Marion Edmunds
President Nelson Mandela has instructed all African National Congress parliamentarians to tell him, in face-to-face interviews, what constituency work they do.
Mandela?s interest, announced at a recent ANC caucus meeting, is provoked by concern that MPs are neglecting their constituency work and failing to disseminate information to the people about the government?s progress. He also wants to assess the mood of voters in the run-up to the 1999 elections.
His intervention is expected to lend political authority to plans by ANC chief whip Max Sisulu to tighten up party discipline in Parliament. Sisulu is to take a firmer line on MPs? work ethics before the end of the year, bringing order to the chaotic constituency system, and helping to define the jobs of MPs.
It is expected his office will introduce mechanisms to monitor performance in 180 constituency offices, as well as attendance at parliamentary committee meetings and sittings of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. Those who shirk duty will be brought to book.
ANC caucus chairman Thabang Makwetla said Mandela was driven by his keen interest in the ANC?s performance in communities. ?He wants an assessment of what MPs were doing over the past 18 months. There are a number of offices functioning very well ? and then some not so well.?
The parliamentary sessions have been cut back this year to make way for constituency work, but the ANC has no overall picture of what has been achieved. The R3 000-a-month constituency allowances go into a fund for office expenses. Although a number of constituency offices are located in shopping centres, many people do not know who their MPs are or how to contact them.
A snap survey by the Mail & Guardian this week showed that most offices had a paid receptionist who answered the phone, but few MPs were available, because of their duties at Parliament.
?It?s a very mixed-up question and I think it needs to be addressed,? said Sheena Duncan of the Black Sash, indicating that local government councillors were often better politicians for the people than national MPs.
?Some of them are obviously lazy and I don?t understand what they are doing with all this constituency time they have and the parliamentary breaks,? she said
Speaker Frene Ginwala has proposed restructuring the parliamentary timetable to allow for better use of time. This would include an annual four-month break from Parliament for constituency work.
Wilmot James, executive director of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), reflected: ?The impression I have is that some MPs have a commitment to their constituencies and work beyond their call of duty, and other MPs are just drawing a salary.?
MPs from a ?struggle? background are easily overwhelmed by voters who come to them with important, but also unimportant, issues to resolve.
The ANC?s MP in the Boland, Melanie Verwoerd, works seven days a week, but struggles to find time to address all the problems brought to her, many of which are not political.
?A man came to me and said he had a problem getting an erection, and because he had voted for the ANC, the government ought to help him. He would not listen when I said we could not do anything for him,? she said.
?Eventually we referred him to a sangoma and he came right. It?s all part of a day?s work.?
* Parliament is in recess for a fortnight. The parliamentary column View from the Gallery will resume when the National Assembly is back in session.