Establishment of the fourth Parliament - Members Information Sessions
Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly
Honourable Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly
Honourable members of both houses
Parliamentary officials
I would like to welcome especially new Members of Parliament (MP) who are joining the institution for the first time. I hope that everybody is geared to start work, especially after the interest shown by the electorate in the national and provincial elections on 22 April 2009.
To both new and returning members, you are part of what promises to be an exciting term of Parliament. There is urgency to respond to the mandate of the people. There is also urgency to ensure that our promises of a better life for our people become a reality. The project of ensuring that our people benefit from democracy is in your hands.
Role of Parliament
* In the republic, the legislative authority of the national sphere of government is vested in Parliament (as set out in section 44 of the Constitution).
* Parliament is composed of the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
* The National Assembly is elected to represent the people and to ensure government by the people under the Constitution. It does this by choosing the President, by providing a national forum for public consideration of issues, by passing legislation and by scrutinising and overseeing executive action.
* The mandate of the National Council of Provinces is to represent the provinces to ensure that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government. It does this mainly by participating in the national legislative process and by providing a national forum for public consideration of issues affecting the provinces.
* The role of Parliament is to act as the voice of the people and to represent their interests.
* The role of Parliament is reflected in its vision statement: to build an effective people’s Parliament that is responsive to the needs of the people and that is driven by the ideal of realising a better quality of life for all the people of South Africa.
* In essence, Parliament is there for the people.
Role of committees
* Committees serve as the engine room for Parliament.
* They provide a mechanism through which to implement the work of Parliament.
* They report to the NA and the NCOP, or to Parliament in the case of Joint Committees.
Oversight
* Parliament has the responsibility of overseeing government action.
* This responsibility requires capacity (i.e. members must have the support that they need to carry out their work, especially the capacity to interrogate government information and programmes).
* The third Parliament had begun the process of building support capacity in the form of research and content analysis.
* One of the outstanding challenges for Parliament in the area of oversight is follow-up on legislation that has been passed since 1994 to judge its impact on the lives of our people (there are 1 070 pieces of legislation passed between 1994 and the end of the third Parliament).
* Parliamentary oversight must be informed by, among other things, the commitments government makes to the electorate.
Public participation
* Our democracy is both representative and participatory.
* In building a people’s Parliament, it is important to ensure that people have the necessary space to air their views and to influence decisions.
* The third Parliament had a number of initiatives aimed at facilitating public participation (People’s Assembly, Taking Parliament to the People, Youth and Women Parliaments etc).
* The challenge with regard to public participation is to ensure that people get a sense that we take our engagements with them very seriously by following up and reporting back to them.
Honourable members, the induction is intended to bring you up to speed with regard to the work you are expected to do as public representatives. I am sure you all understand that we have a responsibility to move swiftly to respond to the needs of our people. Our vocation is to serve the people to be their servants.
Issued by: Parliament of South Africa
12 May 2009
Source: Parliament of South Africa (http://www.parliament.gov.za)
