Kimberley - Errant Northern Cape MECs, who have been accused of consistently failing to reply to parliamentary questions, have been reported to President Jacob Zuma.
The DA in the Northern Cape said on Wednesday that it had prepared and sent a dossier detailing all unanswered questions to the Presidency, as it was “clear that this issue required analysis from a higher power, as internal provincial government processes have proved useless in this regard”.
DA provincial leader Andrew Louw stated that so far this year the DA had submitted a total of 150 parliamentary questions to various government departments but had only received 31 replies, meaning that 119 questions remained unanswered. Last year, 101 questions were submitted by the party, of which 79 remained unanswered.
“Some MECs, such as the MEC for Agriculture, Norman Shushu, MEC for Environment and Nature Conservation Tiny Chotelo, MEC for Transport, Safety and Liaison Martha Bartlett, and MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture Lebogang Motlhaping have not submitted a single reply this entire year,” Louw said.
He added that questions were based on important issues, including the Siyenza Group and Xigomve Business Enterprise, Disaster Management Centres, the Northern Cape Theatre, victim empowerment services, state-owned farms, property leases, use of consultants and disciplinary cases of SAPS members, amongst others.
Louw also said that the matter of unanswered questions had been reported last year to the Northern Cape leader of Government Business, Mxolisi Sokatsha, as well as to the Speaker of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature (NCPL), Kenneth Mmoeimang, with no results.
“At the end of August this year, the DA again reported our concerns regarding the failure by MECs to answer parliamentary questions to Premier Sylvia Lucas. It has been five weeks now and we have not even received a confirmation of receipt from her office. This is not surprising, given that the Premier herself has five outstanding questions to which she has not responded,” Louw said.
He added that the attitude of provincial government leaders towards parliamentary questions was “highly disturbing”.
“This nonchalance was highlighted in August this year, when Social Development MEC, Mxolisi Sokatsha, told the portfolio committee that he had all the DA’s questions on his desk and that he had instructed officials not to reply to these questions. The indifference of the Premier and her cabinet towards parliamentary questions is also completely unacceptable,” Louw said.
He concluded by saying that in a democratic South Africa, parliamentary questions were one of the key tools to hold government accountable, adding that MECs therefore had a constitutional duty, not a choice, to respond to these questions.
“The Northern Cape government owes it to the people of this Province to answer all questions, regardless of how awkward, embarrassing or telling the replies may be. We sincerely hope that an intervention by the president will elicit the answers that we are sorely searching for,” Louw said.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) responded on Wednesday by saying it noted “with dismay” the “attention-seeking antics” of Louw, wherein he seeks to portray the MEC, Norman Shushu, “as someone who did not respect the constitution and undermined the authority of the legislature as an arm of government to which the executive must account”.
The Office of the Premier responded to the allegations by saying that the provincial government, led by Premier Sylvia Lucas, took its constitutional obligations seriously and has never indicated a deliberate unwillingness to respond to questions posed by the DA or any other party.
“The truth of the matter is that some, if not most of the questions, have been responded to and simply because the DA is not happy with the response they consider them to be unanswered. Questions posed are sometimes complex in nature but in the final analysis provincial government has responded or is in the process of responding.
“We have a constitutional obligation which we take serious and we welcome the DA’s interaction on the matter. We will respond in the appropriate manner and on the appropriate platforms to concerns raised,” spokeswoman for the premier, Bronwyn Thomas-Abrahams, said on Wednesday.
DALRRD spokesman, Lerato Modise said the DA’s political management required them to have a standard number of questions that they pose and that the relevance or importance of such questions became “mooted in the quest to reach the target”.
Modise said the DALRRD responded adequately, both in the committee and in the media on the matter of the disaster relief, state-owned farms, which are under the custodianship of public works, and the issues related to the status of projects funded through CASP and ILIMA/Letsema, with the last response having being sent to the Legislature Registry on September 25.
“However, like an adult with an attention seeking deficit, he (Louw) has failed to acknowledge this and went ahead to again, in the public discourse, display the DA’s showmanship and only need to appear as the ones who seek to hold the executive accountable . . . and everyone else is running away,” Modise said.
The Department of Environment and Nature Conservation’s spokesman, Lesego Pule, said it was important to note that there was a particular procedure that must be followed when raising parliamentary questions.
“If that procedure is not followed, it becomes difficult for a MEC to respond. I am certain that the questions the DA is referring to did not follow the proper protocol because had that been the case, the portfolio committee chairperson would be raising the issue and not the DA.
“In short, the parliamentary questions are raised through the portfolio chairperson and so are the responses. In this regard the portfolio committee chairperson has not lamented our response or lack thereof,” Pule said.
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, as well as Transport, Safety and Liaison did not respond to media enquiries.
DFA