Group Governance
Overview
The Group Governance Department exists to ensure that every decision, every process, and every service delivered by the City and its entities is rooted in good governance, integrity, transparency, accountability, and excellence. We provide the frameworks, oversight, and professional support that enable political leadership, administration, and municipal entities to perform at their best, while upholding public trust.
We strengthen governance by:
- Overseeing performance and reporting across all municipal entities
- Supporting executive and advisory committees with world-class secretariat services
- Providing seamless corporate governance support to municipal entities
- Setting and monitoring clear service delivery standards so residents receive consistent, high-quality services
- Promoting ethics and integrity as non-negotiable standards across the entire organisation
- Developing the next generation of finance and governance professionals through our SAICA-accredited Academy for Chartered Accountants
Our duty is to champion good governance, safeguard clean administration, promote responsible leadership, and ensure the City of Johannesburg delivers on its promise of world-class services to every resident.
Group Head: Mlandu Kona
(011) 080-9228
To be the premier catalyst for accountable, ethical, transparent, and governance that empowers the City of Johannesburg to deliver world-class services to its residents.
To strengthen the City’s governance ecosystem by providing integrated committee support, promoting ethical leadership, monitoring service delivery standards, enhancing shareholder oversight and reporting, developing professional competencies, and delivering effective administrative coordination aligned to legislative and strategic mandates.
- Integrity
- Accountability
- Excellence
- Professionalism
- Transparency
- Respect
- Innovation
- Collaboration
Group Committee Support Unit
The Group Committee Support Unit exists to ensure the efficient, compliant, and coordinated functioning of the City of Johannesburg’s executive governance structures. Its mandate is grounded in key legislative and policy frameworks, which collectively outline requirements for accountability, reporting, transparency, and decision-making processes within municipalities.
As the administrative engine supporting the Executive Mayor, City Manager, Mayoral Committee, and Group Advisory Committees, the Unit ensures that governance processes are executed in line with legal prescripts.
CORE MANDATE
- Provide corporate secretariat services to Committees of the Executive Mayor, City Manager, and Group Advisory Committees, in accordance with MFMA and MSA.
- Plan, coordinate, GAC programmes and activities.
- Coordinate and oversee the appointment of GAC members, including adherence to legal and procedural requirements.
- Coordinate and facilitate induction programmes for newly appointed MMCs and GAC members, ensuring alignment with legislative responsibilities and governance processes.
- Monitor, track, and report on the implementation of Mayoral Committee and GAC committee resolutions, ensuring accountability and good governance principles.
- Develop, review, and maintain Terms of Reference (ToRs) for all committees, ensuring consistency and accountability with relevant policies and prescripts.
- Facilitate the establishment and reconfiguration of committees, ensuring legal and procedural compliance.
- Manage committee systems and administrative capacity, ensuring functional operations that meet statutory timelines and reporting obligations.
- Ensure, secure, compliant management of committee documents, including confidential records, agendas, minutes, and resolutions as required by the MSA and Records Management Policy.
- Quality-assure reports submitted to committees, ensuring completeness, policy alignment, and internal standards before deliberation.
The Group Committee Support Unit is an enabler of good governance, ensuring that all executive and advisory committees operate within the legal framework.
Its work ensures that political and administrative leadership can take informed decisions, supported by accurate information, credible records, and processes that meet the highest standards of accountability and transparency.
Academy For Charted Accountants Training Programme
Empowering Future Finance Leaders for the Public Sector
The City of Johannesburg is proud to host the Academy for Chartered Accountants, a premier initiative within Group Governance Department. Accredited by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) as an official Training Office, this programme is designed to develop finance professionals who will shape the future of ethical governance and financial excellence in the public sector.
Our Mission
To increase the number of qualified Chartered Accountants in the public sector and create a pipeline of skilled finance professionals who drive transparency and good governance.
CORE MANDATE
- SAICA Accreditation: Trainee Accountants gain hands-on experience under a recognized training office.
- Comprehensive Development: The City’s Training Office provides a structured platform for aspiring Chartered Accountants to complete their professional qualification journey.
- Public Sector Focus: Prepare for leadership roles in government and municipal finance, where candidates expertise will make a real impact.
- Advisory Support: The academy also serves as a knowledge hub for employees pursuing other finance professional qualifications such as CIMA, ACCA, AGA(SA), and CA(SA).
- Professionalism: The Training Office emphasize integrity and accountability, ensuring graduates uphold the highest standards of professional conduct.
Management Support Services Unit
The role of this unit is to ensure the provision of strategic, administrative support and transversal business solutions to enable the Department, Group Head and its delivery units to effectively and efficiently deliver on their mandate.
CORE MANDATE
- Administration
- Business Planning and Budgeting
- Risk Management
- Co-ordination of Individual Performance Management
- KPI Development and Target Setting
- SHEQ (Safety, Health & Quality Compliance)
- Logistics and Asset Management
- Supply Chain Management
- Human Resources Management & Administration
- Office Management
Through these integrated support services, the Unit ensures that the Department functions smoothly, resources are well-managed, and staff are empowered to perform at their best. This strengthens the Department’s ability to deliver on its mandate and contribute to a well-governed, efficient, and service-oriented City of Johannesburg.
Ethics And Integrity Management Unit
The Ethics and Integrity Management Unit is leading the City’s efforts to build an ethical culture across all departments and municipal entities. It is entrusted with upholding the municipality’s commitment to clean administration, accountable leadership, and public trust. The Unit is leading the institutionalisation of ethical conduct, ensuring that integrity becomes a non-negotiable standard across all departments and municipal entities.
CORE MANDATE
- Design, implement and monitor a City-Wide ethics strategy.
- Integrate ethics risks into the City`s ethics strategy to pre-empt misconduct.
- Provide a digital, secure, confidential whistle-blowing mechanisms
- Manage the City’s ethics information system for case capturing, analysis, early warning alerts and trend identification.
- Oversee ethics case management from initial assessment to referral, monitoring and consequence tracking.
- Champion ethical leadership and nurture an organisational culture anchored in integrity.
- Conduct routine ethics audits and ensure follow-up actions across departments and entities.
- Implement robust ethics training and awareness initiatives
- Advise on ethics-sensitive policy development and integrate ethical considerations into operational processes.
- Ensure the City remains aligned with all applicable regulatory, legislative and professional ethical standards.
In fulfilling this mandate, the Ethics and Integrity Management Unit acts as the City’s guardian of ethical governance ensuring that integrity is not merely encouraged, but integrated in everyday conduct and decision-making. Through proactive systems, transparent reporting mechanisms, and strong ethical leadership, the Unit aims to strengthen public confidence and to support a City administration that is trustworthy, accountable, and driven by the highest standards of professional conduct.
Service Level Standards Unit
Service Level Standards Unit is responsible for coordinating, oversight and monitoring of performance data of CoJ departments and municipal-owned entities. Its role is central to ensuring accountability, consistent service quality, and alignment with the municipality’s strategic objectives, including the IDP, SDBIP, and the city strategic priorities.
CORE MANDATE
- Develop and Maintain the Service Level Standards Charter
- Service level standards quarterly reporting
- Monitor and Measure departmental and municipal entity performance against service Standards
- Conduct service delivery benchmarks, turnaround times and service delivery quality
- Ensure consistent service delivery across the entire City
The Unit prepares reports to assess compliance and to measure the City’s progress on service level standards. This ensures that both municipal entities and core departments operate under uniform service delivery standards.
Governance And Reporting Unit
The Governance and Reporting Unit is responsible for strengthening oversight, accountability, and shareholder representation across the City by coordinating, evaluating, and enhancing governance and performance reporting for all municipal entities. Acting as the City’s shareholder representative, the Unit ensures that the interests of the City are effectively represented at the boards of municipal entities, while driving legislative compliance, governance best practices, and alignment with the broader municipal performance management framework.
CORE MANDATE
Shareholder Protection – Good Governance and Active and Engaged Citizenry (Priority 5 and 8)
- Safeguard shareholder interests in Municipal Entities,
- Represent the City on ME governing bodies,
- Advise on strategic alignment.
Governance Excellence – Good Governance (Priority 5)
- Establish uniform governance and compliance standards,
- Provide quality reporting for informed leadership decisions,
- Promote integrated reporting frameworks.
Performance & Oversight – Sustainable Service Delivery and Financial Sustainability (Priority 3 and 1)
- Execute quarterly and annual performance assessments,
- Monitor City-wide service level standards,
- Implement early warning systems for governance issues.
In fulfilling these responsibilities, the Governance and Reporting Unit reinforces the City’s commitment to transparent, accountable, and effective municipal governance. Through strengthened oversight, improved reporting quality, and consistent shareholder representation, the Unit ensures that Municipal Entities operate in alignment with the City’s strategic priorities and deliver sustainable value to residents.
Shareholder Services Unit
The Shareholder Services Unit is the City’s shareholder representative and the central link between the City and its municipal-owned entities. It exists to protect and grow the City’s investment, appoint strong and capable boards, oversee accountability, and ensure every entity delivers reliable, high-quality services to the residents of Johannesburg.
CORE MANDATE
- Acts as the City`s nexus in maximising long-term shareholder value and optimal service delivery outcomes in municipal entities.
- Conduct strategic governance and policy research, benchmarking, and thought-leadership initiatives to empower entities and strengthen shareholder oversight.
- Coordinate and oversee the recruitment, vetting, and appointment of Board Directors and Independent Audit Committee members in accordance with legislative requirements and the City’s governance framework.
- Convene, prepare for, and manage Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and other shareholder meetings for all municipal entities.
- Coordinate annual board and NED performance assessments, including independent external evaluations, and drive remedial actions where required.
- Monitor and manage compliance with Shareholder Agreements (SDAs), Shareholder Compacts, and related performance obligations.
- Act as custodian of the City’s Shareholder Policy Framework, ensuring its continuous review, updating, and uniform application across the MOE portfolio.
- Provide direct capacity-building and operational support to Company Secretaries across all municipal entities, including training, tools, templates, and quality assurance.
- Coordinate fiduciary duties and Prescribed Officer responsibilities across the Group, including training, declarations, and adherence to statutory and ethical standards.
- Deliver strategic and operational support to MOE Boards, including induction and onboarding programmes, governance training, and institutional memory preservation.
- Provide specialised portfolio management services, including investment oversight, performance monitoring, risk profiling, and value-enhancement strategies.
Through proactive oversight, expert board stewardship, relentless policy leadership, and resolute focus on value creation, the Shareholder Services Unit ensures that the City’s municipal entities remain financially sustainable, governance-excellent, and fully aligned with the vision of a world-class African city that truly works for all its people.
Institutionalising ethical governance
The City’s Group Governance: Ethics Office is mandated to transcend mere compliance, establishing an ethical architecture that underpins administrative credibility and operational efficiency. The Office functions as the custodian of the CoJ Code of Ethics and the primary driver of a structured eight-element ethics programme, ensuring public resources are protected and employee conduct aligns with the highest standards of integrity.
It has been strategically mandated by the City Manager to ensure the Administration possesses effective policies, structures, and programmes necessary to institutionalise and monitor ethics across all spheres. The establishment and continuous operationalisation of the Group Governance: Ethics Office is not simply a matter of best practice; it is a constitutional imperative. The mandate of the office is directly derived from the fundamental principles governing public administration in the Republic.
The constitutional and legislative foundation
Section 195[1] of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, explicitly dictates that public administration must be governed by democratic values and principles, including:
- “A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained.”
- “Public administration must be accountable.”
- “Transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information.”
The Local Government: Municipal Systems Act [MSA], No. 32 of 2000, read with the Municipal Finance Management Act [MFMA], No. 56 of 2003, provides the necessary framework for the Code of Conduct for all municipal employees. The Ethics Office is charged with overseeing ethical behaviour in accordance with this Code, ensuring the City’s administrative body adheres strictly to its legal and fiduciary duties.
The mandate: Custodianship and institutionalisation
To translate constitutional principles into actionable administrative conduct, the Ethics Office manages a sophisticated, integrated ethics programme driven by eight core components:
- Developing, implementing, and leading a cost-effective, integrated ethics strategy that aligns with the City’s broader strategic objectives.
- Systematically identifying ethical risks and opportunities, and proactively mitigating the City’s ethics risk exposure.
- Developing and implementing appropriate codes, policies, procedures, and internal controls to enforce ethical standards.
- Leading initiatives to institutionalise and shape a strong ethical culture, ethical approaches, and best practices throughout the City.
- Facilitating and supporting appropriate and effective governance structures and mechanisms for ethics oversight.
- Applying appropriate enabling technologies that ensure ethics management effectiveness and administrative efficiency.
- Continuously monitoring the ethics culture and climate and providing timely, accurate reports on programme performance to executive leadership.
- Driving ethical literacy, which includes external digital initiatives such as JoziEthicast, the transmedia platform for public discourse on integrity.
The success and longevity of any ethics programme is fundamentally contingent upon the ‘tone at the top’, a visible, unwavering demonstration of leadership’s belief in and commitment to an ethical organisation.
Under the leadership of Dr Ernest Mutenda, Acting Ethics Officer, the City is anchoring its integrity efforts in systems thinking and continuous improvement. Dr Mutenda’s expertise, which includes a PhD focused on sustainable public procurement, ensures that the ethical strategy is not merely theoretical but integrated into the core operational DNA of the City Administration.
By overseeing, directing, and monitoring ethics best practices, the Group Governance: Ethics Office is not just reacting to governance challenges but is proactively shaping the ethical landscape, positioning the City of Johannesburg as a premier example of developmental local government grounded in integrity.