Abstract
M.A. (Public Management and Governance)
This study endeavours to investigate the reasons for the non-compliance of community-based organisations (CBOs) with the requirements of the Non-profit Organisations (NPOs) Act (71 of 1997), focusing on CBOs situated in the Gauteng province of South Africa (SA). Four research objectives, which correlate with the research questions, were accordingly pursued. These objectives entailed critically investigating whether the CBOs are aware of the regulations of the NPO Act, have organisational structures in place for the transparent and accountable handling of in-house, logistical programmes, have the requisite knowledge and resources (material and human) to compile their annual reports, and possess the necessary financial means to conduct the associated activities required for these accounts.
The research design, methodology, and approach selected for this study is the mixed-methods approach; comprising qualitative and quantitative strategies to gather data and for data analysis, enabling interpretation through the causal relationship among the variables. The enquiry encompassed a review of the pertinent, available literature. Additionally, from the approximately 2 000 non-compliant CBOs in Gauteng, ten were randomly selected. A total of 30 respondents were chosen therefrom by means of utilising purposive sampling. The participants were required to complete a survey and participate in an interview, which employed semi-structured questionnaires which were personally administered by the researcher.
To establish the foundations, causes, or reasons for the high degree of non-compliance by Gauteng-based CBOs, the results were interpreted through exploiting the Cause and Effect Logic Framework. This facilitated correlating the relationships, connections, and associations within the primary facets previously distinguished; viz. the non-compliance of Gauteng CBOs, the duration of the CBOs’ operational periods, the existence or lack of formal governance structures, and the knowledge competencies of the financial personnel within the organisations. The results revealed that the principal, central source of non-compliance relates to the succeeding issues. Firstly, despite 60% of CBOs having been operational in excess of ten years, few members of management have participated...