President Thabo Mbeki lambasted those he referred to as the "self-appointed champions of democracy" on Friday for their ignorance and confusion regarding the evolution of the African continent.
Writing in the African National Congress's online publication, ANC Today, he said critics were ill-informed about the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) peer review mechanism (NPRM).
Without naming anyone, Mbeki said some people were arguing that African leaders were seeking to perpetuate the notion of what they called "African politics as usual", by trying to deny democracy and human rights through excluding political governance from the areas covered by the NPRM.
"However, as we will explain, the self-appointed champions of democracy and human rights in Africa have not only displayed a dangerous level of ignorance and confusion about the evolution of the continent.
"Objectively, they have also made the statement that Africa's political leaders cannot be trusted to promote and entrench democracy and human rights on the continent," he said.
Earlier this week, government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe told reporters Nepad would be responsible for a comprehensive peer review mechanism until the African Union's (AU) structures were in place.
This follows a decision of the AU taken in Abuja, Nigeria, and some confusion among opposition parties and the media around where political peer review would feature.
Mbeki said on Friday that despite the fact that NPRM would not, and could not, compel good political governance, its discussions and reports would include the issue of political governance.
"This matter has never been in doubt, except in the minds of our self-appointed champions of democracy on the continent."
The Nepad Implementation Committee had recommended specialised commissions, units or organs of the AU responsible for democracy, political governance and human rights be tasked with conducting technical assessments for the African peer review mechanism.
"It further stated that the AU should establish the necessary mechanism to discharge this function, even as the NPRM co-ordinates the fulfilment of this function, as a transitional arrangement."
He stressed that the African review system contained both voluntary and obligatory categories.
Matters of political governance among the member states were governed by the Constitutive Act of the AU, which had been approved by the parliaments of member countries.
The act contained specific objectives of respect for democratic principles, human rights and good governance, thus constituting a set of obligations.
"It would therefore be fundamentally wrong to submit them to a voluntary peer review system and negate the decisions of the AU making them a compulsory part of the tasks facing the member states of the Union."
Mbeki said Nepad was a socio-economic development programme of the AU, and not a separate organisation; its decisions were not binding in law.
It was a voluntary programme and had a radically different standing from the status of matters prescribed in the Constitutive Act.
To encourage oversight over the implementation of Nepad, the decision was taken to set up the NPRM, with voluntary accession.
"This particular mechanism was never intended to replace other 'peer review' institutions of the AU, such as the African Court of Justice.
"There has, therefore, never been any intention for Nepad to establish its own Court of Justice that would, among other things, ensure good political governance as visualised in the Constitutive Act."
It would be "fundamentally wrong and a radically regressive act" for Nepad to seek to undermine the obligatory nature of the provisions of the AU concerning political governance.
"Yet, this is precisely what our self-appointed champions of democracy and human rights in Africa are demanding," he said.
Mbeki said to subject political governance to NPRM would have excluded those member states that had chosen to stay out of the review mechanism.
The AU had decided this would be wrong and put the obligations about good political governance in a legal instrument, he said. - Sapa