SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT
15 February 2001
MEDIA BRIEFING

Relevant Document:
Speaker of the National Assembly: Highlights Parliament’s Plans for 2001 (See Appendix)

MINUTES
[The Speaker made the following remarks in addition to the distributed document – Ed]

The Speaker, Dr Frene Ginwala, opened the briefing by asking those present to please remember that "there is life before and after SCOPA".

Dr Ginwala said the Ethics Committee has drafted a Code. It will be discussed on Wednesday, after which public debate will be invited. The Code deals with matters such as how to use public resources, conflicts of interest and post-tenure employment.

The Speaker referred to the possible ratification of the African Union Treaty and to the draft protocol of the Pan-African Parliament. She asserted that Parliament’s ratification of such a treaty at the end of a long process of discussions and review can amount to little more that a "rubber stamp" and suggested that Parliament "get in" on the treaty process at an earlier stage than ratification. She said negotiations can sometimes take years and said parliament should be debating these negotiations as they take place, rather than after the fact.

During February and March, Dr Ginwala said, Parliament will initiate a "plain language" programme, a movement that has been useful in developed countries as well as other African countries. Some legislation has already been drafted in "plain language", for example, the Labour Relations Act, but guidelines are needed to use plain language in all the official languages of South Africa. There will be increased efforts to use and develop all of these official languages in Parliament. This will be expensive, but necessary.

Resources will also be focused on the development of Parliamentary staff, the Speaker said, for example, in terms of employment equity, skills development and performance management. There will be about 60 workshops to familiarise staff with Parliamentary process.

The Speaker reported that fourteen Bills have already been referred to Parliamentary Committees, and others are still in draft form. None represent major changes, but are concerned with the implementation of legislation that is already in place. Implementation will make up the bulk of committee work. The Speaker said it is time to look at the whole process of integrating legislation, the resources required to do so and the effectiveness of the committee system in achieving this end. Dr Ginwala also said the SCOPA inquiry must be completed as soon as possible and that transcripts of public hearings will be made available.

Finally, the Speaker said the President will be coming to Parliament four times annually, rather than three. Three was not enough.

Discussion
Q: The Committee functions of implementation and oversight seem to have been given greater emphasis. Does this mean we will have more "SCOPAs"?
A: Tension is healthy. We have a developing constitution that is quite a complicated one. The Legislative and Executive have to work on their relationship. Oversight does not have to mean confrontation. If we begin with suspicious assumption that the Executive is against the Constitution, confrontation may result. We should work from the premise that the Executive is trying to enforce the Constitution.
Parliament had not addressed mechanisms of oversight and accountability; it must look at how much is being implemented and the problems of implementation.

Q: When does the Maduna Committee have to report?
A: By 28 February 2001.

Q: What happens if a Committee has spent too much time on an issue? Can a Committee go on forever or is there a time when it must report?
A: Parliament can increase the amount of time a Committee has before it must report, but it will not do so indefinitely; this would be laughable. Persuasion is the main tool Parliament can use to encourage a Committee to complete its mandate. Parliament cannot sanction a Committee, but it can dissolve one. Parliament uses its discretion in this regard.

Q: Ms Speaker, to what extent is your approach to issues in Parliament influenced by your own personal sense of right and wrong? To what extent are you subject to party discipline?
A: All Members are subject to party instruction and discipline.

Q: Have you met with the ANC in private to discuss SCOPA?
A: I attend all Executive meetings I am able to attend.

Q: With regard to the confidentiality of documents, can you explain why it is not in the public interest for documents to be disclosed. What are the review mechanisms regarding these decisions?
A: A Committee can decide if a meeting will be open or closed. An explanation for that decision has to be given and made available to the public, but we have to abide by a Committee’s decision of confidentiality. There is a Public Information Act; there are also official secrets. We look at conflicts on a case-by-case basis. We also have to build a relationship between Parliament, the Executive and public institutions. We will work out the need for public disclosure as we go along.

Q: Explain why it was necessary to issue a statement on 27 December, in the middle of the holiday season. What was the urgency?
A: There was an urgent issue, holiday season or not. Media was reporting that Parliament had passed a resolution. I then asked my advisors to look at the report again to see whether we had misunderstood it. If the reports were correct, we should have written to the Executive (which we had not done). If the media reports were correct, we would have acted unconstitutionally.

Q: Yesterday the ANC stated that the Committees would be working more outside of Parliament in their work toward implementing legislation. This work will incur additional expenses. Will Committees be allocated additional budget for this?
A: The Committees are not currently spending their budgets.

Q: The rigidity of our political system can mean that a party determines the moral parameters of its Members. How does the ANC feel about this?
A: We promote both proportional representation and the individual consciences of Members. This is not simply a matter of expediency. At the same time, we have not come to terms with proportional representation; this needs to be debated in the public domain. We could end with a mixture of constituency and proportional representation

Q: In the Public Accounts Committee issues are dealt with after the policy has been made. Each Member who questions Department officials does so on behalf of the whole Committee. This is, however, not the case when a Committee deals with controversial issues. Here, Members speak in an explicitly partisan fashion. Is this not a step backwards?
A: One can be a member of a party and not be partisan. I hope that interrogation still takes place on behalf of the whole Committee. For example, Mr Ken Andrew chaired a parliamentary committee and was also the Opposition’s spokesperson for Economic Affairs.

Q: You, as the Speaker, also have to be non- partisan. Have you ever encountered a career –threatening situation where you had to deal with a member of your own party?
A: When I accepted the position of Speaker, I decided to keep my party membership. So far , there have been no conflicts. There are structures within the ANC to deal with such situations. In any case, I am probably more unpopular within the ANC than I am with the oOpposition.

Appendix:
DR FN GINWALA, SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
HIGHLIGHTS PARLIAMENT'S PLANS FOR 2001
Media Briefing, 15 February 2001

Parliament will continue to enhance its oversight role in strengthening
our democracy and there is no doubt that this year will be one of the
vibrant and challenging years for our institution.

LEGISLATION FOR 2001:
This year, Parliament will not be generating as much new legislation on
transformation issues as in the previous years as this has been mostly
covered in the past. Legislation that has now been tabled before
Parliament will focus on tightening up and improving existing legislation
to close gaps and inefficiencies where they exist.

About 14 bills have now been referred to parliamentary committees, mostly
for amendment. These bills include:
*Correctional Services Bill;
*Housing Amendment Bill;
*Termination of Integration Bill;
*Demobilisation Amendment Bill;
*Unemployment Insurance Bill;
*SA Sports Commission Amendment Bill;
*Financial Intelligence Centre Bill;
*Cultural Laws Second Amendment Bill;
*SA Weather Service Bill;
*Conventional Arms Control Bill;
*Developmental Welfare Governance Bill;
*Administration of Estates Amendment Bill and;
*Financial Institutions Bill.

INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS:
This year we will also revise the Members Ethics Code. A revised ethics
code has been tabled and its draft is expected to be discussed by a
parliamentary committee next week.

One of the key and crucial projects of Parliament will be the launch of a
Plain Language Project to examine how we could effectively use plain
language in legislation and parliamentary documentation. This is aimed at
fulfilling our ideal of making Parliament more accessible to all our
citizens and not just the well educated.

The Plain Language Project will be launched in March 2001 and will look
at, amongst other issues, how African languages can be developed in
Parliament, how we can adopt and put into place practices and policies
that will give African languages the same status as English and Afrikaans
in all parliamentary communication and how we can remove all policies that
restrict the use of African languages. It needs to be noted that the
current policy requires MPs to indicate in advance when they want to use
an African language in the House.

The process of developing new Parliamentary symbols, which we launched
last year, is also nearing its completion. We expect that before the end
of this year, new Parliamentary symbols which will reflect our diverse
culture and our political and historical background, will be displayed
throughout the institution.

PARLIAMENTARY SERVICE:
In line with the principle of Batho Pele - People First - Parliament has
embarked on a comprehensive Human Resource Development Plan to improve and
strengthen services provided by the Parliamentary Service. In addition to
this, an Employment Equity Plan is in the process of being implemented and
a deadline for its numerical targets has been set for June 2003. A Skills
Development Plan for the Parliamentary Service will also be implemented
early this year. A Performance Management System is being developed and is
expected to be completed at the end of May 2001. All these organisational
plans and systems are aimed at improving the performance standards of the
Parliamentary Service and also equipping staff with the necessary skills
to effectively serve the institution.

INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION:
On the international arena, we will continue to spearhead the campaign to
strengthen democracy in the SADC region and throughout Africa, through our
participation in the SADC Parliamentary Forum and the Commonwealth
Parliamentary Association - Africa Region. We will also contribute
substantially in the international arena through our active involvement in
the International Parliamentary Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary
Association (CPA). It is worth mentioning that in April this year our
Parliament will be hosting a CPA Africa Region Conference of Speakers of
the various Houses of Parliaments and Legislatures in the continent.

On the formation of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), a process is
currently underway to have the Protocol of the Pan African Parliament
submitted for approval by the OAU Council of Ministers in March 2001. It
is expected that once it is agreed by the Heads of State, it will be
forwarded to Parliaments in the countries under the OAU for ratification.
The process of the formation of PAP is expected to be finalised before the
end of the first half of 2001.

The Constitutive Act of the African Union, which will create the African
Union, is currently before a parliamentary committee for ratification. The
report will be tabled before Parliament before the end of February 2001.
Parliament will not fail our people and the people of Africa and the rest
of the world in ensuring that the institution remains a powerful voice for
the electorate, exercise its oversight function without fear or favour and
continues to participate in strengthening democracy.