Public Management and Governance

This document discusses the concept of Trias Politica, the structure of the South African government, and the roles of different levels of government in South Africa.

Running head: PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
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1PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
1) The Trias Politica is identified as division of powers which implies that of one of the
important three branches of government is in charge for the sanction of set of laws, the
body must not be in charge with their position or with juridical decision making regarding
them (Balázs 2016).
The Trias Politica has its origin in the 1996 Constitution. However, it is under
these grounds that all officials of government along with public institutions are at certain
degree charged of some kind of a higher right. For example, the parliament comprises a
legally unchallengeable authority to create any kind of laws suitable for the nation in
alignment to powers granted by the law while the courts construe the laws and perceive
that they have been paid importance (Rogerson 2014).
2) South Africa has been recognized as a constitutional democracy since 1994. On
April, 1994, South Africa witnessed its first non-racial democratic election during the
peak of intensive multi-party democracy to agree on an interim Constitution. Under
apartheid, Parliament used to be sovereign, while, in recent times, a system of
constitutional supremacy takes into place (Parliament.Gov.Za 2019). Such an
application has implied that the South African Constitution is the ultimate authority in the
land, whereby no other law or government action can overpower its provisions. Reports
of authors have revealed that as the supreme law of the nation, the Constitution aligns
to the state namely at all levels of the government namely legislative, executive as well
as judicial.
South African government is further divided into three levels. The national,
provincial in addition to local levels of government possess governmental as well as
executive authority in their individual areas and are further classified in the Constitution
as "distinctive, interdependent as well as interrelated".
The Legislative authority has been assigned in Parliament which has been
positioned in Cape Town. The National Assembly has been elected in order to
represent the citizens and further to guarantee democratic governance (Balázs 2016). It
functions its role by electing the President and efficiently offering a public forum for the
public deliberation of problems by passing legislation and investigating executive action.

2PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE
Furthermore, participating in the legislative process is recognized as the National
Council of Provinces, which is a unit formed in order to achieve cooperative governance
as well as participatory democracy.
3) The Cabinet or Executive Committee of the South African government primarily
coordinate the formulation of policies and laws and further supervise successful
implementation by the government units. At the national level of executive authority of
the South African Government, the President is elected by Parliament and further
employs a Cabinet of Ministers who performs as the executive committee of
government and each executives of the Ministry level is recognized as the political chief
of a government section (Bilchitz 2018). On the other hand, at the provincial level, the
premier has been elected by the Legislature and employs associates of the Executive
Council (MECs) to be the supporting chiefs of each provincial section. At this stage, the
members of the Executive Council along with the head of state form the Provincial
Executive Council (Cabinet).
At the local level of executive authority, the whole of South Africa has been
separated into local municipalities. According to Cabot-Alletzhauser (2019), the role of
the Council is efficiently harmonized by a Mayor who has been selected by the Council.
Furthermore, the Mayor is primarily supported by councillors in an Executive Committee
primarily chosen by council or a Mayoral Committee primarily elected by the mayor.
However, the Mayor in amalgamation with the Executive or Mayoral Committee has the
role of supervising the activities of the Municipal Manager as well as department chiefs.
However, in few very small municipalities, the cabinet of the South African government
forms the administrative which is known as the Plenary Executive (Parliament.Gov.Za
2019).
4) The National Assembly chiefly selects the Speaker, the main office bearer of the
Assembly. As the role of the Speaker is viewed to be correspondent in the position to a
Cabinet Minister, the candidate requires performing in an unbiased manner and
protecting all rights of all parties. Furthermore, the primary responsibility of the members
of Executive Council is to establish the administrative competence of the provinces.
Shah (2017) has noted that if a province shows incompetence in executing its

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performance appropriately, national government of South Africa is to acquire
accountabilities of the province in order to uphold well established service principles
economic agreement or national security or further to stop a province from performing in
ways which might negatively impact the interests of another province or the nation.
5) Each municipality at the local sphere of South African government has a council
which has the role to pass finances for its municipality each year. Additionally, they
must further come to a decision on growth plans as well as service liberation for their
municipal area. At the local level, the role of the municipality is performed by the
municipal supervision that is supervised by the Municipal Manager in addition to other
bureaucrats. The member at this stage is charged for electing for employing employees
and organizing them to apply all programmes permitted by council (Katuu 2015).
At the provincial level, the South Government has to expand a Provincial Growth
and Development Strategy (PGDS) that mentions the generalized structure and plan
for efficiently increasing the economy and enhancing its services. Furthermore, the local
MEC and Department of Local Government have the role to co-ordinate; supervise as
well as sustaining municipalities in each province.
The election of level of government is dependent on the capacity of prohibiting
unfair discrimination and preserves members of the executive liable, collectively as well
as individually. For example, the executive of government functions at an integrated
approach to the public and further involves specific service delivery to citizens in such a
manner that each province performs on actions in order to attain the demands and
needs of people which can be most efficiently applied through proper administration
(Cabot-Alletzhauser 2019).

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References
Balázs, Z., 2016. The Principle of the Separation of Powers: A Defense. Lexington
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Bilchitz, D. (2018). The Evolution of the Separation of Powers: Between the Global
North and the Global South. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp.200-288.
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Cabot-Alletzhauser, A. (2019). Why South Africa needs well-being corporations | IOL
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Katuu, S., 2015. Managing records in South Africa’s public sector–a review of
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Rogerson, C.M., 2014. Reframing place-based economic development in South Africa:
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Shah, A., 2017. Fostering fiscally responsive and accountable governance: Lessons
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