The powers of parliament need to be questioned

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) did not hold back in its scathing assessment of how members of parliament sat back and did nothing while the country was being looted for the most part of the last decade.

In a 108-page affidavit, the lobby group said members of parliament had failed to use their powers to act on state capture and maladministration.

In a two-part report submitted to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Outa said: “Parliament is ineffective, indecorous and symbolic. Its rules are inadequate and MPs were able to choose not to take action.”

Author Matt Johnston, Outa’s parliamentary engagement officer, said “its primary objective was to illustrate systemic failures in parliamentary oversight with regards to how allegations of state capture and the Gupta family’s involvement were processed in the Legislature from 2013 to 2019”.

He added: “The reports show that parliament’s own rules allow it to take no action on state capture and maladministration in general and that members of parliament used this impunity to do nothing.

“Political interests and biases in the interpretation and application of these discretionary rules prevent tangible consequences resulting from them.

“High-ranking employees of major state-owned entities did not consider themselves to be truly accountable to members of parliament, either.

“They, instead, either mocked or attacked parliament’s authority and would often give notice of absence at the last moment.”

Outa is considering legal action to challenge the rules which allow parliament to decide not to take action on matters like state capture.

We are not holding our breath that anyone will be held to book. They seldom, if ever, do. But let’s hope the report can force changes so that the same mistakes are not repeated.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.