Parliament’s slackening oversight of the executive is said to be a key reason the well-regarded chairperson of Parliament’s finance committee, Barbara Hogan, has decided to quit.
It was just a matter of time before Hogan left Parliament and “moved on to other things”, according to parliamentary sources. The African National Congress in Parliament maintained no formal letter of resignation had yet been received. Hogan would not comment on Wednesday.
Hogan is said to be aggrieved over the establishment of Parliament’s proposed budget committee. The committee’s original aim of being a watchdog through which Parliament could make an input into the budget has apparently been substantially toned down. Also, former chairperson of committees Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu was appointed as the budget committee’s chairperson, rather than Hogan, who has several years’ experience of dealing with budget issues.
Described as dynamic and hardworking, Hogan is known to have a good relationship with the Treasury and Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel, and to command respect in financial circles. She has a reputation as an independent thinker who is not shy to speak her mind.
Initial speculation over Hogan’s resignation surfaced in February after a clash with fellow party members over the regulation of health brokers.
This week’s renewed talk of her imminent departure comes as another high-profile woman ANC MP, Pregs Govender, who chairs the parliamentary joint monitoring committee on the improvement of the quality of life and status of women, is on her way out.
Like Hogan, Govender has been in Parliament since 1994 and has clashed with ANC leaders, particularly over HIV/Aids. Following public hearings on the effects of HIV/Aids on women last year, Govender’s committee recommended anti-retroviral treatment for pregnant women, post-exposure prophylactic treatment for rape survivors and an investigation of free anti-retroviral treatment for all.
Govender, a tough women’s rights campaigner, cited personal reasons and her wish to concentrate on writing as reasons for leaving, according to the ANC in Parliament.