Cancelling Western Cape Parliament for the Premier’s Investment Summit Is an Insult to Democracy

GOOD Statement by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament

Cancelling a sitting of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament to accommodate an investment summit, one that clearly interests only the executive, is an insult to democracy in this province and places the independence of the legislature at stake.

Not every Member of Parliament needs to attend the Premier’s pet project. When the Premier starts dictating when Parliament can or cannot sit, we edge dangerously close to a constitutional crisis. If the Premier can rewrite the legislative calendar whenever it suits him, then the very purpose of having a legislature is stripped away.

The DA legislators are once again dancing to the tune of the executive. Their function is to be a distinct arm of government, not a stamp of approval for the Premier’s whims. The legislature’s job is to hold the Premier and his Cabinet to account, not to bend to their convenience.

The 6 November sitting that has now been cancelled would have been the first since 2 October. Parliament already sits only once a week, and for roughly half the year,  far too little for a government that claims to value transparency and accountability. Each sitting matters. Each one is a rare chance for democracy to function.

Oversight becomes meaningless if every opportunity to exercise it is cancelled or delayed in favour of photo opportunities and PR events. The executive already filibusters at every turn, wasting precious parliamentary time to avoid hard questions. When they can’t stall, they hide behind written replies instead of standing in the House to face scrutiny.

One might say they are afraid to face the heat but cancelling Parliament altogether is worse than fear. It is contempt. Contempt for accountability. Contempt for the people who elected us. And contempt for the principle that no Premier, no matter how powerful, is above legislative oversight.

The Premier may prefer investment summits to parliamentary sittings, but he was not elected to run this province without scrutiny. If this administration, and its DA majority in the legislature, continues to sideline Parliament, it must be called what it is: an abuse of power and a direct threat to the democratic institutions that protect us all.

GOOD Core Values: The party emphasizes social justice, equality, and GOOD governance.

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