The APRM process in South Africa

This report reviews the process of implementing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in South Africa. It focuses on the national process leading to the adoption of a country self-assessment and on the roles of the various stakeholders.

The paper raises a number of findings, including:

• A notable challenge confronting the process in South Africa was the dominant role played by the government
  
• Public participation was also limited by logistical shortcomings and a lot of concentration was put on consultations with townspeople
  
• The salient weakness was the government’s gross underestimation of the time, work and research involved in completing the country self-assessment report (CSAR)
  
• Civil Society Organisations were poorly prepared for the APRM process, and few had a complete understanding of what it entailed.

The authors also offer a number of recommendations/ conclusions including:

• Accelerating the delivery of services such as health care and education, particularly to the poor and addressing corruption, crime, improving access to justice for all and there should be greater communication between government and civil society on the delivery of social services
  
• Several institutions should be established at national level to implement the APRM’s objectives and ensure that the self- assessment process is satisfactorily completed
  
• The APRM process was flawed by too great a level of government control and its commitment to the idea of the APRM may have been more symbolic than real
  
• The self-assessment exercises provided the government and civil society with an opportunity to debate and reflect on governance issues though they may not have had a common understanding of the purpose and nature of the APRM process
  
• South Africa continues to experience difficulty in fulfilling some of the requirements of democracy and good governance, however, the sustainability of the process rests on South Africa’s seeing the APRM as a valuable and relevant initiative.