Parliament quietly reclaims its power

In 2014, the then speaker of parliament, Baleka Mbete, suspended a session for “a few minutes” to allow time for EFF MPs to be thrown out for their loud chants exhorting former president Jacob Zuma to “pay back the money”, which had been found to have been unlawfully spent on building and renovations on his private home in Nkandla.

South Africans witnessed this on television and for some, it was the epitome of MPs holding the executive to account. People did not know better.

Although the physical confrontations televised live back then might have been necessary because of the impunity displayed by the executive at the time, there is a quiet revolution in progress right now making parliament 100% more effective in holding the executive to account.

And it appears to be more successful than the open fights of a decade ago.

It is as though the government of national unity (GNU) has made a complete break with the old parliament that was characterised by parliamentary portfolio committees shielding Cabinet ministers from scrutiny.

One of the first Cabinet ministers to learn the old rule book that allowed ministers to get away with murder burnt down along with old parliament is Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane.

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Her department oversees the selection of the chairs of the Sector Education and Training Authorities, which are responsible for spending up to R20 billion of this country’s budget.

That is 30% of the budget deficit which almost led to a value-added tax hike in February. It is not small change and people appointed to lead these institutions should be of the highest calibre.

It was revealed to parliament that Nkabane’s department used the process to appoint people who included the son of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe.

She came under scrutiny in the parliamentary portfolio committee on higher education for these appointments.

When pressed for answers on her selection process, not only did she ask the committee to use Google to search for certain answers, but she was also caught out in a lie.

A lie which the DA has asked the ethics committee in parliament to take her to task for. But, most importantly for South Africans, it looks as though the portfolio committee has forced her principal, President Cyril Ramaphosa, to call her to account to him directly in a report.

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This is the quiet revolution that is taking place in parliament. The executive is being held accountable.

It might be too early for citizens to get excited about what the president will do… after all, he has been known to simply literally reshuffle compromised ministers, instead of firing them. The victory remains, though.

That old culture of parliamentary portfolio committees being staffed by comrades who will shield ministers from being held accountable is no more. And the beauty of the GNU is that ANC MPs will want to return the favour when it is a minister from another party who is in the spotlight.

Ramaphosa was mandated by parliament exactly a year ago and the initial fears of instability and threats to undo the GNU have been replaced by a new activism in parliament.

EFF MPs like Sihle Lonzi are quietly becoming superstars, putting people who appear in their portfolio committees under the spotlight.

The “payback the money” chants of 2014 have morphed into “tell us and the nation the truth right now”, without the accompanying consequences of being thrown out by parliamentary security officers in black suits.

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