Parliament must start speaking truth to power

Note to editors: The following is an extract of the speech delivered in Parliament today by DA Chief Whip Watty Watson MP, during the debate on Parliament's budget vote. 

Honourable Speaker:

I wish to pay tribute to you for your stewardship of this institution and to thank you for the instances, rare as they were, for acknowledging the true role of Parliament as the nodal point where the issues facing South Africans, should be debated.

But, Mr Speaker, you must ask yourself whether you have really done enough to ensure that Parliament regains its rightful place as the centre of debate in our country?

Parliament's budget is R2 billion, but who would have thought that it would take this much money to get Parliament to do so little.

• The House does not debate all legislation;
• The House does not debate issues of public importance;
• The House does not summon anyone to appear before it;
• The House does not debate committee oversight reports;
• The House rarely debates draft resolutions;
• And the House most definitely does not debate motions of no confidence

But Mr Speaker, Maybe I am being unfair to this House.

Last year, it spent 30 hours debating celebrations, commemorations, congratulations, and ceremonies and fortunately we had a debate on the handover of the National Development Plan or else the President would never have received a copy.

But on a more serious note Mr Speaker, precious time is spent debating what the public elected us to debate. Last year many Bills were passed without having a single debate in this House, whilst the issues that really matter to the public are rarely discussed here at all.

The DA made 8 requests for debates of public importance - on issues ranging from the textbook crisis to Nkandla but, for whatever technical reasons you gave at the time, you must know that you deprived the people of this country a debate on these issues.

Thankfully, our Guptagate debate, a few weeks ago, proved the vital contribution that Parliament can make to National Discourse. For once members were not sat here reading the news on their iPads, bored to sleep by the vacuous rhetoric that pervades during most sessions. By simply debating things that matter to the public; By simply doing their job, members were once again making parliament relevant.

Parliament was once again relevant to the lives of South Africans and this should be the norm, not the exception. You know full well, Mr Speaker, that power corrupts. You know full well, Mr Speaker, that absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

But do you know, Mr Speaker, how frustrating it is to sit on that side of the House powerless to prevent the absolute corruption of our Government? Do you know, Mr Speaker, how frustrating it is to have all of our efforts:

• heckled;
• thwarted;
• belittled;
• mocked;
• blocked; and,
• ridiculed by members of the ANC?

Do you know, Mr Speaker, how frustrating it is to constantly be denied any real opportunity for public accountability?

Mr Speaker, it is vital that the National Assembly start speaking truth to power, because while the President said he was waging a War against Corruption, the War that this President has raged is against the very opposite of that.

The War that this President has raged is against every attempt at open and public accountability, and its first victim is Parliament.

The respect that the Executive has for Parliament's Oversight Authority was captured perfectly a few weeks ago. The most important official report into Executive Corruption to have been released to the public this year, the Guptagate report, was deliberately withheld from Parliament until the Debate had started. 

Two Hundred and Eighteen (218) Written Questions were not ever answered by Ministers last year. And the answers we receive are frankly, Mr Speaker, a disgrace. The nonsense they sometimes contain, insults the intelligence of the people of South Africa. The arrogance of their tone demonstrates the contempt of our Government towards accountability. 

DA members sent 90 letters to Ministers over the course of last year's parliamentary session. And do you know what Mr Speaker; none of our requests were acceded to.

DA members sent 70 letters to Committee Chairpersons requesting, for example, resolutions to summon the Minister to the Committee.mAnd do you know what Mr Speaker; none of our requests were acceded to.

The Intelligence Committee has not reported on its work in years and yet, Mr Speaker, you have refused my every suggestion to hold that committee to account. And now the single most important report into Executive Corruption - the Nkandla report - has been thrown into that Parliamentary Abyss. 

But worse of all, Mr Speaker, is the fact that under this President, the National Assembly had not the esteem or the will power to assert its Constitutional Right of debating a Motion of No Confidence in the President. But to our shame, Mr Speaker, the blame cannot solely be laid on the President.

How, Mr Speaker, can Members be expected to perform Effective Oversight when Parliament's Administration cannot even produce Minutes by the following week?; How, Mr Speaker, can Members be expected to perform Effective Oversight when they have to adopt Committee Minutes for an entire term, or even the entire year in one go?; When Committee minutes do not accurately reflect what was said in the meeting?; When Committee Reports are tabled Months, ever Years, after the event? And How, Mr Speaker, can Members be expected to perform Effective oversight when virtually no Committee Oversight Reports are ever debated in Parliament?

Mr Speaker, Parliament is being tripped up by the incompetence and lethargy of its very own administration - an administration that receives a whopping R400 million each year. You must agree that Rigorous and Meaningful Oversight cannot happen under these conditions.

Mr Speaker I have not forgotten about you like you forgot to respond to 19 of the 23 letters I sent to you before parliament closed last year. I have not forgotten, Mr Speaker, about the R40 million your office receives on a yearly basis. 

How many more millions of rand do you need before you start responding to members timeously? 

How many more millions of rand do you need before Presiding Officers start responding on-the-spot to points of order in the House?

With a Multi-Million Rand Budget, Mr Speaker, responding to letters and responding to points of order, should not cause any operational strain. 

Mr Speaker, Your office needs fundamental transformation. You need more support in upholding the rules and making rulings timeously. Your office must no longer pride itself on organising events and fanfare. Rather than pomp and ceremony, your office must be properly versed in Parliamentary Practice.

It must guide you through the practices, procedures and processes of a democratic parliament. But let's consider, for a moment, a more serious charge:

Parliament is not immune from the plague of corruption. The very legislation that was meant to immunise this institution from corruption creates an environment that allows it to fester.

Gives too much power to three individuals; 

The power that The Financial Management of Parliament Act gives to the Secretary of Parliament, the Speaker of the National Assembly, and the Chairperson of the NCOP is extraordinary.

Giving unbridled power to only three individuals is like giving whiskey and car keys to a teenager.

This power has led to Officials from the Office of the Deputy Speaker spending Millions of Rands on events without a single member ever seeing or agreeing to that budget. 

The so-called Sectoral Parliament events are drawn up by officials and officials alone. 

We will never know how much of that money falls into the wastebasket of corruption

But we do know, Mr Speaker, that R2,100,00.00 went into the Chief Whip's Sugar-Daddy-Fund for President Zuma. I hope, Chief Whip, that the President rose to the occasion and gave the Interfaith Council a sterling speech. I myself would not know, because opposition parties were not pre-informed and were not even invited to the event.

The former secretary to Parliament saw it fit to give himself, a nearly two hundred thousand rand loan, for a fence around his house. Unknown persons in this institution see it fit to serve members with a R16 million platters of food.

Mr Speaker, we need a budget that has been put together by people who know exactly what is wrong with Parliament; by people who are Every-Day-Subjects of its Dysfunction, Non-function, and its Broader Crumbling Demise.

In short, Mr Speaker, we need a budget that has been put together with Members having Proper Oversight and Input. 

Until such time as Parliament's Presiding Officers and Secretary allow themselves to be held to account for this budget by Members of Parliament, this institution stands no chance of being fixed.

I have here in my hand, a Private Member's Bill that could rectify all of these problems, but out of respect for the Portfolio Committee on Finance, which I am informed, is presently engaged in reviewing the act, I decided not to introduce this Bill.

But mark my words; if the next Financial Management of Parliament Act, does not make the Secretary and Presiding Officers more accountable, and does not allow Members of Parliament to have more say, then I will introduce a Bill. 

Those in control of Parliament's Money must begin accounting for their part in its crumbling demise. 

I thank you.

Issued by the DA, June 11 2013

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