Excellencies Heads of State and Government,
Honourable Ministers,
The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), is one of the most important and innovative instruments of the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
It is important because it encourages African nation states to not only make undertakings about good governance but to work hard to make this pledge a reality.
We have great honour therefore to subject ourselves to this important exercise, and to share with our peers what we think we have achieved over the past few years, in pursuit of the objectives enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union.
This our second APRM report since we went through the peer review process in July 2007, in Accra, Ghana.
It covers the period January 2009 to September 2010, a period covered largely by electoral activities and the establishment of the fourth democratic administration, following the successful fourth national general elections held in April 2009.
We submit this report against the APRM thematic areas to the effect that:
- We continue to do our best to implement the country’s constitutional obligations of good governance.
- We strive for sound economic governance and management which yields favourable conditions for economic growth.
- We strive for good corporate governance to transform the manner in which government, business and other entities are managed.
The declaration of the 2009 elections as free and fair by Africa and the world further confirms that we have become a well-functioning democracy in a comparatively short space of time, since the first historic general elections of 1994.
We have consolidated our democracy, which is underpinned by the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law and the promotion of human rights.
We have also since the dawn of freedom and democracy striven to build a State that unites all the people of our country in their diversity.
Therefore, the years 2009 and 2010 have been characterised by intensive work to help us take forward our mission of building a united, non-sexist, non-racial, democratic and prosperous South Africa, building on the success of previous administrations.
Excellencies,
Our Constitution is unique in that its Bill of Rights enshrines socio-economic rights such as access to basic services.
This enjoins the State to work harder to ensure that all citizens enjoy these rights. Therefore faster and improved service delivery is the driving force of the fourth administration.
We have to ensure that the wonderful policies that our government develops translate into programmes that improve the quality of life of our people.
For this period, our main focus is on five priorities, namely:
- Creating decent jobs;
- Promoting quality education;
- Promoting rural development;
- Fighting corruption and
- Delivering quality health services.
To achieve our goals, we had to change the way government works in order to improve the delivery of services.
We introduced a comprehensive performance monitoring and evaluation programme across government, with new innovations such as the signing of performance and delivery agreements by Cabinet Ministers.
Another new development was the establishment of a National Planning Commission.
The Commission will produce a national plan that encompasses a range of issues that impact on our long term development.
These include water security, climate change, food security, energy security, infrastructure planning, human resource development, defence and security matters, the structure of the economy, spatial planning, demographic trends and a host of others.
This exercise will enable us to make government’s long-term policies and plans more coherent and focused on achieving the prosperous society we envisage.
The period under review was also characterised by the global economic recession which affected many countries including ours. Although many jobs were lost, South Africa was able to weather the storm.
Through working together as government, business, labour and the community sector, we were able to come up with mechanisms that enabled us to assist companies in distress and to save many other jobs that would otherwise have been lost.
Of course, the highlight of 2010 for South Africa and indeed Africa was the hosting of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup tournament for the first time on African soil.
We were quite honoured to be offered the opportunity to host this event on behalf of the African continent.
We appreciate the support received from our brothers and sisters in the continent. Many Heads of State and Government took time off to attend the opening and closing ceremonies and some of the games.
We issued an invitation here in Addis Ababa to all Heads of State and Government to join us for the World Cup tournament, and were very humbled by the support and attendance.
This support demonstrated that the entire continent was the host.
We wanted a World Cup that would contribute to national social cohesion as well as continental pride and which would enhance African solidarity. Our expectations were exceeded.
A new era of Afro-optimism and confidence has swept across the continent and the world due to the success of the World Cup event. All Africans felt proud of themselves.
A most tangible legacy that must come out of the World Cup is education. We came together as a number of Heads of State and Government on the 11th of July to launch the One Goal Education Campaign, which was a rallying cry of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
We trust that going forward; all of us will work harder to ensure that every African child is able to go to school.
Although the FIFA World Cup tournament came to South Africa and it is gone, the successful story about South Africa as hosts of the tournament is a lasting legacy.
We proved the doomsayers wrong and proved that an African country was capable of hosting the event.
As a result of hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, infrastructure development received a major boost which includes integrated transport system that responds to travel demand both nationally and internationally.
Presently, the country has ten well-developed stadia which can cater for any major event that the country is assigned to host.
Excellencies,
We present this report at a time when our country is preparing for the third Local Government elections. We have no doubt that the elections will be conducted in an environment that is free and fair as have all elections since 1994 in our country.
Once again we thank the Heads of State and Government for ongoing support as we transform our country, undoing the legacy of decades of colonialism and apartheid oppression.
We also thank all who assisted us in this review process, especially Professor Adebayo Adedeji, the former Chairperson of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons and a lead Panellist who has presided over the assessment processes of our country since we acceded to the APRM.
He announced his retirement last year but continued to share his time and experience with the APR processes in the SADC Region.
Your Excellencies,
It is my honour to commend this Second Report of the Republic of South Africa to the APRM Forum.
I thank you.
Source: The Presidency
