Parliament has become ‘dummy chamber’‚ says Steenhuisen

The Democratic Alliance wants an Executive Accountability Act to be passed that will serve as an accountability mechanism with real consequences for Presidents and Ministers who feel that they can simply ignore Parliament and their constitutional obligations.

Speaking during the budget vote debate on Thursday‚ DA chief whip John Steenhuisen referred to Parliament as a “dummy chamber that slavishly does the bidding of the President and his Executive‚ even if this means violating the very constitution that birthed it”.

“This institution long ago ceased to be a people’s parliament. It’s become a playground for the Executive where they are mollycoddled and shielded from probing oversight by a Speaker who cannot distinguish between her role as custodian of the institution and her chairmanship of the ANC‚” Steenhuisen asserted.

It had gotten so bad that some ministers‚ notably Rob Davies and Angie Motshekga‚ regularly ddidn’t bother to turn up for their oral question sessions in the House. They were able to “duck accountability and oversight” from Members of the House with impunity‚ Steenhuisen added.

“But perhaps the worst example is the fact that Mr. Zuma was able to stand unchallenged at this very podium last week and lecture this House and its members with impunity on how they should behave‚ with absolutely no shame or remorse for his own disgraceful conduct – And not a word from any of you‚ except the Speaker’s acquiescence.

“The Democratic Alliance believes passionately that it is our duty to get this House truly working for the people‚ so that we can get the people back to work.”

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Steenhuisen added that the recent Constitutional Court judgment on Nkandla was a watershed moment for the country and its constitution and had left Parliament’s reputation in tatters.

“It exposes for all to see how parliament failed miserably in its most basic and fundamental duties to hold the executive to account and to ensure that the Constitution is upheld.

“This is a damning indictment on this institution and a clarion call for the fundamental reform that is now urgently required.

“The Fifth Parliament stands confronted with this stark choice; building a new bridge of accountability and obligation out of this mess or simply continuing to wallow in the backwaters of inaction and impotence‚” Steenhuisen said.

This was not the Parliament that the framers of the Constitution had envisaged.

“They dreamt of a robust and energetic multi-party chamber with a healthy tension between the executive and the legislature. They laid out a legislature where meaningful oversight would be done and expression given to the will of the people. They planned a Parliament that would form a bastion of defence of the Constitution and the principles enshrined therein.

“Instead they have been bequeathed a dummy chamber that slavishly does the bidding of the President and his Executive‚ even if this means violating the very constitution that birthed it‚” Steenhuisen said.