Financial management is the most critical aspect regarding the determination of the success or failure of the public sector within the Republic of South Africa. However, currently, there are several challenges that militate against effective as well as efficient financial management within the public sector. Traditional financial management techniques remain a major obstacle to effective and efficient service delivery in South Africa’s public sector. Legacy systems and fragmented fiscal processes contribute to a lack of financial oversight, reduced accountability, and limited public engagement in budgeting decisions. These weaknesses undermine the credibility and responsiveness of public institutions, eroding citizen trust and deepening governance challenges. In response to these systemic issues, this study explores the transformative potential of innovative financial management reforms to serve as levers for good governance. Specifically, it examines how adopting modern tools and participatory approaches can improve transparency in financial operations, enhance accountability mechanisms, and promote trust between government entities and the communities they serve. By focusing on practical and scalable reforms such as digital financial systems, integrated procurement platforms, and citizen-inclusive budgeting frameworks, the study aims to assess how these strategies can improve governance outcomes within the South African public sector. The overarching goal is to identify evidence-based interventions that not only modernise financial practices but also align with broader objectives of ethical governance and inclusive public administration. The study reveals that innovative financial management reforms, particularly digitalisation and participatory budgeting, hold substantial promise for enhancing good governance in the public sector. These reforms foster greater transparency by making fiscal information more accessible, reinforce accountability through improved oversight mechanisms, and stimulate citizen engagement by involving communities directly in budgetary decisions. Ultimately, this research contributes to the growing discourse on institutional reform by highlighting the importance of innovative financial stewardship in rebuilding public trust and improving service delivery.

The aim of this research was to analyze the changes in the rate of teacher absenteeism among South African provinces as a major in-class factor contributing to student performance and effective learning. Time series analysis of exponential smoothing, moving average, and seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average model (SARIMA) were applied to model and assess the designed hypothesis as a major factor for educational advancement using different provincial data input from the Department of Basic Education in South Africa. The performances of all the models were analyzed using statistical indexes: Mean Square Error (MSE) and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). The overall performance showed that the absence rate increased statistically significantly from 2011 to 2017. Thus, this opinion was held by more than half of the general populace depending on the province type. The findings of this research could assist the management of the basic education department in general, and in schools in particular, to understand the problem of absenteeism and thereby enabling the implementation of effective strategies that can be used to curb the practice.

Purpose: This study aims at assessing the determinants of Social Media Marketing adoption in small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Design / Method / Approach: The study seeks to understand the viewpoints and motives for employing social media campaigns. Thus, a structured quantitative questionnaire was provided to 150 respondents to assess social media marketing in their firms, using convenience sampling. A descriptive analysis of data was undertaken using the SPSS. Findings: The study's findings showed that most respondents agreed with items related to Social Media Marketing’s facilitating conditions, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and cost implications. Theoretical Implications: The study contributes to the extant literature on Social Media Marketing during the Covid-19 pandemic in the developing world, wherein poor infrastructure, bureaucracy and culture play an important role in business performance. Practical Implications: SMME owners and managers should encourage their employees and customers to use social media regularly in order to drive traffic towards the business. Originality / Value: The study is unique as it analyses Social Media Marketing during a turbulent time in which the Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on economies globally. Research Limitations / Future Research: Researchers should consider analysing the effect of Covid-19's lockdown restrictions on specific sectors in an attempt to facilitate tailor-made solutions to the problem. Paper type: Empirical

Building an effective organizational culture of high performance has proven to be elusive amongst strategic and operational managers of selected public technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges in the Gauteng province in the post-merger period of 2007 to 2010. Poor organizational culture demonstrated by a lack of the Ubuntu principles of humanness and teamwork; management inefficiency and instability undermined the role of public TVET colleges in the Gauteng province, South Africa. The identified knowledge gap is a paucity of information on how the values of Ubuntu are infused into management practices to improve organizational management practices. A mixed methods research approach that adopted multiple case studies, unstructured interviews and survey questionnaires was undertaken to assess an organizational culture and management practices by strategic and operational managers, and lecturers at selected public TVET colleges. Descriptive statistical and thematic analyses were employed to generate, interpret, and analyze the findings from participating managers and lecturers. The findings revealed the need to re-purpose public TVET colleges in South Africa to align with the strategic priorities and goals of the National Development Plan: Vision 2030. Strategic and operational managers should also be capacitated with stakeholder relations building and management skills to create student workplace opportunities with businesses and industries.

The relevance of this scientific problem is that there are numerous calls and arguments from civil society organisations, labour unions, progressive economists, and policy experts to the South African government regarding the introduction of basic income grant. This will help protect the unemployed from poverty and stimulate economic growth. Systematization of the literary sources and approaches for solving the problem of improving the quality of life of the poor indicates that the government (led by the African National Congress) since 1994 implemented a social security policy (the child support grant for women). At the same time, the government’s position regarding the feasibility of introducing of basic income grant as a tool for economic stimulation has changed. The African National Congress disagrees with the need for basic income grant as a tool for poverty alleviation and economic growth. The main purpose of the research is the analysis of the prerequisites for the change in the position of the African National Congress regarding the feasibility of introducing basic income grant: basic income grant is a tool for stimulating economic growth and overcoming poverty for most of the disadvantaged population of South Africa, or a means for the government to preserve its positions, which are weakening among the South African electorate. The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis, which proved that basic income grant will contribute to the increase of the national tax base as those not earning an income can start buying and selling goods and be taxed. At the same time, at the initial stage, the introduction of basic income grant will lead to an increase in the level of income taxation of the employed population. Analytical methods of scientific literature analysis became the methodical tools of the conducted research. The research empirically confirms and theoretically proves that the introduction of basic income grant could stimulate the economy by ensuring that the unemployed become economic participants by having disposable cash to spend and start business activities.