An independent peer review report released on Tuesday gives South Africa's party-state relationship the worst possible rating.
“The president should provide particular leadership in making party–state distinctions. Holding office for the entire country, the president needs to guard against the commandeering of state resources for party ends,” says the report.
“The distinction between the state and the political party has become blurred,” adds the document, titled, “Implementing the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Views from Civil Society”.
It was released by the APRM Monitoring Project (AMP) to the Pan African Parliament on Tuesday.
The AMP is run jointly by the SA Institute of International Affairs, the Centre for Policy Studies and the Africa Governance, Monitoring and Advocacy Project.
The report gives red ratings to three categories: party–state separation and relationships, cadre deployment and politicisation of institutions and regulating private funding to political parties.
A red rating is the worst rating and means “no progress has been achieved on addressing the issue; or very little progress has been achieved and the government does not seem to be on track to complete it in the near future”. -
Sapa
