Madam Speaker 

1. The APRM is a unique self-assessment tool to ensure that the policies and practises of participating countries conform to the agreed NEPAD Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. It can be termed a commonly-agreed upon instrument for self-monitoring 

2. The APRM is open to all African Union member states. Accession entails an undertaking to submit periodic peer reviews, a commitment to implementing the National Programme of Action arising from the peer review and improving on good governance 

3. South Africa was one of the first states to accede to the processing in 2003.  

4. Our Parliament formed part of the self-assessment process under the APRM and we established a Joint Co-ordinating Committee on the APRM to formulate our input 

5. South Africa and Parliament both found the APRM process an excellent opportunity for introspection and critical self-assessment. The JCC input is as follows:  

The Self-Assessment process of the African Peer Review Mechanism is indeed a useful tool to assist our nation to conduct an honest analytical reflection on our progress as a developing democracy.  Parliament takes this opportunity to applaud the architects of this African initiative" 

6. The JCC also stated further on the inputs by Parliament:  

In engaging with the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), it became evident that the role of Parliaments in this continental mechanism was not adequately elaborated.  We believe that South Africa's contribution to the further development of the APRM has been an important consideration in defining our Parliament's role in our country process.  It is hoped that using the South African context where the independence of Parliament and its oversight of government are constitutionally mandated, to define the active and independent participation of Parliament in the peer review process will contribute significantly to strengthening other Parliaments in Africa" 

7. A very important outcome of the review process was to re-emphasise Parliament's role of overseeing the Executive and in particular the agreed upon Programme of Action. The JCC said:  

Parliament views our country's peer review process as a beginning to an ongoing assessment of our nation with a particular focus on democracy, good governance, rights, freedoms and development.  Parliament will have an ongoing role in overseeing the implementation of the programme of action that will emanate from the peer review mechanism" 

8. Our participation in the APRM process threw new light on its own weaknesses, shortcomings as well as underlying strengths. In a certain sense it focused minds on Parliament's core mission and vision in relation to oversight and accountability. 

9. The critical self-assessment process pointed out internal and structural weaknesses in oversight and accountability that have since been taken on board to improve Parliament's performance . 

10. But there were also a number of criticisms made by our Parliament of the APRM process. The JCC put it as follows:  

The section of the questionnaire on democracy and good political governance required an assessment of Parliament.  The Joint Coordinating Committee considered it most appropriate that an independent panel conduct such assessment.  Unfortunately, due to time constraints and the unavailability of identified panellists at short notice, this assessment was not possible for the purpose of Parliament's APRM process" 

11. Other limitations that were identified included as tight timeframes; compromised public participation and unavailability of stakeholders.   

12. Another problem was that although Parliament made a large number of recommendations for inclusion in SA's country report, not all of these were accepted by the government, and subsequently did not feature in the final country report. 

13. In conclusion, the JCC summed up Parliament's views as being:  

It would be important for Parliament, Government and civil society organisations to further investigate some of the issues raised.  It would appear that South Africa has a sound legal and policy framework for the consolidation of democracy, the progressive realisation of socio-economic rights and the acceleration of development.  The unintended consequences of policy and legislation, service delivery and the capacity of local government may however require more focussed attention" .

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Mrs Sybil Seaton MP:
083 412 0075