Accession to the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance: briefing by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation
International Relations
26 October 2010
Chairperson: Mr D Gamede (ANC; Kwazulu Natal)
Meeting Summary
The Ambassador of the Africa: Multilateral unit of Department of International Relations and Cooperation presented the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance to both the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation and the Select Committee on Trade and International Relations, for purposes of ratification of the Charter. He provided an overview of the historical evolution of the Charter and its principles. Subsequently he explained the content of the different chapters of the Charter. He then proceeded to explain the value of the Charter which was based on the fact that it would firstly contribute to the pursuit of a united, peaceful and prosperous
Lastly, the Ambassador dealt with the status of ratification of the Charter, as well as the status of the South African process of ratifying the process. He noted that although the South African Cabinet had endorsed the Charter in 2008 already, it was only signed in February 2010 due to unforeseen circumstances. As of 31 August 2010, 37 countries have signed the Charter and only six have ratified. He noted that at least nine further instruments would have to be submitted before the Charter could come into force. Lastly he remarked that it was surprising that
Various Members sharply raised their disappointment and concern that South Africa took so long to sign the Charter and that ratification also happened at such a late stage and accordingly under such time pressure. They asked what the “unforeseen circumstances” were which had caused the delay in signing the Charter. Members enquired as to the enforceability of the Charter and whether the political will would be present to act against countries who acted in violation of it. Members wanted to know how many countries had thus far been subjected to sanctions and how would the Charter contribute to the protection of human rights and vulnerable groups. Members remarked that the ratification of the Charter would indeed have cost implications. The reason cited by members was that it was of paramount importance that the Charter be domesticated as its objective of deepening democracy could not be attained if the people did not understand the Charter. It was asked what plans were in place to procure domestication. Members commented on the fact that the Charter set the bar very low as it did not even require half of the countries of the continent to ratify it. The AU was criticised for the ineffectiveness of its campaign to lobby countries to sign and ratify the Charter. A controversial question about the Charter’s ability to deal with undemocratic tendencies such as a political party recalling a sitting President from office, was raised. The target of ratification of the Charter by 11 countries before 2011 seemed doubtful. The Portfolio Committee decided that it wanted to attend a workshop about the Charter, in order to be able to make an informed decision when ratifying it. Consequently, only the NCOP agreed to ratify the Charter at this meeting.
Meeting report
Ambassador Ajay Bramdeo, Chief Director of the Africa Multilateral unit of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, gave a briefing on the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. He started by giving an overview of the historical evolution of the Charter, which began in July 1990 when the Organisation of African Unity Assembly (OAU Assembly) had carried out a critical review of the political, social and economic conditions on the continent. This culminated in the “Declaration on the Political and Socio-Economic Situation in
Mr Bramdeo then provided a brief overview of the provisions of the Charter. He explained that the Preamble noted the founding principles of the Charter, including good governance, popular participation, rule of law, human rights as enshrined in the AU Constitutive Act and was committed to democratic transfer of political power. Chapter 1 to 3 contained introductory articles.
Chapter 4 to 8 were comprised of articles embodying substantive elements. These included basic adherence obligations of State Parties, supremacy of national constitutions, upholding of the rule of law, promotion and protection of human rights, establishment of a culture of democracy as well as the establishment and strengthening of institutions supporting democracy. These chapters also provided for the establishment and strengthening of independent and impartial national electoral bodies and assistance by the AU Commission of Member States to strengthen electoral institutions and processes. Furthermore, these chapters provided a process for electoral observation and monitoring, asserted the role of the AU and the AU Peace and Security Council and provided for sanctions in case of unconstitutional changes of government.
Chapters 9, 10 and 11 dealt with the role of State Parties, the AU Commission and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the importance of the role of State Parties in advancing political, economic and social governance. It also emphasised the need for engagements with traditional authorities and all spheres of government and for State Parties to domesticate the provisions of the Charter and submit measures taken in this regard every two years. It also provided for the AU Commission to develop benchmarks for implementation of the Charter and for RECs to coordinate and cooperate with the AU in the implementation of the instrument.
Mr Bramdeo proceeded to explain the value of the Charter. Firstly it would contribute to the pursuit of a united, peaceful and prosperous
Lastly, Mr Bramdeo dealt with the status of ratification of the Charter, as well as the status of the South African process of ratifying the Charter. He explained that the South African Cabinet had endorsed the Charter in 2008, but due to unforeseen circumstances, the Charter could only be signed in February 2010. The Charter conformed with
Discussion
Mr S Ngonyama (COPE) commented on the fact that the Charter had been adopted by the AU Summit in 2007 already, but that
Mr Bramdeo explained that the best way of articulating the events that took place in 2008 which resulted in
Mr Ngonyama stated that he disagreed with Mr Bramdeo’s statement that the implementation of the Charter would have no cost implications as the domestication of the Charter would require some work which would cost money. He emphasised the importance thereof that the Charter must not just sit in the files of Government, but that it must cascade to ordinary people in order to deepen democracy. He asked the Department to explain what its plan was to get the Charter to the people, at least to such an extent that it was understood by the general populace. He also asked the Department to provide more clarity on the issue of enforcement.
Mr K Mubu’s (DA) question was how many member countries had been sanctioned as a result of breach of the Charter.
Mr Bramdeo answered that sanctions had been applied to
Mr Mubu asked how the AU can ensure that countries adhere to such obligations.
In response, Mr Bramdeo stated that in many of the member states the institutional capacity was lacking and accordingly there would need to be engagement between Member Countries and the Commission, which has an election advisory unit and could thus provide particular systems.
Mr K Sinclair (COPE;
The Chairperson, Mr D Gamede (Kwazulu Natal), commented on the fact that the Charter set the bar very low, in so far as it did not even require the majority of the countries in the continent to ratify it before it would come into effect. He asked what should be made of this.
Mr Bramdeo explained that the Commission was quite aggressively pursuing the signing of the Charter by more than 37 countries. He further noted that there was an effort to do more lobbying in member states in order to get more countries signed and ratified so that the Charter could come into force as soon as possible.
The Chairperson noted that the importance of the document necessitated that Members of Parliament attended a workshop in order to familiarise themselves with the scope and content of the Charter so that the decision to ratify it, would be an informed one.
Mr Bramdeo responded that it was outside of his mandate to say that the Members needed a workshop. However, he assured the meeting that although South Africa was late in ratifying the instrument, it had been one of the leading countries during the negotiation process on the drafting of the Charter and that South Africa was already 99% (if not a 100%) compliant with the Charter.
The Chairperson asked what plan was in place for the domestication of the Charter.
Mr Bramdeo explained that the advocacy work that needed to be done with the South African population was under consideration by various political structures, parties and civil society programmes and the Minister also dealt with it as part of her outreach every year. However, it was not just the Minister of the Department that had to deal with the issue and the more structures it was debated in, the better.
Mr Ngonyama remarked that if the AU had an aggressive campaign to persuade countries to ratify, one could only conclude that there was a lack of commitment in the AU to pursue the matter very strongly. He noted that his concern about
Mr Ngonyana then raised a controversial point. The Charter was supposed to be able to assist in all matters in
In response to this question, Mr M Maine (ANC;
The Chairperson stated that the meeting would not enter into a debate on the matter, but later added that this incident in
Ms E Van Lingen (DA;
Secondly, she agreed with Mr Ngonyana that the Charter would indeed have financial implications. She further voiced her agreement with Mr Ngonyana’s point that the Charter’s message must be communicated to the public and that in this regard, the Minister was only able to reach a limited number of people.
Ms Van Lingen also asked if there was going to be the political will to act against countries where human rights and vulnerable groups were not protected and she mentioned
Mr Bramdeo said that it must be remembered that the Charter reinforced and complemented other instruments that were already in place. Human rights violations could be dealt with in the
With reference to the question about political will to enforce the Charter, Mr Bramdeo said that it is not just the political will of
Mr T Magama (ANC) requested that the message be conveyed to the Director-General that the fact that the signing and ratifications of agreements and charters were almost always done at the last minute under great time pressure, did not create a good impression.
Secondly he emphasised the obligation on Parliament to contribute to lead the process of domestication of the Charter, due to the fact that Parliament represented the people.
The Chairperson asked what would happen when the Charter was ratified.
Mr Bramdeo answered that
The Chairperson asked if it was therefore certain that the target that was set, of the ratification of the Charter by 11 countries before 2011, would not be met.
Mr Bramdeo explained that there was nothing that prevented
The Chairperson commented that he would persist with the idea of having a workshop for Members.
Mr Sinclair added that he liked the idea of a workshop, but highlighted the importance to also speak about internal democracy, as that was a matter that created many issues in
The Chairperson took note of this point, but stated that the biggest challenge in
Mr Ngonyana wanted to know what the required procedure was in order to procure ratification.
Mr Bramdeo explained that the endorsement of the Charter by the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) would constitute ratification.
Ms R Magau (ANC) noted that the NA would be willing to ratify the Charter, but only after they have had the opportunity to attend a small workshop on the Charter so that they could be informed about what they would be ratifying. She added that they will try to finalise the process within the limited time available.
The Chairperson asked for the NCOP to recommend the ratification of the Charter. The NCOP agreed to ratify the Charter.
The meeting was adjourned.
Documents
Present
- We don't have attendance info for this committee meeting
Download as PDF
You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.
See detailed instructions for your browser here.