South Africa is committed to the ideals of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) of promoting good governance, and economic development, says Public Service and Administration Minister, Mr Senzo Mchunu.
He was delivering a key note address to the APRM Public Forum earlier today in Durban to start a three day dialogue to prepare the Second Generation Review expected to resume early next year.
“As a country, we are committed to the ideals of the APRM and NEPAD and to economic transformation,” The Minister said social progress will also be achieved once the government begins to move with speed to address inequality and unemployment in the country.
He singled out four thematic themes of political governance and democracy, economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic development.
“There is nothing wrong with the civil society holding government accountable, not in antagonistic, but in a way with the view to promote transparency and good governance,”.
Minister Mchunu reiterated that the current administration is focusing on strengthening good governance in the public service space and encouraged South Africans to be committed to the success of the APRM by contributing with ideas and sharing their lessons ahead of the second-generation review.
The review is a self-assessment created by African leaders in 2003 under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development to promote good governance, economic development and social progress.
South Africa completed its first review, which is considered as an innovative approach designed and implemented by Africans for Africa in 2007.
The purpose of APRM is to facilitate the adoption of policies, principles and practices that contribute to political and economic stability and growth, additionally to leading sustainable development.
In January 2017, the AU Assembly of Head of States and Government expanded the APRM mandate to Monitoring and Evaluation of the implementation of AU Agenda 2063 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.
Meanwhile, the 2018 Assembly, welcomed steps taken to position the APRM as an early warning tool for conflict prevention in Africa, in the context of harmony and synergy between the APRM, African Peace and Security Architecture, and the African Governance Architecture.
Earlier this month, Minister Mchunu led the High-Level Brainstorming Session in Pretoria under theme: “Renewing and Strengthening the South African APRM Process.”
The APRM is a mutually agreed instrument voluntarily acceded to by AU member States as an African self-monitoring mechanism.
The APRM is often described as “Africa’s unique and innovative approach to governance” with the objective of improving governance dynamics at the local, national and continental levels.
The APRM was adopted by African Heads of State and Government as a systematic peer learning and self-assessment mechanism originating from the NEPAD foundational document, the “Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance” adopted in July 2002 in Durban, South Africa.
Next year, South Africa will take over the Chairpersonship of the APRM programme from the Republic of Chad.
The triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment as well as various developments in the past several years, point to the need to renew efforts and increase focus on the governance challenges confronting the society.
As part of the renewal process, it is also critical for the government to build a collective approach that strengthens broad ownership of national governance challenges and promotes co-creation of the solutions to the challenges.
