Note to editors: the following speech was delivered in Parliament today by BOSA Deputy Leader, Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster MP, in the debate on Parliament’s Budget.
Parliament stands here today debating its own budget while once again carrying the shame of being rebuked by the Constitutional Court.
This is now the second time in less than a decade that Parliament has been found by the country’s apex court to have acted unconstitutionally in carrying out its oversight responsibilities.
The first was during the Nkandla scandal, when Parliament failed to hold former President Jacob Zuma accountable for violating the Constitution.
And now again, Parliament has been found wanting.
At its core, this extends well beyond individual presidents, political parties, or isolated scandals.
It exposes a deeper structural weakness that has developed over 32 years of constitutional democracy – the steady erosion of Parliament’s independence from party political interests.
Too often, party loyalty has superseded constitutional duty. And Members of Parliament have acted as defenders of the executive instead of watchdogs for the public.
And that is why public trust in democratic institutions continues to decline.
Yet Parliament receives approximately R2.8 billion in this budget precisely to fulfil one central constitutional purpose, which is to hold power accountable on behalf of the people of South Africa.
Honourable Speaker,
South Africans are increasingly asking whether Parliament still performs that role effectively.
Many have reached a dangerous conclusion that Parliament has become too weak, too compromised, and too politically captured to exercise meaningful oversight over the Executive.
This pattern of Parliament acting as a lapdog for the Executive must be broken. Now is the time to unleash Parliament’s full constitutional power.
The Government of National Unity has also introduced a new and unintended risk to democratic accountability.
Today, roughly 70% of Members of Parliament belong to parties inside the GNU, while approximately one in every five MPs serves as a Minister or Deputy Minister.
Parliament’s rules must now evolve to reflect the realities of coalition governance.
MPs must intensify the use of accountability mechanisms including written questions, oral questions, debates, motions, committee inquiries, and oversight visits.
The office of the Speaker requires urgent reform. A rule requiring a Speaker to resign from party leadership structures upon assuming office would be a worthwhile solve.
A Speaker cannot simultaneously function as senior political actors within party hierarchies while cosplaying as neutral custodians of parliamentary accountability.
Honourable Speaker,
One of the clearest weaknesses in Parliament’s oversight framework remains the limited scrutiny applied directly to the President.
At present, the President appears before Parliament only once per quarter for tightly controlled question sessions amounting to roughly 10 hours of accountability per year.
Ten hours. That is simply not sufficient for a constitutional democracy.
BOSA therefore welcomes the decision by Speaker Thoko Didiza to refer proposals strengthening presidential accountability to the Subcommittee on the Review of Assembly Rules.
We continue to believe the President should appear before Parliament at least twice per quarter.
Honourable Speaker,
South Africans increasingly feel that accountability exists only in speeches while consequences rarely materialise in reality.
That growing disconnect between Parliament and ordinary South Africans is dangerous for democracy itself.
Parliament must become visibly effective. It must become feared by the corrupt and respected by the public.
Let’s begin today.
Media Enquiries:
Roger Solomons
BOSA Spokesperson
072 299 3551