Towards a Parliament of Builders, not Breakers

The following speech by Baxolile Nodada MP – Deputy Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, was delivered during the plenary Debate on Vote 2: Parliament this afternoon:

Somlomo

Malungu abekekileyo ndiyanibulisa ngalenjika’langa

Molweni

Chair,

The theme for the Government of National Unity focuses on builders vs breakers. And as a member of a key party to that Unity, it would be remiss of me to not look at Parliament through that lens.

We must never forget that being Members of Parliament and the Executive is not just a great privilege. It comes with great responsibility – something too often forgotten by some in this house it seems. We need to learn from the past if we want to build a successful future for all South Africans.

The 6th Parliament was filled with both builders and breakers – unfortunately, it often seems that there were more of the latter than the former. We saw this in the wilfull dereliction of duties or rubberstamping of harmful legislation. We saw this when committees undertook public participation at an average cost of R300 000 per public hearing per district – a whopping R900 000 per province – but refused to listen to the input of the people. We saw this when committees flaunted procedure in order to push through legislation.

The National Health Insurance Act and the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill would surely not have survived the process if the health and basic education committees took their duties of facilitating public participation or the work of the National Council of Provinces seriously. Instead of taking on board the inputs from experts, civil society, and people in those respective industries, the NHI and BELA Bills were steamrolled through Parliament, hardly giving the NCOP time to do its job before steamrolling it through there.

Why spend this money if the intention is to simply ignore inputs and rubberstamp legislation? This culture has to change so as to give due diligence in the legislative making process.

We, as Members of Parliament, need to understand that what we do is not removed from the struggles of our people. It has a direct impact on their lives and can either make it better or infinitely worse.

Whether we build or break is not just a political chess game. It affects whether we have reliable power supply for our homes and businesses, whether we have safe and reliable water in our homes, whether our ports can import and export goods without hassle, whether our children can read, write, and do basic mathematics, and can learn in safe environments that inspire in them a thirst for knowledge. It affects whether the economy is enabled to grow, and people have jobs, our ability to effectively fight crime, and fix broken infrastructure. It affects whether people are able to put food on the table and live in dignified environments.

And for too many South Africans, the answer is still a resounding no.

But we have an opportunity now. A rare chance to turn the Titanic before we hit the iceberg. It will be hard work. It will take unprecedented cooperation and trust. But we can make this work.

It will require a different mindset from us all. It will require the study of international best practices to ensure that our GNU not only goes the distance, but sows prosperity along the way. We will need patience, innovation, and trust that all GNU parties have South Africans best interest at heart and is not looking for any excuse or loophole to enrich themselves while vulnerable citizens suffer. We must ensure that we are worthy of the trust South Africans placed in us.

That is why we must revive the coalition bills so that as legislators we are able to set laws that will guide how we form government in the future, to provide certainty and stability where no party has a majority.

We must not only fix the National Assembly building that went up in flames, but also build up the institution of Parliament by ensuring that all vacancies are filled with permanent personnel to support the critical work we do of oversight and law making – no more acting capacities.

Parliament must be robust and deal with the issues of South Africans. We must hold the Executive and Members of Parliament to account. Including making sure that we shield this institution of questionable characters that have been impeached elsewhere.

In that regard, the DA has written to the police committee regarding the stalled VBS investigation. SAPS must explain to the committee why they failed to provide any updates on the status of their investigations 6 years after the DA laid criminal charges against the EFF’s Hon. Floyd Shivambu and Hon. Julius Malema over allegations of corruption and industrial scale looting of the now defunct VBS bank.

In the case of VBS, as with all cases of alleged corruption, it is poor and vulnerable citizens who suffer the most. It is the people we are meant to serve. Not a single Member of Parliament is here on their own behest. We are honoured to serve because the voters have decided it so. Let’s honour their trust in us. Let us not break when we can and must build.

Madam Speaker, As the Deputy Chief Whip of the Second Largest Party in Parliament, I can assure you that our caucus team looks forward to working with all those who seek to build so we can tangibly change people’s lives for the better on the ground.

The DA will use this house to do so, as we build a Parliament of Builders and not breakers.

Asizangobhidliza apha, sizokwakha Ikamva eligcono for abantu basemzantsi’afrika.

I thank you