Author(s): France Khutso Lavhelani Kgobe, John Mamokhere
The central purpose of this article is to interrogate the effectiveness of public accountability mechanism in South Africa. The public accountability measures or mechanisms intend to hold the ruling government and public officials accountable for their actions. However, South Africa is perceived to be a country that is characterized by a lack of good governance which tampers with the rendering of public services. Since the dawn of democracy, many unethical public officials and office-bearers are left without justice taking place. There is a lack of impartiality and independence of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the recommendatory function played by the Public Service Commission (PSC) which its recommendations are not binding nor enforceable. For instance, in the 21st century and COVID-19 pandemic, we as the public have witnessed several accountability efforts from public officials and political office-bearers like from the Minister of Health, while at the same time, we witnessed the refusal to account and undermining of the constitution by the former president of South Africa, Mr Jacob Zuma. This has been contemporary debates by scholars, practitioners, legal experts and civil society organizations to question if good governance will ever be realized in South Africa or is just a taboo. The article is underpinned by the stewardship theory initiated by Donaldson & Davis (1991 & 1993). The theoretical argument is based on the implementation of good corporate governance practices in many instances. Thus, to realize the aim of this article, the author(s) benefited from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of secondary data covering good governance and public accountability mechanisms. The article reveals that the current public accountability mechanisms which aim to realize good governance are not efficient and effective enough. The article recommends that all legislative frameworks concerning public accountability should be revised. Further recommends that the recommendations of the public service commission should be binding and enforceable.