Parliament - GOOD party leader Patricia de Lille on Tuesday told a joint sitting of Parliament that her inclusion in President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet will not stop her from holding her colleagues accountable.
De Lille, who was appointed Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, the only opposition party member included in the executive, was participating in the debate on the president's state of the nation (SONA) address.
"I'm also committed to hold government accountable for implementation and those who ask if accepting a position on the executive may compromise my role as an opposition leader should know I would not have accepted the position if it came with a muzzle," she said, before her three minutes on the podium were up.
Earlier she called on MPs to take their cue from the electorate.
"Wherever the elections took us, people raised similar issues. They are tired of watching Parliamentarians failing to hold the executive accountable. They are tired of corruption without consequences."
While parties differed on many issues, there was consensus that reigniting the economy and creating jobs should be prioritised and that there needed to be a more consultative response to accelerating service delivery and a "willingness to learn from the past", she said.
"Where we are today is too far apart from the country we dreamed of in 1994 and we must take urgent steps to narrow that gap."