Networking Forum, Minister Geraldine Fraser Moleketi, Tuesday 18 September 2007

The APRM Programme of Action to improve governance in South Africa

Following its accession to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in 2003, South Africa has now been through the review process. The way forward was the subject addressed by Minister of Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, at the NEPAD Business Foundation's most recent networking forum.

Fraser-Moleketi was appointed as Minister for Public Service and Administration in President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet in 1999 and also served in former President Nelson Mandela's cabinet as Minister for Welfare and Population Development for the period from 1996-1999. She was designated the focal point for South Africa's participation in the APRM at the time of its accession to participation.

Speaking at the forum, the Minister gave a situation analysis of the principle governance challenges in South Africa, and reported on the rationale for the Programme of Action (POA) that is to be implemented to address the issues within the APRM's four thematic areas: democracy and political governance; economic governance and management; corporate governance; and socio-economic development.

She explained the APRM process, highlighting its consultative nature and listing the innovative approaches that South Africa has taken in executing the review, such as: 'The translation of the APRM questionnaire into all eleven national languages; the use of community development workers to engage with and solicit feedback from communities; the involvement of provincial governing councils and the use of technical support agencies and arms-length quality assurors. Fraser-Moleketi added that South Africa is also unique in that it chose to look at APRM through a gender lens.

To make the APRM questionnaire more accessible, it was reduced from 88 pages to a shorter length, and distributed to community development workers to use as a template in recording community feedback.

The APRM process has underscored the fact that there are numerous areas in need of attention that are currently being addressed by various stakeholder programmes. The POA will complement the commitments and agreements made by these parties, and will promote participatory governance.

The National Governing Council (NGC) will take responsibility for overseeing the POA, and it is proposed that a National Implementation Committee be appointed to provide close supervision. A Programme Management Unit will also be established as an institutional successor to the initial APMR implementation process, with the primary function of coordinating, supporting, monitoring and evaluating implementation of the POA by the various government and non-governmental agencies involved.

Regarding the efficacy of the APRM process and what aspects could have been improved, Fraser-Moleketi said that local organised government should have been included in the procedure. On a positive note, she also pointed out that, according to the base APMR document, the report would only made public six months after the review had taken place, but that, 'We made it clear that in South Africa, if we only released the report six months later, people would think that we were hiding something from the public,' she said, adding that in light of this, the decision was taken to release the report as soon as the foreword by the implementation committee had been added, thereby reducing the waiting period to roughly three months.

Responding to questions concerning how changes in leadership, specifically heads of state, in the African continent might affect the future of NEPAD, the Minister said, 'It is important to always draw on wise leadership, but also to regenerate and grow new leadership so that there is never a gap.' While she acknowledges that President Mbeki's term as head of state in South Africa will end in the not-too-distant future, she said, 'That doesn't mean that he is lost to the continent. We are sure that we will see continued input from him.'

In conclusion, she said, 'The fact that the APMR is a voluntary system is huge in itself. For a peer review process, it was necessary to start with a process that's voluntary. I believe that the fact that 27 countries have acceded to be reviewed is very positive.' She added, 'The reports generate engagement between countries, and when a criticism is raised by the APRM panel, it is brought to the top of the agenda.'