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Lifestyle audits are the best method to combat corruption in both the private and public spheres. A lifestyle audit is conducted if a red flag is raised in relation to corruption. Any sudden change in an individual’s lifestyle raises a red flag. However, this type of crime is common among mostly the powerful top officials of organisations, companies or institutions. This paper reviews the use of lifestyle audits as a tool to combat corruption. The researcher adopted a non-empirical research design and followed the predetermined steps properly. Furthermore, merely the literature sources and observations used for arguments and integration purposes with intent to solve the problems identified. Again, the researcher examined some solved corruption cases published in the Auditor General’s report, reported on in newspapers and discussed on social media platforms. To add this, the observation of the published corruption cases used as the examples in this article. The findings of this article suggest that lifestyle auditor or analysts or crime investigators must conduct the lifestyle audit by following the legal proper procedures to avoid the blunders in audit the lifestyle of the offender or suspect. This article concludes by making recommendations of the lifestyle audit needs more auditing and financial investigation skills that are of more advanced.

The quality of institutions continues to be a pertinent issue due to its potential direct and indirect effects on economic growth. The research examined the correlation between institutional quality and economic growth in Botswana from 1990 to 2022. The research utilised the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Bounds model to assess cointegration and the Toda and Yamamoto and Dolado and Lütkepohl (TYDL) model to investigate the direction of causality. The ARDL methodology is favoured for this research because to its applicability to small sample sizes. This method is not constrained by the sequence of integration among the variables. The results demonstrate that corruption adversely impacts economic growth in both the short term and the long term. Regulatory frameworks and governmental stability exert a substantial favourable influence on economic growth in both the short and long term. The analysis identified a bidirectional causative relationship between government stability and economic growth, as well as a unidirectional causal relationship from regulatory rules to economic growth. This study revealed a negative impact of labour on economic vitality. The cointegrating link indicates that the Botswana government ought to prioritise investments in institutional quality, targeted procedures, and policies due to their direct influence on economic growth. The report advocates for the Botswana government to formulate and implement legislation that fosters and advances the development of the citizen sector. The Botswana government should improve and sustain the factors that contribute to institutional quality, as they facilitate development.

This article contends that the governance of public tenderpreneurship in South Africa fails to foster entrepreneurship ecosystems characterised by dynamic micro-foundation capabilities, which are essential for enabling business ambidexterity in state tender-based enterprises. The article posits that political, bureaucratic, and public bribery corruption develop within a public order that is fundamentally opposed to, and incompatible with, the fostering of entrepreneurial ambidexterity. Thus, its theoretical contribution lies in the evolution of dynamic capabilities within the frameworks of entrepreneurship ecosystems, micro-foundations, and the conceptions of public order corruption from the perspectives of republicanism and liberalism. The desktop literature analysis identifies 47 dynamic micro-foundation capabilities across strategic operations, marketing, innovation, and information systems governance domains that facilitate the incubation of entrepreneurship ecosystems. Furthermore, it formulates one question for each governance domain of entrepreneurship ecosystems as a summative normative assessment of South Africa's tenderpreneurship preferential treatment governance. The article concludes that South Africa's governance of state tenderpreneurship promotes a public order characterised by the rapid emergence of tender-based entrepreneurs and businesses, alongside corruption ecosystems that lack processes orientated towards entrepreneurship, such as sensing, seizing, and transformation, as well as dynamic capabilities necessary for fulfilling service level contractual obligations, reconfiguration, and renewal. Tenderpreneurship governance is problematic due to hidden agendas that undermine democratic transformation, lacking transparency in the exercise of public power and disregarding citizens' claims to equality as legitimate rights-holders. The article recommends the following: the establishment of mandatory requirements for public accountability in the exercise of entrusted public power; the promotion of authentic citizenship and public order where all citizens are political equals and legitimate rights-holders; the prohibition of covert preferential treatment in state tenderpreneurship governance; and the implementation of a rigorous meritocracy-based state procurement governance system.

Effective border management is fundamental to protecting national sovereignty, safeguarding citizens, and preventing the infiltration of organised criminal networks. In South Africa, the South African Police Service (SAPS) is entrusted with law enforcement at border posts. However, recurring incidents of corruption among SAPS officials often involving collusion with criminal syndicates have rendered several border posts, including Beitbridge, weak and porous. This study evaluates SAPS border officials’ corruption and its security implications at the Beitbridge border post in Limpopo Province. The objectives are to investigate the nature and forms of corruption involving SAPS officials, examine the socio-economic and security-related impacts, assess the effectiveness of current anti-corruption mechanisms, and propose evidence-based recommendations to enhance accountability and transparency. The study employs a qualitative research approach grounded in the interpretivist paradigm and adopts a case study design centred on Beitbridge. Data were gathered through in-depth document analysis, encompassing 45 key documents such as official reports, policy frameworks, and media investigations, considered sufficient for achieving qualitative rigour and thematic saturation. The Broken Windows Theory is applied to explain how tolerance of minor misconduct escalates into systemic corruption and institutional decay. Findings reveal that entrenched corruption undermines law enforcement integrity, facilitates organised criminal activity, and compromises national border security. The study concludes that strengthening institutional oversight, reinforcing accountability structures, and promoting inter-agency cooperation are vital for curbing corruption and enhancing border management effectiveness. The study’s novelty lies in its focused examination of Beitbridge and its application of the Broken Windows Theory to border corruption within the South African context.

There is a dichotomy between the conventional theoretical view, which postulates that increased quality of governance stimulates economic growth and advances private capital formation. This study investigates the impact of governance quality and government expenditure on economic growth in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The study applied the Pooled Mean Group and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) model. The annual panel covers the period 2002 – 2023, which comprises five selected countries from the SADC member states. The data set was obtained from the World Bank World Governance Indicators (WBWGI) databases. In the short run, economic growth was linked to government expenditure. In the long run, technical governance quality variables bring participants into action or service through control of corruption and the rule of law. The technical governance quality variables contribute to economic growth and are positive in the long run. At the same time, democratic governance quality variables influence economic growth negatively. However, it was highlighted that a permanent increase in country government expenditure could be experienced due to continuous randomness. The study revealed that weak governance and unstable government expenditure deteriorate economic growth complexity. Henceforth, this study has also enhanced the governance quality and government expenditure theories and empirical literature concerning economic growth by exposing that the governance quality of the selected SADC countries endures commotion. This study recommends that achieving selected SADC growth can be possible by balancing the technical governance quality variables and abating the democratic governance quality variables. Thus, the study contributes by outlining the golden thread that national and international policies should be prioritized in control of corruption and endorse governance effectiveness, regulatory quality, the rule of law, and managing expenditure within the threshold level.

South African government and economic prosperity are threatened by public finance corruption. From apartheid, poor public financial management, weak regulatory frameworks, and entrenched political favouritism have exacerbated the problem. This chapter examines South Africa's public finance corruption, its theoretical foundation, and its effects on public trust, economic growth, and government. Rent-seeking organisations foster corruption, as Buchanan's (1980) public choice theory and Klitgaard's (1988) monopoly and discretion model demonstrate. False financial reporting, procurement fraud, embezzlement, and fund theft drain public funding for vital services and infrastructure. Also given is institutional economics illustrating how weak institutions promote corruption. Even with laws, combating corruption is difficult. The chapter uses global case studies to promote legal frameworks, transparency, and public institution competence to fight corruption. The chapter recommends ethical governance, public sector capacity-building, citizen participation, legislation, and cultural reforms to fight corruption. It further underscores the policy challenges inherent in implementing these anti-corruption strategies, including political resistance, limited institutional resources, and societal complicity. Future research should examine anti-corruption strategies and how technology might improve public financial management openness.

The purpose of this study is to explore the extent of misconduct in the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) in South Africa as a case study. The article aims to answer the research question, ‘What is the extent of the misconduct in the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure?’. Systematization of the literature and responses to the wrongdoing scenario shows that in South Africa, poor quality performance and inefficient productivity in public service departments may cause financial difficulties. The institutional cause of misconduct is discussed. The decision that was made in this scientific subject matter has importance because this study intends to emphasise that the public service in general and DPWI in particular have been in the media for cases of maladministration, misconduct, and corruption, which necessitates the implementation of orgaisational ethics management OEM) takes action to promote an ethical culture and a climate that is favorable to good governance. The investigation in the article is carried out in the following order: A description of the DPWI and its procedures for combating misconduct follows, and the scope of wrongdoing inside the DPWI is explored using a contextual framework. Conceptual and document analysis were the methodological tools used in the study. Using qualitative research approach with exploratory and descriptive research designs, misconduct is contextually analyzed. The results show that when institutional factors that can combat misconduct and promote good governance are not implemented, then this situation may lead to various forms of misconduct recurring. The article's conclusion makes suggestions for improvement.

Political interference has been one of the leading factors in inhibiting state-owned entities reach their mandates. Through political patronage, political elites are the gateway to the SOE's thus impacting the efficacy of most state-owned entities. In this regard, South African Airways (SAA) is also one of the entities in the grip of corruption due to political patronage. Therefore, this political patronage has been the difference between the efficacy of SAA in executing its mandate. SAA has been taking center stage due to corruption, maladministration, and failure to execute its mandate as a result of political interference as well as patronage. This paper reviews existing literature on the effect of political patronage on the efficacy of SAA in executing its mandate. In doing so, the paper employed qualitative techniques. Document analysis was utilized to understand the effect of political patronage on SAA's ability to execute its mandate. Eventually, the paper discovered that political patronage affects the ability of SAA to execute its mandate. The paper then closes by making recommending mechanisms for inhibiting political interference in SOE most specifically SAA.

South African teachers are faced with corruption during teacher promotion processes, and this remains unabated. This qualitative paper used three purposively selected case studies of victim teachers to investigate the impact of this corruption on victim teachers. The paper used the Crisis Intervention Theory to underpin the theoretical framework for the analysis. Key informant interviews (KIIs) were administered to a senior union member to solicit crucial data while the primary participants (n=3) were interviewed on a face-to-face approach to collect data. Relevant literature was also used to provide supportive and corroborative scientific propositions. The paper discovered that corruption during teacher promotion processes in the South African Basic Education sector was a reality. However, in some instances, such claims could not be backed by sustainable evidence. Victim teachers have suffered traumatic experiences resulting in stress, health challenges, relational challenges with colleagues and resignations. The department did not assist victim teachers needing emergency counselling and psychological rehabilitation to cope with the emanating pressure. It is recommended that authorities punish perpetrators of corruption. Victim teachers need to be assisted through professional resolving of their grievances and therapeutical intervention. 


 
 
 
 Political trust is important for the effective functioning of government. This paper uses cross country regression analysis to see whether three different measures of economic performance matter for political trust. The results lend support to the hypothesis that political trust is influenced by economic growth, the standard of living, and the appropriate use of government spending. In addition, the paper considers two institutional variables, perceived independence of the judiciary and the degree of democracy to assess their effect on political trust. It finds that perceived judicial independence has a positive effect on political trust, but democracy has a negative effect.
 
 
 

<div><p><em>Since Sub-Saharan Africa's first independence in Ghana, the region has experienced massive and costly political and bureaucratic corruption within public service and administration. The causes of the corruption, its nature and form are wide and intertwined. In Sub-Saharan Africa, efforts to curb corruption have failed to discard it. The paper focused on the period from Nkruma in Ghana to Mutharika the 2nd in Malawi. This paper reviewed existing literature on political and bureaucratic corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa while on the other hand the paper employed key informant interviews to gather the required data to investigate, analyse and profile the genesis and evolution of corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa. The key informant interviews were employed to solicit public views and opinion from nineteen key informant participants (n=19) selected from 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper found that corruption is legendary; has entrenched itself to becoming some sort of culture in the region, and has become the most difficult socio-economic challenge to resolve in the region despite the various anti-corruption efforts employed by stakeholders to curb it. It emerged through the study that law-enforcement efforts against corruption need some reinforcement in order to be effective and eficient in uprooting corruption in the region. If Sub-Saharan Africa fails to address its corruption challenge, its development prospects would seriously curtailed.</em><em></em></p></div>

<div><p>Political trust is important for the effective functioning of government. This paper uses cross country regression analysis to see whether three different measures of economic performance matter for political trust. The results lend support to the hypothesis that political trust is influenced by economic growth, the standard of living, and the appropriate use of government spending. In addition, the paper considers two institutional variables, perceived independence of the judiciary and the degree of democracy to assess their effect on political trust. It finds that perceived judicial independence has a positive effect on political trust, but democracy has a negative effect.<strong><em> </em></strong></p></div>