Balancing Probity and Performance: reflecting on regulation in 20 years of democratic local governance in South Africa

One area which has received comparatively little academic and policy attention is the need to balance probity, compliance and the stewardship of public funds and assets in municipalities, on the one hand, with the equally urgent imperative to improve performance of local government in fulfilling its developmental mandate, on the other. The knee-jerk reaction to the rising tide of maladministration and corruption has prompted increased regulation in areas such as supply chain management, asset management, financial misconduct disciplinary proceedings etc. This has been compounded by the need for fiscal consolidation (e.g., cost containment regulations), National Treasury’s ongoing municipal financial management reform programme, the exigencies of the coronavirus pandemic and a slew of court cases which have resulted in legislative and regulatory uncertainty and change.

This increase in regulation and increased scope of audits has not stemmed the tide of largely political corruption. But they have imposed significant costs on well-performing municipalities which are struggling with the deluge of regulation which has the unfortunate side-effect of hampering service delivery. While each piece of regulation may have a sound rationale individually, cumulatively they coalesce into a formidable barrier for those local government managers who practise clean governance, are compliance driven and genuinely want to deliver within the limited budgets at their disposal. Right now, South Africa has the worst of all worlds: a high regulatory burden which does little to curb fraud and corruption but does inhibit agile service delivery. The aim of this research study is not to do away with controls and safeguards, but to explore effective ways to streamline them to enhance delivery effectiveness. The following research questions are the focus of this study:

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