Chairperson, the DA will not support the Parliament Budget Vote on the grounds that it fails to capture what the institution needs in order to carry out its functions in the most effective manner possible and in order to improve its democratic service to the people of South Africa.
The budget of Parliament, in fact, measures Parliament's performance indicators, but gives no sense of the success with which the institution is actually performing. For example, they tell us the number of Bills passed per year, but not the number of Bills repealed or challenged in court. They tell us the number of questions put to the executive, but not the number of questions that remain outstanding.
Parliament wants to increase capacity, which runs together with training and development, but the budget decreased by 21,8% in nominal terms. As a consequence, the budget either underinvests, or, in certain areas, provides no investment in key areas that would support improvements in Parliament's internal functioning. On the other hand, the budget overinvests in initiating and organising events and programmes external to Parliament's core constitutional mandate. So, it is questionable that Parliament will be able to reach its targets.
The DA cannot support a budget that so inaccurately captures the true role of this Parliament and what it actually needs in order for it to be a Parliament of the people.