CGE ANNUAL REPORT

2022/23 ANNUAL REPORT

1. Roles and Responsibilities of CGE’s Governing Body The role of the Governing Body, in this case the Commissioners (collectively constituted as Plenary and/ or its related structures/committees), is to lead the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) by discharging its responsibilities in relation to strategic direction, policy approval, oversight and accountability to achieve, good performance, effective control, legitimacy with stakeholders and sustain an ethical corporate culture. In terms of current legislative and other frameworks governing the roles and responsibilities of the Plenary as the Governing Body of the CGE, for the purposes of this document reference will be made to the CGE Act, the PFMA, Treasury Regulations as well as King III™ & King IV™ Principles. Whereas the CGE Act, Section 5 (1-5) outlines and defines the decision-making powers of the members of the Commission in Plenary, in terms of the PFMA, the role and decision-making powers of the Plenary are not provided for. In other words, in terms of the PFMA, members of the Commission (constituted as Plenary or otherwise) do not have any decision-making powers over matters allocated as the responsibilities of the executive authority or the Accounting Officer. However, according to the King IV™ Principles and codes of good corporate governance, the members of the Commission would, collectively, constitute a Governing Body. In other words, collectively, the members of the Commission, for the purposes of King IV™ Principles and codes of good practice, are a Governing Body of the CGE whose responsibilities should be consistent with good corporate governance principles as outlined and explained in the King IV™ Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa, 2016. Furthermore, it is important to take note of the fact that the King IV™ Principles, (particularly under Principle 7) place a great deal of emphasis on the non-executive nature of the responsibilities of the members of the Governing Body. In terms of King IV™ Part 5.3, Recommended Practice 8, the Governing Body should comprise a majority of non-executive members, most of whom should be independent. The King IV™ report further recommends an appropriate mix of executive, non-executive and independent non-executive members. In the case of the CGE, all the members of the Commission (i.e. Commissioners) are non-executive. In terms of section 49 of the PFMA, the Chairperson of the CGE is defined as the Executive Authority. However, this does not equate with Executive Officer nor does it confer executive management responsibility on the position of Executive Authority. While King IV™ does not offer a definition of a non-executive member of the Governing Body, King III™ defines non-executive as “not being involved in the management of the company’ [and] being independent of the management on all issues, including strategy, performance, sustainability, resources, transformation, diversity, employment equity, standards of conduct and evaluation of performance. Therefore, in terms of the provisions of the CGE Act, the PFMA, the King III™ & King IV™ Principles and Codes of good corporate governance, the members of the Governing Body (in the case of the CGE, this refers to the Commissioners) should be independent of, and therefore have no decision-making powers and responsibilities over the management, administrative and operations of the organisation except for purposes of conducting periodic oversight and ensuring accountability of the CEO and

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