This OGP Mid-term Government Self-Assessment Report is submitted in accordance with the requirements of OGP Articles of Governance and the OGP Self-Assessment Report Guidance Note. As such, it focuses on the development of South Africa`s second National Action Plan (NAP2), in particular the consultation processes followed, the relevance and ambitiousness of action plan commitments and progress to date. As per the requirements of the OGP Articles of Governance, South Africa’s NAP2 commitments emanated from extensive consultative processes with citizens and representatives from the business sector and civil society organisations from across the country, including inputs from the National Planning Commission’s Diagnostic Overview (2012) consultation processes. At a horizontal level, these commitments are aimed at directly addressing the four core OGP principles of transparency, civic participation, public accountability, and technology and innovation for openness and accountability. Table 2 (below) lists South Africa’s NAP2 commitments, the measure of success for each commitment, and its interface with the OGP core principles as well as the key democratic governance principles enshrined in the South African Constitution, which is the supreme law of the Republic. TABLE 2: Interface between NAP2 commitments, OGP principles and the constitutional values and principles governing Public Administration in South Africa Commitment Indicator OGP Principles RSA Constitution Development and Integrity Framework Enhance accountability to A high standard of implementation of an developed and approved promote the highest professional ethics must be standards of professional promoted and maintained Management Framework integrity throughout the [Chapter 10, 195(1)(a)] for Public Servants public service Service Delivery established in the 9 Enhance citizen People`s needs must be Improvement Forums provinces to monitor public participation and citizen responded to, and the public service delivery monitoring to promote must be encouraged to accountability in service participate in policy-making delivery. [Chapter 10, 195(1)(e) Know Your Service Rights Enhance the capacity and Enhance knowledge of Public administration must be and Responsibilities capabilities of communities to legal frameworks for development-orientated Campaign access socio-economic accountability, [Chapter 10, 195(1)(c)] rights transparency and citizen participation in public service delivery matters Develop a comprehensive An integrated and publicly Harness the power of new Transparency must be and publicly accessible accessible portal of technologies increase fostered by providing the portal of environmental environmental management access to information and public with timely, accessible management information information promote transparency and accurate information [Chapter 10, 195(1) (g)]
This OGP Mid-term Government Self-Assessment Report is submitted in accordance with the requirements of OGP Articles of Governance and the OGP Self-Assessment Report Guidance Note. As such, it focuses on the development of South Africa`s second National Action Plan (NAP2), in particular the consultation processes followed, the relevance and ambitiousness of action plan commitments and progress to date. As per the requirements of the OGP Articles of Governance, South Africa’s NAP2 commitments emanated from extensive consultative processes with citizens and representatives from the business sector and civil society organisations from across the country, including inputs from the National Planning Commission’s Diagnostic Overview (2012) consultation processes. At a horizontal level, these commitments are aimed at directly addressing the four core OGP principles of transparency, civic participation, public accountability, and technology and innovation for openness and accountability. Table 2 (below) lists South Africa’s NAP2 commitments, the measure of success for each commitment, and its interface with the OGP core principles as well as the key democratic governance principles enshrined in the South African Constitution, which is the supreme law of the Republic. TABLE 2: Interface between NAP2 commitments, OGP principles and the constitutional values and principles governing Public Administration in South Africa Commitment Indicator OGP Principles RSA Constitution Development and implementation of an Management Framework for Public Servants Integrity Framework developed and approved Enhance accountability to promote the highest standards of professional integrity throughout the public service A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained [Chapter 10, 195(1)(a)] Service Delivery Improvement Forums established in the 9 provinces to monitor public service delivery Enhance citizen participation and citizen monitoring to promote accountability in service delivery. People`s needs must be responded to, and the public must be encouraged to participate in policy-making [Chapter 10, 195(1)(e) Know Your Service Rights and Responsibilities Campaign Enhance the capacity and capabilities of communities to access socio-economic rights Enhance knowledge of legal frameworks for accountability, transparency and citizen participation in public service delivery matters Public administration must be development-orientated [Chapter 10, 195(1)(c)] Develop a comprehensive and publicly accessible portal of environmental management information An integrated and publicly accessible portal of environmental management information Harness the power of new technologies increase access to information and promote transparency Transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information [Chapter 10, 195(1) (g)]
South-Africa_MidTerm-Self-Assessment-Report_May%202015.docx