Ramaphosa must present plan to improve ministers' performance in Parliament
23 June 2014
With Parliament now in full swing, the newly appointed Leader of Government Business and Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, must present a plan to Members of Parliament on what he intends to do to ensure that all members of the executive are fully accountable to Parliament and that they fulfil their constitutionally mandated roles in this respect.
I will request that the ANC Chief Whip, Mr Stone Sizani, invite Mr Ramaphosa to a special meeting of the Chief Whips Forum to present this plan to the Chief Whips of all parties represented in Parliament.
In the fourth Parliament, the executive demonstrated a disdain for Parliamentary oversight over the executive in a bid to avoid responsibility for their departments.
As the record stands only 17 % of oral questions asked by members in the house were answered by Ministers. 7 Ministers did not attend a single oral question session while 5 Ministers saw fit to come to Parliament only once to answer a question.
Crucial Departments within the executive failed to respond to Parliamentary questions on crucial issues within the fourth Parliament. The worst performing members amongst these include the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development with 32.3 % of questions going unanswered, the Department of Defence with 26%, Energy with 24.5% and the Presidency with a disappointing 21.7%.
Worse yet, a survey of DA MPs showed that some 23 committees had poor or inadequate attendance by Ministers despite Section 92(2) and (3) of the Constitution requiring Members of Cabinet be are accountable to Parliament.
Mr Ramaphosa's plan must shed light on:
How he plans to ensure that all written questions are fully answered within the time stipulated by the rules of Parliament;
What action will be taken against ministers who fail to attend plenaries; who miss oral question sessions; and who do not make themselves available to meet with portfolio committees.
In order for this government to perform optimally, there must be real accountability to the elected representatives of the people.
The DA will continue to fight for a Parliament that will do just this.
Statement issued by John Steenhuisen MP, Democratic Alliance Chief Whip, June 23 2014
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