In 2014 opposition parties targeted president Jacob Zuma after a number of no-shows in the National Assembly when he refused to answer questions. Scuffles, sit-ins, filibusters, walk-outs and even court cases occurred towards the end of last year. The joint Opposition demanded that the president should answer questions relating to his abuse of power. The questions remain unanswered.
The nation was shocked at this lack of accountability and the irreverence with which ANC cadres shielded him, including the speaker of the National Assembly. This contemptuous disrespect for the Constitution offended the nation. The president had set a bad example.
His precedent inevitably has led to a pattern of unaccountability, which has filtered through to almost every government department and office.
Those who wish to access information must resort to legislation to obtain answers, such as the Paia (Promotion of Access to Information) and Paja (Promotion of Administrative Justice) Acts. Many have to approach the Public Protector when legislation is ignored.
Mogale City is no different.
As in all municipal councils across the nation, the Standing Rules of the Mogale City Local Council make provision for the tabling of questions in a Council agenda. Councillors address questions about any aspect of the general work of Council to the mayor, having lodged them in triplicate ten working days before an ordinary council meeting. In Mogale City the rules require that the mayor, Koketso Calvin Seerane, answer the questions in writing by the following Council meeting.
In Mogale City the fact that questions may be tabled only at an ordinary council meeting has seen these meetings dwindle. In 2014 our speaker, imitating her parliamentary counterpart, shielded the mayor by only calling two ordinary council meetings. This contravened the Rule legislating one ordinary council meeting per quarter. Councillors may not pose questions at other meetings.
Shame on you Madame Speaker!
But there are many tricks to avoiding answers to questions. In the ANC-run Mogale City Council manipulating or ignoring regulations to escape accountability, has been all too frequent. Questions, which expose mismanagement and cause the ANC discomfort, remain unanswered or only partially answered.
Only a complaint to the Ethics Committee ended an ANC year-long strategy of procrastination before answers to Democratic Alliance questions were provided. They probed the real cause of debilitating water disruptions in our communities.
A draft of current DA questions and motions is in the queue for tabling and answers.
When will the speaker of Council call an ordinary council meeting so that probing questions, seeking accountability and transparency from the ANC are tabled for answering by the mayor?
The ANC’s tap-dance must stop. The questions must be answered.
