sector
2 March 2009
Poverty, language and not understanding the work of Parliament are the main
barriers to effective public participation on legislative processes. This
emerged today in a speakers forum seminar held in Parliament.
The two day seminar was meant to strengthen the legislative sector so that
it is not seen as a "rubber stamp of the executive" and to maintain balance of
powers between the three arms of state (Legislature, Executive and the
Judiciary).
Delegates at the seminar included speakers and deputy speakers from
Parliament and Provincial Legislatures, Committee Chairpersons, Secretaries,
Deputy Secretaries and senior officials from legislatures, members of the
European Union (EU) Parliament, the EU ambassador to South Africa Mr Lodewyk
Briët and members of the EU commission based in South Africa.
Other factors identified in the two day seminar of the Speakers Forum as
constraining the active participation of citizens in legislative processes were
rules and procedures of legislatures as well as the budget, which limits the
reach of parliamentary programmes.
Members of the forum agreed that the Pan South African Language Board
(PanSalb) was not doing enough in developing indigenous languages.
"What is our language board doing, Parliament needs to meet with them to
discuss the issue of language development," said speaker of the Gauteng
Provincial Legislature, Mr Richard Mdakane, MPL.
The Speaker of the National Assembly Ms Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde, MP said the
forum should try to deal with the language issue, especially the development of
indigenous languages. "We need to get our children to love these
languages."
Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, Mr Firoz Cachalia, MPL, said Parliament
should continue to identify areas that hamper public participation. Poverty was
one of them. National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ms Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, MP,
also emphasised the impact of poverty on the effective public involvement in
legislative processes.
"It is difficult for our people to reach Parliament to participate in the
legislative proceedings and some people seem not to know what Parliament does,"
she said.
The Deputy Speaker said Parliament and legislatures need to raise public
awareness and understanding of their work: "People don't understand the
difference between Parliament and government; they see the two as the same
thing."
"The seminar will try to consolidate the institutional memory of the
Speakers' Forum by creating a link between the current crop of presiding
officers and the incoming ones of the fourth Parliament," said National
Assembly Speaker Ms Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde.
She said this would be done by handing over a legacy reports package to the
Secretary to Parliament, Mr Zingile Dingani, who would pass it on to the new
presiding officers and provincial Secretaries after the elections.
The package is a compilation of self contained booklets covering a number of
subjects central to the institutional arrangements and operations of the
Speakers' Forum. The topics covered include the role of presiding officers and
SA Legislative Sector Policy and strategic framework.
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces Mr Mninwa Mahlangu, MP, said
there was a need to ensure the independence of the legislature sector, and
entrench respect for the constitutional autonomy of the provincial legislatures
that are all part of the sector.
The forum concluded, among others, that the role of the constituency offices
needed to be clearly defined, because these offices were a strategic centre for
public participation.
Issued by: Parliament of South Africa
2 March 2009
Source: Parliament of South African (http://www.parliament.gov.za)
