the APRM visit of the country mission, Rustenburg Civic Centre
21 July 2006
Introduction
Following immediately after the launch and official handover of the African
Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Self-Assessment Report at the Presidential
Guesthouse and our own provincial process that preceded it, Premier is now
receiving the country mission team to the platinum province.
Process
Premier Molewa will then introduce Members of the Executive Council (MECs)
as well as District Mayors. Premier will briefly allude to the remarkable
nature of the APRM process in the province, culminating in the comprehensive
Provincial Consultative Report. The Premier will remark that our provincial
process was a resounding success distinguished among other things by the widest
possible participation of a cross section of our people including women, the
aged, the youth, people with disabilities, academics, labour and the business
community.
A unique province
Being a mostly rural province, the wide participation of the people of North
West was facilitated by A Re Ageng, the provincial National Economic
Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) styled organisation whose work was
further reinforced by (tribal) volunteers as well as our Community Development
Workers (CDWs).
More uniquely, the North West provincial process of the APRM was also
distinguished by the fact that it is the only province to have actively and
fully involved Bogosi (traditional leadership) throughout the entire process of
the APRM.
Furthermore, our comprehensive APRM Provincial Consultative Report shows
amongst others that we have been very robust in our assessment that we
harboured no secrets and we answered as a province honestly to questions
relating to the four thematic areas of democracy and good political governance,
economic governance and management, corporate governance and socio-economic
development.
Challenges
As thorough going as the provincial process was it exposed the challenges in
the way of high economic growth, sustainable development and sub-regional
economic integration. It would be imperative for Premier to mention a few of
these challenges including high unemployment rate, jobless economic growth,
cheap goods being âdumpedâ into the province and country at the expense of
local manufacturers, low skills base, the challenge of fraud and corruption,
lack of proper mechanisms to monitor credit bureaus and the casualisation of
labour.
Conclusion
Nevertheless, it is safe to conclude that as a province, we have done
remarkably well in the process of the APRM and contributed immensely to the
objectives of fostering the adoption of policies, standards and practices that
lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and
accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through sharing
of experiences and reinforcement of successful and best practice including
identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs of capacity building.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
21 July 2006
