Political commentators say the oversight role of Parliament could be ratcheted up, with the introduction of the Government of National Unity.
Ten political parties are now part of the ANC-led GNU.
Traditionally, members of the executive who were predominantly from one party were held accountable by Members of Parliament.
Now that it is a mix of all sorts, how will Parliament conduct one of its core responsibilities – oversight over the executive?
In the past, the ANC – with its majority representation in committees – was accused of pushing legislation through Parliament.
Criticism from the opposition benches was also that committee chairpersons and members from the ANC, shielded government ministers from intensive oversight.
Now that 10 out of the 18 parties represented in the National Assembly are governing together, what will accountability look like?
Dr Piet Croucamp, a political analyst from North-West University, says accountability may now actually come through like never before.
“Remember in a Cabinet all members of the Cabinet, no matter their disagreements, they have to take collective responsibility. Well, if you look at cab and constitution, the ANC already has more than 60% of ministers which means, the idea of sufficient consensus, that was so hard negotiated by DA, before they signed is now meaningless actually.”
Croucamp says, “ANC can still make decisions for which DA minister will have to take collective responsibility and that is where the interesting bit comes in. They now have to go to parliament and defend the collective responsibilities of the cabinet, in parliament in committees where they will be confronted by members of their own party.”
“All this makes the political culture of contest and contestation in the legislature and exec much more interesting. I think it’s a significant improvement, it will not be without great difficulties, they will all learn a lot, and they will all learn to make compromises but I think we are now more or less to oversight, where our found mothers and fathers envisaged it to be,” he adds.
Political analysts say with the new Government of National Unity (GNU), Parliament of South Africa can expect more robust debates. https://t.co/y0DTgidZuV
— SABC News (@SABCNews) July 1, 2024
The Director of Programmes at the political advocacy group, Rivonia Circle, Tessa Dooms, agrees that more robust oversight than ever is likely to take place.
“Parties now have access to much more info on how governance unfolds. Before this, it was a tussle between DG, Ministers, and Luthuli House, now many more will debate robustly, if zero-sum approach, only for their own wins, then you will have weakening because that will mean less accountability across lines but I think there is an opportunity for real engagement and real robust accountability measures in cabinet and parliament as well.”
7th Administration | Political analysis of the newly announced GNU cabinet: Dr Sithembile Mbete
