GIVING PARLIAMENT BACK IT'S TEETH

Summary

By providing a check on executive power between elections, a well-functioning Parliament is crucial for a successful democracy. With the prospect of an alternation in power unlikely in the short term, it is therefore vital that the South African Parliament uses its powers to oversee the executive effectively.

This discussion document sets out the case that Parliament has been marginalised in the post-Mandela period and is increasingly 'toothless' in the face of growing executive power. The process currently under way to establish a common vision for Parliament provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the performance of Parliament and recommend mechanisms to make Parliament more effective.

The most serious impediment to oversight is a ruling party that actively discourages independent thinking on the part of its MPs. The ANC's policies of cadre deployment and democratic centralism - compounded by the party list electoral system - have undermined the independence of ANC MPs. In addition, the rules of Parliament allow the ANC to dominate the question paper with 'sweetheart' questions. Another indication that the ANC is marginalising Parliament is the tendency of ANC Ministers to interfere in the work of Parliamentary Committees when the ANC is threatened politically.

It is not surprising that South African citizens are increasingly disillusioned with Parliament. In 1995, 45% of respondents in the 'Afrobarometer' survey said that they trusted Parliament either "most of the time" or "almost all of the time." By 2002, this figure had dropped to 31%. It is unlikely that trust in Parliament has increased in 2004, a year in which public dismay over the parliamentary travel voucher scandal has reached an all time high.

The problems with accountability and oversight have not gone unnoticed by Parliament, although reform looks destined to be painfully slow. In early 1999, Parliament commissioned a report from constitutional law experts Hugh Corder, Fred Soltau and Saras Jagwanth from the University of Cape Town to identify problems in implementing oversight and to recommend measures to counteract systemic shortcomings. The report was completed in July 1999 and was discussed by the ad hoc committee on oversight and accountability. The Committee formally adopted the report and proposed some technical changes to the joint rules committee in September 2002. In August 2004 a task team was established to implement some of the recommendations of the report.

The task team consists of twenty members of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. It includes the Chief whips of the ANC, DA and IFP, the House Chairs, the Chairperson of the Committees of the NCOP, Chairs of the Joint Budget Committee, three DA MPs and one MP each from the IFP, UDM, ID, NNP and the ACDP.

The DA believes that this task team should seek advice from a committee of experts to advise it on the weaknesses of Parliament and make some recommendations to chart the way forward. This document sets out the DA's own analysis of the marginalisation of Parliament and suggests some practical mechanisms that could go some way to give Parliament back its 'teeth.'

Download full document (Giving Parliament Back its teeth.doc)