line ministries

Existing regulations on conflict of interest management are thin and discretionary, leaving a lack of consistent oversight on how conflicts are handled within line ministries.

“The regulations are a bit thin in terms of what the potential solutions are, so it leaves it open to interpretation to the individual line ministries to determine how to deal with those conflicts and how to manage them... It is discretionary. There is little oversight in terms of how this is handled down the line.”

Within the South African context, known issues around capture and victimization of whistleblowers raise significant concerns about placing responsibility with inline ministries, potentially exposing ethics officials to pressure to overlook misconduct.

“within the South African context, the known issues around capture, around the victimization of whistle blowers, I think these issues raises significant concerns around having this kind of responsibility placed within line ministries. I think this potentially exposes them to significant pressure to look the other way”