The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for effective sanction of government departments for failing to answer written parliamentary questions after 233 of its questions went unanswered this year.
Thirteen percent (233) of the 1 690 written parliamentary questions posed by the party this year remained unanswered as the final deadline passed on Wednesday, DA chief whip Ian Davidson said on Thursday.
Significantly, the deadline for submitting replies was December 7, but the Presidency had requested an extension for all government departments.
The Presidency has 13, the president five and the deputy president eight questions outstanding respectively, he said. ”It is clear that the African National Congress government has little respect for Parliament’s oversight role.”
The fact that the rules of Parliament contain no effective provisions to ensure written questions receive a reply means government departments continuously get away with not replying to questions as no disciplinary action is taken against them.
Six of the 26 national departments are responsible for 110 of the 233 unanswered questions — nearly half of all outstanding replies, Davidson said.
These are defence (24 outstanding replies), safety and security (24), health (19), provincial and local government (16), social development (15), and justice and constitutional development (12).
Three of the six departments — provincial and local government, health, and justice and constitutional development — are ”serial offenders” as they were also the worst offenders last year.
A number of departments, including provincial and local government, have also failed to answer questions posed by the DA as far back as February.
”The DA believes it is vital that action be taken against government departments who fail to submit their replies, especially against repeat offenders, such as the departments of provincial and local government, health, and justice and constitutional development.
”We will therefore be proposing that a number of rule changes be made to the rules governing written replies in the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces at the first rules committee meeting of both Houses in 2008.
”It is high time that appropriate, corrective action be taken to end the development of a trend that runs against some of the key tenets of South Africa’s parliamentary democracy,” Davidson said. — Sapa