Managing South Africa’s non-governmental organizations in an interconnected world

Abstract

Pre-1994, many donors sympathetic to the struggle against racial segregation, did not strictly control the administration and expenditure of funds. Shifts in donor policies and difficulties in the NGO sector for example, corruption, lack of financial management, inadequate leadership capacity and poor governance – are but some factors which led to the demise of many South African NGOs. Unseasoned managers floundered in an environment where good governance became the buzzword beyond 1994. This paper aims to devise a governance appraisal framework for the South African NGO sector in order to improve management practices and to sustain NGOs in the long run. It provides a theoretical underpinning pertaining to an NGOs legal status, its leadership, its executive management structure, the composition of the board and the principles of good governance.