South African Government introduced the supply chain management framework in 2003, with a vision of creating a seamless system which will play a pivotal role in service delivery provision to the communities, while achieving the objectives of cost effectiveness, fairness, equity transparency and ethics. The main aim of adopting this framework immediately after reform was to align the Public Sector Supply Chain management to the best practices. Unfortunately since its inception the supply chain management, particularly in the local government, has not enjoyed good publicity, due to the following three main factors, firstly incompetency of the supply chain management practitioners on using the preference points system, writing insufficient motivation when deviating from the SCM policies and irregular extensions of validity periods. The second main factor is the unethical conduct of the supply chain management practitioners in collusion with suppliers to overprice their respective tenders and also to supply inferior material for projects intended for community development. The last main factor is the lack of political leadership to enforce compliance, such as consequence management for those who contravened the supply chain management policies, as some councillors are also found doing business with their municipalities which is against the Municipal System Act 32 of 2000. The aim of this study was to establish an effective supply chain management framework for local municipalities in order to achieve the primary objectives of Section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic which are fairness, equity, transparency, and competitive and cost effectiveness. The study found that supply chain management practitioners have indicated that they have a very good understanding of how the supply chain management framework should be applied and of related legislations, but the literature differs with the views of the practitioners, as corruption, fraud and lack of consequences reports are still raised by the Auditor General South Africa and by other publications over the years. The following are recommendations that should be taken into account for the supply framework to function effectively: - Establish a Supply Chain Management Professional Association (SCMPA) of which the role is to provide annual online assessment for all the supply chain management practitioners; - To use the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading certificate as evaluation minimum criteria of assessing functionality in accordance with the specific project; - Cancel the provision to re-issue or re-advertise the tenders after the supply chain management unit has received quotations from suppliers. - Municipalities should develop an integrated online commodity price listing supply database which should be operational 24 hours. Also to develop a Cellular phone application that will enable all the service providers to access the portal at any time to load their respective prices. - Make provision to include members of the audit committee to be charged for negligence under financial misconduct section 171 of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003. - To provide the Auditor General South Africa and the Public Protector with legislative powers to refer malpractices or contravention with the supply chain policies to the SCMPA and SAPS to recover wasteful and fruitless expenditure as required by Section 102 of Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) of 56 of 2003 after complying with section 173 of the MFMA. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

South African Government introduced the supply chain management framework in 2003, with a vision of creating a seamless system which will play a pivotal role in service delivery provision to the communities, while achieving the objectives of cost effectiveness, fairness, equity transparency and ethics. The main aim of adopting this framework immediately after reform was to align the Public Sector Supply Chain management to the best practices. Unfortunately since its inception the supply chain management, particularly in the local government, has not enjoyed good publicity, due to the following three main factors, firstly incompetency of the supply chain management practitioners on using the preference points system, writing insufficient motivation when deviating from the SCM policies and irregular extensions of validity periods. The second main factor is the unethical conduct of the supply chain management practitioners in collusion with suppliers to overprice their respective tenders and also to supply inferior material for projects intended for community development. The last main factor is the lack of political leadership to enforce compliance, such as consequence management for those who contravened the supply chain management policies, as some councillors are also found doing business with their municipalities which is against the Municipal System Act 32 of 2000. The aim of this study was to establish an effective supply chain management framework for local municipalities in order to achieve the primary objectives of Section 217 of the Constitution of the Republic which are fairness, equity, transparency, and competitive and cost effectiveness. The study found that supply chain management practitioners have indicated that they have a very good understanding of how the supply chain management framework should be applied and of related legislations, but the literature differs with the views of the practitioners, as corruption, fraud and lack of consequences reports are still raised by the Auditor General South Africa and by other publications over the years. The following are recommendations that should be taken into account for the supply framework to function effectively: - Establish a Supply Chain Management Professional Association (SCMPA) of which the role is to provide annual online assessment for all the supply chain management practitioners; - To use the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading certificate as evaluation minimum criteria of assessing functionality in accordance with the specific project; - Cancel the provision to re-issue or re-advertise the tenders after the supply chain management unit has received quotations from suppliers. - Municipalities should develop an integrated online commodity price listing supply database which should be operational 24 hours. Also to develop a Cellular phone application that will enable all the service providers to access the portal at any time to load their respective prices. - Make provision to include members of the audit committee to be charged for negligence under financial misconduct section 171 of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003. - To provide the Auditor General South Africa and the Public Protector with legislative powers to refer malpractices or contravention with the supply chain policies to the SCMPA and SAPS to recover wasteful and fruitless expenditure as required by Section 102 of Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) of 56 of 2003 after complying with section 173 of the MFMA. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Magister Legum - LLM / The common law duties have been preserved by the partial codification of the duties of directors in terms of the Companies Act of 2008 (‘2008 Act’). One such duty is the duty to disclose personal financial interest in terms of s 75 of the 2008 Act. The need for directors to disclose personal financial interest has become more necessary than ever before in South African companies, particularly State-Owned Companies (‘SOCs’), due to their role in the South African economy. The injury caused by the breach of this duty is not only to the company, but more harm is caused to the economy and the beneficiaries who are the recipients of services rendered by SOCs. There has been a plethora of media reports of poor corporate governance in SOCs which is attributed to conflict of interest due to failure of directors to disclose their personal financial interests in proposed transactions or approved agreements.

All provincial departments are required to report on pre-determined objectives in terms of Section 40 of the Public Finance Management Act, read in conjunction with Section 5.1.1. of the Treasury Regulations. The purpose of this study was to establish the challenges faced by the Limpopo provincial departments in reporting pre-determined objectives to the Auditor-General. Reporting pre-determined objectives has been a challenge over the past financial years and this is evident in the Auditor-General‟s reports, in which departments continued to receive qualified audit reports (Auditor-General Reports, 2008-2011). The introduction of the Framework for Managing Programme and Performance Information by National Treasury, as well as Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation by the Presidency, was intended to specifically address this challenge faced by departments (National Treasury, 2007 & The Presidency, 2007). The literature review revealed that performance management is fundamental to enhancing organisational performance. In this study, a qualitative research approach was used to collect and analyse data. Key findings of the study were that management should prioritise strategic planning, performance reporting, monitoring and evaluation to enable it to be in a position to make a determination as to whether what was planned by the department was realised. It is of paramount importance that performance reporting is on top of the agenda at management meetings. / MA (Public Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

All provincial departments are required to report on pre-determined objectives in terms of Section 40 of the Public Finance Management Act, read in conjunction with Section 5.1.1. of the Treasury Regulations. The purpose of this study was to establish the challenges faced by the Limpopo provincial departments in reporting pre-determined objectives to the Auditor-General. Reporting pre-determined objectives has been a challenge over the past financial years and this is evident in the Auditor-General‟s reports, in which departments continued to receive qualified audit reports (Auditor-General Reports, 2008-2011). The introduction of the Framework for Managing Programme and Performance Information by National Treasury, as well as Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation by the Presidency, was intended to specifically address this challenge faced by departments (National Treasury, 2007 & The Presidency, 2007). The literature review revealed that performance management is fundamental to enhancing organisational performance. In this study, a qualitative research approach was used to collect and analyse data. Key findings of the study were that management should prioritise strategic planning, performance reporting, monitoring and evaluation to enable it to be in a position to make a determination as to whether what was planned by the department was realised. It is of paramount importance that performance reporting is on top of the agenda at management meetings. / MA (Public Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Local government, as government at grassroot, has, probably undergone transformation more than any institution in post-1994 South Africa. State-of the-art legislation have been passed that have restructured municipalities, and, especially, in the areas of performance and conduct of councillors and officials. Prominent in the areas of transformation are the roles of the Executive Mayor, which are no longer ceremonial as well as the radical changes which have been legislated in municipal financial management. This study was undertaken to determine the challenges that confront the Executive Mayor in financial management in selected local municipalities in the Free State. The hypothesis was formulated that "despite the state-of-the art legislation to regulate municipal finance, Executive Mayors in municipalities face the challenge of poor service delivery as a result of noncompliance to financial statutes due to human resource incapacity". To test the hypothesis, use was made by empirical research that comprised questionnaires completed by sample of managers and officials in the selected local municipalities of Mafube, Metsimaholo, Moqhaka and Ngwathe.The findings, amongst others, were that: • Human capital in the 4 selected local municipalities are in their prime age. 69 percent of managers are in the aged between 30 years to 50 years; • 57 percent of the managers responded that they have adequate qualifications and training to pursue the challenges in municipal finance; • All 4 municipalities normally get their budgets approved as required by compliance. • The hypothesis was consequently, invalidated. The study ends with recommendations to help improve standards and quality of financial management practice in the 4 municipalities.

Local government, as government at grassroot, has, probably undergone transformation more than any institution in post-1994 South Africa. State-of the-art legislation have been passed that have restructured municipalities, and, especially, in the areas of performance and conduct of councillors and officials. Prominent in the areas of transformation are the roles of the Executive Mayor, which are no longer ceremonial as well as the radical changes which have been legislated in municipal financial management. This study was undertaken to determine the challenges that confront the Executive Mayor in financial management in selected local municipalities in the Free State. The hypothesis was formulated that "despite the state-of-the art legislation to regulate municipal finance, Executive Mayors in municipalities face the challenge of poor service delivery as a result of noncompliance to financial statutes due to human resource incapacity". To test the hypothesis, use was made by empirical research that comprised questionnaires completed by sample of managers and officials in the selected local municipalities of Mafube, Metsimaholo, Moqhaka and Ngwathe.The findings, amongst others, were that: • Human capital in the 4 selected local municipalities are in their prime age. 69 percent of managers are in the aged between 30 years to 50 years; • 57 percent of the managers responded that they have adequate qualifications and training to pursue the challenges in municipal finance; • All 4 municipalities normally get their budgets approved as required by compliance. • The hypothesis was consequently, invalidated. The study ends with recommendations to help improve standards and quality of financial management practice in the 4 municipalities.

M. Tech. Business Administration / Leveraging information technology (IT) is important to maximise business value. For this to be possible, companies must ensure that IT objectives are supportive of business objective. Business needs to take the responsibility in ensuring that IT capabilities support, enable, and, where appropriate, lead business strategy. Such alignment will maximize the effective, efficient and economical use of IT resources in a strategic context. One of many challenges facing organisations is that IT strategy appears to be separate from business strategy, maintaining a common direction with business strategy but at a distance. Furthermore business unit leaders do not consider IT as a key strategic enabler for them achieving their strategic business unit level objectives. This study established the perceptions of senior managers and executives of the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) regarding the alignment of IT strategy and the business strategy. It also determined which of the alignment factors (people, processes, organisational infrastructure, etc.) are most important for strategic alignment at the AGSA and how successfully they have been implemented.

M.Comm. / South Africa is in transition. Changes are taking place on the political, social and economic fronts at an increasingly rapid pace. Past practices and wisdom are being openly challenged. Enterprise/Corporate managers today are deeply concerned with two major dilemma. Firstly to fully mobilise the energy of the organisation's human resources toward achievement of the organisation's performance objectives. Secondly to organise the work, the work environment, the communication systems, and the relationships of people. To resolve this dilemma in our rapidly changing environment, new organisation fon-ns must be developed. More effective goal setting and planning processes must be learned. Practised teams of interdependent people must spend real time improving their methods of working, decision-making and communicating. Competing or conflicting groups must move towards a collaborative way of work. In order for these changes to occur and be maintained, a planned, managed change effort is necessary - a program of affirmative action. This dissertation is about affirmative action in employment, and the development of people in organisations. These two concepts overlap in the sense that affirmative action is (or should be) about the development of black people and women but not at the expense of competent white men who are already part of an organisation.

The 1996 Constitution of South Africa and the Public Audit Act of 2004 provide the legislative framework for the Office of the Auditor General of South Africa (OAGSA). The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors further enriched the interpretation of the framework – for government auditing. Over the years of democratic rule in South Africa, audit performance by State organs was generally poor. Despite the efforts by the OAGSA to improve the performance, very little improvement was notable. Most disturbing was the observation that there was widespread, a prevalence of recurring findings, which indicated that the OAGSA’s recommendations and guidelines were not acted upon, or largely ignored. Firstly, the research study established that the system of capitalist democracy, which comes in different varieties throughout world democracies, indeed brought about a situation where the electorate was effectively removed from its rightful place of being the principal, and had its place taken up by political parties (which are in fact, agents) - which (parties) governed on its (the electorate’s) behalf. This system, taken together with the Principal Agency and the Rational Choice Theories – fully explained the prevalence of maladministration and malfeasance in government in South Africa. Secondly, the study established that the OAGSA has done everything imaginable in its attempts to improve audit performance in government institutions – using the carrot rather than the stick approach. The legislative framework cited above, revealed that the OAGSA has the power to audit and report, while Parliament has the power to enforce corrective action. The lesson of this revelation is: that there is not much that the OAGSA can achieve without a high level of cooperation between itself and Parliament – if audit performance is to be effectively, and appreciably improved in South Africa. A disappointing discovery however was indirectly delivered to the world, through the results of a research study conducted by one Wehner in 2002, on Public Accounts Committees (PACs) (alias Standing Committees on Public Accounts (SCOPAs)) in world democracies. The Wehner study clearly demonstrated that there was nothing contained in these committees’ founding documents or enabling legislation – which in no uncertain terms, directed the committees on what procedures and processes to follow to ensure that their resolutions were acted upon. In other words there was no enforcement mechanism discernible for their resolutions. Thirdly, there were developments in case law in South Africa, which augured well for Constitutional Institutions in general. They are contained in court judgements relating to the mandate of the Office of the Public Protector (OPP). The question at the core of these developments was: whether the decisions or remedial action emanating from the OPP, were binding and enforceable. Two judgements cited as cases in point, one a High Court judgment and another a Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA’s), feature in the research report. The SCA, in summary found that decisions of administrative bodies of State – stand in fact and in law, until such time that a court of law invalidates them. The SCA ruled through citing a High Court judgement passed way back in 2004 - that Constitutional Institutions, although not organs of State per se – were certainly included in this 2004 finding, if one considers the rationale of this initial finding, taken together with the purpose for which Constitutional Institutions were established in South Africa in the first place. In conclusion, although visible root causes of poor audit findings appear overall to be poor consequence management and questionable leadership quality in government, the system of capitalist democracy is ultimately to blame. The system certainly had unintended consequences.