Review 3 final 2 - TAU - National Treasury

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT 

REVIEW 

Vol. 3 No. 1 

JULY 2011

Contents 

From “Kuvernan” to Cyber-Networks: 

Taking Governance to new-er angles! 

Performance Power and Governance: 

Audit of Predetermined Performance 

Government with a Strategic Centre: 

Exploring the Debate on Expenditure Reviews 

The Reality as well as the Buzz: 

Assuring Governance within Public Entities 

The Measurement Dilemma 

Blending Voice and Text: 

A Collage-type Article based on an interview with Dr. John Saxby 

Gender Mainstreaming in Governance: 

Extending the Frame 

Simultaneous Mainstreaming of Gender and Disability: 

A Governance Perspective 

Green Governance: 

Building Resilience in our Urban Systems – Resource Efficiency, 

Decoupling and the Role of Cities in Sustainable Development 

Setting a “Gold Standard”: 

The Dynamics of Stakeholder Management - Nomvula Marawa 

3 

8 

12 

15 

17 

19 

25 

30 

34 

44 

Copyright 

Published by the Technical Assistance Unit, a business unit of the National Treasury, South Africa. Copyright © 2010 by 

Technical Assistance Unit, National Treasury. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed 

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, or stored in a database or 

retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the Technical Assistance Unit, National Treasury, including but not 

limited to, any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. 

Disclaimer 

This publication is based on information from sources that the National Treasury believes are reliable. Whilst every care has 

been taken in preparing this publication, no research analyst or member of the National Treasury gives any representation, 

warranty or undertaking (express or implied) and accepts no responsibility or liability as to the accuracy or completeness of 

the information contained herein. The views expressed in this publication cannot be attributable to the National Treasury. 

All opinions and estimates contained in this publication may be changed after publication at any time without notice. The 

National Treasury has no obligations to update its opinions or information in this publication. 

Editing, layout and design 

Charmaine Williamson, Fia van Rensburg, Amanda Rudolph, Anita Rwelamira 

Layout and design: Marina Mentz, Elemint Creative 

2 

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Enabling change for development

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | From “Kuvernan” to Cyber-Networks 

From “Kuvernan” to 

Cyber-Networks: 

Taking Governance 

to new-er angles! 

Introduction 

The terms “governance” and “good governance” have 

gained increasing prominence in theoretical and applied 

literature alongside the strategic and operational 

visioning and practices associated with governance 

as well as good governance. Interestingly, 

a modern lay person’s review of these terms would 

lead them on to ‘Google’ so as to see what constitutes 

these constructs: Google the term “Governance” and 

73, 600, 000 results appear in 0,06 seconds while for 

“Good Governance”, 9,880,000 results appear in 0,07 

seconds (May 24, 2011 at 12:30) 

Definitions: A Contested Space 

In view of the above, axiomatically “governance” is a 

contested term with many definitions being claimed 

in its name: a simple definition (and identified as such) 

on the United Nations Economic and Social Commission 

for Asia and the Pacific website states that it is “the process 

of decision making and the process by which decisions 

are implemented (or not implemented)” 1 

In Venter and Neuland’s “Conflict and Governance, Nepad, 

South Africa and Africa”, 2005: 18-19, it is posited as 

follows:“The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1973) 

cites the Greek word kuvernan (“to steer, direct, rule”) 

as the origin of the word “governance”, which is defined 

as “the action or manner of governing; control; the office, 

function, or power of governing; the method of 

management; system of regulations; mode of living, 

behaviour, demeanour; wise self-command”. 

Heywood (1997:5-6), as quoted in Venter and Neuland, 

(2005) describes governance as the art of government, 

that is “the exercise of control within society through 

the making and enforcement of collective decisions”. 

He links the concept of governance to that of authority, 

which can most simply be defined as “legitimate 

power”. In this regard he states that, whereas power is 

the ability to influence the behaviour of others, author- 

1 http://www.unescap.org/pdd/prs/ProjectActivities/Ongoing/gg/ 

governance.asp, downloaded on the 24 May 2011 at 12:49. 

page 3 



ity is the right to do so. Authority is therefore based 

on an acknowledged duty to obey rather than on any 

form of coercion or manipulation. 

In similar vein, Jackson and Jackson (1997:8), as quoted 

Ibid above, refer to the need for governance because 

… the conflict in society which flows from making political 

decisions for a country requires mechanisms to 

enforce those decisions. We refer to these mechanisms 

as government. Government is thus the organization 

of people for the resolution of dispute and conflict. 

Cheru (2002:35), cited by Venter and Neuland (2005), 

states that the term “governance”… which implies 

responsible, accountable transparent, legitimate, effective 

democratic government – is of recent origin 

in political science discourse. More appropriately, it 

has become used much more frequently in discussing 

how governments are to perform in undertaking 

public changes, innovations and processes that should 

bring about social, economic and political progress in 

Africa.” 

Understandings and Dimensions: 

from traditional… to networks… 

to cyber worlds… 

There are also various understandings of the term 

“governance”, with perhaps the following six being the 

most prominent dimensions: (1) the minimal state, (2) 

corporate governance, (3) the new public management; 

(4) or ‘good governance’, (5) socio-cybernetic 

systems and (6) self-organising and inter-organisational 

networks (Rhodes 1996: 652). 

Based on the above, and proximate to the ‘governance 

spaces’ that are being played out in 2011, starting with 

Tunisia and moving to many countries, north of our 

borders, this framing article intends to review governance 

through the lens of networks and governance 

with a specific focus on South Africa’s legal and networked 

frameworks for governance. 

In our current development context, and with the example 

of the “Egypt Moment” and others, society is increasingly 

being shaped by networks that cut across 

international, national and regional boundaries. Attendant 

to this, some might argue that there is the ‘hollowing 

out’ of the state and/or new public management 

regimes with intergovernmental management, 

which bring networks into increasing pervasiveness as 

a feature of modern governance forms (Rhodes 1996: 

652). Notwithstanding this, context determines the extent 

to which such networks, or, perhaps more clearly, 

inter-organisational self-organising forms of governance 

are located in society and state -and what the 

impact of this is on the role of government and service 

delivery. 

An interesting angle to the new developments/vocabulary 

above is that there is a need to rethink where 

governance is situated or placed. With the vast proliferation 

of information communication technologies 

(ICTs), individualization and globalization, nation states 

are finding themselves eroded of means of maintaining 

power outside the area of mainstream politics. However, 

many states still maintain power through various 

formal links with significant players in society. State institutions 

are now increasingly needing to make use of 

the new ‘network logic’; that society is increasingly an 

open and unstable structure that expands, readjusts, 

shifts and even evaporates and is therefore becoming 

more and more fluid (Hajer and Wagenaar 2003: 6). 

Governance in this particular instance is a function of 

the ‘fluid society’ and therefore processes towards governing 

are also shifting. 2011 has been a telling year 

in demonstration of the credibility of these assertions. 

4 

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South African Context 

South Africa is currently deemed a liberal democracy. 

As political and economic liberalization processes took 

place after a closed, illegitimate and authoritarian political 

system came to an end in 1994, the opening up 

of the economy has meant a less protectionist state, 

that allows for greater individual rights to freely participate 

in the politics and economy of the country 

while protecting private property and life of its citizenry 

(Gildenhuys and Knipe 2000: 28). A liberal state 

by its very definition promotes freedom of association 

and, in that way, promotes the proliferation of networks; 

networks that redefine state authority and promote 

different methods of governance. South Africa 

is increasingly working along these lines (of networks) 

both within its constitutional framework and beyond 

as the following areas indicate. 

Co-operative governance and the network 

state 

The South African constitution also sets out the principles 

of co-operation between national, provincial 

and local spheres of government. The third chapter of 

the constitution states that Parliament must pass legislation 

facilitating ‘inter-governmental relations’ and 

delegates certain powers and functions to the various 

tiers of government. This is a significant issue as far as 

decentralized government is concerned and offers an 

opportunity for more deliberative and participatory 

method of public policy making. 

The shift from local government to local governance 

is also illustrative of the widespread dissatisfaction 

with the limited reach of set solutions to difficult and 

nuanced political issues imposed through top-down 

government intervention (Hajer and Wagenaar 2003: 

6); and proposes a more creative, bottom-up approach 

that views public policy making as an increasingly 

discursive process that has legitimacy as far as it can 

address the many facets of public life, through proper 

consultation with those that are affected the most by 

such policy. Our Local Government Elections provide 

a defined milestone in local governance and we are 

watching with interest the results of these and the impact 

on developmental local government. 

The idea of governing through networks, and networks 

exercising various means and power in discursive 

policy processes, raises the issue of social inclusion 

and social exclusion in policy making processes. Ability 

to access the technologies, organisations, individuals 

and processes that enable social inclusion are also key 

and, as such, an important consideration here is the 

ability of vulnerable groups, such as women, children 

and people with disabilities to influence policy making 

processes and be part and parcel of the governance of 

the nation state. 

The Constitution of South Africa: 

Custodians of Good Governance 

Within such ‘modern moments’ of considering governance 

within the hyper knowledge and digital age, it is 

reassuring to note that these issues are taken up very 

clearly in the Constitution of South Africa and in particular 

in Section 195 which enshrines the “Basic Values 

and Principles governing public administration”. 

Therefore South Africa has set out a legal and moral 

undertaking to govern within values and principles as 

outlined. Furthermore, beyond the moral imperatives 

as well as the statutory frameworks that legislate specific 

areas inherent in the values and principles, South 

Africa has set oversight mechanisms that measure and 

offer informed commentary on whether we match up 

to the ideals of good governance. Naturally, there is the 

supremacy of Parliament in terms of oversight. There is 

page 5 



also, and fundamentally, The Public Service Commission, 

the mandated custodian of good governance in 

South Africa. 

According to the State of the Public Service Report 

(2010: 2), the Vision of The Public Service Commission 

is to be “an independent and impartial body created by 

the Constitution, 1996, to enhance excellence in governance 

within the Public Service by promoting a professional 

and ethical environment and adding value to 

a public administration that is accountable, equitable, 

efficient, effective, corruption-free and responsive to 

the needs of the people of South Africa.” 

As such, the Public Service Commission sets out as its 

mission “to promote the constitutionally enshrined 

democratic principles and values of the Public Service 

by investigating, monitoring, evaluating, communication 

and reporting on public administration” (2010:2). 

State of the Public Service Report 

Each year, a State of the Public Service Report is published. 

It takes up critical areas of public service through 

a particular thematic area. The latest Report, of October 

2010, has the theme of “Integration, Coordination 

and Effective Public Service Delivery”. 

The Commission, in this Report, focuses on the newly 

emerged outcomes approach of government and offers 

a critique on this approach and its implications for 

good governance. The report concludes that: “By proposing 

outcomes, government is setting itself up to 

be measured on a more rigorous and tangible basis, 

on matters which citizens can identify with...(and)... the 

manner in which government can make the greatest 

difference in terms of public participation and responsive 

service delivery is certainly not through significant 

policy changes at this stage, but implementation.” 

Summary of Basic Values and Principles governing Public Administration 

Principle 1: A High Standard of Professional Ethics must be Maintained 

Principle 2: Efficient, Economic and Effective Use of Resources must be Promoted 

Principle 3: Public Administration must be Development Oriented 

Principle 4: Services must be provided Impartially, Fairly, Equitably and without Bias 

Principle 5: People’s Needs must be Responded to and the Public must be Encouraged to Participate in Policy-Making 

Principle 6: Public Administration must be Accountable 

Principle 7: Transparency must be Fostered by Providing the Public with Timely, Accessible and Accurate Information 

Principle 8: Good Human Resource Management and Career Development Practices, to Maximise Human Potential, 

must be Cultivated 

Principle 9: Public Administration must be Broadly Representative of the South African People, with Employment 

and Personnel Management Practices Based on Ability, Objectivity, Fairness and the Need to Redress the 

Imbalances of the Past to Achieve Broad Representation 

6 

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The TAU and Governance 

The TAU, mandated as it is to increase the quality of 

public spend – and to deepen professional, effective 

and efficient approaches, through technical assistance, 

so as to effect successful service delivery – works very 

closely with the rich, layered spaces of governance. 

With leaders and practitioners, through the daily work 

of government, the TAU is able to mainstream good 

governance as a central tenet of its approach. 

Conclusion 

As such, the TAU, as with all spheres of government, 

takes its cue from the Constitution, the Public Service 

Commission and lived practices of government’s good 

governance so as to improve critical areas of people’s 

daily lives. Coupling the concepts of governance and 

networks also bring new angles to the debate and the 

realities behind the debate, and opens up new opportunities 

for exploring adjacent possibilities around 

good governance. 

Therefore, 2011 has been a distinguishing year for interrogating, 

through the lens of networks (mainstream 

and alternative), what governance and government 

mean for the people on the street: from Egypt to Tunisia, 

from Bahrain to Beijing-there has been a now- 

heightened awareness that new, renewed and or more 

“appropriate operating codes” (Stroker, 1998:24) should 

be considered to guide the contract between a government 

and its people, given that governance might 

be described as “reinvented form of government which 

is better managed.” (Stroker, 1998:18). 

Charmaine Williamson 

Technical Advisor 

References: 

Gildenhuys J.S.H. and Knipe A. (2000) The organisation of Government. 

Van Schaik Publishers. Pretoria. 

Hajer, M. A and Wagenaar, H (eds) (2003): Deliberative policy analysis: 

Understanding Governance in the network society. Cambridge University 

Press. Pg 6- 31. 

Public Service Commission, South Africa. (2010): State of the Public Service 

Report 

Rhodes, R.A.W (1996): The new governance; governing without government. 

Political Studies XLIV 

Stroker, Gerry (1998): Governance as theory: five propositions. UNESCO. 

Blackwell Publishers. Pg 17 

UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific: http:// 

www.unescap.org/pdd/prs/ProjectActivities/Ongoing/gg/governance. 

asp, downloaded on the 24 May 2011 at 12:49. 

Venter, D and Neuland, E (2005): Conflict and Governance, Nepad, South 

Africa and Africa: Monograph on cage.dcis.gov.za 

page 7 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | Performance Power and Governance 

“Performance 

Power and 

Governance”: 

Audit of 

Predetermined 

Performance 

Objectives (AOPO) 

The TAU Review reflects, in many of its articles, on the 

notion of power and governance. This article provides 

concrete examples of how governments are able to 

work with Constitutional democratic institutions and 

frameworks to manage government’s power wisely 

and to ensure good governance. 

“ 

has effected a name change from Audit 

From AoPI to AOPO 

The Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) 

of Performance Information to Audit of 

Predetermined Performance Objectives. 

The terminology change is a matter of 

emphases, and seeks to foreground: 

• the target/objective-driven approach; 

and 

• the linkage and tracking of programmes 

” 

and projects to strategic and operational 

objectives. 

What is the audit of performance 

objectives 

Over the past several decades, supreme audit institutions 

around the world have moved from only carrying 

out financial audits to a complementary “line of business” 

namely that of providing assurance on performance 

objectives and information produced by governments 

for tabling in Legislatures and Parliaments. 

This type of audit is significant in countries, such as 

South Africa, which is undergoing public sector reform 

in line with Constitutional and democratic imperatives. 

The process includes significant initiatives to improve 

transparency, accountability and public sector 

reporting. This includes providing legislatures and the 

public with better information on what government 

programmes are substantively accomplishing. 

The result of an audit of performance objectives is to 

enable the auditor to conclude whether the reported 

performance against predetermined objectives is useful 

and reliable, in all material respects, based on predetermined 

criteria. In South Africa the audit of performance 

objectives is done in terms of the requirements 

of the Public Audit Act (PAA), Act no. 25 of 2004. 

The audit of performance objectives forms an integral 

part of the annual regularity audit process, confirming 

the credibility of the reported performance objectives, 

against the Strategic Plan, in the Annual Reports of 

government entities, and should not be confused with 

performance auditing. Performance auditing can be 

defined as an independent audit of the management 

measures instituted by government institutions to ensure 

the economical procurement and efficient and effective 

utilisation of resources. 

Why is it necessary 

With the implementation of the Public Finance 

8 

page 



Management Act (PFMA) in 1999 and the Municipal 

Systems Act (MSA) in 2000, the concepts of performance 

management and reporting were formally introduced 

to the public sector in South Africa. Since this time 

the focus on reporting on performance against predetermined 

objectives in the public sector has gained 

momentum. 

The importance thereof has further been emphasised 

with the issuing of the Government-wide Monitoring 

and Evaluation Framework by the Presidency in 2004 

and with the issuing of the Framework for managing 

programme performance information 1 by the National 

Treasury in 2007. Two green papers on national strategic 

planning and improving government performance 

were issued by the Presidency during the second half 

of 2009. This laid the basis for the current “outcomes 

approach”. The Department of Performance Monitoring 

and Evaluation has since tabled and integrated the 

outcomes approach into the public sector. The National 

Planning Commission has issued its first diagnostic 

report in June, 2011. These processes and pieces of evidence 

show “a clear demonstration of government’s 

commitments to ensure that our performance makes 

meaningful impact in the lives of our people” 2 

Reports on performance objectives are mainly 

used by legislatures, members of the public and 

other interested parties to determine whether 

approved funds have been used to meet service 

delivery requirements. Performance objectives 

focus both on qualitative and quantitative aspects 

of an entity, thereby ensuring that users not only 

obtain information on the numbers in the financial 

statements as contained in the Annual Reports, but 

also receive a holistic picture on the “wellbeing” of an 

entity, and specifically whether the entity is carrying 

out its objectives for the purpose it was created. 

1 This publication currently bears the former title of the process: See 

Text Box. The publication is under review 

2 http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/pebble.asprelid=1689- 

(downloaded on the 13 June 2011) 

“ 

It is reassuring to see how these 

issues have been taken up in the 

current reconfigurations within 

government administration as 

well as by Constitutional oversight 

bodies, such as the Legislatures, 

Commission for Gender Equality; the 

Public Service Commission et al (See 

Articles elsewhere in this publication 

that address governance and gender 

areas in terms of the Constitutional 

mandates). 

” 

It is thus understandable that the more performance 

objectives play a significant role in governance and 

accountability, the more focus there will be on the 

credibility, quality and timeliness of such information. 

Consequently, legislatures have, in some instances, 

as in South Africa, turned to their auditors to provide 

them with assurance that the performance objectives 

provided by government can be trusted. 

How has it been implemented to 

date 

The Auditor-General of SA (AGSA) in consultation 

with relevant role-players, including the National 

Treasury and the Presidency, has followed a 

phased in approach to the audit of performance 

information/objectives since 2004/05. Since then 

auditors were auditing the policies, processes, 

systems and procedures for the management of and 

reporting on performance against predetermined 

objectives as part of the annual regularity audit 

process. Material shortcomings in the performance 

management processes, systems and procedures of 

reporting identified during the audit process were 

page 9 



reported as factual audit findings in the “Report on 

other legal and regulatory requirements” section of the 

auditor’s report. 

For audits of the 2009/10 financial year, in addition 

to the above and as part of the readiness strategy 

to prepare institutions for an audit opinion in the 

auditor’s report, an audit opinion was prepared and 

included in the auditors’ management reports for 

the following categories of auditees: 

• national and provincial departments, constitutional 

institutions and trading entities 

• national and provincial public entities 

• the administration of Parliament and of each 

provincial legislature 

• municipal metropolitan councils and their related 

municipal entities 

What were the major difficulties 

with implementation thus far 

The three broad areas which were identified to 

have weaknesses during the audit of performance 

information/objectives thus far include: 

• Non-compliance with regulatory requirements 

• Performance objectives not being useful 

• Reported performance not being reliable 

Identified root causes of non-compliance with 

regulatory requirements include, amongst others, 

inadequate management processes, non-compliance 

with internal policies and procedures or inadequate 

internal performance management operating 

procedures, deficiencies in key controls and no or 

limited review by internal audit of performance 

management processes and reporting. Further areas 

included inadequate training and guidance regarding 

performance management, monitoring and reporting 

processes and practices. Factors contributed to the 

findings of published information not being useful, 

included a lack of data definitions and technical 

standards relating to planned performance indicators 

and targets, performance indicators not being welldefined 

and verifiable, performance targets not being 

SMART and inconsistencies between planned and 

reported objectives, indicators and targets. 

Lack of integration of performance 

objectives structures and systems 

within existing management 

processes and systems as well 

as inadequate systems and 

documentation for identifying, 

collecting, collating, verifying and 

storing performance objectives 

impacted on the reliability of 

the annual performance reports. 

SMART 

Specific 

Measurable 

Achievable 

Realistic 

Time-framed 

Furthermore, a lack of sufficient and appropriate 

source documentation to verify the accuracy and 

completeness of actual service delivery achievements 

against plans were identified as the most important 

reason for published performance objectives not 

being reliable. 

It is reassuring to see how these issues have been taken 

up in the current reconfigurations within government 

administration as well as by Constitutional oversight 

bodies, such as the Legislatures, Commission for 

Gender Equality; the Public Service Commission et 

al (See Articles elsewhere in this publication that 

address governance and gender areas in terms of the 

Constitutional mandates). 

How will the next phase of AOPO be 

implemented 

The final phase of the implementation of the audit of 

performance objectives involves providing an audit 

opinion on reported performance objectives in the 

audit report itself. 

10 

page 



A further opportunity will be provided during 2010/11 

to departments, public entities and high capacity 

municipalities and related entities to ensure their 

readiness for an audit opinion in the auditors’ report. 

In this regard these government institutions should 

ensure that proper corrective actions are instituted to 

address the basis of audit conclusions included in their 

management reports as issued during the 2009/10 

audit cycle. 

Over the years, the AGSA continued with various 

stakeholder interactions to clarify the approach and 

essence of the audit of performance objectives. These 

initiatives will continue going forward. 

How can departments ensure that 

they comply 

Entities can move towards compliance by making 

sure that the legislation governing performance 

management and reporting is thoroughly understood 

and implemented. 

Furthermore, proper performance management 

systems should be put in place to ensure reliability of 

information/data and that effective communication 

and coordination within the organization exist. 

Investing in a strong internal audit division will also 

serve as a long term support system to ensure the 

credibility of reported performance objectives. 

Apart from ensuring that performance objectives 

systems are implemented properly, there has to be 

a credible process of monitoring and evaluation of 

actual performance achieved which is supported by 

relevant and sufficient source documentation. 

Performance management and reporting should not 

be viewed as another “burden”, but it should rather be 

looked at as an important part to ensure accountability 

and proper service delivery. 

The audit of predetermined performance objectives 

clearly gives ‘performance power’ to all 12 Outcomes 

of Government with robust and core evidence, too, 

in achieving “An Efficient, Effective and Development 

Oriented Public Service and an Empowered, Fair and 

Inclusive Citizenship”. (Outcome 12) 3 

Tini Laubscher 

Senior Technical Manager Audit Research and 

Development Auditor General, South Africa 

3 http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/dpme/docs/outcome12.pdf 

(downloaded on the 13 June 2011) 

page 11 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | The Reality as well as the Buzz 

The Reality as well 

as the Buzz: 

Assuring 

Governance within 

Public Entities 

In South Africa, Public Entities can be placed into two 

broad categories based on their level of autonomy. 

The first are Government Business Enterprises (GBE), 

which operate like private entities in the open market, 

generating an income, paying taxes and, in some 

cases, paying dividends. The second kind of Public 

Entity is that which is an extension of a government 

department and which performs a specific function on 

behalf of government. This kind will derive its annual 

budget from the relevant department. 

The common thread with the two types of Public 

Entities is that they are not only accountable to their 

“ 

delivery of services. 

Boards, but also to the Executive and Legislative arms 

of the state as well as the citizens of this country (see 

Diagram and Text Box on page 13). 

But what does this all mean 

The importance of a reliable and effective set of 

checks and balances within any entity, whether public 

or private, is an assurance to stakeholders that the 

organisations representing their interests are managed 

soundly and ethically. This would underscore values 

such as accountability, integrity, leadership and 

transparency without which the aforementioned 

assurances cannot be met. Accountability is the critical 

concept of ‘governance’-be it buzz word or realityit 

is the mechanism that ensures that these critical 

assurances can be met. 

Given that these organisations are in place to meet the 

needs of the people, governance in these organisations 

is not meant to be static nor rigid; rather, it is an 

iterative process, being shaped and refined as and 

when it is necessary to live up to diverse stakeholder 

requirements, yet with layers and levels constitutionally 

guaranteed (see Diagram and Text box on page 14). 

Public Entities are established in the Public Sector, but outside the Public Service, typically for reasons of - 

(a) Strategic, social or economic intervention by the State or to deal with strategic risks and dangers that the State or 

society faces to its security, health, prosperity or wellbeing; and/or 

(b) Adopting commercial and business principles in service delivery when it is required; and/or 

(c) Signalling that there is need for objectivity and more operational autonomy, yet retaining accountability in the 

” 

12 

page 



With a world newly emerging 

from the impact of what 

many may term as a ‘crisis in 

governance’, there is both 

comfort and confidence in 

the fact that South Africa constitutionally 

undergirds such 

robust governance. 

Diagram: Public Entities 

Kurt Morais 

Former Senior Technical 

Assistant: National Treasury 

With acknowledgement to the National 

Treasury’s Assets and Liabilities Unit for 

providing information for this article 

“ 

Government Business Enterprises, according to the Public Finance Management Act, are defined as: 

• “A board, commission, company, corporation, fund or other entity (other than a national business enterprise) 

which is established in terms of national legislation, fully or substantially funded from either the National 

Revenue Fund or by way of tax, levy or other money imposed in terms of national legislation; and accountable 

to Parliament.” 

• “A national government business enterprise means an entity which is a juristic person under the ownership 

control of the national executive; 

a. has been assigned financial and operational authority to carry on a business activity; 

b. as its principal business, provides goods or services in accordance with ordinary business principles; and 

c. is financed fully or substantially from sources other than the National Revenue Fund or by way of a tax, levy 

or other statutory money.” 

(“ownership control”, in relation to an entity, means the ability to exercise any of the following powers to govern 

the financial and operating policies of the entity in order to obtain benefits from its activities: 

a. To appoint or remove all, or the majority of, the members of that entity’s board of directors or equivalent 

governing body; 

b. to appoint or remove that entity’s chief executive officer; 

c. to cast all, or the majority of, the votes at meetings of that board of directors or equivalent governing body; or 

” 

d. to control all, or the majority of, the voting rights at a general meeting of that entity.) 

page 13 



The Layers and Levels of constitutionally guaranteed governance 

A Board: (Independent Regulator) 

The Board has absolute responsibility and accountability for the achievement of the public entity’s 

translation of government strategic objectives into performance, supported by: 

• The Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) 

• The Protocol on Corporate Governance provides the Boards with guidance in establishing 

governance principles regarding the roles and responsibility of Public Entities. 

• (Highly recommended) The major recommendations of the Code of Corporate Practices and 

Conduct as set out in the King II Report (the updated version King III will becomes effective 1 July 

2010) on Corporate Governance. 

The Executive-Setting the Agenda 

Government, at the level of Cabinet, provides the overall policy direction for PEs and for their strategic 

direction with regard to their contribution to economic growth and service delivery. The Executive 

Authorities are responsible for reporting on Public Entities to Parliament, appointing board members 

and shareholder’s compacts, which further includes agreements on outputs (i.e. key performance 

indicators), instructions on public projects, execution of mandate and review of Public Entities’ 

corporate plans 

The Legislature: Constitutional Oversight 

According to the Constitution of South Africa, the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures 

are empowered with oversight powers over their respective executives. Parliament exercises its role 

through evaluating the performance of Public Entities through the Standing Committee on Public 

Accounts (SCOPA) which reviews the annual financial statements and the audit reports of the Auditor- 

General; and the Portfolio Committee exercises oversight over the performance (non-financial 

elements) of Public Entities with a focus on service delivery and enhancing economic growth. 

The Public: Citizen Oversight 

One cannot look at governance of public institutions without interrogating the role, or potential 

role that society has to play. Public institutions are put in place to meet the needs of the citizens of a 

country. Citizens should not only exercise their displeasure with public institutions through the ballot 

alone. They have the right to question the strategic direction and operation of public entities. This can 

be done through “organised” entities such as NEDLAC, which emphasises the importance of robust 

labour unions and non-governmental organisations who also play an oversight role. 

14 

page 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | A Government with a Strategic Centre’ 

A Government with 

a Strategic Centre: 

The Role of 

Expenditure 

Reviews Exploring 

the Debate 

Her visit was supported by the Australia High 

Commission and The Foundation, a non-governmental 

organisation that promotes institutional strengthening 

in government. Dr. Kelly has a suitable track record to 

provide considered opinions on these matters. 

A leading paper, authored by her, entitled “Slaughtering 

the Sacred Cows”, provides an examination of budget 

reallocation and expenditure review in five countries. 

She also wrote the Report “Shaping a Strategic Centre” 

which contributed to the Australian review of public 

administration. 

In recent years, the focus on spending has shifted away 

from spending rates to quality of spend, especially 

in terms of service delivery. Are citizens getting 

optimal services from the budgets so allocated for 

their respective purposes As government systems 

mature, under-spending of budget allocations is less 

substantial, particularly among national and provincial 

departments and entities. Notwithstanding this 

welcome development in our maturing democracy, 

under-spending is still a concern in South Africa’s 

infrastructure-related programmes especially at the 

sphere of Local Government. According to the 2011 

Budget Review, National Departments, in total, underspent 

by 1.1 percent; while Provinces, as a whole, 

overspent by 0.5 percent in 2010/11. Municipalities 

experienced significant challenges with an underspend 

of R16,7 billion. 

In line with the TAU’s objective to provide strategic 

and technical management assistance to improve the 

quality of spend in government, the TAU facilitated 

a working visit by Dr. Joanne Kelly of the Australia 

and New Zealand School of Government to advise 

government on carrying-out expenditure reviews. 

The idea of instituting a comprehensive expenditure 

review programme was first raised in 2009 by then 

Dr Joanne Kelly 

Dr. Joanne Kelly has worked in both government 

and academia collaborating with practitioners 

and academics in Australia, Britain and the 

United States. She has also worked with the Privy 

Council Office in Canada, Her Majesty's Treasury 

in the UK, the General Accounting Office in 

Washington DC, the International Association 

of Supreme Auditor Offices, and the Financial 

Management Institute of Canada. In 2002, she 

directed a study that examined reallocation in 

twelve member-countries of the Organisation 

for Economic Cooperation and Development 

(OECD). Dr Kelly has authored reports, articles 

and co-authored the books “Managing Public 

Expenditures in Australia” and “The Art of 

Budgetary Control”. She is currently working 

on her third book, “The Politics of Budgetary 

Control: expenditure review and reallocation in 

comparative perspective.” 

page 15 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | A Government with a Strategic Centre 

Minister of Finance, Trevor A Manuel in his budget 

speech. Dr. Kelly’s inputs were seen as an opportunity to 

prompt broader discussion between key stakeholders 

in government, provide feedback on some of the 

key issues involved and to share knowledge of the 

international experience. 

Dr. Kelly advised government that strategic government 

requires a strategic centre. However, often when 

governments try to be strategic they revert to control 

and command and/ or they over-burden the system 

with excessive reporting requirements. According to 

Dr. Kelly, a strategic centre must organise itself to operate 

in three strategic domains namely: the political, 

the policy and the operational domains. The role of 

the centre is less about analysis and control, but more 

about facilitation, co-ordination and synthesis. Relationship 

and network management skills are increasingly 

important in such a configuration. 

According to Dr. Kelly, expenditure reviews of 

government programmes are one of the tools to 

achieve a more strategic centre as they can be used 

to re-define policy: working away from chasing new 

policy development and rather including responses 

to questions of policy implementation, evaluation 

and adaptation. These reviews can also be used as a 

coordinating mechanism that enables the centre to 

operate strategically rather than incrementally as well 

as facilitate the definition of issues and priorities in the 

political domain. 

Furthermore the reviews provide an opportunity to ask 

questions such as: 

• Is the current policy-setting right 

• Are policies achieving the desired ends 

• Who should be responsible for policy setting and 

policy implementation 

• Are delivery agents sufficiently resourced to perform 

these mandates 

In the face of the compelling temptation to solve 

delivery problems by developing new policy, the 

real answer, according to Dr Kelly, may be to put a 

moratorium on all “new policy” for a five- year period 

so as to allow learning, consolidation of capacity and 

optimisation of implementation of current policy. 

When planning an expenditure review programme, 

a number of key questions and tensions are evident 

in the design. These were summarised by Dr. Kelly as 

follows: 

• What’s the purpose Review and cut budgets versus 

redesigning the ‘way we do what we do’ for more 

efficient and effective delivery 

• What should be reviewed and how 

• Who is responsible for overseeing the process and 

for conducting the reviews 

• What is the role of government departments and 

entities as well as the National Treasury 

• Is there the political will for the reviews and to make 

the difficult changes 

These thought-provoking issues were debated in 

different forums including two separate seminars 

hosted respectively by the National Treasury and the 

Presidency. 

The final outcomes of these considerations are yet to 

be determined. However, the discussions and their 

richness, facilitated by the TAU, on these issues are 

sure to inform the decisions and final design of an 

expenditure review programme in government. 

Robert Clifton 

Senior Technical Advisor 

16 

page 



THE MEASUREMENT 

DILEMMA 

The imperative to track and assess projects through 

monitoring, reporting and evaluation is an integral 

part of good governance. Public sector projects 

are implemented through public funds and official 

development co-operation funds. The latter are also 

public funds, albeit from the coffers of a Development 

Partner. 

Essentially, projects and programmes are implemented 

to achieve key outcomes, to innovate or to change 

a situation that is undesired or less than optimal, 

and there is increasing pressure on projects and 

programmes to prove that the intended outcomes 

were achieved. 

We have all heard the mantra: “if it is not measured, 

it does not get done”. There is certainly truth in this 

statement. If we only focus on measurement and 

“what must be done”, however, we often do not get to 

the point where we measure outcomes – and that is a 

dilemma that we often face in the TAU as well. Certainly, 

we have lived experience that highlights the learning 

that “Not everything that can be counted counts, and 

not everything that counts can be counted.”(Serrat, 

2009: 1) 

While indicator monitoring and reporting against 

project framework documents (such as the log 

frame or work break down structure and the like) are 

generally accepted practice, we find that this does 

not always provide all the answers, and particularly 

not in projects and programmes where we deal with 

complex change. 

“ 

If it is not measured, it 

does not get done. 

Not everything that 

can be counted counts, 

and not everything 

that counts can be 

counted. 

” 

page 17 



It is in such circumstances that flexible, iterative 

approaches, which acknowledge the actual process 

of change, and not only the achievement of predetermined 

outputs, may be more relevant. The 

TAU recently engaged with a team of international 

evaluators who did a review of the South African 

programmes, funded by a particular Development 

Partner, and we deliberated at length on this topic: 

“How do we ensure that our monitoring and reporting 

reflect the richness of what is done and achieved in 

our work” 

Our discussions on these matters forms part of a 

broader debate on the measurement dilemma that 

is taking place throughout the development and 

public sector world-wide. The tension between easily 

measurable results in the interest of accountability 

and control, and measurement of actual, meaningful 

change, in the interest of real development results, 

is stated rather bluntly by Natsios (2010): “…those 

development programs that are most precisely and 

easily measured are the least transformational, and 

those programs that are most transformational are the 

least measurable.” 

Measurement of capacity development is one of those 

tough dilemmas – many projects attempt to do some 

form of capacity development, but how is it measured 

A variety of options are available, and we talked to John 

Saxby (part of the international evaluation team) to 

find out more about his views on how an organisation 

like TAU can improve its monitoring and evaluation 

practice. (see article on page 19) 

Fia van Rensburg 


References: 

Baser, H. A paper for the Cairo Workshop on Capacity Development 

March 28-29, 2011 

http://www.impactalliance.org/ev_en.phpID=51579_201&ID2=DO_ 

TOPIC 

Caulkin, S. This isn’t an abstract problem. Targets can kill. The Observer, 

22 March 2009. 

Gray, A and Jenkins, B. Government and Administration: Too Much 

Checking, Not Enough Doing Oxford Journals. Parliamentary 

Afrrairs Vol. 57 No. 2, 269 – 287 © Hansard Society for Parliamentary 

Government 2004. 

Natsios, A. The Clash of the Counter-bureaucracy and Development. 

Centre for Global Development. July 2010. (www.cgdev.org/content/ 

publications/detail/1424271) 

Serrat, O. The Most Significant Change Technique. Knowledge 

Solutions. Asian Development Bank. January 2009. 

http://epress.anu.edu/au/dialogue_methods/mobile_devices/ch)3s06. 

html 

…those development programs that 

are most precisely and easily measured 

are the least transformational, and those 

programs that are most transformational “are 

” 

the least measurable. 

18 

page 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | Blending Voice and Text 

“Blending Voice 

and Text”: A 

Collage-type 

Article 1 

- based on an Interview with John 

Saxby, Evaluator on a Mid -Term 

Review under Development Cooperation 

within South Africa’s 

Development Co-operation 

landscape 

First, thank you for the opportunity to reflect on 

my recent work in South Africa – as ever, a thoughtprovoking 

and challenging time. I’m flattered you 

should ask me to do an email interview for the TAU 

Review, and I hope ‘my notes’ are useful to the TAU and 

your readers. 

Let me take the liberty of clustering the four questions 

into two groups. Questions (1) and (4) touch on “what 

success looks like” – case studies, and stories of work 

done by the TAU and its clients. Questions (2) and (3) 

examine innovation – examples and opportunities. 

I will offer some observations on each of these two 

pairs of questions, drawing on what I learned during 

my recent work in South Africa. The core programming 

issue for the Mid-Term Review was the challenge of 

making institutions more effective, both in the public 

sector and in civil society. The TAU is obviously a 

primary actor in this task of “institutional development”, 

1 A collage, in its true sense, is a collection of “bits and pieces”: cut 

out scenes and text that are pasted together to make a composite 

picture –with diversity and often disparity drawn together into a 

holistic view. This article is meant to ‘feel’ like a collage-showing a rich 

picture of some interesting and thought-provoking ideas; with the 

formal text transposed next to the ‘voice’ of the interviewee. 

or “building institutional capacity”- the enterprise has 

different names - in the public sector. So, I will refer to 

the TAU’s work in the public service, but also to other 

examples of this society-wide project (project under 

mid-term review). 

I should emphasize that these notes are my personal 

reflections, offered from the point of view of a 

sympathetic visitor. That said, I do owe a debt to the 

Development Partner concerned and International 

Development Co-operation Chief Directorate of 

National Treasury for giving me the opportunity to 

work on the review of the programme. Also, to the 

dozens of people who are working on the programme 

who gave me their time and consideration, and to my 

consultant colleagues in the review team. 

And so onto the questions that 

you asked: 

(1) Your report speaks compelling around 

Knowledge Management in terms of 

highlighting the opportunities for case studies 

so that stakeholders may get a more vivid feel of 

what “success looks like” 

Is there an example of such a ‘case study’ from the 

TAU implementation of the Development Partner 

programme which shows the elements of success 

that you identify elsewhere in the report: namely 

innovation, catalytic potential, deep capacity 

development, strong alignment with South African 

priorities in line with the Paris Declaration and Accra 

Accord 

(4) In your focus group discussions with the TAU, you 

encouraged them to overcome the linear nature 

of the log frame project management tool by 

“telling their stories of successes and learning”. 

page 19 



This is quite an innovative response from a 

development co-operation world that is largely 

constructed on rational and linear planning 

models where reporting is concomitantly against 

vertical and hierarchical logic, as opposed to 

using rich qualitative methods such as narrative 

inquiry (bringing the voice or lived experiences 

into the room) or analysis of the discourses 

(voices/words and gestures expressing meaning 

and the exploration of that meaning). 

Now that the Review is complete, what (briefly) are 

some of the stories that you believe should be told and 

beyond case studies, how could they be told so that 

the richer data of the partnership emerges 

My responses: 

What does “success” look like (Or “failure”, for that 

matter) the TAU’s “business”, its expertise or “métier”, 

is organizational development [OD, in the jargon]: it 

works with client organizations in the public service to 

develop their capacities, to help them to become better 

at what they do. 2 So, TAU’s primary role is instrumental or 

enabling – it supports and catalyzes other organizations, 

and their improved performance is thus a measure 

of the TAU’s success as well. In that sense, the TAU’s 

investment in organizational development is a means 

to an end. In another sense, however, organizational 

development in the public service is an end in itself–if 

the TAU and its clients are together building individual 

competencies, organizational strengths and capabilities, 

and system-wide capacity, they are also building a pool 

of “organizational literacy”, which is a social asset, a public 

good for all of South Africa. 

The TAU has an opportunity to assess and document 

success (and probably limitations and shortcomings 

2 For simplicity, I’ll use “organization” and “institution” interchangeably. 

too – more on that later) in both of these spheres. [I’m 

making an assumption here, that there are interested 

audiences for accounts of “what works” in organizational 

development in the public service. Thus, I assume that 

potential audiences include TAU itself, and immediate 

colleagues within NT, not least IDC; TAU’s clients, 

individually and collectively; and other interested parties 

– donors, universities and research institutions, consulting 

groups, civil society organizations, and individual 

OD practitioners.] The videos made in 2009, with the 

Development Partner’s support, are a good start. They 

describe briefly, and in clear and accessible language, how 

the TAU has worked with different public agencies and 

departments. The videos make good use of descriptions 

from both the TAU advisors and members of client 

organizations. Their strength is that they show the TAU’s 

work “behind the scenes” – the instrumental role it plays in 

enabling others to work more effectively. 

I do think the videos could be strengthened further, by 

showing more of the nitty-gritty “stuff” of organizational 

development: 

• What were the problems that the different organizations 

were facing – Was it skills shortages Morale and 

incentives Coherence and commitment or conflict, 

stronger or weaker leadership and collective purpose 

• What assets and resources did they have, which they 

and the TAU built upon 

• How did the TAU and the clients, working together, tease 

out “the problem(s)” and recognize their capabilities 

• What roadblocks did they encounter 

• What breakthroughs or happy accidents.... 

• In sum, what did the “capacity” challenge look 

like And what capacities existed, to be used and 

multiplied 

I put the issue this way – emphasizing the fact of assets 

and capabilities, and asking about the particular profiles 

20 

page 



and histories, because one so often hears (not just in SA) 

that “capacity is the problem” – and that’s all. It may be 

true, but it’s so general a statement that it’s not very 

helpful. So, the TAU, which has a real depth of experience, 

and a coherent framework for understanding OD, has an 

opportunity to show what “strengthening institutions” 

looks like in diverse and particular circumstances. The 

example I especially liked was that of the Community 

Library in the Eastern Cape, “delivered” by the Department 

of Arts and Culture working with the local community. 

The “final product” has an immediacy and relevance to 

peoples’ lives, and this makes the story compelling. More 

detail of what the OD “challenge” was, and how the TAU 

and the Department of Arts and Culture responded, would 

really illuminate the “behind the scenes” work. 

Two related observations: 

• The first is that we may learn as much from things that 

don’t work, as from “success stories”. So, it is worth 

“embracing failure”, as I heard an NGO colleague 

argue in Ottawa recently. 3 Not an easy thing to do, 

for sure - not many environments are safe enough 

to allow this, let alone encourage it. If an “outsider” 

such as the TAU (or a consultant!) is recounting the 

story of an intervention, there is always the ethical 

imperative to be faithful and fair to the people in 

the story, and to ensure that they agree with their 

experience being publicized; all the more so, if the 

story is less than glorious. The real challenge is: are 

we open to learning from what hasn’t worked so 

well 4 

• The second point is that success in organizational 

development in the public service can appear in 

very different spheres. One is that of community 

life, rural or urban. Because of the urgency of service 

3 It’s worth checking the website: www.admittingfailure.com The site 

is a joint venture. 

4 I sometimes wonder if the “results/performance” culture further 

discourages people from openly admitting that things haven’t worked. 

If a “results” culture emphasizes compliance rather than learning, that’s 

a likely outcome, maybe unintended. 

delivery in South Africa, this is the obvious place 

to look for case studies, especially of “what works”. 

There is a second level, however, more diffuse, but 

potentially critical. This is the institutional terrain – 

the structures and cultures of government itself, 

national, provincial and municipal. The TAU’s work 

with the Department of Performance Management 

and Evaluation on establishing methods and systems 

for measuring performance – on building a culture of 

performance and quality – is an intriguing example. 

It is a lot less dramatic, evident and compelling than 

rehabilitating communities’ libraries; but, it may be 

much more important in the long run. It’s certainly a 

lot more ambitious, and probably more difficult too. 

Some concluding thoughts on 

documenting case histories: 

We noted above that the TAU typically plays a behindthe-scenes 

or enabling role. Its OD interventions take 

place within a complex set of institutional relationships. 

The quality of these relationships, and the way the TAU 

manages them, will influence the effectiveness of its 

interventions. (Not all of them have the same weight, 

and, of course, they are not unchanging, either.) These 

relationships may be called “partnerships”, and some 

may actually be partnerships – but we’ll leave that 

loaded word aside, and settle for a simpler term. These 

relationships will include donors, National Treasury, 

TAU’s institutional home, the client organizations in 

the public sector; and the community/ies served by 

the client (including community organizations). There 

is more at work here than just a practitioner-client 

relationship, and the energy which these relationships 

generate, or consume, has to be factored into any 

account of how the TAU does its work. 

Furthermore, the actual work of OD is not tidy and 

linear, and the accounts need to reflect that. There 

may be a pattern of cause-and-effect at work, and 

page 21 



that needs to be brought to the surface. Because 

change is more often than not uncertain, contingent, 

even messy, shaped by intangibles and interpersonal 

dynamics – all these need to be acknowledged and 

expressed (not so as to embarrass people). Because 

OD is frequently such an acute personal as well as 

organizational process, the words, perceptions, and 

experiences of the people involved are a key part of 

the record–not just part of the narrative, but part of 

the definition, results, and indicators of change. There 

is usually a “logic” at work, even if it is not obvious, 

or rational – and almost certainly, this “logic” will be 

vastly more complex and contradictory than the 

manageable “fiction”of log-frames. And, the actors may 

change the agenda in mid-stream. They may redefine 

“the problem”, and hence “the results”; and this action 

may itself be an indicator of success. Changing the 

“Results statement” or the logic model may reflect 

greater self-confidence and analytical clarity, or indeed 

deeper understanding and “ownership” of the whole 

process, and of its intended results. All this is not to say 

that “results” and “performance” don’t matter–they are 

of the utmost importance, because, ultimately, citizens 

judge public institutions on their effectiveness. (“Divine 

right” rarely works any more as a basis for authority and 

legitimacy.) 

The related issue is whether conventional “log frames” 

are of much help in understanding how people and 

their organizations change–not only their actions, 

but their attitudes, beliefs, and cultures Readers will 

know that this is an inescapable part of the web of 

institutional relationships just mentioned. So, the TAU, 

its international development partners, its “siblings” 

within National Treasury, and its public-sector clients 

(not to mention visiting consultants) have to contend 

with it – and need to work within that framework – but 

mindfully and consciously in recognising that it is but 

one framework amongst many others. 

Now to consider these questions: 

(2) Based on South Africa’s own intent, development 

co-operation should be used for innovative 

responses to national /international needs 

As this is a mid- term review, what opportunities for 

innovative practices/levels of innovation would you see 

for the TAU as an implementing agency as it fulfils this 

current agreement or any potential future agreement 

(3) Innovation can be one of the most exciting words in 

the world, it can also, however, be a buzz word that 

is used as an attractive ‘construct’ to spice up the 

discourse, but, in reality and with good benchmarks, 

the perceived innovation might simply be a novel 

area of work or a systems improvement which 

might not really amount to ‘innovation’, as it is more 

broadly appreciation in global or local systems. 

How do you see innovation through the lens of this 

development partnership and what, within the 

TAU implementation of the Development Partner 

programme, would provide an example of innovation or 

the potential for innovation 

My Responses: 

So, a point of departure: Innovation in the development 

enterprise, and in institution-building in particular: 

Your questions rightly signal the trap of buzz-word status 

which attaches to “innovation”. Because the language of 

advertising and PR has swamped us with the “i-word”, we 

could be forgiven for saying that everything is innovation– 

and hence, that nothing is. And, the development 

enterprise seems especially prone to fads and fashions, 

all inevitably “innovative”. But common sense does retain 

some power: most people understand “innovation” to 

mean doing new things, or doing things in a new and 

different way; and that, to be considered “innovative”, a 

22 

page 



product or a practice has to be substantial rather than 

trivial. It may also be risky, precisely because it is not 

established or conventional. 

Let me suggest some possibilities 

for the TAU to consider (always 

easy for an observer!): 

1) The TAU has set out a coherent framework which 

describes and guides its approach to capacitybuilding. 

This is grounded in a good understanding 

of current thinking, and is informed by its own 

practice. I don’t know if creating and publishing 

this framework qualifies as “innovative”, but, in my 

experience, it’s certainly uncommon practice for a 

government agency. 5 My personal exemplar in this 

respect is CDRA of Cape Town, whose annual reports 

amount to an extended essay on how and why CDRA 

does its work of OD. The TAU may be a bit exceptional 

as a government entity, as it has a clear and welldefined 

mandate, and one which is operational 

(although its “niche” may sometimes feel more like a 

sprawling domain to its staff members.) In any case, 

the TAU’s methodological statement, combined with 

a body of case studies, would be a rich and valuable 

contribution to a professional dialogue with other OD 

practitioners, in SA and elsewhere, if the TAU wanted 

to pursue such a dialogue. 

Leaving aside the benefits of a learning exchange on 

substantive issues, such a dialogue would set a good 

precedent--a government entity signalling its interest 

and readiness to engage with individual citizens 

and Civil Society Organisations as peers, comparing 

notes and learning from one another on matters of 

common interest. 

2) As an extension of the logic of its capacity-building 

work with public-sector clients, the TAU could consider 

initiatives to build community capacity to monitor 

and evaluate government services, and to negotiate 

with governments about the design, planning and 

implementation of projects and programs. I owe this 

suggestion to colleagues in Mozambique and Brazil. 

The Executive Director of a Mozambican NGO, with 

whom I was working a few years ago, spoke forcefully 

about the importance of local communities acquiring 

the skills and confidence to monitor and assess 

development projects (both those of the Government 

of Mozambique and those supported by foreign 

development agencies). For her, as a development 

worker and a Mozambican citizen, cultivating those 

capabilities in rural and urban communities was a 

way of strengthening democracy and promoting 

accountability of public institutions. 

In Brazil, I have seen this idea put into practice. A 

team of adult educators, based in a university in 

the Northeast, worked with a network of twentyfour 

communities to build within each, the capacity 

to assess the value of a community economic 

development program supported by government 

and parastatal organizations. (The work by the adult 

educators was part of the program plan.) The team 

worked with a committee in each community over a 

period of two years, anchoring their capacity-building 

project in three simple questions: “Que bom Que 

pena Que tal” (“What’s good What’s a pain What 

to do”) The communities themselves generated a 

solid and constructive commentary on the economic 

development program, substantially reshaping its 

direction. 

5 More common are tool kits of suggested techniques, rather than 

clear statements of agreed operational principles and methods. 

page 23 



An intervention of this kind takes the issue of capacity 

in the public service well beyond “better service 

delivery”, important as that is. It opens up the broader 

issue of the way government and citizens engage 

with each other. It implies active citizenship. Building 

community capacity can certainly be seen as part 

of organizational development in the public sector: 

it leads to the big “so what” question about OD, 

because it recognizes that a key test of institutional 

effectiveness is the way citizens judge the quality and 

relevance and government services. 

Perhaps the TAU has ventured into this area already 

It may be well placed to do so. It is part of the national 

government, of course – indeed, part of a powerful 

central agency, the National Treasury. But, the TAU 

does not directly exercise power towards South African 

communities – it is not in a regulatory or compliance 

role, nor a service-delivery role, nor a representative 

role. An intervention to build community capacity to 

monitor and assess how government entities perform 

such roles could of course be quite sensitive – the 

TAU could be seen as over-stepping its boundaries 

by engaging directly with its clients’ constituencies. 

Yet, in a way, the Unit has already done so: its videos 

provide a platform for community members to speak 

about improved services from public agencies. This 

suggestion implies going a step further and investing 

in the capacity of community members to monitor, 

assess and negotiate such services. A pilot might be 

in order – not only because of the possible sensitivity 

of such an initiative, but because work of this kind can 

be both lengthy and time-consuming, as the Brazilian 

example suggests. 

3) A third opportunity arises from the question, “What 

can a development partnership contribute to the OD 

‘project’ in SA” The conventional response would be 

“finance”, delivered and managed in accordance with 

the Paris and Accra principles. There is value in that, 

for sure. But the TAU could legitimately build on the 

thread of reciprocity that runs through the discourse 

of Paris and Accra, and issue a friendly challenge 

to its international development partners to equip 

themselves with practical expertise in institutional 

development. UNDP has made such an investment 

over the years, for example, so there is a precedent for 

doing this within the donor community. The change 

implicit in this suggestion is that South Africa would 

draft “the job description” – with potentially some very 

exciting and innovative spaces being opened up... 

Again, thank you for allowing me to adding my voice 

to your publication – it has been good to ponder and 

reflect, and reflect again! 

John Saxby 

Consultant in International Development 

24 

page 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | Gender mainstreaming in governance 

Gender 

mainstreaming 

in governance: 

Extending the 

Frame 

Mainstreaming gender in governance forces one to 

think about the roles that men and women play in 

governance. In keeping with the idea that networks 

are a pervasive feature of modern governance, it goes 

without saying that mainstreaming gender also refers 

to the various networks that men and women form in 

achieving their identified objectives of ordered rule 

and collective action. The development of a Ministry 

dedicated to Women, Children and People with 

Disabilities is a valid example of a highly formalized 

institution that is set up to facilitate such networks. 

Civil society and social capital also create their own 

powerful forms – both formal and informal. 

Furthermore, the ANC’s 52 nd National Conference in 

2007, in its 109 th resolution on social transformation, 

resolved that an institutional mechanism be put in 

place in pursuit of women’s emancipation and broadly 

addressing gender issues (ANC 2007: 16). 

As early as the year 2000 South Africa has had a National 

Policy Framework for Women’s Empowerment and 

Gender Equality. This policy framework ushered in an 

understanding that transformation of unequal gender 

relations requires the involvement of men and women 

(Office of the Status of Women 2000: 17). South Africa 

is also signatory to the Convention on Elimination 

of Discrimination Against Women (Todes, Sithole 

and Williams 2007: 9), and the significance of this 

is that South Africa has recognised the need to look 

into women’s social exclusion on the basis of gender 

and poverty. Training of women councilors as local 

government leaders is another issue that has been 

dominating the policy arena in South Africa. In this 

particular area, the leadership role of women in local 

government integrated development planning has 

also been raised as needing attention (Todes, Sithole 

and Williams 2007: 1-3). 

Public service commission and 

gender mainstreaming 1 

The PSC, in 2006, concluded that women’s access to 

political power and decision-making has improved 

since the 1994 elections (RSA 2006: 70). There is a 

strong representation of women in the national 

and provincial spheres of government but the 

challenge to institutions in the Public Service is to 

change their culture in order to be more responsive 

to the needs of women civil servants (RSA 2006: 70). 

The recommendations given then were that more 

emphasis be placed on (RSA 2006: 75-76): 

1 Information derived from the State of the Public Service (SOPS) 

Report 2009 

page 25 



• Accelerated empowerment of women; through 

a specific programme targeting women on 

accelerated learning for specific roles and senior 

positions in departments should be introduced by 

SAMDI 2 . 

• Improve gender representivity profile/recruitment 

and promotions in order to change the profile of 

government especially at senior levels. 

• Family friendly policies; that the DPSA must put in 

place a national framework aimed at creating a 

more enabling environment and recognise the 

importance of providing social benefits to families. 

This framework should compel departments to 

provide for breastfeeding facilities, flexi-time to 

accommodate child caring considerations; and 

consideration to be given for child care facilities. 

• Leadership and support from Management; that all 

senior managers to be capacitated to enhance 

gender management skills and raise the general 

level of gender awareness to change organisational 

cultures. 

Other areas that are key in gender mainstreaming and 

significant indicators of a progressive approach to 

feminization of governance include (Wood Wetzel, J 

1996: 221-236; Todes, Sithole and Williams 2007: 34-39; 

Quan-Baffour 2008: 57-62): 

• Promotion of positive perceptions of women; through 

active engagement with men and youth in society, 

more work on the perceptions of women’s role in 

society should be addressed. 

• Gender sensitive data collection techniques and 

processes; data on gender related issues needs to 

be gathered more vigorously and in particular data 

looking at social exclusion of rural women from the 

mainstream economy and political processes. More 

2 SAMDI subsequently transformed into the Public Administration 

Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) 

accurate and up-to-date data is needed. 

• Economic self-determination of women; that structural 

imbalances that cause women participation in the 

mainstream economy must be addressed. 

• Valuing of women’s work; as work that is at the same 

status as that of men and the proper recognition, 

including remuneration, for this should be given. 

Typically women’s reproductive labour in society is 

undervalued and this has created perceptions of this 

work that does not serve a non-sexist and gender 

sensitive society. 

• Placement of women in decision making positions; as 

women have distinct and useful skills to contribute 

to decisions, especially relating to poverty alleviation 

and development, that affect South African society. 

• Investment in women’s health care and education; as 

most structural imbalances in society can be traced 

back to lack of education, it is vital that women’s 

literacy increases and especially those women 

without resources to pay for their own education. 

Significantly relevant is women’s health and 

children’s health because of its intrinsic relationship 

to poverty and social exclusion. 

• Educating women regarding their legal rights and 

other laws pertinent to them; that women understand 

what avenues are available for them when their 

rights are being violated and that such assistance is 

made readily accessible to them. 

• Gender budgeting; ensuring that national and 

provincial budgets articulate intentions and 

programme areas that address the needs of women 

and children. This also involves the ability of women 

to actively engage the budget processes of provincial 

governments to advise authorities on their needs. 

Local government budgets need to also reprioritize 

to meet the needs of women and children. This is 

an area where civil society, the private sector and 

government can co-operatively engage each other. 

26 

page 



South Africa has managed to tackle some of these with 

a significant set of results for efforts made, however 

there are still areas that require more resources and 

actions. 

Issues of social exclusion and power in society are 

critical to consider when evaluating whether or not this 

new way of governing has had any significant benefit 

to women’s needs. The South African network society, 

as other network societies, has a means of including 

certain groups and excluding others; by virtue of their 

means to ‘rightly associate’ or pull together human and 

financial resources that are sufficient for them to gain 

power to deliberate. It is therefore vital to analyse the 

women’s agenda, not by how many institutions alone 

have been able to enforce their thinking into the public 

policy arena, but as well as whether all women, and in 

particular those poverty stricken and in rural areas, are 

able to access powerful networks as well. 

Lastly considerations from the African Peer Review 

Mechanisms, and in particular the June 2006 CSAR 3 , are 

also critical to point out, and in particular those related 

to ‘Democracy and good political governance.’ The 

3 Country Self-Assessment Report 

assessment found the following as concerning areas 

that need further interventions (African Peer Review 

Mechanism 2010: 341). 

• Competition for limited resources between citizens 

and non-national seeking political and economic 

stability in South Africa is a potential source of 

conflict. 

• Violence against, and in particular the trafficking of, 

women and children is a source of concern. 

• The ability of the public sector to deliver services is 

constrained by a lack of both skills and capacity. 

• Many people, particularly those living in rural 

communities and children from other countries 

(for example refugees), have poor access to justice, 

education and health care. 

• Parliament lacks the capacity to exercise its oversight 

role, particularly in considering proposed legislation 

concerning finance. 

• Corruption affects public access to services, and 

the protection provided to whistle-blowers is 

inadequate. 

• The number of children in detention is increasing. 

• There is active discrimination against vulnerable 

groups including non-nationals. The latter raises 

concerns about xenophobia. 

page 27 



• The processing of asylum applications remains 

highly problematic. 

• Government should play a greater role in promoting 

social cohesion and integration. 

• Women are economically impoverished and 

deprived of or denied access to their rights, 

particularly in the rural areas. 

From these issues raised, a programme of action (POA) 

was recommended to South Africa and the following 

have been attended to since then (African Peer Review 

Mechanism 2010: 349-350): 

• South Africa has ratified the Southern African 

Development Community Protocol on the 

Facilitation of the Movement of Persons, which 

regulates migration within the Southern African 

region. 

• Programmes aimed at alleviating poverty, which 

include the social security assistance programme, 

have been outlined. 

• The government has increased the percentage of 

no-fee schools to provide access to education to 

a higher number of children. The national school 

nutrition programme is to be extended to cover 

secondary as well as primary schools in 2009. 

• The government has engaged in programmes to 

support children affected by HIV and AIDS. These 

include providing support and food parcels for 

child-headed households, and providing voluntary 

counselling and testing services. (There is no 

mention of access to preventative medication such 

as anti-retroviral therapy.) 

• The government continues to face logistical 

difficulties in making access to water, sanitation and 

electricity universal. 

• A women’s fund to build capacity and empower 

women has been established. 

• The government has responded to the xenophobic 

violence that broke out between citizens and foreign 

non-national communities in largely impoverished 

areas by appointing a parliamentary task team 

to discover the root causes. (However, there is no 

mention of the government’s adopting measures 

to prevent further xenophobic attacks, although the 

CRR recommended it do so.) 

• The government has acknowledged the occurrence 

of racially-based attacks, and launched a Constitutional 

Education Programme intended to raise public 

awareness of rights, and in particular the right of 

access to justice for vulnerable groups, including migrants. 

(The report does not indicate what government 

has done to address failures in racial integration.) 

• A higher proportion of the government’s budget 

has been allocated to curbing crime. 

• The government has recognised a need to 

strengthen its anti-corruption mechanisms. 

• The government has adopted a national strategic 

plan that proposes a holistic look at the HIV and 

AIDS pandemic by seeking to reduce (1) the number 

of new HIV infections and (2) the impact on the 

individual, families and communities. Larger budget 

allocations have been made to cover additional 

needs like improved nutrition and health systems. 

The broader African community 

and gender mainstreaming 

The SADC region recognises, through various protocols 

and activities that unequal gender relations need to be 

addressed in governance. The SADC protocol on gender 

is a triumph of forty-two women’s rights organisations 

from across the region that demanded that the 1997 

SADC Declaration on Gender and Development be 

elevated to a protocol, and in its twenty-three targets, 

issues of governance are embedded (Morna 2008: 10). 

28 

page 



Conclusion 

Theory and current practice points strongly to a new 

way of governance and in particular recognition of a 

more networked society and therefore policy making 

and governance that is typical of a network society. 

The developmental trajectory of the various regions 

and countries will influence the level of networks to 

form and be sustained in those particular societies. 

As such, different countries and regions with different 

development paths and results will have distinct types 

of networks with varying influences on public policy 

conversations. As Africa and SADC in particular make 

particular choices of the type of governments it wants, 

influences of such choices falls into the South African 

nation state as our choices also influence them. 

Below are some suggestions for bettering South 

African governance based on the arguments posed 

above. The following is recommended: 

• More use of deliberative policy analysis as a means 

of understanding governance in the new network 

society. 

• Policy communities are becoming more and more 

conflictual, and therefore more in - depth analysis of 

their reasons for conflict and tension is required. 

• Social exclusion of vulnerable groups such as 

women and children has a large influence on their 

ability to govern through their networks. Therefore 

it is imperative that governments also assist these 

vulnerable groups in accessing discursive policy 

arenas and be better networked. 

• More work must be done by the South African and 

indeed other African governments in dealing with 

issues like women’s education, women’s health, 

promotion of positive perceptions of women; 

gender sensitive data collection techniques and 

processes; economic self-determination of women; 

valuing of women’s work; placement of women 

in decision making positions; educating women 

regarding their legal rights and other laws pertinent 

to them and gender budgeting; in order for women 

to be better able to participate in deliberative policy 

processes effectively. 

• African Peer Review Mechanism recommendations 

need to be further implemented. 

• Public Service Commission recommendations need 

to be further implemented. 



References: 

African National Congress (2007) ANC 52 nd National Conference 2007 

Resolutions. ANC. Pg 16 and 33. 

Morna. C. (2008) SADC Women soar to new heights with Gender 

Protocol, in Gender Media and Diversity Journal, Issue 5. Pg 10. 

Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (2010) The African Peer 

Review Mechanism: A compilation of studies of the process in nine 

African countries. Open Society Foundation. 

Republic of South Africa: Public Service Commission. (2009): State of 

the Public Service Report. 

Quan-Baffour K.P (2008) Gender mainstreaming: A new paradigm for 

sustainable environmental management in Ghana. Africanus: Journal 

of Development Studies, 38 (1) Pg 57-62 

Republic of South Africa (RSA) Gender Mainstreaming initiatives in the 

Public Service. November 2006. Public Service Commission. Pretoria. 

Government Printer. Pg 70- 76. 

Todes .A, Sithole .P and Williams .A (2007) Local government, gender 

and integrated development planning. Human Sciences Research 

Council Press. Pretoria: Pg 9-33. 

Wood Wetzel, J (1996) On the road to Beijing: the evolution of the 

international women’s movement. Afflia: Journal of Women and Social 

Work, 11 (22) Pg 221-236. 

page 29 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | SIMULTANEOUS MAINSTREAMING OF GENDER AND DISABILITY 

SIMULTANEOUS 

MAINSTREAMING 

OF GENDER AND 

DISABILITY: A 

GOVERNANCE 

PERSPECTIVE 

Summary 

This article locates gender and disability 

equality within a typology of mainstreaming, 

intersectionality and transformation, and maps 

these approaches to governance imperatives and 

implementation challenges. Outlining the required 

commitment to leadership and accountability, it 

suggests that, if augmented by good governance, 

this transformative model of mainstreaming is best 

placed to respond to the increasingly important 

demands of diversity. 

Introduction 

Gender and disability mainstreaming is a political 

process that alters the balance of power; it is inherently 

complex and resistance comes in many forms. 1 Power 

is challenged not only because mainstreaming 

promotes women and persons with disabilities as 

decision makers, but also because it supports their 

collective action in redefining agendas. 

Political will within organisations, as well as ability of 

implementers of gender and disability policies, affect 

the degree to which gender and disability priorities 

are mainstreamed in an organisation. 2 However, a 

paradox exists in the amount of information and 

expertise available for institutionalising gender 

mainstreaming, apparent institutional acceptance 

through policy directives, and the outcomes achieved. 

A similar situation is emerging in respect of disability 

mainstreaming. 

This raises deeper questions about the usefulness of 

mainstreaming as a strategy, giving rise to questions of 

governance and obligatory compliance to implement 

commitments of the State to eradicate inequality and 

discrimination based on gender and disability. 

Identity Equality and Approaches 

to Mainstreaming 

Different models of identity equality exist. These include 

models based on sameness (equal opportunities or 

equal treatment), on difference (special programmes) 

and on transformation. This can also be described 

as “the equal treatment perspective”, “the women’s 

perspective”, and “the gender perspective”, 

respectively. These perspectives are complementary 

rather than mutually exclusive approaches, and can 

be conceptualized as components of a “three-legged 

stool”, in that they are interconnected and each needs 

the other. 3 

30 

page 



In his seminal work, Jahan (1995:13) categorises 

mainstreaming approaches as ‘integrationist’, ‘agendasetting’ 

or ‘transformative’. The integrationist approach 

involves broadening the dominant paradigm to 

fit women ‘in’ without directly challenging power 

structures. The agenda-setting approach emphasises 

the transformative power of gender mainstreaming 

whereby women start to affect and alter the direction 

of the mainstream, rather than be submerged by 

or integrated into it. 4 It is generally accepted that 

mainstreaming will only truly address the logic of 

inequality when it enables transformation of structures 

and relations. 5 

Gender mainstreaming was adopted by the UN as 

the key methodology for achieving gender equality 

following the UN Fourth World Conference on Women 

in Beijing, 1995. This was endorsed by the Platform 

for Action (PFA) and outlined as the approach that 

government, UN and other actors should take in the 

implementation of the PFA. It is defined as: 

the process of assessing the implications for 

women and men of any planned action, 

including legislation, policies and programmes, 

in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for 

making women’s as well as men’s concerns 

and experiences an integral dimension of 

the design, implementation, monitoring and 

evaluation of policies and programmes in all 

political, economic and societal spheres so that 

women and men benefit equally and inequality 

is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is gender 

equality. 6 

This definition is a compromise between a number 

of different perspectives and agendas. The result 

is inherent tensions and paradoxes that make 

gender mainstreaming simultaneously potentially 

transforming and potentially problematic. The 

definition has been adopted and adjusted for disability 

mainstreaming. 

A relationship exists between gender, race and 

other aspects of identity, including disability, that are 

sources of systematic discrimination. An intersectional 

approach to analyzing the disempowerment of 

marginalized women attempts to capture the 

consequences of the interaction between two or 

more forms of subordination. It addresses the manner 

in which racism, patriarchy, class oppression and other 

discriminatory systems, including those based on 

disability, create inequalities that structure the relative 

positions of women, men and persons with disabilities. 

In the Public Service of the Government of South Africa, 

the vision of gender and disability mainstreaming is 

that it offers transformation which involves neither 

the assimilation of women into men’s ways, nor the 

maintenance of a dualism between women and men, 

but rather something new, a positive form of melding, 

which becomes the mainstream. 

This vision of the mainstream encapsulates and gives 

effect to the constitutional vision of human dignity, 

freedom and equality, based on acknowledgement, 

acceptance and accommodation of difference and 

diversity: 

A society in which women and men are free to 

realize their full potential and to participate as 

equal partners in creating a just and prosperous 

society for all. 7 

Gender and disability management 

in the Public Service: Governance 

Imperatives and challenges 

Simultaneous mainstreaming of gender and disability 

is an essentially contested concept and practice. Not 

only are there many different definitions of gender 

and disability mainstreaming, but also considerable 

page 31 



variations in practice to overcome inequalities based 

on gender and disability. In practice, gender and 

disability equality norms often have to fight their way 

into institutional thinking as these norms are perceived 

to be in conflict with traditional organizational norms 

and in competition with core business priorities. 8 In 

business, the goal of competitiveness of the economy 

takes precedence over equality considerations, thereby 

condoning the many manifestations of gender and 

disability inequality such as unequal pay and job 

stereotyping. 

Compliance to Law and Policy 

There is always a link between good governance and 

compliance with law and policy. Good governance is 

not something that exists separately from the law and 

it is entirely inappropriate to unhinge governance from 

the law. The eradication of discrimination based on 

gender and disability, as envisioned in the Bill of Rights, 

has shifted compliance from the voluntary to the 

obligatory domain. No longer do public and private 

sector organisations have the choice of whether or 

not to remove barriers and to accommodate women 

and persons with disabilities. The starting point of any 

analysis on this topic is the duty of office bearers to 

discharge their legal duties in respect of gender and 

disability equality and removal of unlawful and unfair 

discrimination. 

Implementation challenges 

Gender and disability mainstreaming has the potential 

to be transformative in nature, changing the dominant 

paradigms in which we work. However, the essence 

of gender and disability mainstreaming makes it 

a challenge to implement. The task is formidable 

not only because of the inherently political nature 

of its transformative potential, but because of the 

challenge of scale in terms of range and the nature 

of change required. 9 Realising the potential of gender 

and disability mainstreaming requires significant and 

systematic change. Experience to date suggests that 

the move from policy to practice has been challenging, 

and while policy and strategies have varied in their 

impact, they have, however, all fallen short of the 

articulated goal of gender equality. In most cases, 

implementation has also fallen well short of declared 

policy. 10 

Governance Imperatives 

Setting priorities, goals and targets 

The first and perhaps most essential task for 

governance is articulating a set of priorities and 

goals for mainstreaming gender and disability that 

are in line with the legal and policy framework for 

gender and disability and that can be agreed upon 

by the members of the organisation. This set of 

goals on the organisational level reflects the national 

and internationally agreed-upon standards and 

benchmarks for gender and disability. 

Setting up structures and processes 

Corporate governance mainly involves the 

establishment of structures and processes, with 

appropriate checks and balances that enable office 

bearers to discharge their legal responsibilities and 

oversee compliance with legislation in respect of 

equality and non-discrimination based on gender and 

disability. The more established certain governance 

practices become, the more likely a court would regard 

conduct that conforms with these practices as meeting 

the required standard. Governance practices, codes and 

guidelines therefore lift the bar of what are regarded as 

appropriate standards of conduct. Consequently, any 

failure to meet a recognised standard of governance, 

albeit not legislated, may render a board or individual 

director liable at law. 11 

32 

page 



Coordination and accountability 

As well as having targets for gender and disability 

clearly articulated, there is a need for those goals to 

be consistent and co-ordinated. Once a set of goals is 

established, there is a need to find ways of achieving 

those targets and steering the organisation to attain 

those goals. 

Accountability from a gender perspective requires 

that the decisions of public actors can be assessed 

by women and men equally. Gender-sensitive 

accountability systems require not just women’s 

participation, but also institutional reform to make 

gender equality one of the standards against which 

the performance of decision-makers is assessed. 12 

Leadership 

Good governance in respect of gender and disability 

mainstreaming calls for effective leadership that rises 

to the challenges of gender and disability equality. 

Such leadership is characterised by the ethical 

values of responsibility, accountability, fairness and 

transparency and based on moral duties that find 

expression in the concept of Ubuntu. 13 Responsible 

leaders direct workplace strategies and operations 

with a view to eradicate discrimination based on 

gender and disability, and to promote, protect and 

attain the human rights of women and persons with 

disabilities, achieving sustainable economic, social and 

environmental performance. 

Endnotes 

1 Schalkwyk, J., Thomas, H. & B Woroniuk. 1996. Mainstreaming: A 

Strategy for Achieving Equality between Women and Men: A Think 

Piece. Stockholm: SIDA. 

2 Riley, J, 2004. “Some reflections on gender mainstreaming and 

intersectionality”, Development Bulletin, 64: Pg 82-86. 

3 Booth, C. & Bennett, C. 2002. “Gender Mainstreaming in the 

European Union“. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 9 (4): Pg 

430-446. 

4 Jahan, R. 1995. The Elusive Agenda: Mainstreaming Women in 

Development, Zed Books, London. 

5 Beveridge, F. & Nott, S. 2002. “Mainstreaming: A case for optimism 

and cynicism”, Feminist Legal Studies, 10: Pg 299–311. 

6 ECOSOC 1997. Agreed Conclusions on Mainstreaming the Gender 

Perspective into all Policies and Programs in the United Nations 

System, United Nations. 

7 Office on the Status of Women. South Africa’s National Policy 

Framework for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality. 

8 Walby, s. “Gender Mainstreaming: Productive Tensions in Theory 

and Practice”, Social Politics, Fall 2005: Pg 321-343. 

9 Pollack, M.A. & Hafner-Burton, E. 2000. “Mainstreaming Gender in 

the European Union”. Journal of European Public Policy, 7 (3): Pg 

432-56. 

10 Riley, J. 2004. “Some reflections on gender mainstreaming and 

intersectionality”, Development Bulletin, 64: Pg 82-86. 

11 King III, 2009. 

12 UNIFEM. Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009. 

13 Based on notes from the King Report on Governance for South 

Africa, Institute of Directors, 2009. Practice Notes. Pg 9. 

Maretha de Waal 

Development Consultant 

page 33 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | Green Governance 

Green Governance: 

Building resilience 

in our urban 

systems 

Resource efficiency, decoupling 

and the role of cities in sustainable 

development 

PUBLIC POLICY AND IMAGINEERING 

Public policy and planning are inherently Utopian. 

Planning in the public sector starts out by assuming 

that the future will be better than the present 

– particularly when coupled to government’s 

developmental agenda. The aim of a plan is to create 

a framework which will enable, through guiding 

investment and the activities of many different players, 

a desired future to unfold. The current approach by 

the Government to establish a set of desired outcomes 

for our society, and then to work back to what we 

should be doing today, is firmly in this mould. We thus 

set out to imagine and to plot ways in which a better 

future might be achieved. This process can be called 

Imagineering: Working together to imagine a better 

possible future and then working out, in collaboration 

with the societal role players, how that might be 

achieved. As suggested by Jaime Lerner, the ex-Mayor 

of Curitiba (a city recognised for its green and social 

programmes), a plan must be ‘a collective dream’- only 

when that dream is shared by all will the plan come 

together, because all will work towards its realisation. 

Proposals are structured to be implemented within the 

governmental institutional and financial frameworks 

and presented in ways that will hopefully shape the use 

and allocation of state and other resources available. 

That is an idealised synopsis of what is, in reality, a far 

more complex process – especially in a heterogeneous 

society – where there is so much contested terrain and 

where politicians are under pressure to make good 

on promises and public expectations. Sometimes 

short-term benefits are prioritised over longer-term 

objectives. 

But, right now, much of our long-term planning fails to 

address the real challenges that face us in society. Often 

processes will take present systems of service delivery, 

utility infrastructure and economic development as 

given. Planning becomes a means of fine-tuning, 

tweaking and re-organising the existing systems. 

Alternatively, attempts to place critical environmental 

concerns at the forefront of planning are dismissed as 

being ‘bunny-hugging” or perhaps even an attempt by 

the “have’s” to exclude the “have not’s” from enjoying 

access to resources. 

Development planning builds on existing, 

underutilised or potential technologies and resources. 

34 

page 



And therein lies a problem… 

The future, given our current crises in resource 

depletion and climate altering human impacts, cannot 

be built as an extrapolation of the present. Our future 

has to be based on a fundamentally different premise. 

Things like service delivery, utility infrastructure systems 

and economic organisation need to be recast within a 

different paradigm of the future. There is an increasing 

disjuncture between what we know has to happen 

in order for society to avoid and mitigate the worst 

impacts of climate, energy and mass consumption 

(building resilience) and the immediate demands 

of big business and governments under pressure to 

deliver. In such instances it is easier to fall back on 

the tried and tested, than to risk experimenting with 

what seems like new and untested (in the minds and 

rhetoric of some) technologies and ideas. But we have 

reached a tipping point- and sustainable solutions and 

technologies are now viable and can realistically disrupt 

old technologies in a positive and comprehensive 

manner. A sustainable future is available, we just need 

find the way to distribute it. 

In South Africa (and the world) we not only face critical 

challenges as a result of global warming, oil depletion 

and other uncontrolled exploitation of non-renewable 

resources we are also facing problems associated with 

economic marginalisation and growing inequality. If 

we do not tackle this social and economic injustice, 

then that inequality will deal destructively with our 

economies and societies. Building resilience, from an 

ecosystems perspective, but also a social perspective 

is critical. But we cannot get ahead of this problem, or 

tackle it at its roots, within the economic, social and 

political frameworks that got us here in the first place. 

We do need a fundamental transformation in our ways 

of being, of producing and of relating to each other 

and to the planet. That requires us to look at these 

systems as a whole and not to tackle these problems 

piecemeal – triple bottom line reporting, carbon taxes 

and so-forth all have their role, but only if placed in the 

context of a different mind-set and paradigm. If we 

have these debates outside of a paradigm shift, it is like 

deciding whether to sit upstairs or downstairs on a bus 

that is going the wrong way. 

TOWARDS RESILIENCE - RESOURCE 

EFFICIENCY AND THE DE- MATERIALISATION 

OF THE ECONOMY 

According to the United Nations Environment 

Programme, resource efficiency represents a critical 

opportunity to address our unsustainable path, by 

building green economies in which economic growth 

is decoupled from environmental harm. By enabling 

the design and production of low-impact products 

and services, resource efficiency can help us meet 

human needs, while respecting the ecological carrying 

capacity of the earth. 

Resource efficiency is about the management of 

South Africa’s natural resources and the natural and 

human-made resource flows within the economy. 

It stresses, that in a world of increasing demands on 

scarce economic resources, the conscious and efficient 

management of our natural resources and of resource 

flows through the economy is critical to South Africa’s 

economic efficiency, success, competitiveness and 

sustainability. 

Approached creatively, resource management 

and efficiencies can lead to improved productivity, 

increased employment and can stimulate a growing 

“green” economy that supports economic development 

and employment creation. 

At the moment there is no single agency or department 

page 35 



which has adopted this mandate, yet there is no doubt 

that it will increasingly become central to not only our 

government’s business, but for the world as a whole. 

The fundamentals 

Our renewable resources are being consumed at a 

rate greater than their replacement rate and our nonrenewable 

natural resources are being depleted at a rate 

which will see us facing supply problems. For example, 

it is estimated oil has gone beyond peak production. 

Our economic systems and regulatory environment are 

not geared to manage the consumption of resources 

in an environmentally rational manner. 

that if we all consumed resources at the level of 

European countries we would need 2.1 more planet 

earths to sustain us.” Watson, 2006. 

At the same time, we are seeing huge strides being 

made by developing economies, such as India and 

China, as well as in Africa, in improving incomes and 

lifestyles. As incomes grow, so too does the societal 

demand for resources grow, as more people want 

TVs, fridges, single residential properties and cars. The 

new resource scramble for Africa is a case in point, and 

there is a growing need for South Africa, and Africa, to 

improve its ability to negotiate in its best interests, as to 

how these resources are utilised and exploited. 

Environmental pressures caused by consumption 

and societal demand include the loss of forests and 

wetlands, overfishing, and transport, which collectively 

use nearly 30% of world energy and 95% of its oil. 

“…our obsession with growth has led to a major 

resource crisis – most significantly, the likely end of 

oil – in our lifetimes – as well as clear indications 

of climate change, water depletion and food 

insecurities. You are probably familiar with the 

various ecological footprint measures, that claim 

36 

page 



Resource crunch dynamics 

“There is the tragedy. Each man is locked in a system 

that compels him to increase his herd without limit 

– in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination 

toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own 

best interest in a society that believes in the freedom 

of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin 

to all.” Gareth Hardin, Tragedy of the Commons, 

1968. 

The graph below combines the two on page 36 and 

illustrates the “resource crunch” that commentators 

are increasingly suggesting will lead to major conflict 

and instability in society – especially as demand for 

environmental resources increasingly outstrips supply. 

As planners we need to be offering society ideas and 

prospects about how this transformation can take 

place in a practical, positive and empowering manner 

4.5 

4 

3.5 

3 

2.5 

2 

1.5 

1 

0.5 

0 

Resource crunch dynamics 

Gradualdecline in raw materials, eco 

system servicess, integrity and capacity 

of natural systems 

Resource crunch 

point - when 

societal demand 

outstrips ability of 

environment and 

Societal demand for resources under 

current economic and resource 

Time 1 Time 2 Time 3 

consumption paradigms and 

Time 4 

development models 

Growth in demand for resources 

Resource availability and ecosystem integrity 

page 37 



– and in a manner which enables us to tackle poverty, 

inequality and social justice. In doing so, we need 

to couch our plans within a total vision of the future. 

We need to tackle the system as a whole and not as a 

bunch of parts. 

“Obsessing over recycling and installing a few special 

light bulbs won’t cut it. We need to be looking at 

fundamental change to our energy, transportation 

and agricultural systems rather than technological 

tweaking at the margins…” Michael Maniates, 

Professor of Political Science and Environmental 

Science, Allegheny College, as quoted in Friedman 

2009: 254 (emphasis added). 

FRAMEWORKS AND SYSTEMS 

We need a complete picture of the system so that our 

actions can be guided by agreement as to how this 

contributes to the ultimate goal. The diagram below 

looks at the hierarchy of spatial locations. The bottom 

of the triangle is the most localised and smallest point – 

we, as individuals. As we move up the triangle we find 

ourselves in larger and larger system – from household, 

to neighbourhood, to city and so-forth. As we move 

down the triangle we, as individuals, have increasing 

control over how we live, act and operate, and so our 

ability to influence and impact the systems that shape 

our lives and sustainability. At an individual level we can 

choose to live completely sustainably (such as walking 

and cycling instead of driving). However, our ability to 

do this is limited or supported by the degree to which 

other members in our household work together. 

By the same token, a households effectiveness at, for 

example, recycling, is impacted the degree to which 

there are neighbourhood recycling depots or public 

transport networks. If our cities are promoting and 

supporting better waste management, transport and 

energy systems, our ability to make the whole system 

work- from individual to the key energy, water and 

production systems at city level – is improved. This 

ultimately goes all the way up to the global systems 

within which we find ourselves. In a world that is 

inevitably globalising we have to address these 

systems as well. 

National Policies and Programmes (e.g. 

NSDP, Breaking New Ground, DFA, 

Environmental Conservation Act, NEMA, 

Working for Water) 

Plans, Initiatives and Strategies (State of the 

Environment, Sustainable Building Codes, 

Urban form, transport technology, etc.) 

Global 

National 

Provincial / District 

City / Towns 

Community/ 

Neighbourhood 

Household 

Global Norms, Conventions, Protocols and Agreements 

(e.g. Kyoto protocol, Global Campaign on Good Urban 

Governance) 

Provincial/Regional Strategies (PSDF, Guidelines 

for Resort Development, Bioregional Planning, 

EIP, Implementation of ECA /NEMA regulations) 

Initiatives and projects (recycling, education, tree 

planting) 

Water saving devices, recycling programmes, 

energy saving techniques and technologies, 

transport choices, lifestyle choices 

Individual 

Lifestyle choices (products consumed, methods of 

using products and resources, choice of living 

environment, travel modes, etc.) 

Matt Cullinan 

38 

page 



Global 

National/State 

Increasing degree of 

personal control and 

impact in terms of 

lifestyle, consumption 

and production changes 

and choices 

Region/Province 

City system 

Community/ 

Neighbourhood 

Household 

Ind. 

As one moves up 

the triangle, the 

effectiveness of 

action at a lower 

level is affected by 

the degree of 

supporting 

environment and 

action in the level 

above 

Matt Cullinan 

Whilst we need to look at the systems as a whole, the towards the desired outcomes. Indeed it is through 

City, and Whilst the systems we need through to look which at it the is organised systems and as a whole, conscious the City, application and the of systems these that through we can set which in place 

managed, it is has organised real power and to transform managed, production has real and power the to actions transform required production for change. and But consumption 

these policies get 

consumption patterns. Cities lie at the fulcrum. It is at enacted, most powerfully, at a city level. 

patterns. Cities lie at the fulcrum. It is at the City level (mostly) that national and global 

the City level (mostly) that national and global policies, 

programmes policies, and programmes protocols are and actually protocols translated are actually “…the translated roots of into many tangible of our urban investments and environmental that 

into tangible impact investments directly on sustainability. that impact directly Building on resilient problems cities bring lie global the upper attitudes levels to economic of policy growth to 

sustainability. fruition Building and gives resilient context cities bring to lower the upper levels of action. and redistribution, We have the and ability we should to influence not hesitate and to 

levels of policy to fruition and gives context to lower 

draw attention to that. American planning theorist 

change consumption patterns and dynamics through the city systems, such as transport, 

levels of action. We have the ability to influence and 

Bob Beauregard has made the obvious but perfectly 

change 

security, 

consumption 

waste 

patterns 

management, 

and dynamics 

water 

through 

conservation, 

true 

construction 

statement – you 

and 

will 

education. 

never get good 

Through 

planning 

the city city systems, systems, such we as can transport, align personal security, interest waste with societal without good. institutions. That is as true for New 

management, water conservation, construction and 

Orleans as it is for cities in Africa. Until we have 

education. 

Policy, 

Through 

at a 

city 

national 

systems, 

and 

we 

international 

can align personal 

level, also has 

just 

a 

and 

critical 

progressive 

role to 

institutions, 

play. Policy 

at both 

can 

national 

send 

interest with societal good. 

and global levels, the best efforts of planners can 

signals to the market and to individuals and can change behaviour towards the desired 

be negated again and again. What is important, 

Policy, at outcomes. a national and Indeed international it is through level, conscious also has application however, of is these that we that are we not can compliant set in with place a system the 

a critical actions role to required play. Policy for can change. send signals But these to the policies get which enacted, entrenches most inequalities powerfully, and at a environmental city level. 

market and to individuals and can change behaviour 

destruction.” Watson 2006: 10. 

8 

page 39 



RESILIENCE 1 AND GREEN CITIES 

- making cities the focal point for change 

Cities lie at the hub of innovation, growth and 

development. How we manage, direct, support and 

supply our cities with resources has a profound impact 

on the sustainability of the planet. 

“Resilience theory, first introduced by Canadian 

ecologist C.S. “Buzz” Holling in 1973, begins with 

two radical premises. The first is that humans and 

nature are strongly coupled and co-evolving, and 

should therefore be conceived of as one “socialecological” 

system. The second is that the longheld 

assumption that systems respond to change 

in a linear, predictable fashion is simply wrong. 

According to resilience thinking, systems are in 

constant flux; they are highly unpredictable and selforganizing, 

with feedbacks across time and space. 

1 ICLEI hosted the First World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to 

Climate Change from 28-30 May 2010 in Bonn, Germany. Resilient 

Cities 2010 was the first edition of an annual convention to share the 

latest scientific findings, effective approaches and state-of-the-art 

programs on climate change adaptation and resilience-building in 

cities and urbanised areas. However, resilience as a concept is used 

here in a much broader sense to capture the essence of what is 

required for our cities in dematerialising the economy 

In the jargon of theorists, they are complex adaptive 

systems, exhibiting the hallmarks of complexity.” 

(Montenegro 2010: 1) 

Building resilient cities is about changing the ways 

cities run and operate – changing the underlying 

systems of delivery, services, input and output 

process and so forth. This is a process in which cities 

adapt to the challenges facing them. Resilient cities 

are better able to cope and manage the vagaries 

of climate change, oil dependence and economic 

justice. The goal is resilient cities, the process is one 

of adaptive response to ecological, economic and 

social challenges brought about by climate change, oil 

depletion and social inequality. 

“(At one level) Urban resilience calls attention to the 

ecosystem services within cities themselves, to the 

medley of blue and green spaces, both natural and 

man-made, that can buffer a city against change. 

Things like urban parks, green roofs, community 

gardens, and coastal wetlands perform numerous 

functions, from cooling the city’s microclimate to 

purifying its rainwater to serving as built-in flood 

control.” (Montenegro 2010) 

Enabling change for development 

40 

page 




But Resilient Cities must also be places where poverty 

and inequality are consciously tackled and addressed. 

In fact, making cities resilient, offers wide ranging 

opportunities for decoupling and the dematerialisation 

of the economy, including job creation, democratising 

the economy and ensuring that our economies are 

more robust. 

THE GREEN ECONOMY – CORNERSTONE OF 

RESILIENT CITIES AND DEMOCRACY 

It is this context that cities, once again, can take the lead 

in helping to promote the green economy. Indeed, 

the green economy would help build resilience and 

also address poverty and build local employment and 

job opportunities. 

“Local and regional governments can support private 

innovation by supporting the activities that follow 

the research and development of new environmental 

technologies. These activities can be summarized 

in four stages: demonstration, verification, 

commercialization, diffusion and utilization. Private 

R&D expenditures in green innovations might be 

in fact limited, given the novelty and complexity of 

the market for environmental products, and the 

associated difficulties in making new products 

known and properly valued. Local governments 

can take the forefront by promoting environmental 

technology verification schemes, supporting 

the development of marketing tools (web sites, 

targeted conferences, mailing lists), financing and 

disseminating results of demonstration tests, and 

removing regulatory barriers to the implementation 

of these technologies.” (Kamal-Chaoui, L and Alexis 

R (eds.) 2009: 157) 

It is really at the local/ regional level where many of 

the answers and solutions to living within our resource 

constraints exist and where we can draw inspiration for 

the future. 

At one level, the local level, one could argue that we 

already have the means and understanding to live 

sustainably and completely within the limits of our 

resources – and to do so in a manner that is comfortable 

and empowering. 

However, if we are to ensure that these processes 

continue to flower and evolve, we critically need to 

bring these solutions into the global arena – into the 

rhetoric of economists, politicians and industrialists. 

There are many positive signs. But so too are there 

worrying signs of a retreat by the powerful into 

securing their own consumption and lifestyle patterns. 

Given that poverty and unemployment are one of 

the greatest challenges facing not only South Africa, 

but the developing world as a whole, then the use 

of renewable technologies offers possibly one of the 

greatest opportunities to tackle these problems. The 

term ‘Green Economy’ has been used to describe 

all those components within the economy that 

contribute to sustainable patterns of consumption 

and production – be it the waste stream, energy 

utilisation, water management, agriculture and, of 

course, construction. The Green Economy subsists 

in all sectors of the economy and is defined not so 

much by it sectoral nature, but by the technology and 

approaches utilised to ensure sustainable utilisation of 

resources. 

Democracy 

The ‘Green Economy” also has other potential 

benefits for freedom and democracy. Alternative and 

renewable energy sources from wind and solar are 

inherently democratic in that they can be controlled 

and produced at the household level. Conversely, 

technologies such as nuclear, because of the secrecy 

and security around the by-products and the sensitivity 

of technology, are inherently undemocratic. 

page 41 



Job creation 

The Green Economy also has much higher job creation 

possibilities than conventional technologies. 

Recent research published in October 2009 (“[R] 

evolution: a Sustainable South Africa Energy Outlook) 

by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy 

Council (EREC) estimates that 78 000 new jobs can be 

created in South Africa in less than 20 years from the 

green energy economy. At the same time renewable 

electricity could reduce South Africa’s carbon dioxide 

emissions by 60% by 2050. SA has considerable sun 

and wind resources and has the potential to develop 

as a renewable energy technology exporter in the 

African context. Earlier research by Greg Austin of 

Agama Energy, commissioned by Earthlife Africa to 

investigate job creation potentials in the energy sector, 

shows a similar picture. 

These job creation figures are not unique to the energy 

sector. Waste management also offers high levels of 

job creation and SMME development potential. 

In South Africa households produce about 15 million 

tons of solid waste per annum, and industry about 25 

million tons. As it stands about 15 000 people earn 

a living from 71 landfill sites and 67% of tin cans are 

recycled with no government help 2 . Simple incentives 

and policies can be created to build this aspect of the 

economy. For example, methane gas can be captured 

and used to power electricity turbines (two landfill 

sites can generate about 7,5MW of power). 

2 Business Day Tuesday 7 September, p4 – Effective waste 

management projects have economic benefits 

Conclusion 

There are many other ideas out there for building 

resilience and the green economy. For example, 

economic and fiscal measures include ideas around 

green taxes, laws requiring industry to take back lifeexpired 

products, making goods which will last longer, 

and more responsible choices by individual consumers. 

Tasneem Essop, currently a National Planning 

Commissioner, had the following to say when she was 

still a Western Cape MEC, Essop at her address to the 

opening of the Planning Africa 2006 conference in 

Cape Town. 

“Finally I will briefly refer to the ‘earth democracy’ 

principles of Vandana Shiva. The concept of Earth 

Democracy privileges ecological and cultural 

diversity in form and function. This is what Shiva 

refers to as ‘feeling at home on the Earth and with 

each other’ that is created through inclusive living 

economies. It is a counter narrative to monocultures 

which, as by products of exclusion and dominance, 

create environments of coercion and loss of 

freedom. This is an alternative world-view to greed, 

consumerism and competition as objectives 

of human life. The Earth Democracy approach 

embodies principles that enable people to transcend 

practices of polarization, division and exclusion. It 

speaks to a logic of multi-functionality and inclusion 

as the basis of diversity. Embedded in the approach is 

the inherent human and professional duty to ensure 

well-being of all species, including the environment. 

Our human and professional responsibility is 

therefore one of trusteeship, instead of the dominant 

notion of mastery, control and ownership. Rights are 

inextricably related to these.” (Essop 2006: 5) 

Matt Cullinan 


42 

page 



References: 

Essop, T (2006) Planning in the South African Democracy. Address 

by Western Cape MEC for Environment, Planning and Economic 

Development, Tasneem Essop, 22 March 2006, at the opening of the 

South African Planning Institutions’ - Planning Africa 2006 Conference. 

Cape Town. 

Friedman, T (2009) Hot, Flat & Crowded – Why the world needs a green 

revolution – and how we can renew our global future. London: Penguin 

Hardin, G (1968) Tragedy of the Commons. Published in, Nelissen, N, 

Van Der Straaten, J and Klinkers, L (Eds) (1998) Classics in Environmental 

Studies: An Overview of Classic Texts in Environmental Studies. Utrecht: 

International Books 

International Expert Panel on Sustainable Resource Management, 8-9 

November 2007, Summary of findings, Budapest. 

Kamal-Chaoui, Lamia and Alexis Robert (eds.) (2009) Competitive Cities 

and Climate Change OECD Regional Development Working Papers N° 2, 

2009, OECD publishing 

Montenegro, M 2010 Urban Resilience, SEED Magazine, February 16, 

2010 http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/urban_resilience/ 

Sustainable Development International (2004) Environment wars from 

human consumption, 14 January 2004, http://www.sustdev.org/ 

Swilling, M and Fischer-Kowalski, M (2010) Decoupling and Sustainable 

Resource Management: Scoping the challenges, International Panel for 

Sustainable Resource Management, UNEP Decoupling Working Group, 

UNEP 

Swilling, M (2010b) Growth, Resource Use and Decoupling: Towards a 

‘Green New Deal’ for South Africa Accepted for publication in 2010 

of the New South African Review edited by Roger Southall etc. 

Johannesburg: Wits University Press. 

TEEB (2010) The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) 

Mainstreaming the Economics of Nature: A synthesis of the approach, 

conclusions and recommendations of TEEB. 

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (2008) Planning for 

Change, Guidelines for National Programmes on Sustainable Consumption 

and Production, UNEP 

Watson, V (2006) One world / many worlds: planning and the future of 

Africa. Address to the Royal Town Planning Institute, June 2006. 


page 43 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW | Setting a “Gold Standard” 

Setting a “Gold 

Standard”: The 

Dynamics of 

Stakeholder 

Management 

The Constitution and King III-a 

conceptual link 

Good governance contains key non negotiable 

elements-and when these are achieved, and achieved 

with gravitas, depth as well as in a social and fiduciary 

accountable manner, then there is an incredible sense 

of “getting the right things right”-and the immense 

satisfaction of building a better world. 

The King III Report, released in September 2009, brought 

about meaningful opportunities for both private and 

public sectors to embrace the tenets of the Report. 

With the world, reeling from the devastation of the 

sub-prime crisis, and other questionable governance 

practices, King III is a much welcomed ‘gold standard’ 

by which we can assess our thinking, our approaches 

and our daily work- in line with good governance. 

Ranging in Chapters from “Ethical leadership and 

Corporate Citizenship” to “Governing Stakeholder 

Management”, King III carries with it principles such as 

“Nature, society and business are interconnected….” 

And “Innovation, fairness and collaboration are key 

aspects to sustainability…” (Key Principles: King Report 

III) 

44 

page 

Enabling change Enabling for change development for development Enabling change for development


With such inspiring words as guiding ‘gold’ in our work 

day lives, it is therefore no surprise that Stakeholder 

Management provisions are well crafted in the King 

III, including stakeholder perception and its impact on 

current and future image and reputation, as well as the 

value systems of transparency, confidence building, 

trust and effective communication. (King Report III). 

While we all have, and especially the Public Sector, 

has the legal ‘gold standards’ of the Constitution and 

Statutory Law as well as its many oversight institutions 

and mandates to guide governance, it is still useful to 

make strong principles and conceptual links between 

King III and the work of the public sector. 

To this end, the TAU, in fulfilling its vision and mission, 

places the highest premium on the human-centered 

approaches, also at the foundation of both the 

Constitution and King III. Stakeholder engagement 

and management is therefore an integral part of the 

“TAU way”. The Technical Assistance Unit (TAU) in 

National Treasury has extensive experience with the 

implementation of stakeholder-intense projects in 

government, through the TAU process consulting 

approach. It is our intention then, through this article, 

to explore a trajectory of stakeholder management 

and to reflect on lessons learnt. 

Stakeholders and Decision-Making: At 

the apex of the gold standard: 

Anyone that is affected by a decision or anyone that 

is interested in the outcome of a decision is regarded 

as a stakeholder (Viney 2007). Integrating stakeholder’s 

voices within the decision making process has become 

a strategic imperative - the Constitution and King III 

lead on this, but we, as practitioners, welcome the 

opportunity to live out such principles. 

This is no easy task: any project has a diverse group of 

stakeholders, and it these stakeholders who need to be 

taken into account if we want to improve the project’s 

ability to change a less than optimal situation and/or a 

project’s success. 

Stakeholder management takes place through 

listening – and then analysing and understanding 

stakeholder needs. These needs may become either 

requirements or constraints, and therefore should be 

communicated effectively to the project team and 

project sponsor. Stakeholder analysis is not a once-off 

process, but should take place in all stages of project 

development. Stakeholders, as individuals and groups, 

have a vested interest in the outcome of the project, 

and they can ‘make or break’ a project – stakeholders 

often can, and will, determine if a project will be 

implemented or not. 

Making an important distinction-and 

scoring a distinction! 

Differentiation between primary and secondary 

stakeholders is essential, and this can be done through 

stakeholder mapping to show who the role players 

are, and what their responsibilities and interests are in 

relation to the project. Primary stakeholders are those 

individuals or groups that are most affected, either 

positively or negatively, by the outcome of the project. 

These are high influence stakeholders. Secondary 

stakeholders are individuals or groups not directly 

affected by the outcome of the project, but they 

nevertheless have in interest in it. Carefully calibrated 

stakeholder mapping, while taking time, really allows 

for energy and resources to be invested where they 

should be-and makes the opportunities presented by 

stakeholder management much more fascinating. 

page 45 



Learning from projects 

The Social Services Portfolio in the TAU has drawn 

on three projects to extract learning with regard to 

stakeholder management: 

• Project A: A development co-operation project in a 

national department; 

• Project B: A financial improvement project with the 

office of the Auditor General, implemented in all 

nine provinces; 

• Project (C): A large-scale economic development 

and job creation project implemented by national 

departments. 

Project A delivered sub-optimal results and the 

lessons learned from this experience is that 

senior officials from all the primary stakeholders 

should have been involved in the Project Steering 

Committee. In addition the Project Management 

Plan should have explored the importance of 

primary stakeholders, their roles, responsibilities 

and accountability. This project also experienced 

weak leadership, management, governance and 

reporting in the implementing department, which 

exacerbated the situation. 

Project B was implemented successfully, although 

it achieved varied results in the nine provinces, and 

required extensive stakeholder management. An 

initial pilot project provided useful lessons for the 

Project Steering Committee (PSC) and the Project 

Team, and a committed and accessible PSC with 

clear Terms of Reference (ToRs) was established. 

Scheduled meetings in various forums took place, 

and this formal engagement process was supported 

by the development of sound informal relationships 

with primary stakeholders. 

Right from the beginning, stakeholder management 

focused on getting buy-in and ownership from 

all primary stakeholders. The inclusion of key 

stakeholders in planning and the development 

of checklists and determining of roles and 

responsibilities ensured that expectations and 

success indicators were clear and mutually agreed 

upon. Regular meetings on various levels provided a 

mechanism to track change and enable stakeholder 

inputs, and this was in turn fed into project review 

and planning. 

Project C was a large-scale, joint initiative with three 

national departments as primary stakeholders, 

and four national departments as secondary 

stakeholders. The implementation of this project 

was complicated by issues around core terminology 

that had to be clarified, and by the vested interests 

of participating departments, that were not always 

congruent. A further complicating factor was that 

the participating departments belonged to more 

than one government cluster, and the participation 

of departments in a particular government cluster 

was not guaranteed, as a result of the perception 

that the project actually belonged to another 

government cluster. In actual fact, this was a crosscluster 

project. Due to the magnitude of this project, 

service providers had to be recruited to fulfill certain 

functions, and these external service providers 

became an important stakeholder group that 

required tight management. 

Reflexive Thinking 

Key lessons learned were that stakeholder management 

is not a “one-size-fits-all” process, and that an iterative 

communication process throughout the project 

cycle is essential to keep everyone on the same page. 

However, being on the same page does not mean 

that all stakeholders will agree all the time – interests 

46 

page 



are much too diverse for that, in certain situations. 

Sometimes unpopular and tough decisions need to be 

made, and effective stakeholder management requires 

patience and determination. Stakeholder interests are 

not static and possible changes in stakeholder interests 

needs to be monitored all the time. And last, but not 

least, there is value in the participation of an “objective 

broker” (the role played by the TAU) to facilitate fair and 

grounded stakeholder interaction without taking sides. 

References: 

Viney as quoted on http://www.e-commerceguru.co.uk/projects/ 

project-management/Stakeholder_Analysis_and_Stakeholder_ 

Management/- downloaded on 9 June, 2011 

King III Report: downloaded from http://www.pwc.com/za/en/king3/ 

index.jhtml downloaded on 9 June, 2011 

Financial Management Improvement Project, National Department of 

Health, 2010. 

The connect between the different approaches to 

stakeholder management in the above projects and 

how stakeholder management impacted on the level 

of success achieved, demonstrates that stakeholder 

management is critical to successful project delivery 

and achievement of project outcomes. 

Nomvula Marawa 


page 47 


Robert N. Clifton 

Robert N. Clifton is a Senior Technical Advisor at the Technical Assistance Unit. He has a Masters 

Degree in Public Affairs, from the University of Texas. He has worked, respectively, as a Budget 

Advisor to the National Treasury in the United States Treasury Department, as a Performance 

Analyst for the Texas Legislative Budget Board and as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte. He believes 

that the TAU is the most creative and innovative provider of capacity-building support to the 

public sector! 

Matthew Cullinan 

Matthew Cullinan is a City and Regional Planner by profession, but has worked in a variety of fields, 

including communications and business development. As a Senior Technical Advisor working 

primarily within the Economic Development and International Relations Portfolio, his work with 

the TAU covers a range of areas associated with organisational, business and spatial development. 

His planning training, coupled with a belief in the holistic approach to developmental challenges, 

fits well with the TAU’s emphasis on using both technical and process solutions. Matthew enjoys 

the creative process of exploring and developing solutions, based on a thorough grounding in the 

contextual realities of the unique situations and projects on which he works. 

Maretha de Waal 

Maretha de Waal is a development consultant, specializing in simultaneous mainstreaming of 

cross-cutting issues in the protection of the rights of disadvantaged, marginalized and vulnerable 

groups in society. She has extensive experience in gender, disability and HIV&AIDS analysis and 

planning, programme monitoring and evaluation, strategic planning and capacity development. 

She has worked with governments, NGOs and women’s groups in various parts of the world. She is 

also a researcher, curriculum designer, trainer, and does University teaching. She holds a doctorate 

in Sociology. 

48 

page 


Tini Laubscher 

Tini Laubscher is a senior technical manager in the Audit Research and Development unit at the 

Auditor-General South Africa. She is responsible for research, development and guidance to public 

sector auditors in the fields of the audit of predetermined objectives and other specialised audits. 

She is professionally qualified as a chartered accountant and has 20 years of public sector audit 

experience mainly in the field of performance auditing and audit of predetermined objectives. 

Nomvula Marawa 

Nomvula Marawa obtained her MBA from Bond University in 2001, following on a Masters in Public 

Health and Epidemiology in 1997. She started her career as a general nurse and midwife in 1985, 

and, from 1994, she worked for the Centre for Health Policy as a Health Systems Researcher. From 

2000 to 2003, Nomvula took on the role of Director of Strategic Planning and Policy Co-ordination 

for the National Department of Health. In 2003, she joined the National Treasury and currently she 

is a Senior Technical Advisor in the Social Services Portfolio, focusing on the health sector. 

Kurt Morais 

Kurt Morais has a Masters Degree in International Relations from Wits University. He has worked 

for the South African Institute of International Affairs as a researcher and then as a Programme 

Manager at the Delegation of the European Commission to South Africa, managing a portfolio 

of projects. He was also the National Director of the Legislature Support Programme managing 

Parliament and the Provincial Legislatures’ development co-operation funding. 

In 2007 he was appointed as Director: International Economic Relations in National Treasury, where 

amongst other responsibilities, he managed South Africa’s domestic relations with the World 

Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). During this time he also represented South Africa 

as co-chair, with France, of the G8 Heiligendamm Development Group. He joined the Technical 

Assistance Unit (TAU) in the National Treasury in 2010, working as Senior Technical Advisor (STA) 

in the Economic Development and International Relations Portfolio up to March 2011, when he 

was seconded by National Treasury to work as an Advisor to the World Bank Executive Director, 

representing South Africa, Nigeria and Angola, in Washington, DC. He assumed his new position 

in May 2011. 

page 49 


John Saxby 

John Saxby is a consultant in International Development, based in Ottawa. A Senior Associate 

of ET Jackson and Associates Ltd., he works as an advisor to Government, International Agencies, 

Civil Society Organizations, Foundations and Universities on policy and programming related to 

capacity development and governance. Recent assignments include programme evaluations 

in Mozambique, Nigeria, Namibia and Brazil. His work experience includes twenty years with 

Canadian NGOs, four-plus years on secondment to a leading Canadian development partner as 

a programme analyst. He is also a researcher, writer and does University teaching. He has lived 

and worked in Southern Africa for thirteen years, most recently in South Africa between 2003 and 

2006. He holds a doctorate in Political Economy from the University of Toronto. 

Sophia (Fia) van Rensburg 

Sophia (Fia) van Rensburg is currently a Technical Assistant in the TAU Knowledge Management 

(KM) Directorate, and has extensive experience with the implementation of Development Cooperation 

projects in Southern Africa. She has experience in project and programme design, 

implementation and monitoring. Sophia also has experience in the training and human resources 

development sector. Gender Mainstreaming lies close to her heart, and she has led key initiatives 

to mainstream gender in the KM unit and the TAU. 


Charmaine Williamson is currently doing a Doctorate on the strategic decision- making processes 

of Official Development Assistance (ODA) within South Africa and with a view to South Africa’s 

potential ODA engagements on the Continent. She has worked intensively in the ODA field, with 

particular specialisation in the field of European Union and South African partnerships. Gender 

mainstreaming is a core principle of all ODA work and therefore she has been both a facilitator 

and practitioner around gender. She was the Director of the Conflict and Governance Facility 

and a Technical Advisor to the Presidency for the Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Making. 

Both of these partnership programmes of South Africa and the European Union specialised in 

policy-related conflict and governance research within the spheres of National, Provincial and 

Local Government in South Africa, within SADC and the Continent. She also has worked as a 

technical assistant to the Pan African Parliament, PALAMA and the National Treasury on Gender 

Mainstreaming, amongst other areas of development. 

50 

page 


TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE UNIT REVIEW 

NOTES 

page 51 


Technical Assistance Unit 

WEBSITE 

http://tau.treasury.gov.za 

EMAIL 

POSTAL ADDRESS 

TAUInfo@treasury.gov.za 

Private Bag X115, Pretoria, 0001, RSA 

PHYSICAL ADDRESS National Treasury, 24th Floor 240 Vermeulen Street Cnr Andries and Vermeulen Street Pretoria, RSA, 0002 

TELEPHONE +27 12 315 5431 FAX +27 12 315 5786

Review 3 final 2 - TAU - National Treasury

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