South Africa’s 2007 African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Review Report (CRR) identified numerous governance challenges. The country committed itself to eradicating these challenges through implementing a National Programme of Action (NPoA). However, seven years later, these challenges persist and the APRM has fallen off the public radar. In January 2014, South Africa launched its third APRM NPoA implementation report, to show what progress has been achieved since the last implementation report in 2011. This policy briefing critically analyses the latest report and comes to the conclusion that, while reporting on APRM matters has improved significantly since the first two efforts, it is still unclear what value the APRM brings to enhancing governance in South Africa. Specifically, failures to link the NPoA to domestic policies and incorporate it in the National Development Plan (NDP) indicate that the APRM is largely being used in a foreign policy context by the government.

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Author: Yarik Turianskyi, South African Institute of International Affairs