Ramaphosa’s Parliament assessment a one-sided whitewash

1 June 2016

The DA notes Deputy President and Leader of Government Business (LOGB), Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement on ‘the current situation in Parliament’. The LOGB's assessment however should be taken with a pinch of salt considering his absence from Parliament this year.

The LOGB’s claims that the Executive considers Parliament to be the ‘most important guarantor of our democracy’ and that it takes its ‘responsibility to account to Parliament’ seriously in particular, fall flat when contrasted with Cabinet’s actual conduct in and towards Parliament.

Ministerial appearances in portfolio committees and the floor of the National Assembly have been few and far between this year. The President barely met his oral question session quota and his deputy, who by NA rules is required to avail himself for an oral question session every two weeks, only attended two last term. Further, there are a number of Ministers who have not attended a single oral question session for their respective cluster this year.

And while there may have been an increase in the amount of written questions submitted to the Executive, the actual answers are usually withheld by misrepresentations of the rules on questions, the misuse of the sub judice rule, indefinite deferment of replies, referral to provincial legislature and departments, substandard information, non- and even antagonising replies. With the local government elections just months away, it is of no surprise that Ministers within the Governance cluster in particular have utilised these tactics, which are undoubtedly a deliberate attempt to hide government’s poor service delivery record before South Africans head to the polls in August.

It is also worth noting that during the 2016/17 budgeting phase the LOGB touts, the ANC in Parliament blocked a series of amendments proposed by the DA that would have reprioritised R9.52 billion of the budget to projects and services that would improve the lives of millions of South Africans. The proposed amendments were "budget neutral" and would have been funded by reprioritising expenditure, within the existing budget, and would have had no effect on the fiscal deficit.

The revision of Parliament’s rules the LOGB refers to was a long, contentious process characterised by a series of ANC proposals to diminish Parliament’s Executive oversight capacity, and oppress the opposition. ANC members of the Rules Committee's also refused to compromise on proposals regarding the Order of Business for sittings and Oral Questions Without Notice, which would require Ministers to be in the House more often and actually aware of the issues within their portfolios, and then used their majority to have new rules adopted.

As for what the LOGB refers to as recent events of ‘grave concern’ in Parliament, there are a few involving the Executive he failed to mention. Last month during one of the President’s rare appearances in the NA, he sneered that Parliament had become an embarrassment he often had to account for abroad and that the Speaker had to 'get her House in order'. This statement was highly hypocritical considering the numerous embarrassments South Africans have had to account for on his behalf, and an inappropriate Executive attempt to exercise oversight on the legislature, which the Speaker not only capitulated to, but supported. Further, there have been a number of instances during the Fifth Parliament where members of the Executive have hurled personal insults across the floors of Parliament, used unparliamentary language, and even instigated melees with impunity.

And who can forget the scathing Constitutional Court judgment against the President and Parliament which found that by resolving to absolve President Zuma of compliance with the remedial action in the Public Protector’s Secure in Comfort report instead of facilitating its enforcement as was expected by the Public Protector, the National Assembly breached its obligations under sections 55(2) and 181(3) of the Constitution.

All of this is a clear indication that Parliament is a mess at the moment, and the Deputy President’s attempt to brush this mess under the carpet with a statement is an insufficient substitute for actual political engagement with other parties in Parliament on institutional reform and ensuring that those who serve the institution meet their constitutionally mandated oversight and legislative obligations. 

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Chief Whip of the DA, 1 June 2016