The Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) acknowledged and recognised the centrality of good governance within the context of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), an innovative mechanism acceded to by member states of the African Union (AU) as a self- monitoring mechanism for good governance. South Africa is one of the countries which acceded to the APRM in 2003. Accordingly, South Africa appointed a National Governing Council (NGC) under the chairpersonship of the Minister of Public Services and Administration as the focal point to develop a strategy to manage the national APRM process. The NGC was constituted of business, the disabled, civil society, churches, trade unions, government and women’s coalitions thus ensuring all relevant stakeholders are represented. As part of South Africa’s country assessment, questionnaires dealing with the four core thematic areas of the APRM were sent through to the public by community development workers. In addition, four technical assessment agencies were appointed to assist in conducting research on the four thematic areas. The primary objective of this study is to examine the theoretical approach to the study and the African Peer Review Mechanism’s contemporary relevance to South Africa, its intended beneficiaries and an assessment of South Africa for the period 2006. The study revealed that Proportional Representation (PR) and floor-crossing have an impact on the sustainability, relevance, long term development, vibrancy and profundity of constitutional democracy in the country. Clearly, since the dawn of the democratic dispensation in South Africa the electoral system introduced is such that it had to take into account the challenges the country faced during the apartheid system of governance. In this context, enough space for free political competition in the country was created. On the basis of the findings of the study, it is patently clear that the time allocated for the CSAR was minimal and the country should have been given at least two years so that the self assessment could have been extensively done. On the issue of HIV and AIDS and its relationship to socio-economic conditions, it was revealed that the country has a lot to do in this regard. The debilitating effect that HIV and AIDS has on the lives of the citizens requires clarity of policy and strategy, consistency in public communication and the need for sustained partnerships amongst all relevant stakeholders. At another level, there was a call for a basic income grant although government does not necessarily support it. Based on the research findings above, a new research area outlined under recommendations can be conceptualized for further research and it requires some attention.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8242 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Sibuyi, Lucas Nkosana |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Arts |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MPhil |
| Format | xiii, 167 leaves ; 30 cm, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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