President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, of Indonesia;
President Peña Nieto, of Mexico;
OGP civil society co-chairs;
OGP community of nations;
OGP partners;
Distinguished delegates;

I rise on behalf of the people of South Africa with whom we have
worked hard in the last twenty years to build a truly, democratic and
free society.

We are proud of the remarkable progress we have made, though we still
have many challenges to address.

We pride ourselves of the fact that since 1994 our country has been
electing its governments through the popular will of the people.

Our Constitution, which was designed with the solemn idea of bringing
about a particular value system on which South African society could
develop and prosper, continues to guide our work as government.

Our democracy is based on the rule of law, transparency and openness;
it guarantees the freedom of expression, including freedom of the
press and other media.

Apart from having an effective separation of powers, which ensures
healthy checks and balances among the three arms of the state, we have
another distinct feature in our system; namely institutions supporting
our constitutional democracy.

Over the past twenty years, we have made every effort to fully
integrate into the world; playing a significant role in global
political and economic affairs.

We recognise the need to build and maintain sound international
solidarity around issues of open governance which are fundamental in
our efforts to address the burden of poverty, inequality and
unemployment.

Therefore our engagement with the international community is a vital
part of our strategy to construct broad partnerships for development
through clean governance.

These partnerships, in our view, must move from the premise that all
countries have a role to play in world affairs.

YourExcellencies;

As the incoming OGP co-chair, we are alive to the calls from people
all over the world for more transparent, responsive, accountable and
effective government; and for greater civil society participation in
public affairs.

It is in this connection that the chairs of the OGP are required to
safeguard the values and principles of the partnership as well as to
strengthen government-citizen relations.

Our appreciation of the role that South Africa will endeavour to
mobilise all countries participating in the partnership around a
common vision of promoting open governance as an important lever of
sustainable development.

We are inspired by the progress this partnership has made, as well as
by the theme for this year’s United Nations General Assembly, on whose
margins this meeting has been convened, which is:
"Delivering on and Implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda".

South Africa will advocate for governance with a ‘human face’; in
other words, the pursuit of open governance to produce the results of
ethics, equity, inclusion, human security, and sustainable
development.

Any pursuit of open governance must respond to the needs of the
voiceless; the marginalised in society; especially women, the youth
and people with disabilities.

At the same time our endeavours must necessarily benefit from the
ideas of these people as part of deepening public participation.

South Africa believes that open governance is not necessarily an easy
ideal to achieve in totality. It requires on-going and sustained
commitment.

YourExcellencies
As one of the founding members of the OGP we are happy that, within
just three years, membership to this partnership has grown from 8 to
64 countries.

We are also appreciative of the growth of civil society organisations
that are actively participating in OGP country processes.

We must also state that it is impressive to note that a number of
countries working on their second OGP action plans are making
significant improvements from the first plans, thus signalling the
seriousness with which they take Independent Review Mechanisms (IRM).
We, however, are strongly of the view that a need exists to spell out
in clearer detail the mandate of the IRM, so that this mechanism does
not, unwittingly, extend to issues which fall outside the scope of OGP
country commitments.
It is equally important to continue articulating the character and
nature of the OGP as a non-binding voluntary initiative.
The character of the OGP should, therefore, direct participating
countries to adopt a negotiation, persuasion and consensus approach.
YourExcellencies;

As South Africa we are deeply humbled and honoured by the confidence
shown in us to play a leading role in the OGP.

We are, however, hopeful, that the collective of everybody in the OGP
stands ready to support both lead chair (Mexico) and ourselves as the
co-chair in discharging our responsibilities to the world.

I thank you.