Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi should release transcripts of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) meetings to reveal how the report was edited, said the independent Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM) on Wednesday.
Director of the Grahamstown-based PSAM, Colm Allan, said the transcripts of the South African APRM governing council meetings should show ”substantial changes” between the draft and final APRM country self-assessment report and programme of action.
Fraser-Moleketi, governing council chairperson, has denied that the South African executive played any role in ”watering down” the report as PSAM has alleged.
Last week Allan said he had identified 18 actionable recommendations, reached by consensus during the review process to strengthen political and economic governance in South Africa, which were edited out of the final programme of action. The recommendations were made by the independent technical support agencies.
They included bolstering Parliament’s role to exercise oversight of the executive, providing Parliament with the power to amend money bills and reforming party political funding.
Allan said the PSAM believed the country self-assessment report (CSAR) and programme of action were edited by two officials or consultants within Fraser-Moleketi’s department.
”It has been the PSAM’s understanding of the APRM process, as a participant in this process, that the editing of the CSAR and programme of action should have been undertaken under the authority of the South African country review governing council, as opposed to the South African Ministry of Public Service and Administration.”
Allan said the transcripts would ”decisively resolve” how the changes occurred between the draft and the final reports.
He said if the transcripts were not forthcoming, PSAM would consider applying for the information under the Promotion of Access to Information Act. — Sapa