Giving Parliament back to the people.

On Monday 17th September 2001, the DA launched its "Postbox to Parliament" campaign.  The campaign has the following objectives :

• To reconnect ordinary South Africans with their representatives in parliament.
   
• To give ordinary South Africans a voice in parliament.
   
• To allow ordinary South Africans to help set parliament’s agenda.

Parliament is meant to be the throbbing heart of our democracy : it is the place where the peoples’ representatives are meant to do the peoples’ business.  Instead, politicians in parliament have become very distant from the needs of ordinary South Africans.  The ANC in particular is no longer listening to what the people have to say.  Whereas the ANC used to sell itself as the party of the people, it has become a party of elites that looks after its friends, relatives and cronies.  Instead of the implementing the peoples’ agenda, it obeys every command from the ANC’s National Executive Committee.
 
There are now numerous examples of how the ANC abuses the people by marginalizing parliament :

• The ANC has dramatically cut the number of questions MPs may put to the government.
   
• Government ministers regularly fail to answer questions seriously or at all.
   
• Interpellations have been abolished.
   
• The ANC has blocked a proper investigation into the arms deal by parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.
   
• The ANC has refused to act against its Chief Whip, Tony Yengeni, despite evidence that he neglected to declare all his interests, as he is obliged to do.

The DA’s response is to give the people a voice in parliament.  Over the next five weeks, the DA across South Africa will engage in a variety of activities designed to let the voice of the people be heard once more in parliament.  More events will be planned in each region and province and these will be made known to the regional media closer to the time.