Thank you, Madam Speaker. For the first time ever, the Democratic Alliance will be voting against this Budget Vote. I want to show the House that it has nothing to do with the fact that Mr Jannie Momberg from years ago, is in the gallery this afternoon.
We do recognise the important and valuable role that some people, both officials and members, play in the running of Parliament, but we are voting against this budget partly because we are deeply concerned about the role that some people play, both officials and members. It would seem that some of these people are trying to make Parliament more and more party- politicised and less user-friendly to all Members of Parliament from all parties.
There are also other concerns. We are concerned that Parliament has not handled the Travelgate scandal properly. This has caused this institution and its innocent members much embarrassment. We are concerned that Parliament has been manipulated in order to ensure that opposition parties have their operating space cut down, in order to give the majority party more and more say, and more and more involvement.
We are concerned that the roles of senior officials and the roles of presiding officers, are too often blurred, which does not make, we believe, for the smooth running of Parliament. We are also concerned that Parliament is generally becoming sidelined as an institution in our democracy. For these and other reasons, we will not be supporting this Budget Vote.