The Durban University of Technology’s (DUT’s) Faculty of Management Sciences hosted a webinar on Wednesday, 25 August 2021, on Microsoft Teams. Professor Nirmala Dorosamy from the Department of Public Management and Economics delivered a warm welcome speech.
“Welcome to our two guest speakers, Prof Gift Mugano from African Economic Development Strategies (AEDS) and Prof Michael Brookes from the University of Southern Denmark. It is hoped that through the focus on Africa and more especially drawing on our recent experiences through COVID-19, we will be able to broaden our experiences and knowledge sharing” she said.
Prof Mugano delivered his presentation titled: The imperative of good governance for sustainable African development.
“The African growth model which is characterised by heavy reliance on primary commodities and the extractive sector have been exposed by the pandemic. From a trade perspective, the trade structure of African economies is overly dependent on external demand and supply. Good governance refers to the rules, processes and institutions that are put in place to arrive at more stable and prosperous countries.
Developed framework for sound public governance to serve as a tool for governments to design and implement governance reforms, introduces key enablers. The framework also introduces success factors of good governance reforms and introduces the key elements that a national governance strategy is targeted or broad.
South Africa, in addition to its anti-corruption commitments outlined in its national development plan, is working on a broader anti-corruption strategy. The strategy aims to improve coordination between different stakeholders, reignite public debate, provide a robust conceptual framework, and increase accountability and respect for the rule of the law.
According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Policy for Sound Public Governance, any effort at establishing or improving good governance needs to be accompanied by a set of behavioural and policy changes that will promote and be in service to the core values of transparency, integrity, accountability and inclusion,” said Prof Mugano.
“It is unfortunate that in Africa, corrupt leaders are heroes, but if you look at China and Singapore, they find ways to deal with their corrupt leaders. Africa should take one or two lessons from these third world countries,” added Prof Omololu Fagbadebo. Prof Fagbadebo works at DUT’s Department of Public Management, Law and Economics.
“The political elite in charge, are not invested in significant change. There are no sort of campaigns or movements towards good governance. So, delivering good governance is a challenge. Community level development programmes can have a positive influence. When you have successful community level projects, it applies pressure upon certain institutions to evolve and move towards more effective governance scripture,” said Prof Brookes.
The webinar ended with a question and answer session.
Pictured: Professor Omololu
Nikiwe Sukazi
