This House, not Luthuli should drive SA's discourse

12 May 2016

Madam Speaker,

When Mr Ghaleb Cachalia announced that he was the Mayoral Candidate for the Ekurhuleni Metro, he said something profound, “I did not leave the ANC, the ANC left me”.

And what has brought this home more than anything else has been the conduct of many of the ANC MPs during budget process. The ANC has shown its true colours when backed into a corner, through facts that highlight their dismal service delivery failures; often resorting to vile race-based attacks.

All South Africans should be repulsed when the ANC call people sell outs simply because they are black and choose to join a party other than the ANC. We should be repulsed when the ANC resort to racial profiling and call MPs “Gupta’s” just because they are of Indian decent. We should be repulsed when the ANC label all people with certain skin colours as racist. 

My party, the Democratic Alliance, and its predecessors, has a proud history of rejecting the despicable “gevaar” strategy used by the apartheid-era NP Government and I want to remind the ANC here today, we too reject, your despicable “gevaar “strategy.

Parliament has a budget of R2.1 billion which is bigger than 13 other national departments. However there has been no scrutiny of this budget, and we are here today debating a budget that no committee has had oversight of. 

Yet, the ANC majority gives this House and the Constitution the middle finger by failing to hold the Executive to account while manipulating the budget process to sign a blank cheque for Parliament.

The Constitution clearly states that Ministers are accountable to Parliament, not the other way around.

Oral questions are a critical way in holding the Executive to account, yet several Ministers don’t take their oath nor the Constitution seriously by failing to attend question sessions; the most notable serial offenders are Ministers Motshekga and Davies.

And when it comes to written questions, the Fifth Parliament has experienced an unprecedented number of ‘non-replies’ by members of the Executives.

Some of the biggest offenders include both the previous and current Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans; Minister Justice and Correctional Services Minister; Public Works; Minister of Labour and the Minister Social Development Minister.

In a bazar reply to a written question in which I asked why previous questions had not been answered and why a specific tender had not been opened, the Minister of Social Development stated and I quote: 

“I will only answer questions that are dear and not corridor gossip brought by uninformed and disgruntled officials who spire with a member of the opposition.”

She continued to say,

“Furthermore we are aware that the investigation meeting with officials that had something to do with Parliamentary work. I therefore appeal to members to report their visits to ministerial officials for we have nothing to hide. They can have access to our officials at any given time. 

For the honourable member, the two officials have approached me and confessed to meeting the Honourable Member and have since approached for their devious act.”

You can’t make this up. And if it were, not such a serious matter, it would actually be funny.

The Executive’s continued evasion is depriving South Africans of answers to issues that matter to them such service delivery and jobs. The ANC government owes this institution, and the people it is mandated to serve, transparent and timeous responses. 

We have a Speaker that is compromised by her being the Chairperson of her party and in the top six of the ANC. Her job is supposed to viciously guard the independence of Parliament and ensure that the Executive is held to account, not to take instructions every Monday at Luthuli House and ensure they are implemented here in Parliament.

Madam Speaker, on the 25 April 2016, a letter was written to you from “anonymous – for fear of victimisation”, warning you that Parliament was contravening and failing to comply with the Financial Management of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures ACT 2002, with regards to a once off ex-gratia and notch increase for affected staff – which included:

- Gaps in recognition of employees’ long service at Parliament, payment for acting and stand-in allowances.

- Gaps in implementation of the performance management system, lack of notch progression, where some employees have worked for Parliament for more than 30 years without a notch adjustment.

The Speaker needs to explain to this House why the Secretary of Parliament, who was only employed on 1 December 2014, some three months before this memo was written, could in all conscience take a R71 000 ex-gratia payment? We believe the Secretary to Parliament contravened Section 7 (e) of the Act.  

In addition, just last week Nehawu (which represents 981 of 1,389 parliamentary employees) once again called for Mgidlana’s removal after accusing him and his administration of selectively implementing agreements pertaining to performance bonuses and conditions of service since last year’s unprotected strike which in November ended with a return to work agreement being signed.

And that is not all, last month the City Press reported that he and other senior officials spent almost R2 million on a two-week ‘benchmarking exercise’ across Europe. R177 350 of that was spent on just three nights of accommodation in London. The paper also suggests that procurement procedures were also violated in the processes.

And in July last year Mr Mgidlana admitted to the press that he had been using a Parliament vehicle fitted with blue lights to ferry his family around Cape Town.

Madam Speaker, it is quite clear that the Secretary to Parliament is out of control. He needs to be investigated and if it is found that he had flouted any laws or policies, be fired.

Madam Speaker, all of this highlights how Parliament has been a victim of state capture, there is no distinction between the Executive, Parliament and Luthuli House. What the one wants the one gets.

Not only has the ANC caucus failed to hold the Executive to account, they also brought Parliament into disrepute with their biggest assault on this very institution and the Constitution by choosing to absolve the President from complying with the remedial action taken by the Public Protector.

In doing so, they put the ANC, accused number one, and most importantly for them, their salaries all before the Constitution.

They ripped to shreds the Oath of Office they all took right here and were all complicit in the violation of our Constitution.

But please, don’t take my word for it, let us look at the Constitutional Court Judgment said: 

“the resolution passed by the National Assembly (NA) absolving the President from compliance with the remedial action taken by the Public Protector in terms of section 182(1)(c), of the Constitution is inconsistent with sections 42(3), 55(2)(a), 55(2)(b) and 181(3) of the Constitution, is invalid and is set aside”.

This scathing judgment also clearly shows that the Speaker of the NA, Baleka Mbete, was derelict in her custodial duty to uphold the Constitution.

Madam Speaker I am sure that so many people who fort for our democracy such as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and Helen Suzman must be looking down on us in shame.

There is however an alternative for the electorate and that is the Democratic Alliance we have a vision of a winning and united South Africa, where our strength lies: our diversity.

On the 3 August people will vote for the DA, a party that believes in society built on freedom, fairness and opportunity for all. Where the 8.9 million unemployed actually do have a future and a government that cares about them. 

And I wonder how many people voting on the 3 August will change their vote saying “I did not leave the ANC, the ANC left me”.

Issued by Mike Waters, Deputy Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, 12 May 2016