It has become apparent that Parliament's position as a "people parliament" and its role in overseeing government is being eroded, says former chairman of Parliament's watchdog standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), Gavin Woods.

Addressing the Cape Town Press Club yesterday, he said if this was not corrected soon, it would "surely have detrimental consequences for our fledgling democracy".

Woods resigned as chairman of the committee recently, citing political interference in the committee's work.

He said Parliament's performance had become "appallingly deficient" when viewed against that section of the constitution which instructed the National Assembly "to represent the people and to ensure government by the people". Woods pointed out that the constitution says this must be done "by overseeing executive action", which is "directly linked to the constitution's separation of powers between the arms of government".

Woods said the "neutralisation" of Parliament could be attributed to three related causes.

Firstly, the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC), through its participation in the executive arm of government, "has purposefully tried to dictate to and muscle in on the business of the parliamentary arm.

"The executive has become increasingly authoritarian in approach and insists on getting its way with new legislation or policy, or when resisting scrutiny and oversight."

Secondly, Parliament itself, through the disproportionately large majority party, makes it easy for the executive by always acceding to its wishes. Woods said the majority of MPs understood the necessity of this in the interests of their personal careers, and many actually saw their leaders as the "custodians of an absolute morality and wisdom that God has bestowed exclusively upon the ANC".

Thirdly, Woods said: "I must regrettably refer to the prevalence of weak, lazy and generally ineffectual members in our Parliament, which adds to the overall ineptitude of the institution.

"There are few MPs who demonstrate initiative, individualism, intellectual integrity, or meaningful knowledge of the subject matter before them."

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Business Day.