MPS should respect Parliament

Members disregard rules and show scant or no regard for each other and presiding officers

PARLIAMENT, the national legislature, belongs to the people of South Africa – all 56 million of us.

It does not belong to Members of Parliament.

MPS are in Parliament as elected representatives of the people. And it is the sole interest of the people that MPS must represent.

When Members of Parliament behave as badly as some of them did over the past few days – during the debate on the State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa – they are not embarrassing themselves, but they are also undermining the people who elected them into their positions.

The Sona by the head of state is an important occasion for all of us.

It is an opportunity for us to hear the president’s vision about our country and to listen to plans as well as decisions that affect our lives.

When our new political dispensation replaced the unrepresentative apartheid parliament in 1994, it was correctly referred to as the people’s parliament.

This reference was done with the full understanding that MPS had entered into a contract with those who elected them into power.

This responsibility does not only end with the creation of laws and policies for our country.

It also extends to the manner in which MPS conduct themselves in and outside the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces – the two houses that constitute Parliament.

Truth is that there is something downright sickening about the abysmal quality of debates in Parliament and the bad behaviour by some elected public representatives.

Parliament is an important institution deserving of respect and decorum. MPS are supposed to represent and reflect the best of us.

They are supposed to do so in everything they do and say.

Not only are the inputs by MPS lacking in quality, but the national legislature now resembles a national circus, and some of our MPS are clowns.

The presiding officers have become circus masters who have failed to control the clowns.

MPS are supposed to present well researched, properly considered and eloquent submissions to Parliament as their contribution to a national debate on any subject.

This used to be the case at the beginning of our democratic Parliament, what many refer to as Mandela’s parliament.

However, there has been a discernible drop in the quality of debates.

It’s not clear whether MPS do not have the support they need to properly research their topics or is it that they simply do not take their well-paying jobs seriously.

Instead of engaging in robust debates about the content of Ramaphosa’s address to the nation, some of our MPS engaged in an unnecessary competition to determine the worst MP in South Africa.

They disregard the rules of Parliament and show scant or no respect to each other and the presiding officers.

This kind of behaviour started with the presidency of Jacob Zuma, who was, naturally, targeted by EFF in the main, and to a less extent, the DA, the official opposition.

The EFF introduced recalcitrant behaviour in the National Assembly, causing chaos leading to many walkouts and physical battles.

The latest drama started with the Sona address by Ramaphosa.

During the address, the EFF predictably interrupted the president many times to raise points of order.

The EFF cleverly used their right to raise points of order, in terms of the rules of Parliament, to score political points.

And they scored that night when they managed to collapse the Sona.

Also deeply worrying was how MPS trivialised gender-based violence (GBV) in an attempt to score cheap political points.

Female MPS, in particular, with the exception of one, rubbed salt into the proverbial wound by participating in and not objecting to the charade.

Last September, at the request of Ramaphosa, Parliament did an honourable act and held a special debate on GBV.

When Parliament holds a special debate, it means that the national legislature takes the subject of the debate seriously.

At the sitting, MPS from both sides of the House were united in their condemnation of the scourge and pledged to do everything in their power to stop it.

For his contribution, the president announced a five-point plan, to be implemented within six months, to deal with the scourge of GBV.

The five-point plan includes how to prevent gender-based violence in general; how to strengthen the criminal justice system; steps that should be taken to enhance the legal and policy framework; what should be done to ensure adequate care support and healing for victims of genderbased violence; and measures on how to improve the economic empowerment of women.

So how did we move from the powerful and meaningful interaction in Parliament five months ago to the chaos that we have seen over the past few days?

The answer is simply that MPS have no respect for the public, on whose behalf they sit in Parliament.

They are blinded by the political hatred for each other instead of being united in the purpose of serving and representing all of us.

It is good that both the ANC and the EFF came to their senses and apologised for their roles in trivialising such an important issue just to score political points.

South Africans must take the blame.

These MPS did not elect themselves. They were elected by you and I.

We should accept responsibility for electing these empty tins that have done nothing but cause a lot of noise in Parliament.