The African National Congress in Parliament began 2010 fully rejuvenated and ready to continue intensifying the implementation of the programmes with which it has entered into contract with South Africans during the current term of government.

We are encouraged by the message of the President to the people, which reflects a caring government that endeavours to improve the material conditions of our people, particularly the poor.

Last year we committed ourselves to what we call an Activist Parliament during this five year term of Parliament. Practically, what this means is that as the majority Party in this institution, we shall work with more resoluteness, vigour and decisiveness in the course of executing our duties within both Parliament and Constituencies.

During this particular year that we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the release of former President Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners as well as the unbanning of liberation movements, we shall spare neither strength nor energy to ensure that the objectives of our glorious liberation struggles are brought into practical reality.

We will indeed move with the necessary speed, employing extraordinary and unusual means, to roll back the frontiers of poverty and underdevelopment, joblessness and other social ills faced by the majority of our people. This we shall do while building on the many gains South Africans achieved since the dawn of democracy 16 years ago.

In this regard, constituency outreach programmes and intensified parliamentary oversight - which are the very backbone of the activist Parliament - shall be the prominent and central strategic feature of the work of each of our Members of Parliament.

The National Executive Committee of the ANC has taken a decision that deployees of the movement at all levels of government must be subjected to a rigorous performance assessment system to ensure that nothing impedes our drive towards achieving the goals our people have set for us. ANC MPs will therefore be no exception in this process. Performance assessment, monitoring and evaluation of our work as MPs, will ensure that, as the President said in his State of the Nation Address, as public representatives we know where our people live, understands their needs, and are in a better position to respond faster.

Our MPs must be visible amongst the communities they serve, be in sync with the mood of the people, and be able to predict potential explosion of protests for rapid strategic intervention. We must make service delivery protests a thing of the past.

When we began with an activist Parliament in 2009, we committed ourselves to amongst others, hold the Executive to account without fear or favour. We will closely monitor the department's implementation of the programmes of government aimed at improving the lives of our people and ensure that we act where necessary. In this regard, there shall be no space or place for sweetheart questions to the Executive in the course of conducting oversight. ANC MPs must and will close the space for the opposition's grandstanding through an intensified and yet constructive oversight over the Members of the Executive. 

Our Parliamentary Constituency Program will serve as a springboard through which we are able to reach out to our people in all corners of our country, including the far-flung and remote rural areas. We have moved swiftly to capacitate our Constituency Coordination Section within the Caucus to ensure that our MPs are provided with strategic support in the course of conducting their work within the communities they represent.

Our drive to transform our Constituency Offices across the country into One-Stop Centres, in which public representatives from all the three spheres of government will be accessible under one roof, is on course. Consistent with the principle of working together with our people, we will intensify partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, including faith-based formations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, traditional leaders, traditional healers and ordinary members of the community.

The ANC leadership called for an overarching value system that can unite all the people regardless of race, class and gender.  We have also committed ourselves to strive for the creation of a non-racial, non-sexist, united democratic and prosperous society in which the value of all citizens is measured by their common humanity (Ubuntu/Botho).

The common humanity of all South African has provided a framework for an overarching value system. President Jacob Zuma has already committed his administration to build a new South Africa based on Ubuntu/Botho values and principles.

This vision found support in the meetings of multi-party leader's forum where leaders of political parties called on the President to find a common ground and platform for nation building, social cohesion and moral regeneration.

The multi-party Chief Whips Forum unanimously endorsed the inclusive approach to nation building and identified two already existing mechanisms for its realization. These mechanisms are the Parliamentary Millennium Programmed (PMP) and the Parliamentary Interfaith Group (PIG).

The President has often called on all Political parties to identify national issues around which we should co-operate in our quest for nation building and social cohesion. We believe that the PMP offers an appropriate platform for this purpose.

We have identified the need to incorporate the views of the electorate in the legislative and oversight business of Parliament as a strategic objective for the 4th Parliament by providing a platform for schools, tertiary institutions and rural communities. Parliament, as a nation-building institution must provide an opportunity for the electorate to engage and consider issues on democracy, heritage, education, nation-building, social cohesion, service delivery and moral regeneration as well as international relations and co-operation

The PMP will be a non-partisan project resourced by Parliament and should be used as a vehicle to take Parliament to the people. The project would allow members to co-operate more regularly on constituency work despite their political affiliations. The PMP will therefore cement and give effect to the concept an Activist Parliament at a multiparty level.

Since 1994, a Parliamentary religious group existed and often received support from Parliament without formal recognition.

The support of all political parties for the President's call for the recovery of the humanity of all South African, both black and white, and the promotion of moral regeneration for social development reawakened interest in the place of religion and politics. Thus the multi-party chief whips forum decided to revive the Parliamentary religious group and to rename in Parliamentary Interfaith Group (PIG).

The group has already forged ties with the National Interfaith Leaders Council (NILC) and has affiliated to the Interfaith Action for Peace in Africa (IFAPA). The two organizations, together with the ANC Commission have just met the Sudanese Inter-religious Council which has invited them to visit the Sudan before National elections. The PIG and PMP are destined to play a critical role in the promotion of nation building, social cohesion and the African Agenda.

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter