Chairperson, one of the strategic objectives of Budget Vote No 2 is to build an effective and efficient institution. Listening to the Speaker today, I can confidently say that Parliament is falling far short of this objective. The Parliament of South Africa has been dogged by controversy for far too long now, and regrettably its reputation has been badly tarnished in the process.
While we in the DA fully understand that you have functionaries to execute various duties, at the end of the day the buck stops with you; and you have to take full responsibility when things go wrong. The Financial Management of Parliament Act was signed into law in 2009. This Act affects how budgets in Parliament and committee budgets are managed. It requires the establishment of an oversight mechanism that must maintain oversight over the financial management of Parliament.
For some unknown reason, the formation of this oversight mechanism, as recommended by the Act, has been delayed by the Parliamentary Oversight Authority, POA, who is accountable to this House for the sound financial management of the institution. It's the DA's considered opinion that it is this very hesitance that allowed a senior parliamentary official to manipulate the system to his advantage and wall himself into a hole at Parliament's expense.
We call on you to establish the oversight mechanism called for in the Act in order to also close a loophole which allows staff to get interest-free loans from Parliament. The last time I checked, Parliament was a legislative institution, not a bank.
The Joint Rules Committee is one of the two senior structures of Parliament and deals with core issues like legislation, committees, and the Parliamentary Group on International Relations, PGIR. One would imagine, then, that such a body would surely sit regularly in order to ensure that we run an efficient and effective institution. It sat once in 2010, once in 2011 and once this year. In fact, the Speaker expressed his frustration at the last meeting when he took parties to task over the failure to finalise the attendance policy for the past 10 years.
We would not be in this predicament if the Joint Rules Committee sat more often. Nevertheless, the DA will comply with your request to finalise the attendance policy by 31 July this year. The POA approved the framework for the operation of sector parliaments and the celebrations of special days in 2011; one of which is Africa Day, which we celebrated this past Friday on 25 May. I have four words to describe the event hosted by Parliament: It was a disaster. The function was due to start at 10 am. At that time there were about 20 Members of Parliament present, troupes of singers and dancers, but no sign of any other people. We were told that the buses forgot to pick up the people. Notwithstanding, we started at 11:20 am and due to the low attendance, the few political parties that were there gave each other messages of goodwill. The afternoon programme of commissions was abandoned.
The question to be asked is why Parliament organised a programme at the same time, date and city as the Ministry of International Relations and Co- operation did. What on earth was Parliament thinking when it decided on the event? This was a typical case of fruitless expenditure and I await the report with great anticipation.
Yet another strategic objective of Parliament is to improve and widen the role of Parliament in international co-operation and participation through the PGIR.
The allocation for changes in the structure of the PGIR was R6,4 million. But sadly, the PGIR has yet to get out of the starting block. Restructuring started in March 2011. There is a high vacancy rate, especially in terms of content specialists. The PGIR is supposed to enrich delegations before they leave on international engagements. They are meant to receive reports, table them in the ATC, and make recommendations to Parliament for actioning. I have yet to hear a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, CPA, Pan-African Parliament, PAP, or Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, report debated in the House after the event.
The Rio + 20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development commences in about 20 days. Has the PGIR even begun to facilitate the Parliament of South Africa's participation? The simple answer is, no. The divisional head seems to think he has to report to the Secretary of Parliament and the POA. My understanding is that the PGIR has to report to the Joint Rules Committee and has yet to do so.
I would like to touch on the issue of parliamentary democracy offices, PDOs, established in three provinces by the POA in 2009 as a pilot phase with a current operating budget of R9 million. The aim is to provide a link between Parliament and the people.
An evaluation report on the PDOs in August 2011 found that in the Northern Cape senior people in municipalities and local government do not understand the role of Parliament. The location of the PDO in North West is not ideal, and it would appear that the PDOs are doing the constituency work of ANC Members of Parliament. Some of the staff employed at the PDOs are former ANC councillors. Despite such a negative report, the presiding officers have decided not to act on the report just yet and to continue with the pilot project. The question is: why? It should be scrapped. Surely, three years is a long time for a pilot programme.
I would like to touch on the sports councils. I think there is a potential for another disaster in respect of the Parliamentary Sports Council, PSC. This structure was in essence endorsed by the Chief Whips' Forum and funding to the amount of some R2,5 million was earmarked for the activities of the Parliamentary Sports Council.
It would appear, however, that the PSC has taken on a life of its own and has deviated from the original objective of promoting sport and wellness among Members of Parliament and staff. The chair of the PSC has yet to provide conclusive answers to the Chief Whips' Forum. While the DA is fully in support of such a council which caters for the sport and mental wellbeing of members and staff, at the same time we want to make it clear that proper accounting procedures must be put in place. [Interjections.] I can't understand why you are howling at me. Rather listen to what I have to say.
The Quarterly Consultative Forum is yet another parliamentary structure which should report to the Joint Rules Committee. However, sometimes it goes to the Chief Whips' Forum, sometimes to the POA, but not yet to the JRC. It is supposed to take care of member's facilities but, quite frankly, members are doing a far better job of looking after their own needs than depending on the QCF. The sorry mess of the issue of cellphones is well known by every member in this House.
The Speaker, as the presiding officer, and us, as Members of Parliament, have a collective duty to restore pride and dignity to the institution of Parliament. We talk about it being a people's Parliament, but the first thing to do is to restore people's confidence in the institution instead of allowing it to degenerate into a house of shame. Your decisiveness and speed to act on the recommendations in the Auditor-General's report on the scandalous misuse of funds will be the first step in restoring dignity to this House.
In conclusion, the DA would like to place on record its sincere thanks to all the staff in Parliament, from the service officers to sound and vision, to members' facilities and in particular to the National Assembly's Table staff for sterling work, support and courtesy in allowing us to do our work. I thank you. [Applause.]