Thank you very much indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker. Madam Deputy Speaker, the Speaker began his speech today by quite rightly emphasising that this is a new Parliament, the fourth democratically elected Parliament, but he also referred to the President's remarks about the need for this Parliament to be a robust and engaging Parliament. And he encouraged us, in turn, to embrace these remarks.
I want to say that we as the DA are extremely keen to embrace these remarks. There is nothing more that we would like than a robust and engaging Parliament. I say this because we believe that Parliament has become anything but robust and engaging. In fact, it has become over the years little more than a rubber stamp - rubber - stamping what comes from the Presidency and what comes from Luthuli House. And MPs have had to sit and watch a gradual but obvious sidelining of the role we as elected representatives of the people are expected to play.
The Deputy Chief Whip of the Majority Party, my good friend Mr Magwanishe, has also made important remarks on the role of Parliament and what is expected of us as members. But the Speaker spoke at some length about the importance of oversight, and indeed it is an extremely important part of our work. We have heard today that there are many different aspects to oversight: what happens in committees, what happens in Parliament, what happens in our constituencies. But here in Parliament we have our own oversight mechanisms which, if used properly, would go a long way towards helping to hold the executive to account, which is very much part of our job. But, quite frankly, these mechanisms have been severely blunted in recent years and have helped in many ways to relegate Parliament to being little more than the rubber-stamp syndrome.
There can be no better example of this than parliamentary questions. Firstly - and let's be frank about it - the whole system was manipulated by the ANC in 2000 to undermine the opposition parties' role in this all- important instrument of oversight. The new structure that we created allowed for ANC members to ask the majority of questions, all of which, again, to be frank, were little more than sweetheart questions, thus giving Ministers more opportunity to talk about their own areas of interest and to pat themselves on the back. This cannot be construed as genuine oversight or the real purpose of Question Time.
This means, in turn, that the opportunity for members to ask good, probing questions on issues of real importance and of proper oversight is all but lost. But that is only part of the problem. The real problem lies now in the fact that remarkably few question sessions even take place in Parliament. In 2008, Cabinet Ministers appeared only once during the whole year in the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. Even the President's and Deputy President's Question Time has been downplayed, with the President appearing only twice last year and the Deputy President once. And, as we all know, there has not been one single Question Time to any member of the executive to date this year.
There is also a further trend which has crept in, in terms of which some Ministers do not seem to believe it is necessary to turn up to answer questions when it is their turn. A prime example was in October 2007 when 11 Ministers were required to attend a session and only four were present. So few question sessions have taken place since that day that it is difficult to assess, quite frankly, whether this trend continues or not.
There are, of course, written questions. But here the story is equally bleak. The Rules stipulate that Ministers should reply within 10 working days of the question being asked. But in October 2008 there were 280 DA questions alone outstanding. In other words, Ministers had certainly not met the 10-day deadline and some questions had been submitted as far back as February of that year.
By the close of Parliament in December 2008 - despite pressure being applied to the executive - some 55 questions were still unanswered and clearly now will never be answered. Even this year, 26 of the 135 questions submitted by the DA before the 18 March cut - off date before the elections, have not been replied to. In fact, I have to tell the House that since 2006 a staggering 480 questions have never been answered by the executive. It really is a most unfortunate picture.
A further problem with regard to the lack of oversight being performed by Parliament is the greatly reduced number of sitting days in Parliament. In 2007 parliamentary plenaries took place on approximately 70 days. In 2008 this was reduced to approximately 40 days. This, in turn, cuts down on the opportunity for MPs to engage the executive in any important and meaningful way.
Apart from debates on legislation and Budget Votes, hardly any real debates are held on topics other than the celebration of national days and IPU topics. And, my word, we can get very sick of IPU topics. All but gone are debates proposed by parties or members. They are just not scheduled anymore. Yet opposition parties want more debates on issues that they feel are important.
In 2008 the DA proposed 44 topics for discussion; only one was debated. The ANC's 297 members failed to introduce a single motion last year - a clear indication that they do not take this area of work very seriously and, consequently, we are all denied the opportunity to debate matters that we feel are important.
Even members' statements - a good innovation by the ANC - are drifting into oblivion in terms of being an important oversight tool. They take place so seldom. The first one since the election takes place today. But, then again, a trend has developed in which far too many Ministers do not even bother to turn up when there is an opportunity for statements. Ministers' replies are an important part of the whole system of statements and we do hope and expect them to be present to reply.
Now the point of all this is simply this: We have to, we believe, do something about this. Oversight is a critical part of Parliament, as we all know. But the very structure of the business of this House is in urgent need of a revamp. Very little real, stimulating debate takes place in this House. And, quite frankly, debates themselves have become little more than speech-reading sessions rather than real debates.
Let us begin with Question Time, a part of Parliament that used to be regular and vibrant with great interest in it from all concerned, including the public. I would appeal to the Speaker to let us restructure Question Time, hold it more frequently, reintroduce interpellations, and give MPs the proper opportunity to interrogate Ministers. Question Time, as it is structured now, is probably the most boring part of the parliamentary programme. It should never ever be this way.
So, Mr Speaker, please consider setting up a committee to restructure this very important part of Parliament. Let us also introduce rules that make it absolutely compulsory for Ministers to answer questions, both written and oral, and to do so timeously and fully so that proper oversight can take place. Secondly, Mr Speaker, let us make Parliament more relevant by introducing a proper system of debates and discussions in this House on a wide range of subjects and create proper slots for members' topics and motions to be debated. When such debates do take place, they should be responded to by the relevant Minister and this should become the norm.
Thirdly, let us give members' statements the importance they deserve, with proper interaction from the executive. They are a very good innovation and deserve support from all.
Finally, if I may say, Madam Deputy Speaker, through you to the Speaker, I would urge you, Sir, to arrange with the Chief Whips' Forum to set up a task team to look at whether the oversight in Parliament, using the appropriate mechanisms available to MPs, is in fact working to the optimum, but please also address the important job of reassessing the way in which things are done in Parliament with a view to making them more interesting and appropriate in terms of what we are expected to achieve - more interesting and appropriate not only for those of us who have the privilege of serving in this House, but also for the public. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. [Applause.]