Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective

Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2017.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: De Jager, Herman
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2018
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613443898474496
access_status_str Open Access
author2 De Jager, Herman
author_browse De Jager, Herman
author_facet De Jager, Herman
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2018 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/65857
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:14.350Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2018
publishDateRange 2018
publishDateSort 2018
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/65857 Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective De Jager, Herman mrsepuru@gmail.com Sepuru, Mmabatho Rebecca UCTD Internal auditors Service delivery Service delivery protests Internal audit in local government Municipal governance Public sector accountability Service delivery performance Economic and management sciences theses SDG-16 Economic and management sciences theses SDG-11 Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2017. Of late, when engaging with any form of media in South Africa, one is guaranteed to come across a story relating to service delivery protests in at least one, if not many parts of the country. Citizens throughout the country have resorted to protesting as a way of voicing their dissatisfaction and anger at the lack of service delivery by local government. Local government is the sphere geographically situated nearest to the communities it serves, consisting of municipalities. During the protests communities mainly complain about the lack of basic services such as water, electricity, housing delivery, unemployment and sanitation. Various studies relating to service delivery have focused on the causes of the protests, analysed reams of statistics and have even suggested various “solutions” to these country-wide problems. Some authors see the protests as evidence of deficient or absent internal controls and governance principles, or a lack of will to apply those controls that are in place. These protests are occurring despite the South African Government having brought into effect legislation such as the Municipal Finance Management Act (56/2003), to strengthen the governance landscape of local government. A key component of this legislation is that it prescribes the mandatory employment of internal auditors and performance/audit committees to reinforce the governance system. Various studies have investigated either the lack of service delivery or the functioning of internal audit in the public sector. However, none of the researchers appears to have comprehensively studied whether internal auditors can assist management in local government to achieve their service delivery targets and thereby minimise the occurrence of service delivery protests. The objective of this study therefore, is to determine whether the performance of internal auditors' roles and responsibilities can reduce or minimise service delivery protests in municipalities. In order to achieve this, the study will amongst other aspects of the objective, identify the roles internal auditors are expected to fulfil in local government, as recorded in various statutes prescribed and the International Professional Practices Framework (Institute of Internal Auditors, (2016) (the “Standards”). The study will further determine the extent to which these roles are being performed; as well as to identify obstacles (if any) encountered by internal auditors when carrying out their roles. Most importantly the study will also determine whether internal audit can assist management to address challenges which often leads to inadequate service delivery. Through a review of the published literature the study determines the statutory and prescribed roles and responsibilities of the internal audit units in local government as presented by the Institute of Internal Auditors’ “Standards” and various items of South African legislation and regulations. The literature review also investigates the contribution made by a lack of controls to management’s failure to achieve their service delivery objectives. A sample of ten municipalities was selected for the study, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with key personnel at each municipality’s internal audit unit. Data collected during these interviews was analysed and findings were noted. It emerged from the study that internal audit does have a role to play in assisting management to achieve their objective of providing services to their respective communities; and that they are already playing this role. cb2026 Auditing MCom Unrestricted SDG-16: Peace, justice and strong institutions SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communities 2018-07-25T06:53:35Z 2018-07-25T06:53:35Z 2018/04/26 2017 Dissertation Sepuru, MR 2017, Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective, MCom Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/65857> A2018 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/65857 en © 2018 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Internal auditors
Service delivery
Service delivery protests
Internal audit in local government
Municipal governance
Public sector accountability
Service delivery performance
Economic and management sciences theses SDG-16
Economic and management sciences theses SDG-11
Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective
title Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective
title_full Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective
title_fullStr Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective
title_full_unstemmed Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective
title_short Internal Auditors and Service Delivery in South African Local Government : a Limpopo Province Perspective
title_sort internal auditors and service delivery in south african local government a limpopo province perspective
topic UCTD
Internal auditors
Service delivery
Service delivery protests
Internal audit in local government
Municipal governance
Public sector accountability
Service delivery performance
Economic and management sciences theses SDG-16
Economic and management sciences theses SDG-11
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/65857