Assessing South Africa’s APRM: An NGO Perspective

This research paper details the efforts of the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) to ensure that access to information and whistleblower protection were included in South Africa's African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) process. It highlights systemic obstacles, including the government's control over the National Governing Council (NGC) and the exclusion of specialist NGOs. Despite these challenges and the removal of key recommendations from the Country Self-Assessment Report (CSAR), ODAC's persistence led to the inclusion of a 'Know Your Rights' campaign and a commitment to review the Protected Disclosures Act in the final, binding Programme of Action (POA).

• The Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) identified significant failures in the implementation of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), noting that 70% of oral requests for information could not be submitted and between 52% and 62% of requests received no response.
• ODAC found that the Protected Disclosures Act (PDA) failed to provide adequate protection for whistleblowers against occupational detriment. A 2004 survey of the top 100 Johannesburg Securities Exchange companies revealed that only 21 had heard of the PDA and none had received training in its administration.

APA

Hutchings, N., Dimba, M., & Tilley, A. (2008). Assessing South Africa’s APRM: An NGO Perspective. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/Occasional-Paper-3.pdf

Chicago

Hutchings, Nick, Mukelani Dimba, and Alison Tilley. Assessing South Africa’s APRM: An NGO Perspective. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2008. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/Occasional-Paper-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hutchings |first1=Nick |last2=Dimba |first2=Mukelani |last3=Tilley |first3=Alison |title=Assessing South Africa’s APRM: An NGO Perspective |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=June 2008 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/Occasional-Paper-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hutchings2008assessing, author = {Hutchings, Nick and Dimba, Mukelani and Tilley, Alison}, title = {{Assessing South Africa’s APRM: An NGO Perspective}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2008}, month = jun, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/Occasional-Paper-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }