SA sixth on Africa index
BRAND South Africa yesterday welcomed the results of the 2017 the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance which saw South Africa retain its rank of number six of 54 countries assessed in the index.
In its 11th iteration, the index is an annual statistical assessment of the quality of governance in every one of the 54 African countries, covering a 17-year period from 2000-2016.
The 2017 index framework has four overarching categories which reflect the foundation’s definition of governance: safety and rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity and human development.
In terms of these pillars of the index, South Africa improved in the indicator of participation and human rights, moving up from position 5/54 to 4/54, and safety and rule of law remains the same as the previous year at 7/54. As a democratic nation, it is also heartening that in participation and human rights, South Africa improves with one rank to 4/54.
The index’s focus on governance is a critical issue, especially in the African and emerging market context. While general governance performance, as outlined in the results, speak to general state capacity, South Africa also has notable strengths in terms of its corporate governance environment, said Brand South Africa.
Commenting on the 2017 index, Brand South Africa’s chief executive Kingsley Makhubela said: “This year has been a particularly challenging one for South Africa, with a number of incidents in public administration and the private sector leading to the creation of grounds for improvements in administration… In an increasingly competitive global landscape, the risk of poor governance remains fairly high. We need to look to institutions of governance such as Parliament, the SA Reserve Bank, the Human Rights Commission, the Financial Services Board, the Competition Tribunal, and many more, to obtain insights on how they are all playing their part in ensuring that South Africa’s constitutional democracy and rule of law continue to demonstrate high levels of resilience, maturity and good governance.”
The conversation can be followed at @Brand_SA#CompetitiveSA.