Compliance with best practice governance systems by National Sports Federations of South Africa

[摘要] The introduction of the 2002 King Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa hasplaced new emphasis on companies to attain higher and more consistent standards ofgovernance. Based on widely recognised and supported governance frameworks it alsoinspired a rising expectation of accountability and transparency across every aspect ofsociety and also other types of organisations. Through the establishment of the guidelinesfound in the King II Report the doors have been opened to sport and its various bodies todraw from the experience of corporations and to make use of some of these guidelines inthe development of their own guidelines aimed at their own respective needs and purposes.The sports industry and especially its governing bodies need guidelines for propergovernance due to the raised level of interest and impact of sport lately. As a result of thecorporatisation of sport and increased professionalism, a greater need for proper businessmanagement and governance models within sport becomes apparent.The government has also placed renewed emphasis on the need for sport to become moreprofessional in the manner in which it governs itself. If the sports industry cannot achievethis by means of proactive voluntary action and self-regulation, it runs the risk of legislativeregulation, which threatens to undermine the sanctity of flexibility and self-regulation whichhas been central in the development of sport.This study presents a first attempt to determine the levels of non-adherence by national sports federations of South Africa to the principles of best practice governance, identifiedas the pillars of good governance. These principles are taken from the King II Report, andalso the guidelines developed during the first Governance-in-Sport conference. This, anational study in which all South African national sports federations were approached andasked to participate, carries the support of Sport and Recreation South Africa as well as theSouth African Sports Commission.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria