SA commits to financial transparency

The Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Ms. Patricia de Lille officially welcomes everyone to the city #OGPAfrica2016. Picture: @OGPSA

The Executive Mayor of Cape Town, Ms. Patricia de Lille officially welcomes everyone to the city #OGPAfrica2016. Picture: @OGPSA

Published May 5, 2016

Share

Cape Town – During a meeting of regional and civil society leaders, the South African government committed itself to financial transparency, it said at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) meeting in Cape Town on Thursday.

“As the current OGP Steering Committee co-chair and a leader on open government in Africa, South Africa is especially pleased to use this occasion to present a National Action Plan that includes a commitment to create a public Beneficial Ownership registry, in order to protect the integrity and transparency of the global financial and public procurement systems,” said Ayanda Dlodlo, Deputy Minister for Public Service Administration, during her address.

Dlodlo was addressing more than 500 participants from “civil society organisations, business, academia, multilateral organisations, and governments” at the two-day Africa Regional Open Government Partnership Meeting in Cape Town, themed, “Open Government for Africa’s Sustainable Development”.

On the Cape Town agenda were issues such as the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, illicit financial flows, open contracting, open data in Africa, supporting youth in open governments, and advancing access to justice.

The Beneficial Ownership registry committed to by the South African government would serve to tackle some of these issues.

OGP, which was launched in September 2011 with South Africa as one of the eight founding members, aims at concretising commitments from governments to promote transparency, increase civic participation, combat corruption, and encourage the use of technology in the hopes of creating more open, effective, and accountable governments.

“As one of the global initiatives that encourage trust in the relationship between governments and civil society, the OGP has already managed to facilitate some very important changes in a relatively short period of time,” said Dlodlo.

The Cape Town meeting mirrored other regional conferences where those seeking to improve society connected on issues of governance, best practices, and the region’s current affairs.

The meeting will continue until Friday at the Century City Conference Centre.

African News Agency

* Use IOL’s Facebook and Twitter pages to comment on our stories. See links below.

Related Topics: