The Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Thoko Didiza, has called on the public to make full use of parliamentary constituency offices when they want to contact the legislature and the government. Delivering Parliament’s budget vote in a sitting of the National Assembly, the Speaker said through these offices South Africans can reach out to Parliament. In this way, they can influence policy and legislation.
The Speaker said platforms such as the constituency offices, sectoral parliaments, petitions and other forms of public participation help Parliament deepen its engagements with citizens, which is one of Parliament’s key objectives and constitutional imperatives. “The constituency offices must be a dynamic link between citizens, the legislature and the government,” she said.
“The past thirty years has given us an opportunity to look back also on our weaknesses and things that must be changed for us to continue to solidify what we had conceived as an activist Parliament,” Ms Didiza continued.
“Public participation is the bedrock of how we engage our citizens to ensure that their views are taken on board in lawmaking, policy formulation and other important decisions that this Parliament takes. We have had sectoral parliaments, petitions; Parliament meets the people as well at public hearings,” the Speaker said.
Another important factor that further expands access to Parliament and its proceedings is the equal use of all the country’s official languages in the business of Parliament, but the Speaker acknowledged shortcomings in this regard, which will be addressed.
“In the creation of this Parliament, those who went before us fully understood that accessibility and transparency would be meaningful if their culture and languages would find expression in these very walls and corridors of power. In the past week, this matter has been highlighted when there were some challenges regarding interpreting services. I want to assure members that we will address this matter. Similarly, the executive will have to ensure that bills that are tabled in Parliament also reflect the appreciation of the respect of all our languages,” she said.
Ms Dorris Dlakude, the Deputy Chief Whip of the African National Congress echoed the Speaker’s sentiments and said the work of Members of Parliament should be rooted in their constituencies and that the institution must allocate sufficient resources and time for contact with people.
“South Africans must know parliamentary constituency offices and know that they are for everyone and not for political party members. We also need to enhance our public participation and petitions process through civic education,” said Ms Dlakude.
She also called for the strengthening of Parliament’s capacity to support oversight and accountability functions, as these are fundamental for public representatives to have an impact on communities. “An important function of Parliament is to oversee the executive branch and ensure there is accountability. This is a function that enables Parliament to advance the interests of the people and issues they want addressed.
“Parliament is relatively underfunded, but this function is critical to the work of the institution and should be strengthened. We have oversight of a government which is quite vast and complex and for us to robustly do our oversight we need enhanced capacity,” she said.
Mr George Michalakis, the Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, spoke about the importance of implementing a more robust committee system where members are not simply left to ask once-off questions to departments and the scrutiny is over.
“We need to implement a robust system of engaging the executive, like we have done before in SCOPA and in the justice committee with the Thabo Bester investigation. Policy objectives of the departments need to be placed on the agenda of the committees and monitored closely,” said Mr Michalakis.
Mr Wesley Douglas of uMkhonto weSizwe Party said his party wants Parliament to use its powers to make resources available to thoroughly scrutinise government budgets and ensure they are using public funds efficiently.
The Economic Freedom Fighters’ Ms Omphile Maotwe questioned the competence of the Secretary and argued that the first week of Parliament was characterised by chaos and disorganisation.
She also proposed that Parliament must play a leading role in the BRICS Parliamentary Forum, just like it does in other international structures such as the Pan-African Parliament, the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Ms Maotwe said her party will propose amendments to the rules of Parliament to have a provision that parliamentary committees must be chaired by members whose parties are not in the executive. The EFF will also continue advocating for the relocation of Parliament to Tshwane.
Sakhile Mokoena
23 July 2024
Arrange a tour