About this code
About this Code
In April 2009, Inyathelo made a submission [click here for full document] to the King Committee, which had been appointed by the Institute of Directors (a membership-based organisation of corporate directors) to revise the Code of and Report on Governance Principles for South Africa (King III).
This Inyathelo submission expressed concerns that King III did not take into account the unique circumstances in which non-profit organisations were established and managed, and the environment in which they operated. The submission was supported by 57 other organisations but unfortunately, it was not taken into account by the King Committee.
When the final King III report was published in September 2009, it was deemed to apply to all entities – for-profit and non-profit – regardless of the manner and form of incorporation. This meant that all of the principles of the King III report applied to the non-profit sector in their totality.
Following engagement with the Institute of Directors and the Chair of the King Committee, Mervyn King, Inyathelo hosted a consultative forum of non-profit organisations to explore a way forward. At this meeting on 25 August 2010, a Working Group was elected to consult civil society organisations and other stakeholders more broadly on the development of an Independent Code of Governance for the non-profit sector in South Africa.
included Shelagh Gastrow (Executive Director at Inyathelo); Chris Mkhize (CEO of the Uthungulu Community Foundation); Colleen du Toit (Executive Director of CAF-SA); Jimmy Gotyana (President of SANGOCO); Rajesh Latchman (National Welfare, Social Service and Development Forum) and Richard Rosenthal (a lawyer specialising in public benefit, development and human rights law).
After two years of extensive consultation with hundreds of organisations and individuals across the country, the Working Group published The Independent Code of Governance for Non-Profit Organisations in South Africa in July 2012 and made it available for adoption by the sector.
The Working Group consulted the following stakeholders
in their efforts to come up with an Independent Code that could be applied to the whole civil society sector in South Africa regardless of size, capacity or purpose:
-
The civil society sector
was consulted on what should be included in a non-profit Code of Governance, how it should be applied and where ownership of the Code should reside. -
The donor community
was consulted in order for the Working Group to ascertain what donors and funders would consider to be the required minimum governance standards. -
The auditing and accountancy professions
were consulted as both civil society organisations and donors employ their services to monitor and evaluate governance. -
The Government
was consulted through its regulatory body
the NPO Directorate
(which falls under the Department of Social Development).
