Civil society, business, labour and political parties are set to participate in South Africa’s evaluation under the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).
Representatives of various sectors of society met in Pretoria on Tuesday to discuss their role in the review, expected to cost the country about R8-million.
”We would like to have a situation where the APRM is discussed in taxis, stokvels, academic institutions, schools — any place where people gather,” Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said after the meeting.
Participation would be sought from academics, representatives of bodies protecting citizens’ constitutional rights, the youth, women, religious communities, labour, business, the disabled, the aged, children, non-governmental bodies, civic organisations, cultural communities and professionals.
The process would see input from South Africans and the government going into a self-assessment report, with help from a support mission due to visit next month.
This would culminate in a country-assessment report and programme of action.
The next step would be a national consultative conference to be held on September 28 and 29, followed by provincial conferences and community-level workshops.
Political parties will be invited to the September conference, the minister said.
A draft report and programme of action is scheduled to be discussed at a second national conference planned for late November.
It will then be submitted to the Cabinet for approval.
The first review team was due in South Africa in March or April next year, by which time it was hoped a draft document would be ready, Fraser-Moleketi said.
South Africa’s review report could be submitted to African heads of state towards the middle of next year.
Twenty-three countries have submitted themselves to peer scrutiny on issues of democracy, economic governance and socio-economic development under the APRM process to date.
The South African process will be guided by a special council to be constituted of representatives of the government and civil society.
Apart from the upcoming conferences and workshops, South Africans could also make submissions through the internet or by post, Fraser-Moleketi said.
An APRM questionnaire will be available on the department’s website from Wednesday.
In addition, about 2 000 community development workers are to gather submissions from rural citizens. – Sapa