House Chairperson, I'm going to respond at the end to some of the comments that have been made by various speakers in this debate, but I want to focus on the area that I will be speaking on. This relates to meeting the expectations of citizens, and particularly to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs. Thereafter I will deal with some of the outrageous statements that have been made. [Interjections.]
In September 2000, world leaders gathered at the United Nations in New York. The adoption of and commitment to the Millennium Development Goals by these world leaders gave hope to millions of people that the conditions in which they found themselves would be addressed.
The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals signified the commitment of the world to deal with, among other things, extreme poverty and hunger, the lack of adequate shelter, and the reduction of child mortality.
While the adoption of the eight Millennium Development Goals is a commitment of world leaders, it is equally a the responsibility of the parliaments of the world to monitor and oversee their implementation.
The Fourth Parliament here in South Africa has upon its shoulders the responsibility of monitoring and interrogating the implementation of policies and plans aimed at meeting our commitment to the MDGs. At the end of this Fourth Parliament, we will be one year away from the 2015 commitment. In the coming four years, much remains to be done, not just in our own country but in the countries of the world.
As parliamentarians, we need to remind ourselves of what the commitments were that world leaders made in September 2000, and I want to just touch on them. The eight goals are as follows: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV and Aids, malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.
We also need to commit ourselves to ensuring that we perform our duty as public representatives to both monitor and oversee the implementation of these commitments. This includes scrutinising budgets, strategic plans and policies. In addition, we have to make sure that the correct decisions are made and implemented.
As we are currently engaged with the budget here in our own Parliament and dealing with it in our respective committees, we need to ensure that the MDGs remain high up on our radar screens and that the departmental budgets indeed continue to take us on the path towards achieving the MDGs here in our own country.
During the Inter-Parliamentary Union World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Geneva last year, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, said, and I quote:
We look to parliaments to write the laws and invest in the programmes that will achieve the MDGs. You are on the front lines, fighting for your people for basic services like safe water and sanitation, primary education and health care... Parliaments must help us move from vision to action.
He also said the following at the 122nd Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, assembly in Bangkok in 2010, and I quote:
Parliaments provide the enabling national legislative framework for achieving the MDGs and are at the forefront of fighting for improved livelihoods and access to basic services.
The declaration adopted at the Third World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments held in Geneva last year said:
Our parliaments can do more to ensure that development goals are taken into account in our daily work and translated into national programmes and laws. Likewise, encourage our parliament, when they examine draft budgets and Bills, to assess their impact on the fulfilment of the goals.
There is a need for parliaments to interact with each other and share best- practice experiences. Co-operation among parliaments of the South is extremely important. During a survey of 20 parliamentarians at the 122nd IPU assembly in Bangkok last year, it emerged that some of them believed that parliamentarians from the North and developed countries are less aware and enthusiastic about the MDGs. In addition, it was felt that northern members of parliament were not sufficiently informed about the MDGs.
We need to ensure that as the South African Parliament we effectively use our participation in the Southern African Development Community,, SADC, Parliamentary Forum, the Pan-African Parliament, India-Brazil-South Africa, Ibsa, and Brazil, Russia, India and China, Brics, among other forums. It will be important that in the next four years there is far greater interaction between parliaments in these countries. Parliaments need to play a greater role in oversight on multilateral agreements and their implementation
Progress has been made in meeting the MDGs although there are many countries, particularly developing countries and those in the South, that will not be able to meet all the MDGs without help and support. It is therefore important that parliaments work together and that greater pressure is placed on those who can assist, to assist.
The world we live in today is facing many challenges which will impact on the speed with which we advance towards realising the eight MDGs adopted in 2000. These include the current global economic situation, natural disasters such as those seen recently in Haiti, Japan and elsewhere, and the Middle East situation, which has contributed to rising oil prices. All of these events require that we work together and remain united in our quest to meet the 2015 deadline.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, of which our Parliament is a member, has identified specific areas in which it will assist various parliaments. These include promoting awareness among parliamentarians of the important role that they need to play in respect of the MDG agenda; and to insist that the MDGs are not an agenda from the South but a global agenda; that parliaments from the North and South share the same interest in making sure that budgets are respected; and that policies for development have political commitment and are efficiently conducted.
It is important that we as Members of Parliament and members of parliament throughout the world work together in ensuring that the peoples of our world experience the realisation of the implementation of the MDGs and that their expectations are indeed met.
I want to touch on a couple of issues that were raised in this debate. Firstly, for the benefit of the hon Oriani-Ambrosini - and I'm not too sure if he is here - I want to say that when we go to the IPU and other international fora such as these, we don't go there as individual parties or members. We go there representing our Parliament and make our inputs as representatives of our Parliament. I thought I should just allay his fears in this regard. To give an example, if you read the report on the 123rd IPU in Geneva last year, you would see the various inputs that we made jointly as members of that delegation. Members of different parties sat down and put together the inputs that we made. This proves and shows that we work together not as individuals but as a collective.
The hon Athol Trollip and a number of others have spoken about and seem to have indicated that our Parliament is falling apart, that we don't hold the executive to account and that the executive does not respect this Parliament. In my view that is incorrect. It is not true. If you look at the work of committees in our Parliament, many of our committees perform vigorous oversight. They interact with the executive. They very often express their concerns regarding the manner in which reports are given to committees.
So, I think it's far-fetched to say that the executive doesn't account to Parliament. I think that as a Parliament and as committees we do our work very effectively. Certainly there may be weaknesses here and there. Certainly there may be areas that we need to strengthen, but I think it would be wrong to come and give such an impression here.
The hon Oriani-Ambrosini raised an issue about questions. He stood here and said his questions were being censored, some were withheld, and he was not allowed to ask certain question. Again, I think it's wrong to come and give the impression that we operate in a Parliament that censors what we do and doesn't allow us to ask questions. That is not true. It's incorrect. In fact, there are Rules that govern how questions should be asked in Parliament. Some of these deal with how a question can be returned to a member if it hasn't been asked in accordance with the Rules.
So, I want to say that I totally disagree with the member. If he has a concern about the Rules, I am sure he can raise it. However, I don't think it's correct to come and say here that this Parliament censors questions that are put by Members of Parliament.
I want to say to the hon James Selfe that I think it's quite outrageous to come here and tell us how the Parliament that you used to serve in pre-1994 was this open, free and democratic Parliament. I think it's absolutely outrageous. I think it's absolutely outrageous. [Interjections.] I think you would have to acknowledge, hon Selfe, that this Parliament, the democratic Parliament that came into being after 1994 is far different to what we experienced pre-1994. [Applause.] Maybe your time sitting in that Parliament was an enjoyable time for you, sir. Maybe you felt that there was an open, free and democratic Parliament, but I can honestly say that much of what you are saying is incorrect.
This Parliament is a huge improvement on and very different from the Parliament that you experienced pre-1994. [Interjections.] It's a democratic Parliament. It's a Parliament in which we are able to hold the executive to account. It's a Parliament in which we are able to ask questions. It's a Parliament in which we receive answers to our questions. [Interjections.] Certainly, there may be weaknesses. There may be areas that we need to strengthen and if that is the case, it's incumbent on us as a parliament to rectify those and to bring in those strengths. However, to stand here and say that we should long to go back to the Parliament of pre- 1994, I think is outrageous. [Interjections.] Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.