responsive leadership and management accountability, training and development for state delivery capacity enhancement. Although South Africa’s ranking in the Open Budget Survey for 2012 declined by two positions, it is the second best-scored country on overall budget transparency and accountability processes in the 2012 Open Budget Index. The Open Budget Survey assesses whether the central government in each country surveyed makes eight key budget documents available to the public, as well as whether the data contained in these documents is comprehensive, timely, and useful. The Survey uses widely accepted criteria to assess each country’s budget transparency including those generated by international organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). The country has regressed from 92 in 2010 to 90 in 2012. Though this is a marginal shift it is an important indication that the country is still doing well and should stay on the right course. With political will coupled with more effort the country’s transparency and accountability can still improve more significantly. This affirms the country’s efforts over the years to improve the efficiency, the developmental orientation, the transparency and inclusiveness of the budget process. Municipal IQ’s data records and analysis confirmed the linkage between lacklustre municipal financial management and their inability to provide adequate public service, which typically leads to service delivery protests. Research studies suggest that discontent remains a prevalent and disquieting social phenomenon that makes all the more urgent for government to address inequality, unemployment and poverty, as well as lagging service delivery. Studies by the Municipal IQ and the Institute for Democracy in Africa (IDASA) acknowledge progress made with regard to transparency in the budgeting processes enabling the legislatures, civil society and the public to find information for their engagement in the budget debates. But the following gaps remain:     The absence of a legal requirement for the publication of contingent liabilities between spheres of government; Guarantees and extra-budgetary activities remains a major gap in South Africa’s transparency requirements; Legislation aimed at empowering and enabling Parliament and provincial legislatures to amend budgets is still outstanding; and There is legislation that details executive transparency requirements, but none when it comes to any one body tasked with policing these requirements. Improving public financial management, multi stakeholder participation, and systems that enforce the integration and cooperation between the public sector, Universities and private sector are important for enhancing improved accountability, transparency and skills in public sector expenditure management. 3.2.2 Improving economic integration in SADC Regional integration is imperative to South Africa’s co-existence with its neighbours not only for reasons of transformation, stability, security, and economic development, but to ensure the strengthening of trade as well as facilitating people to people cooperation. 51