Mutshamaxitulu, ndzi yima ematshan'wini ya ANC ku ta seketela ku avanyisiwa ka mali leyi fambelanaka na mafambiselo ya Palamende eka siku ra namuntlha. Loko ndzi nga si ya emahlweni, ndzi lava ku pfunetanyana ndzi hlamusela Tat Muchaviseki Shilowa hi Xitsonga leswi Tat Chauke a va ringeta ku mi kombisa swona.
Loko Muf Meshoe a ri kona a ta mi hlamusela leswaku na le Bibeleni swi tsariwile:
U nga voni xilavi etihlweni ra makwenu kambe ku ri na ntsandza emahlweni ka wena lowu ku tsandzisaka ku vona kahle leswaku ntiyiso wu le kwihi.
Leswi a va ringeta ku swi hlamusela hi leswaku murhangeri wa n'wina wa Cope la nga hundza, Tat Lekota, u hlamuserile rixaka leswaku ku na mali leyi nga twisisekiki leswaku yi tirhisiwe njhani eka nhlangeletano wa n'wina eka lembe leri nga hundza. Hikwalaho a va lava ku twisisa leswaku leswi mi swi vula njhani mi nga si hlamusela leswi mi tshamaka mi hi byela hi swona leswaku mfumo a wu na vutihlamuleri; a wu tirhisi mali ya rixaka hi ndlela leyi faneleke.
Leswi swi endliwa hi mhaka ya leswaku hina, hi ri Swirho swa Palamende leyi, hi fanele hi sungula hi tilangutisa ku vona leswaku swilo leswi hi nge van'wana va swi landzelela, xana hina ha swi landzelela ke? Leswi hi leswi Tat Chauke a va ringeta ku mi hlamusela swona. Ndza tshemba leswaku mi kote ku swi twisisa hi Xitsonga. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Adv T M MASUTHA: Chairperson, I rise on behalf of the ANC to support the budget allocation which is in line with Parliament's administration to date. Before I proceed, I would like to assist hon Mr Shilowa a little regarding what Mr Chauke was trying to say in Xitsonga.
If Rev Meshoe were here, he would tell you that it is also written in the Bible that:
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye while there is a plank in your eye which blinds you to see where the truth lies.
What he was trying to say is that your former Cope leader, Mr Lekota, has told the nation that there is money but it is not clear what it was used for during the congress you held last year. Therefore he wanted to get clarity as to how you have the guts to persistently say that the government is irresponsible; it is not using state money accordingly.
As Members of Parliament, we ought to do self-introspection first to determine the things we expect of others; are we following them ourselves? This is what Mr Chauke was trying to find out from you. I believe that you were able to understand it in Xitsonga.]
But let me proceed to deal with some of the issues that have been raised in this debate this afternoon. Sticking with hon Shilowa, I would like to concede the point that he correctly highlighted that delegated legislation, as the Constitution stipulates, requires to be scrutinised by this Parliament, given the fact that this Parliament has original law-making authority and therefore equally has the responsibility to ensure that when it delegates that authority to others, it ensures that those who then subsequently exercise that authority exercise it in line with the Constitution and the principles that it articulates. There I agree with the hon member.
However, where I disagree with him is with his proposal that there be a shift of the rules of engagement, especially when his own members are in default of those rules. The Deputy Speaker ruled a member of your party out of order, and that member of your party sought to contest the authority of the Deputy Speaker. There cannot possibly be any rule change that would promote the kind of anarchic practice where members would be allowed to have an altercation with a presiding officer. Otherwise proceedings of the House and the entire House itself would become completely dysfunctional and debilitated. That was the issue. [Applause.] And I think we must face the truth and not hide behind trivia.
As we debate this budget allocation of Parliament, it is incumbent on us to pause and reflect on our mandate and answer the question: Why are we here? As the ANC, we move from the premise that political power is not attained for its own sake, but to pursue given political and sociopolitical objectives. We emerged through a democratic process based, first and foremost, on the principle of universal suffrage, where the people expressed their confidence in us and pinned their hopes on the promises that we made to them, which we dare not fail to fulfil.
Our specific mandate as Parliament and the manner in which we are enjoined to discharge it, have been well articulated in various parts of the Constitution, and I need not specify those provisions. We make laws with the involvement of our people through the public participation system that includes the holding of public hearings to solicit their input. We provide a platform for consideration of issues affecting our society through public debate. We hold the executive accountable in the implementation of national legislation and policy to ensure access to services by our people.
We exercise this oversight role by, amongst other things, inviting the executive and government departments to the various committees to account for the programmes they implement and their utilisation of public resources allocated to them by this Parliament, and by inviting the executive regularly to respond to questions relating to the discharge of their functions and responsibilities under the Constitution. All these matters have been thoroughly canvassed in the debate this afternoon. Through the constituency system, jointly with other public representatives from the provincial and local spheres of government, we make ourselves directly available to the public to respond to, and intervene in, any issues relating to their access to the services I have alluded to provided by government, and information relating to the availability of those services.
South Africa is a constitutional democracy of a special kind. Over and above adhering to the principle of separation of powers between the three arms of state or government - namely the legislative, executive and judicial - we have gone further to entrench a value system based on human rights by including a bill of rights in the Constitution. We went even further to create various constitutional institutions to entrench safeguards and support this system of democracy. These institutions or instruments include, but are not limited to, the often talked about Chapter 9 institutions, such as the Human Rights Commission, the Public Protector and the Auditor-General. In particular, I wish to highlight the role of the Auditor-General, not so much because I am honoured to chair the standing committee that oversees that body, but because of its special role as the supreme audit authority in the country in terms of our Constitution and in line with international best practice.
The role of the Auditor-General in ensuring good and clean governance cannot be overemphasised. The latest audit outcomes reflected in the Auditor-General's reports are a cause for concern. Even though some improvement has occurred in some respect, eg with regard to the improvement in accounting systems and increased co-operation and demonstration of leadership amongst executive functionaries at all three spheres of government, according to the Auditor-General's own words, "much still needs to be done to improve our system of accountability" in government.
Section 181 of the Constitution, in addition to establishing this Chapter 9 institution, defines the relationship that other organs of state must maintain with this Chapter 9 institution. Subsections 2 to 5 specifically state, and I quote:
(2) These institutions are independent, and subject only to the Constitution and the law, and they must be impartial and must exercise their powers and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice.
(3) Other organs of state, through legislative and other measures, must assist and protect these institutions to ensure the independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness of these institutions.
(4) No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of these institutions.
(5) These institutions are accountable to the National Assembly, and must report on their activities and the performance of their functions to the Assembly at least once a year.
Now the work of these institutions and the reports that they are required by the Constitution to submit to this House constitute a valuable resource for us as members and as parliamentary committees to perform our oversight function. These institutions were created in part to assist Parliament in discharging its oversight mandate, hence it is up to Parliament to ensure that their findings and recommendations are carefully considered, adopted and enforced by it.
The challenge, however, is the capacity of Parliament and its committees, as well as individual members, to discharge these constitutional responsibilities with the meagre resources allocated to it. For us to do effective oversight, we require such resources as content specialists and researchers with expert knowledge of the fields that we work in, and with a clear mandate to go beyond information that has been provided by government departments in obtaining and presenting before these respective committees full information on issues of service delivery and other matters that affect the public. We require sufficient allocation of resources to do committee work such as holding public hearings and passing legislation. [Time expired.] I thank you very much. The ANC supports this budget. [Applause.]