The Multifaceted Governance and Procurement Legislative Environment: Implications for State-owned Enterprises in South Africa

Description

Page: 334-339

S. Manyathi and D. B. Jarbandhan (School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, University of Johannesburg, South Africa)

In South Africa, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been consistently underperforming due to deteriorating infrastructure, frequent leadership turnover, corruption, excessive spending, and financial mismanagement, which continue to afflict these corporations. The existence of several regulations and the absence of unified legislation for SOEs in South Africa have significantly hampered their ability to maintain good governance and carry out procurement processes effectively. Hence, it is crucial to analyse the consequences of the fragmentation of the legal framework for governance and procurement procedures. This study aims to investigate employees’ perspectives on the fragmentation of the legislative framework governing governance and procurement processes in South African SOEs. We conducted semi-structured interviews with professionals from the governance and procurement business divisions of Eskom and ACSA using virtual platforms. The purpose was to collect detailed data on their perspectives regarding the fragmentation of the regulatory framework in governance and procurement processes. We used thematic analysis to detect patterns and gain a rich understanding of the data. The primary objective of this study is to generate empirical data in the field of governance and procurement processes in SOEs. This study’s findings aim to assist SOE executives in improving operational efficiency.