Gaye Davis in Cape Town
DR ROB Davies spent a couple of hours in his Sea Point surgery on Monday evening, hearing complaints and dispensing advice. But those who packed the small room weren’t there with physical ailments, and Davies is not a medical doctor.
The ANC MP was making one of his regular appearances in one of the constituency offices the ANC is setting up around the country in a bid to close the gap between the public and its representatives in government.
Designed on a similar model to that used by British MPs, who regularly hold ”clinics” or surgeries with voters in their constituencies, the system involves groups of MPs and members of provincial legislatures being deployed in urban and rural areas where they can be alerted to and help grapple with local problems.
”Anyone can come to ask questions or raise issues,” said ANC MP Naledi Pandor, the whip responsible for co- ordinating constituency offices in the Western Cape. ”They are there to serve the public of an area as a whole, and not just ANC members.”
One of parliament’s major concerns was that the new system of proportional representation effectively removed MPs from defined constituencies.
This deployment by the ANC is an attempt to create a link between MPs and constituencies — and also to respond to the neglect rural areas have experienced.
”We’re developing criteria to guide the work of MPs in constituencies, because this is a new experience for us. But the offices are moving ahead smoothly. MPs have started holding regular sessions and are starting to address local problems.”
The offices are funded by constituency allowances of R3 000 a month, to which every MP is entitled.
The money is channelled into a special account set up for the purpose by each political party, and MPs submit claims for expenses to be reimbursed.
On Monday, Davies listened to Sea Point residents complain about the local police station’s perceived failure to follow-up complaints. ”I’m prepared to go to the police and ask what has happened to cases where nothing has been done,” he told them – not an instant cure for the neighbourhood’s ills, perhaps, but certain relief for those living there.