15 May 2007
It is not true that the South African Government has rejected the African
Peer Review mechanism (APRM) report. As the Focal Point and Chairperson of the
National Governing Council leading the APRM in South Africa, the Minister for
the Public Service and Administration, Ms Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, wishes to
correct the inaccurate and reckless weekend media reports and subsequent
comments on the peer review process in South Africa.
The Sunday Times reported on Sunday, 13 May 2007, based on a leaked and
unofficial document, that South Africa has rejected the report by the APRM
Review Team, led by the eminent Nigerian economist, Prof Adebayo Adedeji. That
is patently false. The government has drafted a response to the APRM Review
Team's country review report, as required by the APRM Base Document. According
to the Base Document, the Review Team drafts a report and discusses it with the
government concerned.
"Those discussions", as the Base Document puts it, "will be designed to
ensure the accuracy of the information and to provide the government with an
opportunity both to react to the team's findings and to put forward its own
views on how the identified shortcomings may be addressed."
Government therefore rejects the assertion that its response to the APRM
Review Team, which is in accordance with the requirements of the APRM process,
constitutes an attack on the integrity of the uniquely African initiative. The
South African Government is committed to the APRM process and has been
meticulous in following the requirements of the process to the letter.
South Africa's response to the report of the APRM Review Team is only going
to be tabled at the June/July 2007 summit of the African Union in Accra, Ghana.
Any report already doing the rounds in the media ahead of that summit should be
treated with caution.
For more information, please contact:
Lewis Rabkin
Cell: 082 497 3220
Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
15 May 2007
