South Africa’s Parliament has constructed a strategic plan that includes the intention of turning the institution into “a beacon of good moral behaviour”, according to its secretary, Zingile Dingani.
At a media briefing on Monday, parliamentary journalists immediately asked why it is that parliamentarians are able to remain on as members after being convicted of fraud charges relating to the so-called Travelgate scam — involving the multimillion-rand misuse of travel vouchers for purposes other than travel to and from constituencies and parliamentary duties.
Dingani said that the scandal does not exclude Parliament from seizing the moral high ground.
“The fact we have had … Travelgate does not make Parliament irrelevant to speak about … good moral values.”
He noted that Parliament had appointed a task team to probe the Travelgate matter and it has reported to the presiding officers. Journalists should await its report, he said.
Eight MPs — all from the African National Congress — have plea-bargained out of an original 24 MPs facing fraud charges. Weekend reports indicated that a further 40 MPs could be charged, but the remainder of the original 24 are scheduled to appear in court early in June. They include three from the official opposition Democratic Alliance.
The strategic plan of Parliament, released on Monday, notes that Parliament plans to spend R180-million on “travel and subsistence” in the current financial year. This rises to R193-million in 2006/07 and to R205-million in 2007/08.
Information officers
Meanwhile, Dingani noted that part of the plan to make Parliament more accessible will be the appointment of parliamentary information officers in deeply remote areas in all nine provinces. These officers will be neutral and provide information about Parliament.
Asked why this is necessary, given that MPs are expected to report to constituencies, Dingani said no one can stop a member from making any point, but the officers will present matters “objectively”.
When whether it is wise to talk about the accountability of the government to Parliament when sometimes six Budget and policy votes — an opportunity for parliament to scrutinise ministry policy and programmes — are held on the same day, he said one Budget vote a day would, indeed, be “ideal”, but he noted that there are 27 Budget votes to get through — mirrored by
policy votes in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
The NCOP, the second chamber of Parliament, is scheduled to consider Parliament’s Budget in a policy debate on Tuesday morning. In the afternoon, the National Assembly will also debate its Budget vote.
The strategic plan noted that there are 961 employees working at Parliament — effectively serving 456 MPs in both houses. — I-Net Bridge