Parliament 2015: DA vs ANC vs EFF
According to a report compiled by the Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s other political parties need to up their game when it comes to pressing government for vital information on the various executive actions taking place in the country.
The DA’s Parliamentary Review gives a “factual snapshot” of the work that has been done in Parliament each year, giving an analysis on how the National Assembly performed in the year past.
One of the focus areas of the report is written submissions to government, which are one of South Africa’s oversight mechanisms through which members of Parliament can obtain information on the many issues facing the country.
It also allows for parties to scrutinise actions taken by the executive and hold them to account.
In 2015, members of parliament had 35 opportunities to submit written questions in the National Assembly – though by far the DA was the only party to show constant and consistent desire to do so.
Of the 4,204 written questions submitted to the National Assembly in 2015, 82.5% – or 3,496 – were submitted by the DA.
39 were submitted by the ANC, 146 were submitted by the EFF and 550 were submitted by other parties.
The ANC has the most members in Parliament with 249 seats, followed by the DA with 89 members and the EFF with 31.
The 3,469 questions asked by the DA’s 89 members translates to an average of 40 questions per DA MP and an average of 100 questions per opportunity.
Contrastingly, the ANC’s submissions averaged just over one per opportunity.
According to the DA, every single one of its MPs submitted written questions over the course of the year, while all of the ANC’s questions came from 16 of its 249 members.
Of the party’s submitted questions, 10.1% (349) remain unanswered, most of which are sitting with the Department of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs.
In its report, the DA criticised the EFF’s disruptive behaviour in parliament over the course of the year, as well as President Jacob Zuma’s apparent disregard for answering and debating topics of national importance.
“The President still seems content meeting the mere minimum attendance quota (once per term) when it comes to oral question sessions.”
“Considering the numerous matters within his purview and the limited opportunities the opposition has to interrogate his performance, the President’s current attendance record is simply unacceptable,” the DA said.
Forty-five bills were introduced in Parliament this year and of those bills, eight were signed into law while another 12 bills are awaiting approval by president Zuma.
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