Professionalisation in Local Government
An independent perspective on service orientation
Peter Allwright
Director
Horizon Forensics
17 February 2014
Sometimes an official is just a product
of the system.
It’s important to understand how the system
creates the environment for officials to
succeed or fail.
Overcoming the system necessitates a new
framework for local government that is based on
professionalism …
Page  2
Overview
1
State of affairs
2
Primary obstacle: conduct and misconduct
3
Complicating challenges
4
Roadmap to service orientation
5
Managing misconduct
6
Questions
Page  3
State of affairs (2011-2012)
HorizonForensics
Page  4
94%
Non-compliance
with legislation
Unauthorised
expenditure
R9,78bn
Fruitless and
wasteful
expenditure
R568mn
Health Check
R9,82bn
Page  5
Irregular
expenditure
Source: Auditor-General of South Africa
Health check of key indicators
Effectiveness of key role players
100%
0%
5%
5%
80%
37%
31%
41%
70%
60%
50%
40%
42%
44%
41%
30%
20%
10%
19%
22%
Management and Leadership
Internal Independent Assurance &
Oversight
13%
0%
Provides assurance
Page  6
Provides some assurance
External Independent Assurance &
Oversight
Provides limited/no assurance
Not established
Source: Auditor-General of South Africa
90%
Stumbling blocks to improvement
100%
80%
35%
42%
49%
70%
60%
50%
40%
36%
34%
32%
30%
20%
10%
29%
24%
19%
0%
Leadership
Financial and performance management
Good
Page  7
Concerning
Intervention required
Governance
Source: Auditor-General of South Africa
90%
Key root causes not addressed
Consequences
Lack of consequences for poor
performance and transgressions
Root causes
Impacting performance
and introducing
new challenges
Page  8
Intervention
Slow response by political leadership
in addressing the root causes of
poor audit outcomes
73%
71%
76%
Source: Auditor-General of South Africa
Key positions
Key positions vacant or key officials
lacking appropriate competencies
Key areas requiring intervention
Financial health
Information technology controls
Quality of Financial Statements
Quality of performance reports
Supply chain management
Intervention
Page  9
Concerning
Source: Auditor-General of South Africa
Human resource management
Regression in audit outcomes
100%
80%
50%
48%
52%
45%
47%
43%
5%
5%
5%
2009-2010
2010-2011
2011-2012
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Unqualified with no findings
Page  10
Unqualified with findings
Qualified/adverse/disclaimed with findings
Source: Auditor-General of South Africa
90%
Primary obstacle: conduct and
misconduct
Page  11
Actions constituting inappropriate behaviour and conduct
 Conflict of interest
 Revealing confidential information
 Conducting business with the
municipality
 Racism
 Unethical conduct
 Flagrant disregard for safety standards
 Malicious damage to state property
 Misuse of state property for private
purposes
 Unauthorised possession of state
property
 Falsification of records/documents
 Not dressed in a clean, decent and
 Driving an official vehicle whilst under
tidy manner
the influence of drugs /liquor
 Repeated unauthorised and / or
 Disobeying work-related orders
uncommunicated absenteeism
 Intimidation
 Making false statements
 Incitement
 Abuse of sick leave
 Sexual harassment
 Sleeping on duty
Page  12
Actions constituting misconduct
 Unauthorised, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure
 Deliberate or negligent failure to carry out a duty
 Provide incorrect or misleading information
 Mismanagement
 Misappropriation
 Waste or theft
Page  13
(Wolfe, David T.,& Hermanson, Dana R., 2004, December)
Causes of misconduct
Page  14
Obligations to act upon misconduct
 Action that must be taken against an official who wilfully or negligently makes
or permits unauthorized, irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure
 Obligation to report financial misconduct in terms of the Municipal Finance
Management Act, Municipal Systems Act and supporting Treasury Regulations
 Serious reporting obligation stipulated in the Prevention and Combating of
Corrupt Activities Act which states that you need to report incidents of financial
misconduct (theft, fraud, extortion, forgery or uttering of a forged document)
involving amounts of R100,000 or more to the South African Police Service
Page  15
Sanctioning officials committing misconduct
Sanctioning: Disciplinary proceedings
 Must take effective and appropriate disciplinary steps against an official who
contravenes or fails to comply with the provisions of the legislative framework
and/or who undermines the financial management and internal control system
Sanctioning: Criminal proceedings
 An official is liable on conviction of an offence to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding five years or to an appropriate fine determined in terms of applicable
legislation
Page  16
It’s playground out there
 Misconduct is often not reported or acted upon
 Steps aren’t taken to deal with the problem
 There are almost no consequences
 Ramifications aren’t severe enough
 Situation has become rampant
 Officials continue with unlawful behaviour and illicit schemes
Page  17
Source: Real state of the nation, Allwright
 Simple reality is that it’s easy to get away with it
You need to have your wits about you
 Suspended for several months at exorbitant cost
 Employers often stumble and transgress their own procedures
 Complicating or terminating the sanctioning of officials
 Exacerbated by repeated postponements, delays and mystery illnesses
 Active lobbying of senior officials or politicians to intervene or resolve situation
 Intimidation and harassment of witnesses
 Abandonment of cases and sanctioning
Page  18
Source: Real state of the nation, Allwright
 Officials are generally content to remain at home on precautionary suspension
We are failing to overcome the situation
Junior Ranking
Officials
Guilty
Final Written
Warning
No Criminal
Action/Not
Indicated
Non-Recovery
of Financial Loss
90%
Source: Real state of the nation, Allwright
100%
No reliable statistics of the situation
80%
70%
Comparable analysis with other public institutions
60%
50%
Same issues are repeating themselves year to year
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
44%
Page  19
77%
25%
68%
34%
Complicating challenges
Page  20
Corruption Perception Index (2013)
Scored 42/100. Ranked 72/177.
Moderately corrupt.
OECD Anti-Bribery Convention (2011)
Scored “No Enforcement”.
Perceptions
Surveyed from ordinary
citizens on their
interaction with
public officials
Page  21
Global Corruption Barometer (2013)
62 % of people that think corruption
has increased in the past 3 years.
Scored 3.5 on the perception of
corruption in 6 public institutions
(5 = extremely corrupt)
Source: Transparency International, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Perception: officials are moderately corrupt!
Reality: factors hampering your developmental mandate
 Political intervention and interference
 Scarce/diminishing/insufficient resources and capacity
 Irregular/inappropriate appointments
 High turnover and vacancy rates
 Competing priorities
 Ineffective performance management systems
 Dysfunctional management systems and processes
 Mismatched skills
 Ineffective oversight and control
 Disjointed strategies and plans
Page  22
Source: Real state of the nation, Allwright
 Ineffective leadership and management
Substantial progress has been made in
overcoming some of the key obstacles hampering
your developmental mandate.
Overcoming the challenges necessitates the
professionalisation of local government to
successfully operate in a complex environment …
The Professionalisation Framework is based upon
ethics, conduct and behaviour.
Page  23
Roadmap to service orientation
Page  24
Service orientation
Page  25
Context
 Recommended administrative transformation and professionalisation
 Extensive consultation and research culminated in a concept paper
 Widespread consultation with key stakeholders
 SALGA and COGTA collaborated to formulate a framework
 Developed a Professionalisation Framework for Local Government
Page  26
Source: South African Local Government Association
 Local government turnaround strategy was adopted by Cabinet in 2009
Guiding principles
 To promote a high level of professional competence, experience, behaviour
and ethics on the part of local government officials, both appointed and elected,
especially those at the senior level
 To promote uniformity, standardisation and harmony
 To align existing constitutional, legislative and regulatory mandates and
requirements, and in particular to the broader initiatives and provisions for local
government capacity building contained in the Revised National Capacity
Building Framework for Local Government (2012 to 2016)
 To promote equity
 To contribute to improved individual and institutional performance
Page  27
Source: South African Local Government Association
 To strengthen the local government system
Roadmap to service orientation
Constitutional
Ideals
Service Charter
Commitment
Professionalism
Morals
Code of Conduct
Batho Pele
Principles
Values
Ethical Principals
and Values
Page  28
Right and Wrong
Characteristics
and Traits
Ethical and moral workplace
Governance structures
Ethical risk assessment
5
4
1
Values
Monitor and report
Institutionalisation
Conscious programmes
Ethics strategy
Ethics
Management
Code and policies
Awareness programmes
Independent assessment & external reporting
Page  29
2
3
© Ethics Institute of South Africa 2013
Leadership commitment
Managing misconduct
Page  30
Foundational principles
 Strict enforcement of the legislative framework
 Strengthening risk management practices and procedures
 Appoint independent experts to investigate serious misconduct
 Improve the investigative capacity of local government
 Consistent management of disciplinary hearings and sanctions
 Institute disciplinary, criminal and civil proceedings against guilty officials
 Blacklist guilty officials within the public service
 Active recovery of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless or wasteful expenditure
 Improve monitoring and reporting mechanisms
Page  31
Source: Real state of the nation, Allwright
 Commitment of leadership to combat misconduct
Tone at the top
Training
Review misconduct risks
Senior management must send
out a strong message that
misconduct will not be tolerated
There should be regular and
consistent training to maintain
standards/expectations
Conduct regular reviews of
misconduct risks to ensure that
the organisation keeps abreast of
emerging trends/risks
Highlight blowing the whistle
Clear policies / procedures
Blowing the whistle
Strong enforcement
Policies and procedures should
be formulated and written in
clear and concise language with
possible sanctions for violations
Promote and encourage blowing
the whistle because it’s the key
source of misconduct
Maintain strong enforcement of
transgressions to maintain a
consistent intolerance of
misconduct
Misconduct risk champion
Anti-misconduct controls
Investigate isolated events
Nominate a dedicated
misconduct risk champion so that
there is a dedicated role and
responsibility
Implement robust antimisconduct controls and test
regularly to maintain high
standards
Investigate isolated events
because employees usually start
small and grow their acts of
misconduct
Page  32
Source: Real state of the nation, Allwright
Managing and overcoming misconduct
Thank you for
your attention!
Any Questions?
Page  33
Page  34
Framework components
Page  35
Constitutional ideals
 Promoting and maintaining high standards of professional ethics
 Utilising resources efficiently and effectively
 Responding to people's needs
 Citizens are encouraged to participate in policy-making
 Rendering an accountable, transparent, and development-oriented public
administration
Page  36
Source: South African Constitution
 Providing service impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias
Page  37
Consultation
Setting Service Standards
Increasing Access
Ensuring Courtesy
Providing Information
Openness and Transparency
Redress
Value for Money
Source: South African Political Initiative
Batho Pele Principles
 Improve service delivery programmes
 Improve service delivery improvement for the benefit of all citizens
 Clarify the rights and obligations of each of the parties
 Acknowledge and reward excellent performance
 Professionalise and encourage excellence in the public service
 Enhance performance
 Facilitate a process to define service standards in various sectors
 Strengthen processes and initiatives that prevent and combat corruption
 Facilitate social dialogue among the partners
 Treat citizens with dignity and expectations
 Meeting their demands equitably and fairly
 Ensure an effective, efficient and responsive public service
Page  38
Source: Department of Public Service and Administration
Commitment to the Service Charter
Selflessness
Stewardship
Integrity
Impartiality and Fairness
Objectivity
Honesty
Confidentiality
Accountability and Openness
Political Neutrality
Respect for Others
Constitutional and Legal Duty
Leadership
Page  39
Source: South African Local Government Association
Ethical principles and values
Professionalism versus unprofessionalism
Professionalism
Unprofessionalism
An expectation of a specific style of
behaviour and conduct in the
workplace
Not conforming to the standards of a
profession; contrary to the accepted
code of conduct of a profession
Page  40
Values
The beliefs or ideals held and shared about what is good or bad and desirable or
undesirable. Values have a major influence on a person’s behaviour and attitude
and serve as a guideline for all situations.
Page  41
Morals
Relating to, dealing with, or capable of making the distinction between right or
wrong conduct.
– Principles
– Standards
– Beliefs with respect to right or wrong behaviour
Page  42
Right and Wrong
Right
Wrong
 In accordance with fact, reason,
justice, law, and morality
 Contrary to fact or reason, unlawful,
crooked, twisted, immoral, improper
Page  43
Code of conduct
 A set of conventional principles and expectations that are considered binding on
any person who is a member of a collective group.
 The code of conduct will be based on the Municipal Systems Act.
Page  44
Personal characteristics and traits
 Honest
 Skilled
 Courteous
 Reliable
 Considerate
 Dependable
 Cooperative
 Committed
Page  45