Not there yet, but parliament is beginning to move in the right direction. MPs are slowly emerging from slumberland. They seem to have the bit between their teeth. They want to make up for lost time.
For too long MPs were used either as battering rams or voting fodder. It was almost as if their brains were not required. (True, some of them behave as if they don't have any.) They pretty much did as they were told; like children, always at the beck and call of those in power.
The situation hasn't changed much in the National Assembly, especially when the subject at hand happens to be President Jacob Zuma. There the lines remain firmly drawn. The problem may not necessarily be Zuma. The institution suffers from poor leadership. The speakership was never a priority for Baleka Mbete. It was merely a means to other ends.With Zuma running (down) the state and Cyril Ramaphosa calling the shots at Luthuli House, the term "two centres of power" has again become the mantra in political conversation. Mbete's problem seemed to be the opposite. She was the centre of two powers - the speakership and the chairmanship of the ruling party - with an eye on the top job.
Being speaker was merely a stepping stone. Protecting - and pleasing - Zuma was part of the curriculum to succeed him. There were just too many hats to juggle. But now that her presidential ambitions have finally been laid to rest, she will hopefully concentrate on making sure that parliament lives up to its mission. She has nothing to fear and nobody to please now.
If parliament itself still has its proverbial head stuck in the sand, the wind of change - a phrase first uttered by British prime minister Harold Macmillan to a stony-faced apartheid parliament in Cape Town exactly 58 years ago yesterday - seems to be blowing vigorously in the various parliamentary committees.It seems MPs have finally been liberated, and they're making full use of their right to speak their mind. It has dawned on them that their primary duty is not to be craven or toady to the powerful, but to hold them accountable. And they're doing it with some relish.
The ad hoc committee looking into the SABC set the ball rolling - and set the bar high. After years of neglect by both the government and parliament itself, the national broadcaster had become something akin to Animal Farm. The committee got to work, dismantling what was left of the board and exposing the rot for all to see. The fact that the worms have been flushed out and stability seems to be returning to the SABC is partly thanks to the work of the committee.
What was also pleasing was to see MPs from across the spectrum working together with one objective in mind. Partisanship had been left at the door. Faith Muthambi was taken aback to see ANC members - who'd have ordinarily defended her - joining the lynch mob, as it were, and mercilessly taking her to task for her deficiencies in dealing with the problems at the SABC.
The public enterprises portfolio committee has its work cut out trying to figure out the mess at Eskom, because the utility is a microcosm of what has come to be known as state capture. And the characters in this tragicomedy - Brian Molefe, Matshela Koko, Anoj Singh etcetera - seem indifferent, even pompous and arrogant, about the whole matter. The penny has yet to drop.But as Pravin Gordhan said to Singh: "With all the political changes that are happening, how long do you think your story [of lies and obfuscation] will stick?"
Gordhan, rudely relieved of the burden of office, seems to be revelling in his new role as interrogator par excellence. His cross-examinations have been blistering, mocking and toying with witnesses like a cat fooling around with a cornered rat.
His exchange with Lynne Brown - a poster child for incompetence if ever there was one - was a thing to behold. One would swear they never sat in the same cabinet or belonged to the same political party.
This week, chairwoman Zukiswa Rantho took Ben Martins, a fellow ANC member, to task for calling the committee a kangaroo court. Martins, a deputy minister, had to be dragged before the committee on pain of being subpoenaed. MPs are beginning to understand - and fulfil - their roles, regardless of party affiliation.
Part of this boldness is, of course, as Gordhan has mentioned, as a result of the changes taking place in the ANC. Zuma and his corrupt cronies are on the run politically. One would hope, though, that this is the beginning of a new dawn and that MPs won't lower their guard and start grovelling to a new master. If parliament had operated with the requisite vigilance, it's doubtful whether state capture would ever have reared its ugly head. Zuma certainly would not have survived this far.But we tend to be too hard on what we regard as MPs' obsequiousness. The sin is a collective one. The MPs were merely a reflection of the public mood. After the death of apartheid, we sat back and rested on our laurels. The job was done, we told ourselves.
The people who had championed our cause for many years from many parts of the globe had come back to claim what was theirs - power. We thought they were mini gods who could do no harm, and therefore required no supervision or scrutiny.
But we discovered to our shock and horror that our revered messiahs had feet of clay. They were human, after all. Even more shocking was that some of them seem to have failed even to attain the level of morality or intelligence expected of people in their position. It's been a rude awakening.
But if we want a different type of attitude, inclination or behaviour from our MPs - and therefore for parliament to sufficiently fulfil its mission - we need to change the way they're elected. The electoral system should be reviewed to allow for direct voter election of MPs...