{"id":10297,"date":"2026-03-24T15:18:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sareit.co.za\/?p=9073"},"modified":"2026-03-25T14:47:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:47:06","slug":"from-ticking-boxes-to-creating-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/from-ticking-boxes-to-creating-value\/","title":{"rendered":"From ticking boxes to creating value"},"content":{"rendered":"

From ticking boxes to creating value: The impact of proactive corporate governance<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

By Anda Matwa, Company Secretary at Redefine Properties<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

2025 was a milestone year for businesses in South Africa with the release of King V, the fifth edition of the country\u2019s King Codes on corporate governance. King V\u00a0<\/span>aims to modernise the framework for corporate governance<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by aligning it with current regulatory regimes, simplifying guidance and standardising the form and content of reporting to create a modern benchmark for accountable and ethical leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

The evolution of the King\u2019s Code reflects not only how corporate governance changes as business responsibilities evolve, but also how governance is fundamental to business growth, sustainability and overall prosperity. It\u2019s a means to measure performance, resilience and trust, while reinforcing ethics at an organisational level.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But while resources such as King V set the standard, they are just the foundation upon which businesses build policies, processes and practices to reach new heights. It\u2019s the starting point for making their own frameworks fit for purpose, the hallmark of any responsible, ethical and forward-thinking institution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Compliance keeps you out of trouble. Governance helps you stay in business<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

A shortcoming that many businesses and their leaders suffer from is thinking that governance is simply a case of ticking boxes. Many times, governance and ethics take a back seat when leaders are solely focused on the cash flow of their business. Other times, governance and ethics only become important when there has been an incident or failure in compliance. In either scenario, the consequences can be severe.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a market like South Africa, where scandals surrounding financial mismanagement, ethical misconduct and failure to disclose business dealings have negatively influenced our reputation and growth trajectory, ethics and good governance become intrinsic to the establishment and revitalisation of key sectors, whether they be financial services, healthcare, logistics or real estate.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s heartening to see that the national trajectory is changing. This is evidenced by South Africa\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>exit from the Financial Action Task Force\u2019s grey list<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in 2025, as well as the fiscal strategy laid out during Finance Minister Godongwana\u2019s recent\u00a0<\/span>Budget Speech<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

How we leverage these gains in investor confidence and national integrity will be the measure of good governance. Local and publicly listed entities operate with the incentive to prove that their frameworks are not just lip service or taped to the side of their organisations. They need to be willing to execute those frameworks and fully embody their commitment to not just compliance with local legislation and regulations, but to taking their industries and the nation forward.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Governance frameworks: Fit for purpose and driven to transform<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Leaders need to understand that the goal with governance is not to avoid bad consequences, but to achieve good outcomes. This is coupled with a drive to deliver long-term value, build trust among stakeholders and make decisions that enable the organisation to weather market volatility, confront industry disruptions and achieve sustainable growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Frameworks that enable businesses to comply with all relevant legislation and regulations are fundamental to any governance strategy. These are further enhanced by practices recommended by resources such as the King\u2019s Code and\u00a0<\/span>ISO 37000<\/span><\/a>, the internationally recognised standard for organisational governance.<\/span><\/p>\n

How businesses build on those frameworks is how they make them fit for purpose. They achieve this by imbuing them with policies and conduct that put ethics and credibility front and centre. These range from the composition of an organisation\u2019s board and how it engages with stakeholders to its policies surrounding human rights, whistleblowing and corruption.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s those policies and conduct that enable businesses like Redefine to shift governance from simply being a means of compliance to a vehicle for transformation. It\u2019s how businesses can remain competitive and attract top-level talent, which all combine to create a solid position of integrity and resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n

A top-down approach to decision-making<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Making corporate governance fit for purpose demands that local businesses bridge the gap between high-level policy and daily practices. Governance strategy must be aligned to business objectives to ensure that it is truly fit for the organisation, it is not a one-size-fits-all approach. In other words, actions taken and decisions made at an organisation\u2019s ground level need to reflect those made at the top. The same can be said when it comes to frameworks such as the King\u2019s Code: they only work when their outcomes are tangible and can be seen, heard and felt.<\/span><\/p>\n

How those outcomes look, sound and feel is dependent on the organisation. When governance outcomes are made tangible, they are the result of being driven to fulfil a particular and meaningful purpose. By making the right commitments, aligning business goals and objectives with ethical conduct, and taking a top-down approach to corporate governance, businesses in South Africa can transform themselves and become working examples of corporate resilience, integrity and trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From ticking boxes to creating value: The impact of proactive corporate governance By Anda Matwa, Company Secretary at Redefine Properties 2025 was a milestone year for businesses in South Africa with the release of King V, the fifth edition of the country\u2019s King Codes on corporate governance. King V\u00a0aims to modernise the framework for corporate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[280,199,35],"class_list":["post-10297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-members-news","tag-corporate-governance","tag-redefine-properties","tag-sa-reit-association"],"featured_image_src":{"landsacpe":["https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Anda-Matwa-Company-Secretary-at-Redefine-web-1140x445.jpg",1140,445,true],"list":["https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Anda-Matwa-Company-Secretary-at-Redefine-web-463x348.jpg",463,348,true],"medium":["https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Anda-Matwa-Company-Secretary-at-Redefine-web-300x241.jpg",300,241,true],"full":["https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Anda-Matwa-Company-Secretary-at-Redefine-web.jpg",1619,1298,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10329,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10297\/revisions\/10329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muddev.co.za\/sareit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}