Deputy Speaker, having listened to the hon Skosana, the House Chairperson for Internal Arrangements, one would be forgiven for thinking that all is well in the forum which caters for members' facilities. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Quarterly Consultative Forum, QCF, was set up to co-ordinate this function. But since its formation in 2004, the exact powers and authority of the QCF have yet to be defined. The truth is that it has no powers. It is purely consultative and therefore it is of little surprise that it is limping along, achieving very little and frustrating members.
The progress is so slow that some seven years later a task team was set up - two months ago - to define the powers and authority of the QCF to make decisions, and to examine the structural relations between itself and the Chief Whips' Forum, Parliamentary Oversight Authority, information and communication technology, focus groups and other related stakeholders. This task team has yet to meet, and in the meantime we wait.
One of the consequences of the lack of decision-making powers in the QCF is that members' interests are being met on a piecemeal and crisis management basis. The hon Frolick was quite upbeat and optimistic about our moving to an e-Parliament and an e-economy. Speaker, the IT equipment classified as essential tools of trade has become obsolete since its issue in April 2009. Members are expected to use this equipment for the full five-year term. The QCF has received presentations and we have made recommendations, to no avail. Speaker and hon Frolick, how do you expect members to keep abreast of the global village without up-to-date technology?
The Speakers' Forum sponsors the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy. The aim is to equip MPs with leadership and management skills. Regrettably, poor leadership of this committee has resulted in opportunities not being taken up by many MPs.
A meeting of this committee was called and scheduled to start at 12h00 on Tuesday, 14 June. The chair arrived at 13h00 with an apology that he was in another meeting. We rushed through the agenda in half an hour and achieved nothing. It is my considered opinion that if leadership is not serious about its commitments, then projects will not succeed.
Deputy Speaker, a pilot project to set up parliamentary democracy offices was initiated in three provinces in 2007. The aim was to expand access and opportunity between rural communities and Parliament. To date, despite repeated requests by the Chief Whips' Forum, an assessment report in respect of the efficacy of these parliamentary democracy offices, PDOs, is yet to be completed. Speaker, surely four years is too long for a pilot project. We have the right to know who is using the PDOs and how the budget is being utilised.
The Parliament of South Africa is the host country of the Pan- African Parliament and has yet to fulfil its agreement to build a new parliament. The building of this new parliament did commence, but was halted because of an environmental impact study which said that the building was in danger of sinking. Besides the wasteful expenditure, we have reneged on our agreement and, Speaker, it clearly our responsibility as the host country to sort out the legal issues before we end up being embarrassed. Thank you. [Applause.]