Open Data Transparency across the three spheres of government (ZA0028)

Brief Description of the Commitment:
a) Recapping from the previous National Action Plans, South Africa continues to strive to seek ways to provide public access to government data, thus promoting accountability. However, fundamental issues persist with connecting transparency to meaningful public participation that has the potential to be transformative and that ensures accountability of the government.
b) With the adoption by the Cabinet of the APRM-OGP complementarity, one of the APRM’s thematic areas on “democracy and political governance” has identified “promoting the rule of law, re-inforcing accountability and combating corruption” as critical issues.
c) Working together with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Centre for the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), this commitment seeks to facilitate the development and eventual adoption of a common framework/ protocol with the metropolitan municipalities for the sharing of open data.
d) The engagement with the metropolitan municipalities will thus pilot the development and eventual adoption of a common framework/ protocol for sharing open data with six metropolitan municipalities, as a precursor to the eventual adoption of the national framework/ protocol on open data sharing across the three spheres of government in South Africa.

What problem does the commitment aim to address?

1.1 South Africa’s APRM Second Generation Review Report dated February 2022 APRM Review Report clearly identifies the challenge of corruption and its association with ineffective accountability as a topical issue. Since corruption depletes the capacity of the state to deliver on its mandate, the issue of corruption affects all levels of society.
1.2 The impact of corruption on the ability of the government to deal with unemployment, poverty, and inequality means that the poor are the most affected by the impact of corruption on the country’s fiscus.
1.3 Hence Open Data Transparency across the three spheres of government is an essential feature of reinforcing the accountability of the public representatives.
1.4 The communities/ citizens of South Africa are affected, especially those civil organizations who track the corruption in the government departments. Thus, the lack of a common framework/ protocol among the three of government on sharing of open data, creates challenges for those who seek to hold the government to account. 1.5 Cities generate a significant amount of data that is useful to citizens. However, this information is often hidden from public view and is confined in line department archives or is difficult to access.

What are the causes of the problem?

The causes of the problem are multifaceted, though the APRM Review Report has among others identified the causes of corruption and lack of accountability as being exacerbated by weaknesses in the institutions that are meant to hold government accountable, inadequate consequent management in the public administration, insufficient capacity by the civil society to hold the government accountable. Another cause is that at the city level there are often no open data framework guidelines for the implementation of open data and hence the need for a project of this nature

What has been done so far to solve the problem?

The CSIR has done the baseline work of developing a draft Framework/ Protocol on Open Data sharing, working with the metropolitan municipalities. The baseline work now needs to be taken further to the rest of the government.

What solution are you proposing?

The CSIR engagement with the metropolitan municipalities will thus pilot the development and eventual adoption of a common framework/ protocol for open data sharing with six metropolitan municipalities, which should serve as a precursor for the eventual adoption of the national framework/ protocol on open data sharing across the three spheres of government in South Africa.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment?

The eventual adoption of a National Framework/ Protocol on Open Data sharing in South Africa, which is informed by the pilot conducted at the metropolitan municipalities.

Commitment Analysis:

1. How will the commitment promote transparency? Refer to the Commitment Description in paragraph 1 to 3 above. One of the key principles of Open Data is that data will be Open by Default and there will be Citizen Engagement and Inclusivity. The Open Data Policy will specify data sets that will be free to access by citizens. It will also highlight formal civil society engagement initiatives coupled with recommended mechanisms and tools for citizen engagement and feedback.
2. How will the commitment help foster accountability? Refer to the Problem Definition in 1 and 2 above. The identified data will include all sorts data specifically related to Services. These data sets will be free to access via an open data portal. Citizens will therefore be more proactively informed on data relating to service; thus creating a platform for proactive engagement and resolving challenges.
3. How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions? Access to data empowers citizens to know what is happening and enables them to hold government to account and thus deal with corruption, among others. As mentioned in 1 above, one of the key Open Data Principles is Citizen Engagement. This principle endures the effective engagement of civil society at large.

Commitment Planning:

Milestones:
1. Dialogue initiated with six metropolitan municipalities on the adoption on Open Data Sharing Framework/ Protocol
2. Municipal Councils of all six metropolitan municipalities have endorsed Open Data Sharing Framework/ Protocol 3. National Open Data Sharing Framework/ Protocol dialogue initiated
Expected Outputs:
Consensus reached on a common Framework/ Protocol All six metropolitan municipalities have the Open Data Sharing Framework /Protocol implemented Draft National Open Data Sharing Framework/ Protocol agreed with national stakeholders