An Eastern Cape-based research body has called on Parliament to occupy the five seats currently allocated to the government in South Africa’s African peer-review mechanism (APRM) governing council.
The APRM governing council for South Africa is currently made up of 15 members — 10 from civil society and five from the executive arm of the government.
However, six seats from the 10 are allocated to people nominated by the Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc), which is an organ of the African Union, said Colm Allan, the director of the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM).
”The PSAM calls on members of Parliament to occupy the five seats allocated to government … otherwise Parliament runs the risk of becoming subject to the executive,” Allan said at public hearings into the APRM.
The PSAM, which has been very critical of the Eastern Cape government, is an independent body based at Rhodes University.
Allan said the PSAM’s concern is the potential dominance of the final APRM review report by members of Cabinet.
He said President Thabo Mbeki and Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, the governing council’s chairperson, insisted on the process being about
governance, not the government.
”The president and the minister … have said that the process is about governance, not government. Yet, when you look at the composition of the governing council, you find that there are no members of Parliament or constitutional oversight bodies, these are the structures associated with governance.
”Instead, you have five serving ministers on that council. That is our primary concern with the potential for executive domination of the process.
”We believe that there is scope for the five members of the executive, which are all serving ministers in the national Cabinet, for them to dominate the governing council,” he said.
Allan said: ”Those of us who have been working on the governance arena in South Africa” after 1994, are ”unfortunately” not familiar with the members of Ecosoc.
”The governing council has also announced that a staff member of the Department of Public Service and Administration would edit the final APRM review report for South Africa, which is a matter of extreme concern for us, particularly given the exclusion of Parliament from the governing council.
”It means ultimately that the executive will have the ability to edit the contents of the final review report, which will have a huge influence on the resulting country plan of action,” Allan said.
Last month’s statement from the Public Service Commission said the ”government has had absolutely nothing to do with the selection of civil society representatives”.
”They represent a diverse cross-section of civil society organisations,” the statement read.
The statement also quoted Fraser-Moleketi as saying that the APRM governing council ”is a midwife to our vision of the future”.
”The governing council needs to ensure that this vision is a representative one shared in all sectors of our society and supported by tangible, practical plans,” the minister said.
The statement said civil society members on the governing council were selected through a process coordinated by Ecosoc.
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla, Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad and Fraser-Moleketi are government representatives on the council. — Sapa