The overall objective of the study is to provide commentary on the extent to which the public sector audit process contributes to the strength of democracy in South Africa by enhancing accountability. By studying audit outcomes, the concerns of the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) around lack of accountability due to auditee non-responsiveness was confirmed. The amendments to the Public Audit Act which give the AGSA the power to sanction individuals is therefore considered necessary as a mechanism to change the culture of non-responsiveness amongst auditees and to therefore ensure accountability going forward. A comparative evaluation was conducted for the Ugandan public service where the Ugandan Auditor General has similar powers. This case study points to the necessity of supreme audit institutions in developing countries having enhanced powers to ensure accountability and thus enhance the quality of democracy, although there may be a trade off with the other dimensions of democracy, bringing in to question the overall quality of democracy. The study also outlines areas for future considerations which may impact on the strength of public financial accountability.

There is increasing evidence that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are the major cause for global warming. A changing external environment and societal pressure is driving companies to respond to climate change and to limit further contribution where possible. Despite carbon emissions still being largely unregulated and carbon disclosure not being mandatory, many companies in South Africa have voluntarily decided to reduce emissions and make disclosures to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Institutional, socio-political and economic voluntary disclosure theories all indicate that there is a pressure for companies to monitor their climate mitigation, evaluate the costs of disclosing and manage stakeholders’ pressures by producing voluntary climate change disclosure. The CDP scores the disclosure made by each company as a measure of the company’s progress towards environmental stewardship. The highest CDP score indicates that a company has leadership in its efforts to environmental stewardship and so addressed stakeholders’ concerns. This study aims to determine which factors, either company specific or individual company responses within the CDP questionnaire, influence a high CDP climate change score for South African companies. The top 100 South African companies were selected using a full Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listing as at 31 March 2017 and the climate change programme score and individual company responses to the climate change questionnaire were obtained from the CDP for the five-year period from 2013 to 2017. A random effect model was used to examine the determinants of voluntary disclosure of carbon information. The results indicate that while CDP scores have improved post the signing of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, providing incentives for managing climate change has also led to improvements in the CDP score which results in improved climate change disclosure. Furthermore, the longer the company assesses climate change risks and opportunities into the future, the better its CDP score. This research contributes a more thorough understanding of disclosure theories, as established from these results. In terms of institutional theories, institutional investors should call for incentives to motivate for climate change management because companies might then be more likely to receive a better CDP score. In terms of socio-political theories, this study’s findings indicate that managers should be made aware that the further into the future they consider climate change risk management the better because this practice will result in the company obtaining an improved CDP score, while simultaneously managing stakeholders’ perceptions of the company. Additionally, this study contributes by making recommendations for companies and policy makers.

This study focused on how the political environment affects the governance of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) by non-state actors in Mutare, Zimbabwe. The increase in the number of OVC has led to non-state actors intervening to care and support for OVC because the government is no longer able to do so. Traditionally, extended families worked as the safety net for OVC but due to certain government policies and failures, the burden of caring for the children has increasingly fallen on non-state actors. Governance determines who has power, who makes decisions, how people make their voices heard, and how account is rendered. It aims to promote and strengthen participation by civil society in governing. This research looked at people involved in decision making, who the actors are, and who they report to. A qualitative research design and case study approach was used to provide answers to the research problem which is an investigation of the effects of the political environment on the governance of OVC. Primary data collection was obtained through interviews in organizations in Mutare that assists OVCs. The researcher made use of content analysis to analyse the data that was obtained through interviews. This research found that although the government of Zimbabwe created policies to support the care of the OVC, they have also created an undesirable environment that affects the governance of OVCs. Some of the policies were created to monitor the functioning of non-state actors which resulted in most of the organizations to relocate to neighbouring countries. The outcomes of this study will assist policymakers and childcare programmes to review and design effective intervention policies aimed at helping OVC in Zimbabwe. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / UP postgraduate bursary for Masters and Doctoral students. / Political Sciences / MA / Unrestricted

In this study, the main focus was to investigate the relationship between listing suspensions and corporate governance mechanisms which are related to the board of directors. The study also examined the effectiveness of King III in improving corporate governance on companies listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange of South Africa (JSE). The matched pairs research design was utilised where a comparison of 56 suspended companies were selected for the study. The period covered by the study was 2006 to 2017. Control companies were selected to match all the relevant suspended companies. The matching was done in terms of time, industry and size (measured by total assets). The control company should not have been suspended in the year under consideration. With the use of the conditional logistic regression model to analyse the data, the study found that the practice of board performance evaluation significantly reduced the odds of suspension. Another key finding of the study was that the number of directors with shares in the company has a statistically significant negative correlation to the odds of suspension. A comparison of King II and King III regimes indicates a stronger corporate governance era during the King III phase. Board size, the proportion of non-executive directors, and the number of independent directors and board performance evaluations increased significantly during the King III phase. Additionally, the study notices a decrease in the number of JSE listing suspensions during the King III era as compared to King II which implies that King III brought in stronger governance measures to listed companies in South Africa. Corporate governance is a critical focal point in managing corporates, raising capital as well as performing valuations of entities. The governance aspects relating to the actions of directors appear to have a direct correlation in determining whether a company will be suspended or not from the JSE. Findings of the study have contributed to the body of literature in proving the presence of a correlation between corporate failure and the failure of corporate governance structures. The findings in this study have a significant impact on policymakers in South Africa as they continue to strengthen corporate governance.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the current extent of transformation disclosure in the integrated reports/annual reports of the top 50 listed South African companies on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) for the 2018 year. A longitudinal assessment to discern the developments in transformation disclosure trends over a 5-year period (2014 -2018) was also undertaken. Transformation for purposes of this study refers to transformation of the workplace “to be truly non-racial and non-sexist within companies”. Transformation is very topical in South Africa bearing in mind the historical injustices of the past and thus the need for redress. Disclosure relating to transformation is argued to be a pivotal contributing instrument that could empower stakeholders towards holding companies accountable. The specified transformation disclosure is required by the Employment Equity Act and is considered to be mandatory. The transformation disclosure reported by companies within their annual reports/integrated reports was thus critically scrutinised by application of a scoring technique relating to a closed list of 15 variables selected. Results showed that disclosure relating to the transformation variables was low overall despite there being a statutory requirement, with the highest scores recorded around the corporate social responsibility variable. The stunted level of transformation disclosure has wider implications for users of these reports and their ability to be afforded the opportunity to facilitate action and thus exercise accountability in relation to these companies.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters Of Education in the Department of Foundations Of Education at the University Of Zululand, 2018 / The literature reveals that if schools lack parental involvement, effective management suffers significantly causing shortcomings in school governance and academic progress. The literature also shows that there exists a relationship between parental involvement and learner‟s academic achievements. It provides that learners whose parents care about their academic progress are likely to perform well on academic activities because such parents often communicate their wishes to children. This study is aimed at investigating stakeholders‟ perspectives on parental involvement in governance and schooling in Hlabisa Circuit schools. The theoretical framework from Epstein‟s theory of overlapping spheres of influence was used but not confined thereto; therefore, supporting theories relevant to this study were also applied. This study used a mixed methods research paradigm which integrates qualitative and quantitative designs as this approach provides convenience for data collection. The data was collected from respondents (educators and SGB members) using questionnaires and interviews. The research findings revealed that due to poor parental involvement in school governance, learners have developed errant behaviour. This emerging trend has triggered poor academic performance which taints the name of the school and the circuit in general. The results also show that if parents are inactive in school governance, poor academic performance is likely owing to the lack of parental guidance. The empirical findings noted educators‟ challenges on attendance of parent meetings, classroom management, learner discipline, effective school management, academic challenges and performance, accessibility of schools, parenting role, stakeholder communication, as well as curriculum and school-work. The SGB members noted challenges on effective involvement in leadership; instructional leadership; behavioural challenges in schools; management of school as an institution; shortcomings on academic resources provision; unemployment, poverty and school remoteness; parental obligations; home-school partnerships; and monitoring of the child‟s academic progress. The study concluded that parental involvement in school governance is not effective and therefore cripples the effect it should be having on schooling, which is academic performance in this context. The study ultimately recommends that SASA, NEPA, SACE and other relevant policies in education should be reviewed to enforce educators‟ authority in schools.

Literature on war crimes and crimes against humanity often focuses on political and legal perspectives, addressing international law and situations of a singularly recognized sovereign entity. This thesis seeks to explore conflict situations where multiple competing and irregular state-forms exist, using the Syrian conflict as a case study. Engaging with necropolitics, debilitation, and slow violence to understand techniques of governing through life and death, this research utilizes reporting on the Syrian conflict by non-governmental and international organizations to illustrate how war crimes and crimes against humanity function to produce sovereignty and legitimacy. Further, this research argues that the employment of techniques of governance by state-claiming actors in Syria indicates a relationship between the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity and the capacity of state-claiming actors to produce and reproduce sovereignty over territory and populations.

No description available.

Research in the field of financial literacy has found that black people and other minority groups, globally, underperform in financial literacy assessments, in comparison to their white counterparts. Multiple factors have been identified in literature, which try to explain the distribution of financial literacy results across demographic groups. However, none of these factors fully explain the disparity. Language has been identified as a potential factor, yet no studies have specifically explored this. A common characteristic among the underperforming group is that financial literacy assessments typically are not conducted in the participants' primary language. This paper aims to explore the impact of the language of assessment by testing whether assessing individuals in their primary language would improve their financial literacy scores. A quantitative research methodology was applied to surveys, which were disseminated in both English and isiXhosa (an African language). The survey performed is in line with existing financial literacy assessment however this study is made unique by controlling for language, to isolate its impact on the results. Statistical analysis of 240 respondents found that language was not the issue. Instead, in line with the findings of existing literature, self-efficacy and educational background are significant in determining financial literacy. These findings are key to financial literacy research and will help in the creation of financial literacy interventions. While there are no retrospective interventions for educational background, self-efficacy can be improved through targeted financial literacy intervention programmes designed to bridge the gap in financial literacy across racial groups.

The need for racial transformation within the accounting profession has been highlighted in recent years and consequently, efforts have been made by numerous players to further support accounting students pursuing the chartered accountant designation. This research focuses on an innovative postgraduate accounting programme, referred to as a Certificate in Theory of Accounting (CTA), offered by a private higher education institution, CA Connect. The research examines the factors associated with academic success in that programme as well as the subsequent initial professional board exam, known as the Initial Test of Competence (ITC). The variables considered are students' demographic details (age, gender and race), prior academic performance, prior tertiary institution, previous CTA attempts, time lapses between undergraduate and postgraduate study and class format selection. While this research repeats prior work done in public education contexts within the private higher education space, it is also novel, in that it extends prior research by examining several variables which have not been investigated before, neither in the South African context nor abroad. Three logistic regression models were developed, employing both forced entry and hierarchical regression methods. The findings confirm prior research which suggests that previous academic performance is strongly positively associated with future academic success and that race is a key determinant of success, most notably in CTA. Prior tertiary institution and attending fulltime, contact classes were also found to be associated with success at CTA level. However, adopting an after-hours, blended learning approach to CTA was found to be associated with success in the ITC. These findings provide further evidence of the need for continued grassroots interventions to allow scholars and students to build upon the strongest possible educational foundation and show a link between the innovations introduced by CA Connect and student success in the ITC.