The longest serving MP in South Africa has lambasted some of his fellow MPs for failing to raise the level of debate in the house.
Koos van der Merwe, who yesterday reached the unrivalled milestone of having served in Parliament for 35 years, told the Pretoria News that raising the level of debate was one of the first improvements urgently needed to strengthen the institution.
He said there was a tendency by most MPs to come to the house with prepared speeches that they could not back up when it was time to debate. “Many MPs come to Parliament with prepared speeches, deliver them, but when the follow-up questions come, they cannot even stand and back their speeches up.
“It is like they forgot that they are actually in Parliament where they are free to speak their mind. At times they have not sufficiently interrogated the issues they are raising. We want debate back in Parliament. I have been in Parliament for many years and, frankly, this does not seem to be improving,” said Van der Merwe.
He said even during question time, most MPs still responded to ministers or the president from prepared speeches written before they came into the house.
“The president responds to written questions, but instead of interrogating what he is saying and punching holes in his responses, people still read from prepared speeches.
“One of the worst things I have seen in Parliament was an MP who delivered a prepared speech for 22 minutes. [This], without once raising his head to look at people he was addressing,” said Van der Merwe.
He said that during his 35 years in Parliament, he had come across some of the fiercest debaters, including former president FW de Klerk and former cabinet minister Pik Botha.
“De Klerk was a very good debater in Parliament, along with Barend du Plessis and Pik Botha, of course,” said Van der Merwe.
In the democratic era, Van der Merwe singled out the late ANC veteran Kader Asmal and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande as some of the best debaters he had come across.
“Kader Asmal would not let go of an issue he was debating and he would back it up very well. Nzimande is also like that; he is one of the hardest debaters in Parliament,” said Van de Merwe.
He said he was glad to see younger MPs, like DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko, doing well. He said his own advice to younger MPs was to be wary of the “VIP fever”.
“Often when people find themselves in important positions they actually start feeling important and I have seen that destroy careers.
“They have to remain humble, disciplined and attend all their meetings because there’s no meeting in Parliament which is not important.
“They have to maintain respect for their fellow MPs, the journalists that work in Parliament and everybody they work with,” he said.
Van der Merwe was first elected as NP MP in 1977, under then prime minister John Vorster. In becoming the longest serving MP, he served under seven heads of state and he is also the longest serving member of the Judicial Service Commission.
He became a chief whip for the IFP in 1994 and has been part of many parliamentary committees since then.
Pretoria News Weekend