8 August 2007
The National Governing Council (NGC) of the African Peer Review Mechanism
(APRM) held a meeting on Tuesday, 7 August 2007. The meeting follows South
Africa's review at the beginning of July 2007 in Ghana by the APR Forum, made
up of participating heads of states and government.
Amongst other things, the meeting discussed the APR Forum meeting that took
place in Accra, Ghana, at the beginning of July 2007, an input by Dr Bernard
Kouassi, Executive Director of the APRM Secretariat who outlined the process of
the release and publication of the Country Report as well as presentations on
the challenges of the APRM Base Document, the Country Review Report and the
Programme of Action (PoA) and way forward.
Members of the NGC, which is chaired by Public Service and Administration
Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi as the Focal Point, welcomed the review and
the recommendations made at the meeting of the participating heads of states
and government.
The NGC members, amongst them government and civil society representatives,
emphasised the need to have South Africa's Review Report released and published
before the six-month period as stipulated in the APRM Base Document.
The South African Government had earlier raised concerns within APRM
structures at the recent APR Forum meeting that the six-month period between
the date of review and publication of the Review Report, as stipulated in the
APRM Base Document, is too long.
Dr Kouassi congratulated South Africa for a successful review and assured
the NGC that South Africa's final report will be released sooner, in September
or early October 2007, as requested by government and the broader NGC.
The delay in getting the report published immediately after the heads of
states meeting, as Dr Kouassi explained to the NGC, is caused by the fact that
the discussions and inputs of the participating heads of states and government
must be included in the final report, together with a foreword by the
chairperson of the APR Forum.
Dr Kouassi said the APRM Secretariat will speed up the process in our case
and interpret the six-month period after which the Review Report must be
released, as stated in the Base Document, to mean within six months of
review.
With regard to what is expected from South Africa in the follow-up stage, Dr
Kouassi said the country will have to focus on implementing the APRM PoA by
aligning it to national development plans, mobilising resources for
implementation, setting up a monitoring and evaluation framework with broad
participation and providing opportunities for sharing of best practices with
other African countries, amongst other things.
There was a strong view amongst members of the NGC that emphasis should now
be put on implementing the APRM PoA. To this effect, they agreed on the need to
set up a workshop that will focus on the structure of the NGC, bringing more
stakeholders into the implementation of the PoA and setting up an inclusive
programme management office to coordinate implementation and reporting back to
the APRM Panel, as required by the APRM Base Document.
The NGC will meet again before the release of the Review Report to take
forward discussions around the implementation of the PoA and setting up or
strengthening the necessary structures.
Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Focal Point and Chairperson of the APRM
National Governing Council
Issued by: Ministry of Public Service and Administration
8 August 2007
