Bring dignity back to Parliament
23 May 2018
Since 2009, the dignity in South Africa’s Parliament that is supposed to create a better country for all by means of meaningful debating has been disintegrating and Parliament now finds itself in a place where there is no mutual respect between Members of Parliament.
The level of debates has also deteriorated because, on the one hand, members do not pay attention to what is said and, on the other hand, the few minutes available to parties to speak are mostly used for slinging mud and speaking in sound bites.
The fact that the ANC is given so much time to speak while other parties’ time is reduced to a mere three minutes or even less also contributes to the problem. The formula used to allocate parties’ time to speak must be fair.
It is disturbing that the ineffective Members of Parliament have sunk even lower to the level of hurling abuses, insults and even personal threats at one another while poorly disguised racism is at the order of the day. It cannot be tolerated any longer and Parliament will have to step in to once again establish respect among members.