‘MPs must be active in shaping policy’

Fee bearing image – Cape Town – 150217 – Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete (R) and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli answers limited questions at the National Assembly Press Conference. Photographer: Armand Hough

Fee bearing image – Cape Town – 150217 – Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete (R) and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli answers limited questions at the National Assembly Press Conference. Photographer: Armand Hough

Published Mar 31, 2015

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Pretoria - Members of Parliament and legislatures must be “fit for purpose” and can’t sit idly by and wait on others to reach global agreements to solve the world’s problems, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete has told an international gathering of legislators.

She was addressing the 132nd session of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The gathering was attended by Bangladeshi MP and president of the IPU, Saber Chowdhury, and about 700 MPs from around the world.

Both the National Council or Provinces and National Assembly are represented at the conference. National Assembly house chairman Cedric Frolick, NCOP deputy chairman Raseriti Tau, ANC MP Doris Dlakude, IFP MP Albert Mncwango and the DA’s Mike Waters are in Hanoi.

Mbete said the South African Parliament “supports the IPU’s call, that legislatures be fit for purpose”.

“As legislatures, we cannot, sit idly by, and wait for the world’s negotiators to reach global agreements. In this regard, the South African Parliament has worked with regional and continental parliamentary structures, such as the Southern African Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF) and Pan African Parliament (PAP), to exchange knowledge and best practice to ensure that we are equipped to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Mbete said the South African Parliament had also taken bold steps in supporting sustainable development through daily parliamentary work, including “through the mainstreaming of our National Development Plan and the extensive scrutiny of departmental budgets”.

“The voices of Parliamentarians as the representatives of the people are the strongest voices of persuasion at local, national, regional and international level.

“Let us also send a clear message from the global parliamentary community to the United Nations, through the IPU’s Declaration on the Sustainable Development Goals, and let us use this declaration as a platform for our future work on sustainable development,” said Mbete.

Mbete said the post-2015 agenda offered the space for Africa “to move beyond simply talking about the importance of service delivery, infrastructure, inclusive growth, decent jobs and inequality”.

“We are the first generation that can end poverty, inequality and injustice. It is an opportunity we may never again see in our lifetime,” she said.

The conference ends on Wednesday with the adoption of resolutions and an outcome document.

Political Bureau

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