FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 07 February 2022
GOOD GOVERNANCE IS ESSENTIAL FOR PEACE AND PROSPERITY
Dear Fellow South African,
Over the past weekend, at the 35th African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government, South Africa’s two-year chairship of the African Peer Review Forum came to an end.
The Forum is one of the structures of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which aims to promote and protect human rights, consolidate democracy and advance good governance and the rule of law among African countries.
Of the African Union’s 55 member states, 42 are now members of the APRM. In the last two months, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi became the most recent countries to join the mechanism. Efforts are underway to encourage all remaining AU member states to join by the end of this decade.
The APRM encourages best practice for political, social and economic stability, while helping to address governance deficiencies by providing a National Programme of Action for each state concerned.
In essence, the APRM is a voluntary arrangement among participating states “to assess and review governance at Head of State peer level”. By joining the APRM, states agree to independently review their compliance with continental and international governance commitments.
South Africa was one of the first countries to join the APRM in 2003 and has undergone two assessments. Our most recent assessment was last year, where
we were assessed on democratic and political governance, economic management, corporate governance, socio-economic development and state resilience.
Our country received favourable reviews for, among others, the rule of law, oversight bodies like our Chapter 9 institutions, the advancement of women’s rights, strong refugee protection and our extensive social welfare net.
South Africa was also cited for its strong corporate governance, open budget processes and for the proliferation of corporate social responsibility initiatives.
We were also praised for the evolution of our electoral system through the introduction of independent candidature for last year’s local government elections.
With regards to management of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa was congratulated for demonstrating resilience and global leadership. The APRM Review Mission further commended South Africa for publicising its detection of the Omicron variant late last year, “despite the risks to its economy”.
But the assessment also found several areas of concern. These include rising inequality and unemployment, corruption, incidents of xenophobia and poor service delivery. It recommended that government develop a barometer to measure inequality and tools to measure the efficacy of transformative programmes such as broad-based black economic empowerment, employment equity and land reform.
As a country, we are taking these recommendations on board and exploring areas of alignment between the APRM National Programme of Action and the work of our National Planning Commission.
It is greatly encouraging that despite pockets of instability, we have come a long way in consolidating democracy and good governance on the continent.
The Africa Governance Report 2021, which South Africa presented to the AU Assembly over the weekend, noted progress in consolidating democracy and moving towards economic integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area. At the same time, it recommended that leaders take urgent steps to address drivers of instability, such as growing youth unemployment, extremism, mass migration and deepening inequality.
Because participation is voluntary, the APRM seeks to encourage good governance through self-assessment and peer review. Member states are encouraged to work towards compliance by addressing deficiencies and implementing their national programmes of action.
While the APRM is not punitive, the African Union has itself taken decisive positions on states whose actions undermine the principles of the AU Charter and the AU’s Agenda 2063.
For example, following coups last year, Mali, Guinea and Sudan’s membership of the AU were suspended. Last week, the AU also suspended Burkina Faso’s membership following a coup in the West African nation.
At the founding of the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor to the AU, in 1963, Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrumah issued a clear warning to Africa’s leaders: “Our people supported us in our fight for independence because they believed that African governments could cure the ills of the past… if now that we are independent we allow the same conditions to exist that existed in colonial days, all the resentment which overthrew colonialism will be mobilised against us.”
The APRM is one of the most important responses of Africa’s leaders to this danger.
Just as South Africa’s fortunes are inextricably tied to those of the continent, we are also inevitably affected by political, economic and other forms of instability in Africa. This makes our participation in the African Peer Review Mechanism all the more critical.
We share a responsibility, alongside our sister countries, to strengthen good governance in Africa. After all, good governance brings investment, development, peace, progress and, ultimately, shared prosperity.
With best regards,
President Cyril Ramaphosa
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 31 January 2022
NEW LAWS STRENGTHEN THE FIGHT AGAINST GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Dear Fellow South African,
Late last year, I received a letter from a group of concerned citizens calling on the government to protect the women and children of this country from violence.
Pointing to an increase in rape and sexual assault, they wrote that as women they continue to live in fear; they are losing their faith in the law. I was deeply moved and touched by their account of the fear that the women of our country are subjected to on a daily basis.
In response to the suffering that women and children are subjected to we have passed laws designed to protect them. But despite penalties to remove perpetrators from society, women and children continue to suffer and die.
I called an emergency Joint Sitting of Parliament in September 2019, where I called on lawmakers to prioritise tightening existing laws and policies around gender-based violence.
I am pleased that despite the significant disruptions caused to the Parliamentary programme by the COVID-19 pandemic, our parliamentarians have passed laws that will strengthen existing provisions around gender-based violence.
Last week, I signed into law three pieces of legislation that honour our promises to strengthen the criminal justice system, promote accountability across the state and put support for survivors at the centre of all our efforts.
The new Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act protects the vulnerable from secondary victimisation by allowing courts to appoint intermediaries through which a minor, a disabled person or an elderly person can be examined in proceedings.
It also allows for the extended use of evidence by means of an audio-visual link. This helps to shield a witness against harm, prevent unreasonable delays and save costs in proceedings.
At the Joint Sitting of Parliament, I said that the state should oppose bail for suspects charged with the rape and murder of women and children.
The new law significantly tightens up our bail regime.
A prosecutor who does not oppose bail in designated cases must have their reasons placed on record. The court must consider any threats of violence made against the complainant and the complainant’s view of their own safety. Unless the court is satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist that warrant release on bail, bail must be denied.
In the Joint Sitting of Parliament, I also said that we need to give greater protection to those who are more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, particularly those living with disabilities.
The new Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act outlaws sexual exploitation and grooming of persons with mental disabilities, and provides that sexual offences against persons who are mentally disabled must be recorded in the National Register of Sex Offenders (NRSO).
We have responded to calls to tighten up the management of the National Register of Sex Offenders. Those who have been convicted of sex crimes against children or mentally disabled persons, have previous convictions in this respect, and have been sentenced to terms longer than 18 months can only apply to have their names removed from the register after 20 years.
The Act further regulates the reporting duty of people who are aware that sexual offences have been committed against vulnerable persons.
The new Domestic Violence Amendment Act takes account of some of the complexities in violent domestic relationships.
We have tightened up the process of obtaining protection orders, and broadened the circumstances under which they can be applied for. We have addressed the issue of women and children being victimised despite having, or being in process of applying for, a protection order.
If a court believes a complainant is in imminent danger it can issue a protection order immediately without needing to give a respondent notice of the proceedings. Significantly, if the court releases someone charged with domestic violence on bail who does not have a protection order granted against them, the court must issue one after holding an enquiry. When the court issues a protection order it must at the same time authorise the issuing of an arrest warrant, suspended, that must be provided to the South African Police Service (SAPS).
If a SAPS member suspects a complainant is in danger due to breach of the order, they must arrest the respondent immediately.
The Act now expressly protects the elderly from all forms of domestic violence, and also permits complainants to apply for protection orders online, saving them time and travel costs. To protect complainants against further abuse, the court may an issue a Safety Monitoring Notice that will require a member of SAPS to be in constant contact with the complainant without the knowledge of the abuser.
I have repeatedly said that we should not allow survivors of gender-based violence to be further traumatised by the legal system.
Survivors of gender-based violence often complain of ill-treatment or disregard for their concerns when they lay complaints at police stations. SAPS members who fail to comply with their obligations under the new law will be guilty of misconduct.
This puts into law the principle that violence against women and children is everyone’s responsibility. When a woman or child is beaten, hurt, raped, assaulted or killed, it is a shame on us all. It is even worse if we knew it was taking place and could have prevented it.
We must educate those suffering in silence about their rights and how to exercise them. Let us use these law laws to empower and protect women and children and ensure that those responsible are held accountable.
Three years ago, in March 2019, I officially opened the new Sexual Offences Court in Booysens, Johannesburg.
I remember sitting in the court benches I was opening, thinking just how intimidating and traumatic it must be for a survivor of rape, sexual assault or domestic violence to navigate the court system. I thought about how much worse this must be if the complainant is a child, has a disability or has endured abuse over a prolonged period, and if the perpetrator is someone close to them.
Leaving an abusive relationship is never easy. But as the government, we have promised to provide the legal protection and support an abused person needs for themselves, their children and those close to them.
The passage of these new laws is a step in this direction. But it is not the solution. We must prevent violence and abuse from happening in the first place.
Working together as a society, we must use our voice, our agency and our reserves of courage to forever end the violence perpetrated by men against women and children.
With best regards,
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
Monday, 24 January 2022
SCIENCE AND INNOVATION VITAL FOR OUR ECONOMIC RECOVERY
As the country strives to recover from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing science and innovation playing a far more prominent role both in our efforts to overcome the disease and rebuild our economy.
Last week I attended the launch of a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing campus in Cape Town. The facility forms part of a multi-million rand investment by the multinational technology company NANTWorks, which is headed by South African born scientist Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong.
South Africa already has advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities in companies like Aspen Pharmacare, Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines and Biovac Institute, which is a public-private initiative.
These projects will greatly aid South Africa in our quest to become a hub of scientific innovation, research and development, especially in vaccine manufacturing for COVID-19, cancer, tuberculosis and other future pandemics.
Thousands of miles away, in Cape Canaveral in the United States, the aerospace company SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched three SA-made nanosatellites into space. The satellites form part of a project to detect, identify and monitor shipping vessels along our coastline.
These are just some of the projects that demonstrate how science and technology have a key role to play in our economic recovery, in attracting greater levels of investment, and in contributing to skills, knowledge and technology transfer to capacitate our country’s workforce.
We are therefore prioritising investment in science, technology and innovation to revitalise and modernise existing industries, as well as to create new sources of growth and stimulate industrialisation. There is huge potential in agriculture, mining, energy and manufacturing, among others.
This is an area where, as government, we have been pursuing several collaborative partnerships with the private sector and academia to broaden the frontiers of scientific endeavour.
We have, for example, undertaken projects around hydrogen, energy storage and renewable energy. We have supported emerging farmers through the Agricultural Bio-Innovation Partnership Programme. Government also has funding partnerships with a number of South African universities in the field of nanotechnology development.
We are looking far into space by enhancing the capabilities of the South African Square Kilometre Array radio telescope project and supporting a number of new discoveries using the MeerKAT telescope. At the same time we are using science to support and guide municipalities to plan for and assess the risks of climate change.
We are looking at how to harness new technologies for development, such as using 3D printing to build houses.
To build on our successes and forge ahead with our transformation to a truly digital economy and society, we rely on a combination of technical skill and intellectual enterprise.
Visiting the Biomedical Research Institute at the University of Stellenbosch last week, for which our government has invested R300 million, it was not so much the impressive laboratories that inspired awe, but rather the human skills and capabilities that had enabled such innovative research.
We need solid investment in skills development in these different industries, and a firm commitment to increase the number of students studying science, if we are to promote scientific excellence and its attendant economic benefits.
We will therefore continue to support initiatives such as the Grassroots Innovation Programme of the Department of Science and Innovation, which provides support to local innovators to develop their concepts, create prototypes and commercialise their ideas. There is also the Imvelisi Enviropreneurs Programme that has boot-camps and business mentoring for innovators in the green economy, and a host of other incubation initiatives being piloted on campuses across the country in areas such as deep learning, artificial intelligence and data science.
As we strive to harness science, technology and innovation in the cause of economic growth, we must provide all the necessary support to innovators and become a country that nurtures great ideas.
As we have demonstrated during the course of this pandemic, South Africa is more than capable of holding its own in the international scientific community. Through the combination of our established scientific infrastructure and expertise, new investment in research and development and support to budding innovators, we will and are able to propel our country into the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
And most importantly, we will be able to more effectively use technology to grow our economy, create jobs and improve people’s lives.
With best regards,
STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR SEOKOLO AT THE SECOND MEETING OF THE OPEN-ENDED WORKING GROUP ON SITES OF MEMORIES ASSOCIATED WITH RECENT CONFLICTS
*The Open-ended Working Group was established to consider the views of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention on whether these sites do reflect the spirit of the World Heritage Convention as well as the objectives of UNESCO.
FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT
On the first day of 2022, the nation gathered in spirit to bid farewell to Archbishop Desmond Tutu at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. It was a moment of great sadness as we recalled the life and contribution of a beloved compatriot who was, in many ways, the moral conscience of our nation. At the same time, his funeral was a celebration of the values he stood for. It was a celebration of the great unity and diversity of our people, and a reminder of the sacrifices made by so many to achieve our democracy.
On the second day of 2022, the country watched on in horror as a huge fire engulfed our Parliament, just a hundred metres from where we had gathered the day before to pay our last respects to Archbishop Tutu.
The fire, which spread quickly through the buildings that house both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, took days to fully extinguish. We are relieved that there was no loss of life and that no-one was injured in the fire. We are extremely grateful to the firefighters who battled the blaze and finally extinguished it.
The investigations into the cause of the fire are now underway. We need to ensure that these investigations are thorough and concluded without delay. The country needs to know what happened.
Arrangements are being made to ensure that the work of Parliament can continue even if the buildings cannot be used. It is vital that Parliament continues to consider and pass laws that will transform society and continues to provide oversight and ensure accountability as government works to implement the mandate it received from the people.
Apart from the close proximity of St George’s Cathedral and Parliament, what connects these two events is that each reminds us of what brings us together as South Africans: our democracy.
We mourn Desmond Tutu because he was the spiritual father of our democracy. We despair at the devastation of our Parliamentary buildings because they are the seat of our democracy. They are the place where our new democratic Constitution was adopted just over 25 years ago, and where hundreds of transformative laws have been passed.
We may not always recognise it, but the fire at Parliament demonstrated how strongly South Africans feel about their democracy. It is a reminder also of how important it is that we work to strengthen and defend that democracy.
While the Parliamentary buildings have been damaged beyond use, the institution of Parliament continues its work in the service of the people. This is an important reminder that our democratic institutions are not defined by the buildings that house them, but by the work they do and by the confidence that the people have in them.
This is true of all the institutions of our democracy.
Just as the fire in Parliament was finally being extinguished, Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo submitted the first part of the report of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. This part of the report details how several public institutions were infiltrated, looted and severely damaged. These include state owned enterprises like South African Airways, the Government Communication and Information System and the South African Revenue Service.
This part of the report paints a deeply disturbing picture of how key institutions of our democracy were compromised and undermined with criminal intent. Not only were significant amounts of money stolen, but these institutions were not able to properly fulfil the functions for which they were established.
The findings and recommendations of the Zondo Commission will help the country to rebuild these institutions and to hold those responsible to account. We must ensure that we use them to safeguard these institutions into the future so that they may never be captured again.
The things that we have read in the Zondo Commission report should strengthen our resolve to defend the institutions of our democracy, all the entities of our state and, indeed, our democratic constitutional order.
We must safeguard against any and all efforts to diminish our hard-won democracy – whether these efforts take the form of corruption in state owned enterprises, the subversion of our law enforcement agencies, the sabotage of our economic infrastructure, or attacks on the independence and integrity of our judiciary.
We need to protect our Constitution, our democratic state and the electoral process from anyone who wants to weaken our democracy and deny the South African people of their hard-won freedom.
As we head into a new year, there are many challenges that we must confront as we work to rebuild and recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As we do so, let us draw strength and encouragement from our deep dedication to our democracy and our common desire to build a nation that is united, free and equal.
I wish you all the best for the year ahead.