v. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA Once again, we are honoured as the government of the Republic of South Africa to present the Third Progress Report on the implementation of the APRM Program Action in 2013, a year of the anniversary of the first 10 years of the APRM. The year 2013 is important to the whole African continent as it also marks the first 50 years since the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and the 11 years of the formation of the African Union (AU). During February 2013, South Africa was honoured to have hosted the Africa Cup of Nations Cup. All these events have special meaning and significance to us as a country as they are important landmarks of our involvement in building a united Africa guided by the values of democracy, peace and prosperity. As Africans, we all strive to achieve continental socioeconomic renewal that can have a positive impact on the lives of our people. The APRM is therefore a mechanism which allows us to do introspection on the progress we have made and reflect on challenges that still lie ahead in pursuit of development, all the while learning from each other’s successes and complexities. Given the relative and historically determined similarities of our social and economic circumstances as a continent, the APRM is the most effective tool for sharing our experiences. The APRM is an indigenous instrument conceived in Africa by Africans to promote and encourage the revitalisation of political democracy, economic development and achieve socio-economic progress. This is our Third Report since we tabled our first Country Review Report for peer review at the Committee of Heads of State and Government of participating countries of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APR Forum) in July 2007, in Accra, Ghana. 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 APRM. The Mechanism, which is turning out to be one of the most innovative aspects of NEPAD, is an instrument voluntarily acceded to by member states of the AU as a self-monitoring initiative for good governance. South Africa is committed to the APRM as an instrument created by African leaders for self assessment and to focus efforts on entrenching democratic values and good governance. South Africa stands ready to contribute and commit to the objectives of the APRM as demonstrated not only by compliance with the reporting requirements of the mechanism but by honouring our responsibility to implement the Plan of Action that is intended to achieve objectives of good governance. South Africa has demonstrated in practice, our support for peace and stability in many parts of the continent as part of attempts at ensuring that the foundations for economic development as envisaged in the mechanism are in place. Accordingly, in all the instances where we have had to lend support to development, peace building and good governance we come in as part of a collective effort of African states. The Report covers the period from October 2010 to January 2013. This period saw numerous positive developments as well as new challenges which we confront in this report openly and advance plans that government has put in place to address these challenges. We found it interesting to note that according to The Economist’s Democracy Index, The 15