MPs must show backbone and hold leaders to account

There was fun and games aplenty in parliament yesterday, with the red berets, miners' helmets and overalls, the chanting of political slogans on the steps and the DA's brave - if rather predictable and ultimately futile - attempt to prevent Jacob Zuma's re-election as the country's president.

But, after Zuma is duly inaugurated and Julius Malema has ditched his gimmicky workers' garb for the fine clothes and flashy jewellery he usually favours, our fifth democratically elected parliament will get down to the more serious business of making the laws that will steer the country for the next five years.

The millions of voters who cast their ballots two weeks ago have high hopes that the newly elected MPs will be up to the challenge.

South Africa has drifted alarmingly under Zuma's leadership since 2009. Unemployment has worsened, business confidence is in the doldrums and popular protests against the state's many service-delivery failings have surged.

Critically, ANC MPs have often failed to hold the executive to account, blindly using their majority to pass questionable laws and to protect their political leaders.

The debacle surrounding the hopelessly flawed and manifestly undemocratic Protection of State Information Bill, and the shameless antics of ruling party MPs who stonewalled to prevent an ad hoc committee debating the public protector's report on the Nkandla scandal before the election, are prominent examples.

MPs generally have been absent from parliament in large numbers too often, stymying important debates, despite their comfortable salaries and numerous perks.

It was revealed earlier this year that MPs had attempted to push through legislation that would have given them up to 24 free flights a year for 10 years after they retire. This in a country in which millions of people struggle daily to put bread on the table.

It is to be hoped that the current crop of MPs finally grasp that the public expects a whole lot more of its elected representatives.