Madam Chair, I think it's fit and proper that Parliament has the opportunity to debate this important issue. I want to thank the hon Skosana for having put it on the agenda for Parliament. He spoke very eruditely on the subject as well.
But an activist parliament surely must mean different things to different parties. We wonder what the President may have had in mind when he spoke about it earlies this year. We wonder what the ANC has in mind in this regard now.
We are, of cause, aware that the Speaker is involved in the strategic planning process for Parliament at the present time. This will develop goals and outputs for the fourth Parliament, and I understand that this will be part of the process of bringing Parliament closer to the people, including oversight and nation-building.
If it is to be successful, it has to be practical and not just words. I have to say that the ANC's record, to date, in terms of creating an activist-type Parliament - an opportunity for the people to interact with Parliament, and for Parliament, in turn, to interact with them - has been, at best, a farce.
One has to look immediately at the Taking Parliament to the People programme that was launched in October 2004, which promised that MPs would return to the ground level, listen to the people and help them resolve their problems. Noble in thought, but, quite frankly, dishonest in practice, because nearly five years later, and with millions of rands having been spent, we realise that it has been little more than a lovely and glossy exercise with no real attempt on the part of Parliament to resolve any of the real concerns of the people.
Far more would have been achieved, had the money spent on Taking Parliament to the People been spent on resolving the concerns of the people. It wasn't always necessary, in the first place, to take Parliament to the people to find out what people's concerns were. They are obvious - lack of service delivery, shortage of jobs, no water, poor roads, no housing, crime, and the list goes on.
In fact, we are faced with serious service delivery protests across the country today, because Parliament and the state have failed to provide the people with basic services, despite many promises - many, many promises indeed. But what was really happening was that, while Parliament was being taken to the people, the people, in turn, were being taken for a ride.
The whole concept evolved into lavish parties, costing millions of rands, where MPs spoke more than they listened. Community members were told to be quiet so that MPs could talk about what they planned to do. Their plans stayed plans; they never became actions. An independent observer commented that the current Taking Parliament to the People events are nothing more than extended ANC rallies where criticism is shouted down, and only the voice of the ANC is heard.
Madam Chair, while we welcome the concept of an activist parliament as pronounced by the President and elaborated on recently by the Speaker, we, as a political party, wait with bated breath to discover what the ruling party has in store for us and for the people of this land.
Will it be something new, different, workable, something that is genuinely for the people, or will it be more of the same glitzy, glamorous, expensive and useless exercises? Ideally, an activist parliament should be one where the people of South Africa can hold the executive accountable for their actions, and where the executive ensures that the government upholds its constitutional obligations by providing basic services, alleviating poverty and creating an environment in which people have jobs, homes and security. An activist parliament should listen to the people, genuinely listen, note their concerns and take the relevant steps to resolve the problems within a reasonable time.
I would like this Parliament to know that the DA does speak with experience in this matter. We have attended Taking Parliament to the People campaigns; we have seen, firsthand, what a farce they are. But far more importantly, I want to say that we have started our own initiative called "Parliament for the People", where the parliamentary leader, DA MPs, MPLs and DA Councillors visit areas across South Africa to give people back their constitutional rights by having their voices heard in Parliament.
In contrast with the ANC government's Taking Parliament to the People campaign, the DA's campaign does not cost the taxpayer tens of millions of rands. It is not a road show where MPs simply make speeches on the successes of the party in order to win more votes. It does not victimise or try to silence citizens who voice their dissatisfaction with service delivery. It does not visit an area once, and once only, and then never return to see if actual improvements have been made to the lives of people living in the area.
The DA's "Parliament for the People" campaign is centred on the people and places we visit and not on Parliament as an institution. We actively work to resolve the problems we learn about, and take the people seriously. You've heard about it. Believe me, sir, you will hear infinitely more about it in the future; believe me, infinitely more.
We should be cautious, Madam Chair, that a new activist parliament initiative does not become a waste of taxpayers' money - money which could have been used to address problems of which we are already aware. We should not continue to cultivate and nurture a programme of Parliament which has not had any successes thus far. We must adopt a new approach and avoid the impression that is being created, that Parliament goes to the people under the pretext of listening to their problems, making empty promises, giving free meals and then disappearing until the next election. [Interjections.]
We must develop a system in which we must listen, learn and act on behalf of the people of this country. Unless we do this, we will have failed again to develop an activist parliament and an activist state, despite the best intentions of the President, the Speaker, the MPs, and the people of this country as well. Thank you very much. [Applause.]