A New South Africa

THE ANC IS MAKING A MOCKERY OF PARLIAMENT

Introduction

Last month, the ANC accused the DA of “making a mockery of parliament”. This came after Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana recommended that parliamentary action be taken against DA MP Mike Waters, and the DA’s subsequent refusal to do so.

Mushwana was of the opinion that a complaint made by Waters – that President Thabo Mbeki had abused his office by demanding that Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang be prioritsed on an organ-transplant list and that her alleged alcoholism be concealed – was without foundation or substance and that Waters had acted unconstitutionally, in a manner unbecoming of an MP, and had abused the Office of the Public Protector for political gain.

In response, the DA accused Mushwana of acting with a political agenda that of – attacking DA – rather than pursuing his mandate. After all, the DA had long since withdrawn its request for an investigation (following a meeting with Mbeki) and, given Mushwana’s dubious track record on investigating all things ANC, his decision seemed to fit a rather partisan pattern of his. Nevertheless, the merits of his decision aside, it is worth responding to the ANC, whose hypocrisy in accusing the DA of abusing Parliament is as spectacular as it is hypocritical.

A fuller version of the ANC’s reaction is as follows:

“Waters made the allegations merely to attain cheap political mileage. The ANC caucus has, on numerous occasions, raised serious concerns regarding the quality of the DA’s opposition politics, particularly the conduct and unsavoury tactics employed by its leaders in their pursuit of narrow political point-scoring. The DA’s failure to act against its MPs and to publicly support Waters makes a mockery of Parliament and the role of the leading opposition within the institution. It hoped that the Speaker would act expeditiously in the matter.”

As the old adage has it, those in glass houses should not throw stones. Let’s look at the ANC’s track record in Parliament over the last twelve months or so.

Travelgate

Last March, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Baleka Mbete called out the names of
a group of travelgate MPs from the ANC and PIM during a sitting of the National Assembly, requiring them to stand while she berated them for bringing the House and their colleagues into disrepute.

While the Speakers admonishment was welcomed by the DA it was long overdue. Despite being found guilty of defrauding Parliament, the ANC chose to retain those implicated members some of them even remaining as Whips; in other words, leaders responsible for instilling discipline amongst the ANC’s caucus. There are numerous others whose names have been protected by the ANC and who have therefore escaped punishment.

The new parliamentary precinct

In October last year, after a great deal of pressure from the DA, the ANC revealed its plans for the construction of its Parliamentary Precinct Space Utilisation Project (PPSUP). Up to then this project had been shrouded in secrecy despite repeated attempts from the DA to obtain information through structures such as the Parliamentary Oversight Authority (POA).

(Notably, the POA was created to ensure an appropriate system of governance is put in place by which Parliament is managed and controlled and its strategies and policies are supported and promoted to ensure an effective and efficient Parliament. Yet the ANC Members more often than not blocks any attempts at oversight over Parliament by other parties)

Basically, the project entails spending nearly R1.5 billion on a new precinct that seems to cater mostly for extravagant offices and banquet halls to be used primarily by the executive and the presiding officers. One can only question what affect this unjustifiable and lavish expenditure has on the public’s perception of Parliament’s credibility when so many public hospitals and schools are in need of serious upgrading.

Motions and Oral and written questions

During the same month, the social services and governance cluster was required to answer oral questions in the National Assembly yet only four of the eleven Ministers showed up, one of many such examples.

At the close of the final deadline for the submission of written replies to parliamentary questions posed to government departments during 2007, ANC Ministers had failed to reply to 233 (13%) of the 1 690 written questions posed by the DA that year, in both the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

The dismissive attitude shown by these ANC Ministers towards this important parliamentary oversight mechanism extends to the President as well. By last November Mbeki had failed to answer a single written question of the nine submitted to him by the DA during the course of that year, only replying to five of these questions after a press statement released by the DA received considerable press coverage.

However, it is the ANC’s own performance when it comes to utilizing parliamentary mechanisms that best reflects its disdain for the institution and its role in ensuring oversight over the Executive and in promoting transparency. During 2007 the ANC’s 297 National Assembly members only submitted 6 notices of motion; 187 oral questions and 41 written questions.

All these instances clearly demonstrate how the ANC has undermined not only Parliament’s oversight function but also its credibility when it comes to the voters. Nevertheless, they pale in significance when one looks at two other decisions taken by the ANC over the last three months.

An impartial Speaker

At the beginning of this year the Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete was appointed both as chair of the ANC’s parliamentary political committee and as chairperson of the ANC.

The Chairperson of the ANC is a very senior position within the structures of the ANC and requires the person to advance, as well as protect, the ANC in a proactive manner both in and outside parliament obviously at the expense of other political parties as well as possibly Parliament itself should the interests not coincide.

The Chairperson of the ANC Political Committee is equally problematic. Besides serving as a liaison between the ANC in Parliament and the Executive, and making recommendations to Luthuli House about the redeployment of committee chairpersons and the Whippery, it is therefore key to formulating the architecture of the ANC’s political strategy in Parliament.

It is clear that holding these positions seriously threatens the Speaker’s role of acting impartially and protecting the interests of Parliament, all political parties and individual members at all times without fear or favour. This threat is further compounded by the fact that Speaker has in the past made no secret of where her allegiances lie, an obvious example being her hero’s sendoff of Tony Yengeni when he went to prison after being found guilty of defrauding Parliament.

Shutting down Parliament

On 19 March the ANC used its majority in the Joint Rules Committee to adopt a new framework for the parliamentary programme for the rest of 2008.

From 30 June, once budget debates end (these have been reduced by the ANC to extended public committees that will take place simultaneously), there will only be another two plenary sessions for the rest of the year, consisting of a total of 15 sitting days. The rest of the time would comprise of committee and constituency periods while the last term of Parliament will have no committee periods. This effectively means that Parliament would be shut down for ten to twelve months till after the upcoming elections – from June 2008 to May 2009

In 2007 there were a total of 70 plenary sessions. If one counts the 18 plenary sessions that have already taken place this year during the first term, Parliament will only sit for 33 days this year.

This programme not only undermines Parliament’s constitutional obligation of holding the executive to account as the opportunity to have debates, oral question sessions and make member’s statements is taken away from MP’s it also damages the institutions credibility in the eyes of the public who are expected to pay R3.2 million a day for MP’s and their support staff’s salaries despite Parliament not actually sitting.

The fact that the majority of Parliament’s oversight mechanisms have been impeded to a large extent is an indictment in itself of the ANC’s disregard for the constitutional responsibilities this institution is required to fulfill. However, the ruling party still aims to pass 102 bills during these 15 sitting days (only 34 of these bills are currently before Parliament, 13 bills approved by Cabinet are yet to be introduced and a staggering 55 bills have yet to be approved by Cabinet) effectively turning Parliament into a rubber-stamp as there will be no time to debate these bills.

(The view that Parliament is merely a rubber-stamp for ANC policy was best demonstrated by Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula standing up in Parliament during a debate on the state-of-the-nation address and announcing that the Scorpions will be disbanded and the organised crime unit of the police will be phased out to form a new amalgamated unit.)

Notably, while the DA vehemently opposed this parliamentary framework, a number of opposition parties including the IFP and the ACDP supported the ANC’s argument that oversight equates to undertaking visits in constituencies and not to ensuring that the Executive remains accountable to the voters.

Conclusion

There are many, many other such examples.

It is clear that, over the last twelve months alone, the ANC has successfully undermined Parliament by ensuring that it fails to represent the voters, by turning it into a rubber-stamp when it comes to passing legislation and by preventing it from scrutinizing and overseeing executive action.

One can only question the ANC’s concerns over the DA’s quality of opposition politics when one notes that the latter’s 47 members’ submitted 28 notices of motion, 244 oral questions and 1690 written questions alone during 2007. The DA is the only political party that has repeatedly called for Baleka Mbete to step down as Speaker or to relinquish her two positions in the ANC in order to protect the independence of institution. It is also the only opposition party to call for Parliament to continue sitting as usual to ensure proper public participation, oversight, debate and that the correct processes are followed when adopting legislation up to the elections in 2009.

At the end of the day the ANC needs to stop pointing fingers and making irrational allegations towards those who question its motives and actions and rather begin taking responsibility for the fact that it has successfully made a mockery of an institution constitutionally mandated to ensure government remains accountable to its voters at all times.

This article may be republished without prior consent but with acknowledgement to the author – www.insidepolitics.org.za – the views expressed in the article are not necessarily shared by the Democratic Alliance