Watch your tax work

A new online tool will tell you which MP has been sleeping on the job, figuratively speaking

n online portal has made it possible to establish which parliamentarians are failing to fulfil their duties as elected representatives of the people.

The People’s Assembly has launched a site that lists MPs’ attendance and participation in committee meetings in parliament, making it that much easier to hold public representatives to account.

It reveals shocking statistics about the attendance of party representatives, some of whom — such as the ANC’s Winnie MadikizelaMandela and the EFF’s Vuyokazi Ketabahle — failed to attend a single parliamentary meeting this year (see graphic).

But it also reveals who SA’s hardest-working MPs are. In 2015, that honour belonged to United Democratic Movement MP Mncedisi Filtane, who sat on six committees and attended 70 meetings, more than any other MP. Hot on his heels is the ANC’s Nicolaas Koornhof, who attended 68 meetings.

The level of detail in the portal is insightful. It shows, for example, that ANC MP Juliana Kilian attended 80% of the 40 meetings on her schedule this year. She was late 5% of the time and left early 2% of the time.

AKilian, who serves on the higher education & training portfolio committee, last year attended 40 meetings out of 59. DA MP Bridget Masango attended 11 out 25 meetings this year, a drop compared with her 65% attendance rate in 2015.

Unsurprisingly, the portal has caused a stir within parliament’s esteemed chambers.

People’s Assembly executive director Gaile Fullard says it has since been contacted by MPs and even the office of the president, which expressed surprise at the list.

“The MPs are not used to being monitored as individuals,” Fullard says.

The website gives each MP a profile, and shows their activity and their comments made in parliament. However, it only includes the attendance of MPs from the three largest political parties. Fullard says small parties cannot attend all committee meetings, and including them would have been unfair.

The portal is a hint at the kind of information that can be made accessible to the electorate using the Internet.

With local government elections a month away, the People’s Assembly website could be an important tool for voters who want to take closer look at the ins and outs of parliament.

Data scientist and head of Code4SA Adi Eyal says the Internet is being embraced by government and organisations.

The People’s Assembly portal may be the only platform providing more information about