Legal and Governance

LEGAL AND GOVERNANCE

Provide legal services and corporate governance systems, and facilitate the implementation of all legal aspects of transactions that are strategically important to the department, and state owned companies, and ensure alignment with government’s strategic intent by, amongst others, monitoring the state owned companies’ indicators.

SUB PROGRAMMES
  • Management comprises the office of the Deputy Director-General, which provides strategic leadership and management of the programme personnel.

 

  • Legal provides internal legal services and support to state owned companies. The unit provides legal services, including transaction and contract management support to the department, and work specifically related to the commercial activities of the sector teams in respect of state owned companies within their oversight.

 

  • Governance develops and manages effective corporate governance and shareholder management systems for the department and its portfolio of state owned companies. These include: risk management, which identifies, reports on and monitors both the operational and shareholder risks; compliance, which ensures that the department establishes and implements systems and processes to ensure the department and its state owned companies comply with legislative, regulatory and supervisory requirements, in line with international best practice; and secretariat, which has the overarching responsibility of recording and tracking the department’s operational and strategic activities to achieve coordination and compliance with decisions and resolutions.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

Ensure effective shareholder oversight of all SOC by:

 

  • Providing legal services, which includes transaction and contract management support, to the department as and when required over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.

 

  • Ensuring that risk management processes are embedded throughout the department as and when they are required over the MTEF period.

 

  • Addressing constraints on SOC contract negotiations and management to improve commercial competence and contribute to economic growth and development on a regular basis.

 

  • Providing assistance on developing and negotiating shareholder compact frameworks annually in terms of the PFMA.

 

  • Ensure that SOC and the department comply with the relevant legislation governing their operations, and applicable laws such as the PFMA, the  Public Audit Act (2004), Companies Act (2008), and environmental management, tax, labour, knowledge management, property, intellectual property, information security, procurement and other laws through establishing a structured compliance function within the unit.

 

  • Providing guidance on appropriate delegation frameworks between the boards and executive management of SOC on a regular basis.

 

  • Advising the minister regularly on the appointment of SOC boards of directors and on the processes for their Annual General Meetings (AGM) and preparation for these meetings, in compliance with the required statutes, reviewing on an annual basis: ownership policy, governance toolkit and guidelines, appointments, remuneration, and performance of the SOC boards and executive management.