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South Africa

South Africa Mid-Term Report 2016-2018

South Africa’s third action plan addressed issues including public service delivery, budget transparency and access to government data. While most commitments were substantially or fully completed, civil society expressed concerns about the lack of ambition and the recent transition of OGP leadership.

Highlights

Commitment Overview Well-Designed? *
1. Citizen-Based Monitoring Improve public monitoring of services by expanding Citizen-Based Monitoring to Police Service, the Department of Health, and Social Security Agency.

No
2. Open Budgeting Increase public participation in the budgeting processes

No
3. Back to Basics Programme (B2B) Enhance integrity among municipal leaders and improve civic engagement through the Back to Basics (B2B) Programme.

No

* Commitment is evaluated by the IRM as specific, relevant, and has a transformative potential impact

 

Process

The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) facilitated consultation on the third national action plan through community-based meetings and online channels. While diverse civil society stakeholders could participate, their views generally did not inform or influence decision-making on action plan themes and commitments. No multistakeholder forum was created during the first year to monitor implementation.

South Africa did not act contrary to OGP process

A country is considered to have acted contrary to process if one or more of the following occurs:

  • The National Action Plan was developed with neither online or offline engagements with citizens and civil society
  • The government fails to engage with the IRM researchers in charge of the country’s Year 1 and Year 2 reports
  • The IRM report establishes that there was no progress made on implementing any of the commitments in the country’s action plan

Performance

Four of the commitments are complete, and progress in implementing the remainder is mostly substantial. However, some proposed activities had already carried out prior to the official start of the action plan, such as the pilot open data portal (Commitment 6).

IRM Recommendations

  1. Clarify mandate of National OGP Coordinator
  2. Engage civil society in a more inclusive way
  3. Enhance open budgeting efforts
  4. Localise OGP
  5. Promote and expand open data initiatives in high risk areas

Downloads

Filed under: Africa and the Middle East IRM IRM Report IRM Reports National OGP Member Information Report

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