References to the transformation of Parliament, an institution that embodies the very notion of democracy, are often met with cynicism — most members of the National Assembly regard it as unnecessary as the institution was transformed in 1994. But there is a plan to improve the quality of work coming out of Plein Street in Cape Town.
“An activist Parliament that provides a platform for South African citizens to participate fully in the country’s democracy” is the goal of the plan, soon to be unveiled, that will be part of transforming the house that makes laws, monitors the work of government and represents the people through representatives of political parties voted in every five years.
MPs have been accused of being out of touch with the people they represent, but they will soon be visible and more accessible. The National Assembly last year approved the creation of a parliamentary multiparty committee on nation-building and heritage, which will be the “principal driver” of the “activist Parliament”, according to Mathole Motshekga, the ANC chief whip.
He said the committee would interact with often marginalised communities and groups, such as rural women and young people. “It will be different from other committees of Parliament because it will provide a platform for people to tell Parliament what is working and how the laws that Parliament wants to pass [will] impact on them.
This committee will liberate the voices of the people, particularly the poorest of the poor,” Motshekga said. The committee’s membership will be proportional to political party representation and include members of both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.
The level of public participation in legislation and policy development in South Africa has been questionable, with many analysts saying that it was inadequate. They have also said that public participation has been treated as a matter of “good etiquette” to fulfil constitutional requirements cosmetically instead of fulfilling a legal requirement to promote democracy.
Some analysts have also criticised Parliament for rushing through Bills at the expense of consultation and participation, which has resulted in the courts finding against Parliament in several cases. Motshekga said Parliament was supposed to “intercede” and “intervene” with the executive branch of the government, organs of the state and business on behalf of the people and to involve the people in that.
“The practice of Parliament simply taking draft laws to people for public comment is not enough. It means the agenda is literally run from the side of Parliament.” He said it was important to transform Parliament because the democratic government had inherited the “Westminster parliamentary system of representative democracy”.
The ruling ANC, he said, was in favour of a democracy that was both representative and participatory. “We do not accept a situation that says you go to people and say ‘give us a mandate to run your affairs and we will see you after five years’,” Motshekga said.
The ANC caucus said the activist Parliament should be “well positioned, capacitated and equipped to deliver” on the aspirations of the people, particularly the poor and the vulnerable. A caucus Lekgotla last month resolved that the parliamentary democracy offices should be disbanded and their resources rerouted to the parliamentary constituency offices and the new committee on nation-building and heritage.
The democracy offices were meant to promote and entrench democracy and help citizens understand the role of Parliament, but they have failed after being piloted in three provinces for the past decade. Motshekga said: “The character of an activist Parliament is that it must be the politicians themselves who go out and connect with people. At the moment the parliamentary democracy offices use officials of Parliament who are part of the administration.”
Monday had been set aside as constituency day, but attending to constituencies rarely happened because, among other reasons, constituency time was limited, he said. “For a person who lives in Venda [Limpopo], they need to do constituency work and still drive to the airport in Johannesburg, to get back to Parliament in Cape Town.” But financial resources were also stretched, he said.
“We give MPs R4 000 a month. When they convene forums, they need to cater for those people. That is not enough.” The proposal to make constituency offices effective includes turning them into one-stop offices by bringing MPs, members of provincial legislatures and councillors under one roof.
Motshekga said this would pull together all the information from all three spheres of government. “When people look at the government, they don’t see three spheres of government, they see only one. When we go to the people, we must go as one government.”
The image of Parliament also needed some polishing. MPs were known for being aggressive to one another in the National Assembly, particularly if they were from opposing political parties. But taking ministers and government department’s accounting officers to task was one of the few things that united MPs.
Motshekga said the image of aggressive MPs undermined the dignity of Parliament. “Parliament doesn’t belong to parliamentarians and ministers. It is the people’s Parliament. The image of that Parliament is very important. If people watch television and see MPs hurling insults, harassing one another, there is no way they are going to respect Parliament,” he said.
Although Motshekga agreed that it was the responsibility of MPs to hold the executive to account, he said being polite would go a long way towards improving the image of Parliament. ‘If you want people to account, you give them a chance to prepare a report. And then you can ask questions if you’re not satisfied with the report. If the response is still inadequate, you send them back to bring answers.”
He said the committee on nation-building and heritage would not be a burden on MPs because its primary responsibility was to represent people. “An MP must be a fish in the water. You cannot separate the two. Therefore MPs cannot be separated from the people they represent.
“If MPs are not known by people who queued until 12 midnight to vote for them then there is something wrong. “One day you will wake up and find a situation like what happened in Tunisia and Egypt, where people say ‘we want you to go now’ and you don’t understand why.”
Motshekga said the committee would intervene in situations where communities had lost faith in both councillors and the provincial government to deliver services. “It will be a kind of a rapid response team.”