Parliament Needs the Courage to Take Its Oversight Role Seriously [Sunday Independent, 2006-01-29]

When President Mbeki addressed parliament in June last year, the mood was sombre as MPs, the media and ordinary citizens crammed into the public gallery to hear the president's pronouncement on the fate of his deputy, Jacob Zuma.

The president will, in all likelihood, be relieved that the mood at the opening of parliament on Friday will be less sombre and somewhat buoyant.

The state of the nation address and the attendant pomp and ceremony is generally a feel-good occasion. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on parliament and its role in our young democracy

The test will be to ask the difficult questions
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Rightly, South Africa and its democratic parliament have much to be proud of. This parliament has scrapped more than 789 pieces of race-based legislation and created a functioning committee system. There can be no comparison between the pre-1994 parliament and the present one, such different beasts they are, for all the obvious reasons.

Intrinsically connected to the advent of a new democratically elected parliament was an earnest attempt to build a culture of integrity among elected representatives. Parliament established an ethics committee to increase accountability and a code of ethics under which MPs must declare their assets. The watchwords were transparency, accountability and openness.

However, the past few years have been difficult ones for parliament as it has had to deal with a number of high-profile breaches of its own code of ethics. Furthermore, parliament has often struggled to define and interpret its oversight role; the arms deal particularly tested its mettle for holding the executive to account.

The standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), whose job it is to ensure that the taxpayer receives value for money, emerged with its reputation tarnished as a result of its weak handling of the arms deal investigation. Scopa may well be tested again *1 when it decides whether to launch an investigation into the trip to the United Arab Emirates by the deputy president in December. The trip, alleged to have cost taxpayers about R700 000, has been the cause of controversy during the past month.

The Travelgate saga continues to taint the image of parliament as an institution as investigations into the alleged abuse of travel vouchers by MPs continue. The recent abrupt dismissal of Harry Charlton, parliament's chief financial officer, does nothing to quell the perception that Charlton was dealt a heavy blow as a result of his work on Travelgate.

Whether this is true or not, it is unlikely that the way in which the matter was dealt with by the secretary to parliament has enhanced parliament's reputation in the eyes of the public.

While parliament's structure, powers and duties are spelt out unambiguously and ambitiously in the constitution, there remains a gap between the constitutional aspirations for parliament and how it has fulfilled its mandate.

Baleka Mbete, the speaker, has placed continued emphasis in her public pronouncements on the need for parliament to become a "people's parliament". This was something that her predecessor, Frene Ginwala, also championed.

The constitution laudably gives citizens the right to intervene in the law-making process. In reality, however, citizens often lack the means to access resources to make submissions on pieces of often-complex legislation.

While parliament has made significant progress in becoming a representative African parliament, much work still needs to be done to facilitate the access to parliament by marginalised groups such as rural women.

All too often it is the voice of business or well-resourced NGOs that are prominent at committee hearings.

Parliament's oversight role is clearly defined in the constitution, yet during the past 12 years it has exercised this role somewhat patchily. The latter has particularly been the case where the legislature has found itself having to square up against the executive, for instance during the passage of the National Conventional Arms Control Bill.

Committees of parliament have varied in their levels of robustness as regards executive oversight. Most recently, however, the transport committee, chaired by Jeremy Cronin, has, in an excellent show of oversight, demonstrated the will to ask the tough questions regarding both the affordability and suitability of the Gautrain.

Similarly, when parliament considers the Draft 14th Constitutional Amendment Bill and the Superior Courts Bill this year, it will prove to be another test of the efficacy of the legislature's oversight role.

The bills form part of a package of laws aimed at ensuring the transformation of the courts, both in administration and substance.

While everyone agrees that justice must be accessible and efficient, some of the proposed changes have provoked concern about the separation of powers. The proposed changes in the package of laws include the abolition of the labour courts, reducing the involvement of the chief justice in the appointment of senior acting judges, withdrawing the power of all courts to suspend legislation until the constitutional court has made a final ruling, and constitutionally entrenching authority over court administration in the hands of the minister of justice.

What has been disconcerting about the process is that there has been very little public conversation about this package of laws, which have such far-reaching consequences.

A plurality of views is therefore needed if this legislation is to reflect accurately what citizens require of the justice system. For parliament, the test will be to invite as many submissions on the issue as possible and to ask the difficult questions. What are the exceptional circumstances that warrant an amendment to the constitution?

How can we balance the need for accountability, efficiency and transformation in the judiciary without blurring the separation of powers?

At the beginning of the third democratic parliament in 2004, the ANC's chief whip proclaimed that the focus of parliament would be on strengthening committees and their oversight over implementation of legislation and policy.

Parliament faces some serious challenges in establishing a culture of oversight and in affirming its relevance against the backdrop of ever-increasing levels of inequality. The way in which it deals with these challenges will have a direct influence on the nature and character of this country's democracy in the years ahead.

•Judith February is head of Idasa's Political Information and Monitoring Service

Publication	Sunday Independent
Date	2006-01-29
Reporter	Judith February
Web Link	www.sundayindependent.co.za