The announcement last weekend that Nat Kekana, a leading African National Congress MP, will quit the National Assembly raises the spectre of a parliamentary brain drain for the ruling party.
Kekana, a leading light in the parliamentary caucus, will join Telkom as its general manager for regulatory affairs.
He is the third ANC chairperson of a parliamentary committee to quit Parliament this year following the exit of home affairs portfolio committee chairperson Mpho Scott and of economic affairs select committee chairperson Mohseen Moosa. Both have gone into business.
Last year Pregs Govender, a leading light who chaired the portfolio committee on the status of women and children, left for academe. Her departure followed that of Andrew Feinstein, who quit his post as the ANC’s lead MP on the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa).
Feinstein left when he clashed with party bosses, notably former chief whip Tony Yengeni, over the arms deal; Govender had come under pressure for her open support of free anti-retroviral drugs at the height of the party’s Aids denialist phase.
In a centrally controlled party, the parliamentary caucus does not have much political freedom, which tends to push out independently minded young politicians. “You can’t really make a career of Parliament,” said a ANC MP this week, “because ‘careerism’ is frowned upon in the ANC.”
The ANC parliamentary caucus denies that it is experiencing a brain drain. “To us it’s not a loss,” says spokesman Vusi Cuba Mahaye. “With such a big caucus, the ANC succession plans effectively. And we don’t consider the move to business a loss. We don’t only have a duty to run parliament, but to run the parastatals and to influence society at a broader level.”
It’s a good thing the ANC can regenerate leaders so quickly, because there are also other push factors. Business beckons as much for other MPs as it does for Scott and Kekana.
In a skills-deficient labour market, Parliament is a hunting ground for the private sector, say MPs canvassed this week. Most MPs earn about R30 000 a month, but are offered triple that in the private sector. One MP said he’d been offered three jobs this year alone. The poaching problem is especially acute in the portfolios like telecommunications, finance and trade where the public representatives come into regular contact with the private sector.
MPs across the party political spectrum complain that they are unable to make ends meet. Their salaries are at the top end of the national earnings scale, but many parliamentarians maintain three homes.
A final push factor — perhaps the most important — is that several whips report that families are suffering, with divorce and separation common. With a crop of relatively young MP’s, many have school-going children and a life spent in Cape Town, constituencies and the home province means parents are often away from home. It is a particular problem in South Africa because of the high number of women MP’s —South Africa has the world’s second highest female representation in public office.