Pretoria - KwaZulu-Natal on Monday hosted a consultative summit of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), one of many consultations being held countrywide.
The consultations are being held in preparation for the submission of a progress report on the implementation of the National Programme of Action (NPoA) of the APRM.
The APRM is a mutually agreed instrument voluntarily acceded to by the African Union member States as an African self-monitoring mechanism.
District Mayor of Umgungundlovu, Councillor Yusuf Bhamjee, said the consultative session was a major event in the APRM’s 10th anniversary and that “the APRM is an important tool to reach Africa”.
He said discussions centred on issues related to HIV and Aids, Tuberculosis, unemployment and inequality, adding that these were holding Africa as a whole back from a better life for all.
The mayor pledged that the province will throw its weight behind the implementation of the National Programme of Action to ensure the success of the APRM.
Speaking on the purpose of the session, Dudu Mhlongo-Ngidi from the National Governing Council (NGC), said the session would be “a tool to assess service delivery” in preparation for the third country progress report.
The APRM was adopted by the African Heads of State and Government as a systematic peer learning and self-assessment mechanism based on the NEPAD Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance adopted at the inaugural Summit of the African Union in Durban, 2002.
The mandate of the APRM is to ensure that the policies and practices of participating states conform to the agreed political, economic and corporate governance values, codes and standards on democracy, political, economic and corporate governance.
The primary purpose of the APRM is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through sharing of experiences and reinforcement of successful and best practices.
The country will present its third progress report on the implementation of the NPoA at the African Union Summit of Heads of States and Government (HOSG) of APRM participating countries in May 2013.
Feedback from the KwaZulu-Natal provincial consultative summit will input to South Africa’s third progress report on the implementation of the National Programme of Action. – SAnews.gov.za
