The report we are presenting is our second report since we went through the peer review process in July 2007, in Accra, Ghana. It will cover the period from January 2009 to September 2010, a period mostly dominated by electoral activities and formation of the fourth democratic government of South Africa. In recognition of the imperatives of good governance for development, the Sixth Summit of the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), held in March 2003 in Abuja, Nigeria, adopted the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). The Mechanism, which is turning out to be the most innovative aspect of NEPAD, is an instrument voluntarily acceded to by member states of the African Union (AU) as a self-monitoring initiative for good governance. South Africa remains committed to the African Peer Review instrument, an instrument created to focus on entrenching democratic values and good governance. South Africa stands ready to contribute to and promote the objectives of the APRM as demonstrated by our responsibilities to the post conflict and reconstruction efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern Sudan, amongst others. This commonly agreed-to instrument for self- monitoring has, at its epicentre, the dissemination of best practices and the rectification of underlying deficiencies in governance and socio- economic development processes among AU member states. The declaration of the 2009 elections by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU), amongst others, as free and fair further confirms that we have become a well-functioning democracy in a comparatively short space of time, since the first historic general elections of 1994. Since the dawn of democracy, South Africa continues to advance and strive for a state that preserves human dignity, the independence of the judiciary, and the recognition of the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law. As most countries of the world battle out of recession, South Africa has managed to weather the economic storm by implementing several measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the economic downturn. Our government also wants to acknowledge the service delivery problems that erupted in some parts of the country during 2009. We have therefore configured government departments and instituted some changes that should improve the way government functions. Amongst these measures is the establishment of a Presidential Hotline aimed at enabling citizens to report and speak to the office of the president directly about service delivery problems. It is in this context that various measures are being instituted to strengthen the sphere of local government. 3