South Africa must handle its self-assessment in terms of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in a way that will benefit the rest of the continent, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.
”It is natural that the rest of the continent will watch this process very carefully. They have expectations of this country that they don’t have of other countries on the continent,” Mbeki said in Midrand.
Speaking on the first day of the consultative process for South Africa’s assessment, Mbeki said such expectations include the way that South Africa carries out its APRM assessment.
”This process should be handled in such a way as to indicate what we mean when we say ‘the people shall govern’ and what we mean when we talk about popular participation”.
He said the self-assessment is to benefit South Africa and the rest of the continent.
”We have an obligation to handle this peer review in a manner that not only points the way forward for ourselves, but also assists the rest of Africa to do the same,” he said.
The national consultative conference on Wednesday and Thursday is to be followed by a round of provincial conferences and community-level workshops, while the entire review process is expected to last nine months.
”We will play our part in engaging the community to participate in this process,” said Laura Kganyago, a member of the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s South African chapter, representing civil society.
Kganyago said the organisation will make every effort to reach all sectors in society to make them aware of the APRM.
She said civil society wants more representation on the APRM’s national governing council (the body overseeing and assisting in the review), as well as the simplification of the assessment questionnaire.
”We are calling for the questionnaire to be simplified so that every South African walking in the streets will be able to make sense of it.”
She asked for the questionnaire to be translated into all 11 official languages and Braille.
Chris Stals, a member of the APRM’s eminent-persons panel, said it has been accepted that the questionnaire be simplified and tailored to the South African situation.
Every African country is different and their questionnaires reflect that, Stals said.
”It must be understood that the APRM did not create a new, external adjudicator to judge countries against some scorecard,” he said.
”Its role is rather that of facilitator and mediator to assist countries in making a self-assessment on the basis of African Union objectives, guidelines provided in the questionnaire and accepted norms and criteria.”
Stals described the APRM as a ”self-monitoring mechanism voluntarily acceded to by member states of the AU with the aim of fostering the adoption of policies, standards and practices that will lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated regional and economic integration”.
South Africa is one of 23 countries participating in the APRM, with more expected to join, said Stals.
Ghana and Rwanda submitted their reports in May, while Kenya and Mauritius’ reports are at an ”advanced stage”.
Stals said it is hoped the reviews of the rest of the countries will be completed in the next two years. — Sapa