ALLAN SAULS, DA PR councillor, writes:
Many South Africans have surely witnessed over the past months lots of activities in parliament which have been described by many as a circus, with many questions raised as to why South African parliament is not conducted in an orderly and professional manner.
Parliament as a congregation is headed by a speaker, which should represent the people of South Africa as a whole.
The primary role and responsibility of parliament is to ensure South Africans are getting services that ensure a good quality of life for them.
To achieve that, parliament, under the guidance and leadership of the speaker and all members of parliament, must hold the president, cabinet ministers and administration accountable for services to be delivered, as well as protect South Africans when mismanagement of what ever state resources occurs.
Government should therefore make sure it delivers on this mandate to the people of South Africa.
When this mandate of accountability, transparency and rule of law fails to be upheld by the assembly under the watchful eye of the speaker, then the rules of parliament have been broken.
Once the rules of parliament are broken then the citizens of the country will inevitably suffer because it then means the president, cabinet and administration are no longer held accountable to the people of South Africa.
The democracy of South Africa would then be under serious threat.
