Governance and transparency in South Africa

This article assesses the roles of access and transparency as crucial elements of good governance. The current dominant global governance paradigm implies inter alia that government activities should be accessible and transparent in the spirit of evidence-based policy assessment. This goal is not easily attainable at the best of times, and is fraught with difficulties in developing countries. The article first conceptualises the roles of access and transparency in international experience and practice.Next, the article summarises the problems of achieving good governance in developing countries. In those countries there are a number of social, economic and political constraints that complicate the effective implementation of measures to improve transparency (where they exist). Finally the article looks into mechanisms adopted by the South African government to promote access to information and to foster transparency and good governance.