for scrutiny
3 July 2006
The Provincial Peer Review Mechanism report has been submitted to the
national African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) secretariat to assess the
province's performance in accordance with the country assessment report.
This was said by Premier Mbhazima Shilowa in his officeâs budget vote in the
legislature recently. âThe people of Gauteng have given us a mandate to join
hands with them in a people's contract to create work and fight poverty. While
the role of government in this regard is clear, we need to pay more attention
to the role of civil society in social transformation. This emerged strongly
during the process of consultation, with stakeholders and citizens across the
province, to assess our performance as a society as part of the African Peer
Review Mechanism process,â said Shilowa.
Shilowa said the report had been submitted in March after the province
participated in a national consultative conference as part of the process
towards the development of the APRM country report.
He said the province would be hosting the APRM Country Support Mission under
leadership of Prof Adebayo Adedeji of Nigeria later this month. The mission is
expected to engage with stakeholders on the country report before releasing
their report in August.
"The process highlighted the need to strengthen civil society in order to
improve its capacity to contribute towards the deepening of democracy and
social transformation in general. We will continue to forge ahead in
strengthening opportunities for civil society participation in governance,
including through consultation forums and initiatives such as Izimbizo, ward
committees and the like", said Shilowa.
The APRM is a system introduced by the African Union to help countries
improve their governance. It is a way of looking forward, while taking account
of where we are today. Participation in the system is voluntary. A panel of
eminent persons appointed by the APRM Secretariat oversees its implementation
throughout Africa. South Africa's APRM process is overseen by the APRM
Governing Council, which has 10 civil society members and five from Government.
It is led by the Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine
Fraser-Moleketi.
Last year Shilowa established a team to drive the ARPM process in the
province. The team includes MECs: Nomvula Mokonyane, Qedani Mahlangu, Firoz
Cachalia and Paul Mashatile.
The processes to review progress and performance were kick-started last year
to assess democracy and political governance, economic governance and
management and corporate governance in the province and the country as a whole.
Several provincial consultative conferences and meetings were held since
November last year.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
3 July 2006
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.gpg.gov.za)
