Deputy Speaker, hon Acting President, hon members, I would like to start off by thanking all the parties present in the House for the support of this budget of Parliament. I would also like to express my sincere thanks for all the contributions that have been made in the House today. They have been extremely important and valuable and we have noted all of them. I agree that we do need to find structures that will process these comments, inputs and suggestions. The question is how to operationalise some of them.
The hon Magwanishe, the Deputy Chief Whip of the Majority Party, has informed us that the ANC has developed a performance tool for its MPs in order to monitor and evaluate their performance. I think that is extremely important and very valuable. As we monitor ourselves, we also need to use Parliament as a vehicle to monitor the implementation of our policies for making life better for all South Africans.
The Deputy Chief Whip of the Majority Party also spoke about the need to relate budgets to programmes and not to committee structures. We certainly have to look at that. He also spoke about the need to increase funding for Whips. Having started off by talking about the need to bear in mind that we are in an economy that is in a semi-recession and we have huge budgetary obligations and a budget deficit, we need to be careful about what it is we ask for. Let me just use the following as an example: Funding for Whips and the Whippery has increased from R95 million in 2005-06 to R258 million today - clearly a huge jump. It is very difficult to justify additional funding for these kinds of things when so much money has been spent already. So we really need to go back and ask: What is it that we need to do with the limited and dwindling resources that we have?
The hon Chief Whip of the Opposition, Mr Ian Davidson, spoke about the need to make Parliament as accountable as government. We certainly agree. We might also add that we want to make Parliament as good as the people of the country are. Certainly, there is some way to go before we can say that we are happy with the progress that has been made. A lot of progress has been made since 1994, but more progress can still be made.
Around the issue of corruption, we certainly agree with hon Davidson that we should try and root it out completely in whatever form it takes. There can be no hesitation on our part to make sure that we root out corruption in whatever form it takes. We also agree with Mr Davidson about the need to involve Parliament more in some of the processes, including the disciplinary ones.
Hon Shilowa, around the timeframes for the legislative process, I think it is important not only for us as Members of Parliament, but also for the communities out there to know what is going to be discussed when and by what time. That makes sense, but that is the responsibility of the programming committee, and I suspect you are a member of the programming committee. So we will hear from you, member of the programming committee, about the programme of Parliament.
We also agree with hon Shilowa about the issues of disclosure of interests. May I remind members that this is not an optional thing, it's compulsory. You have to disclose. I am reminding those who have not done so already - I have a list of those who haven't; I won't release the list here - to do so by tomorrow. Thank you for reminding us, hon Mbhazima.
We agree with Koos van der Merwe, he has been an important pillar of strength in this Parliament. As young parliamentarians, when we joined many moons ago, he was one of those who were very helpful in terms of assisting and supporting all of us and we would like to thank him in his absence. It is often said that if you are able to see far into the future, it is more often because you are standing on the shoulders of giants, and in terms of our Parliament, Koos certainly is one of those and we would like to thank him for his contribution. [Applause.]
Hon Mike Ellis, you raised the point of questions and interpellations, and we certainly agree with you. We also agree with you on highlighting the challenges faced around the issue of Question Time and members of the executive not being present most of the time. The Leader of Government Business is present here. He is also the Deputy President of the country, and today he is also Acting President, and he has been listening to you, so this will be taken seriously. In addition to that, hon Ellis, the panel that was commissioned by Parliament to look at the role of Parliament and how to improve the work of Parliament proposed that the system through which presiding officers hold the executive to account for unanswered questions be reviewed and the necessary changes be made to increase the efficacy of these procedures. It is one of those reports in Parliament that we need to debate.
All of these are intended to improve the work of Parliament to make it more effective and more efficient. I certainly agree that the matter of unanswered questions, as well as the format of Question Time, should be looked at again, together with the mechanisms of oversight. Also, one of the legacy reports deals with an oversight model, and again we need to begin to look at the model, populate it and make sure that it is a kind of model that would make Parliament much more efficient.
Hon Dudley from the ACDP raised the issue of funding for extra languages, etc. We are in consultation with the National Treasury for additional funds and adjustments in the budget for these posts. It is an important point and we recognise that. We are in discussion with Treasury. We also agree that the Chief Whips' Forum can and should set up a task team to consider the oversight model where appropriate.
Just to add, there are many structures in Parliament, maybe too many, but we need to find a way of making them much more effective so that the end product will be as good as the inputs to that end product. This, however, can only happen if the input is good and we must make sure that the input is good so that the end product is what it is we seek to achieve.
We also agree that Parliament must be a centre for national discussions and debate and a centre that leads national issues. We also agree that it must be a centre for action and not just policy issues. People look up to Parliament to help them to improve their lot. As people have pointed out, we dare not fail them. Again, we need to just look at these models and make sure they work.
The hon Andries spoke about the need to give practical expression to the relationship between the legislature and the executive; in other words, the process must be such that all are able to participate. The hon Andries was a Member of Parliament and he was in the Whippery before he got redeployed downwards to the executive. [Laughter.] Certainly, we agree with the proposals that you have made around support for the committees. Committees are the engine of Parliament, so we want to make sure that it's the engine that works and not the engine that is in the workshop, thus we agree with the proposals that you have made, hon member.
Hon Mentor wanted to know what Parliament would do to ensure that members are able to carry out their oversight functions in matters occurring in their constituencies. I did mention in my address that one of the policy imperatives informing the 2009-10 budget included the training of members in oversight activities. We will be doing a lot of training to make sure that members are able to take on board the needs of their constituencies.
I would again like to thank all of you for your contributions. As I have said, they have been noted and we will use the structures of Parliament to make sure that we begin to operationalise all your important contributions. I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.