​The Governance, Administration and Justice Cluster deals with the management of development cooperation to enhance the delivery of government services through the provision of targeted programmes. Such programmes are designed to enhance public sector capacity, improve financial management, promote human rights, and increase regulatory oversight.

The key priority for the cluster is therefore to ensure that development cooperation contributes towards the following government outcomes:

​Outcome 3:

​All people in South Africa are and feel safe;

​Outcome 9:

​A responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system;

​Outcome 11:

​Create a better South Africa and contribute to a better and safer Africa and world;

​Outcome 12:

​An efficient, effective and development oriented public service and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship,

​​​Outcome 14:

​Nation Building and Social Cohesion.

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​The broader priorities of the sector are articulated in Chapter 13 of the National Development Plan, Vision 2030. The NDP states that the public sector is challenged with unevenness in capacity that leads to uneven performance in local, provincial and national government. A number of factors have been attributed to this and at the forefront of these challenges are, a large skills deficit, poor organisational design, and low staff morale.

The cluster aims to assist in addressing these challenges through facilitating government departments to articulate their needs, coordinating developments partners to support such needs through focused development support and finance.

The following Departments are supported by the cluster in achieving government outcomes: Public Service and Administration, The Presidency, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, National Treasury, Justice and Correctional Services, International Relations and Cooperation, and Parliament.

 

 


 Adhering to the NDP, development partners in the cluster support the following interventions:

​Cooperation and integration in Africa​​Developing technical and specialist professional skills within the public​​An integrated approach to building safety​​Strengthen judicial governance and the rule of law​​Active Citizenry and leadership

​This is supported through trilateral cooperation with South Africa and a development partner providing assistance to other African countries.

​The NDP highlights the need to build capacity within the public sector. Development partners support South Africa with initiatives such as financial improvement programmes, programmes to improve service delivery as well as trainings to develop public servants skills.

 

​An integrated approach to building safety. The country plans to move away from a “narrow law-enforcement approach to crime and safety, to identifying and resolving the root causes of crime”. To this end, programmes such as Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading and Violence and Crime Prevention assist government to achieve this objective.

 

​Strengthen judicial governance and the rule of law.  Chapter 2 of the Constitution makes provision for the Bill of Rights where it declares that everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit before the law. With the assistance from development partners, South Africa piloted the Access to Justice and Promotion of Constitutional Rights Programme. This Programme promotes partnerships between government and civil society working in the justice and human rights sector.

​Active Citizenry and leadership. Government has introduced accountability mechanisms where citizens need to speak out when things are going wrong. To this need, development cooperation has assisted the country with the Legislative Sector Policy Support Programme with the main objective being to strengthen participatory democracy.

 

Since 1994, there has been various Governance, Administration and Justice programmes supported through development cooperation. These include programmes such as the e-Justice Programme, Financial Management Support Programme, Capacity Building and Technical Assistance Facility, Strengthening Local Governance Programme and Public Service Reform Programme to name a few.