On 30 June the Democratic Alliance (DA) submitted a written question to every national minister asking whether or not their respective departments had purchased a new ministerial vehicle or vehicles. That question was submitted to a total of 35 departments. To date, some 60 days or two months later, only half (or 18) of the 35 departments have responded.

The 17 members of the executive who have failed to respond to date are:

There can be only one of two possible reasons for not responding, and both are equally problematic:

First, these departments are too disorganised to be able to properly determine whether or not they purchased a new vehicle. Certainly one would think a period of two months is time enough to establish such a simple fact. Indeed, quite how they are unable to do so boggles the mind.

Or

Second, these Ministers have purchased a new ministerial vehicle at great expense to the taxpayer but, given the public climate at present - one created in large part by the exorbitant purchases made by some of their colleagues  - they are waiting for things to die down before responding. (No doubt, in the hope that their purchase will slip under the radar.)

If the former explanation holds true, it is an indictment of these department's internal systems, administration and management; if the latter holds true, it is an indictment of their attitude to the Constitutional principle that the legislature oversee the work of the executive in general, and the parliamentary mechanism of written questions, in particular.

Both constitute a certain level of disdain for the public.

The full list of ministers who have responded thus far and the date on which they responded - from the earliest response to the latest - follows below. It is difficult to understand how some departments were able to respond within ten days while others are still battling to compile the requisite information.

The DA will continue to monitor this issue and apply pressure to those ministers who are trying to avoid answering what might well prove to be a difficult question.

Statement issued by Mike Ellis, MP, Democratic Alliance deputy chief whip, August 31 2009

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