concludes that by adopting and utilising the municipal corporate governance implementation framework, governance practices in municipalities can dramatically improve. As a result, the boards will be empowered and skilled in good governance. A further empirical study on how the specific sector governance implementation framework can be incorporated into educational institutions’ study programmes is highly recommended