An exploration of common governance structures in South Africa's national government departments

The paper aims at proposing uniform internal corporate governance structures in the South African national government departments. It is noted that the most common governance structure that is prominent across all national government departments is the audit committee. Besides the audit committee structure, national government departments constitute differing structures. The study acknowledges that national government departments have different mandates. Even though these departments have different mandates, it is pointed out that the idea of commonality in government is not new. For instance, it is pointed out that all national government departments are using a similar template for annual reporting. Therefore, it is recommended that national government departments adopt similar governance structures. A five-layered structure is proposed consisting of parliamentary process structure, executive office (ministers and the deputy ministers) as well as the accounting officer, independent internal oversight body, internal oversight body and the departmental governance functions. The main emphasis is placed on the four (4) layers namely; executive office (ministers and the deputy ministers) as well as the accounting officer, independent internal oversight body, internal oversight body and the departmental governance functions as they are the ones charged with executing the mandate of the department concerned. There could be benefits in aligning the governance structures and these benefits could include promoting collaborations within departments, promoting the culture of learning from each other and aiding National Treasury with a uniform process that permits comparisons, which in turn has a potential of aiding with the process of identification of governance areas (or departments) that requires more attention, thus ensuring effective monitoring and assessment of governance activities.