STATE OF PARLIAMENT AND ITS MPs: IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES TO OVERSIGHT AND PROPOSING SOLUTIONS

This report by the Public Affairs Research Institute examines the weaknesses of parliamentary oversight in South Africa. It finds that while legal powers are sufficient, political pressures from the dominant party, poor committee management, and inadequate technical resources hinder the ability of MPs to hold the executive accountable. The authors distinguish between basic 'explanatory accountability' and the nearly absent 'amendatory accountability'. Key recommendations include creating a committee to oversee the Presidency, reforming the appointment of committee chairs to include the opposition, and establishing a formal tracking system for executive compliance with parliamentary resolutions.

• Parliament's ability to hold the executive accountable is weak despite having sufficient legal powers. While 'explanatory accountability'—the process of receiving reports and questioning the executive—is routinely performed, it is often a 'tick-box exercise' driven by procedural compliance rather than rigorous scrutiny.
• Amendatory accountability, defined as the obligation to remedy policy or legislative defects, is almost non-existent in the South African parliamentary system. There are few consequences for executive authorities when committees identify recurring problems, and tools like rejecting budgets or passing motions of no confidence are considered too drastic for the current political climate.
• The political environment, specifically the dominance of the African National Congress (ANC), creates a disincentive for effective oversight. MPs from the majority party often protect senior executive members who may influence their future placement on electoral lists, and some have faced personal attacks or threats for defying the party line.
• Committee effectiveness is starkly uneven and heavily dependent on the leadership of the chair and the commitment of individual MPs. Many MPs are criticized for being unprepared, lacking necessary technical skills, or prioritizing 'showmanship and politicking' over substantive oversight.
• Parliamentary committees are severely under-resourced in terms of technical and research support. The research unit is under-capacitated with frozen posts, and there is a lack of dedicated financial and legal expertise within portfolio committees to analyze programmatic expenditure.
• The current format of committee meetings is often counter-productive, allowing the executive to dominate time with lengthy presentations while leaving minimal room for direct questioning. The report suggests a model where materials are distributed in advance and minimal time is allocated to presentations to maximize questioning.
• There is a significant oversight gap regarding the Presidency, which is the only department that receives a budget without detailed parliamentary committee scrutiny. The report recommends establishing a dedicated portfolio committee to provide systematic and programmatic oversight of the president and the Presidency.
• The process for sanctioning MPs for ethical breaches is described as slow and opaque. The report cites cases where MPs implicated in wrongdoing remained in powerful positions for long periods before being cleared without provided reasons.
• The report proposes that presiding officers and house chairpersons should be required to resign from senior party-political posts during their appointment to ensure impartiality and independence.
• To improve accountability, the report recommends a proportional allocation of committee chairs based on party seats, which would allow opposition chairs to operate without pressure from the executive while the majority party still controls the overall committee membership.

APA

Pillay, D., & Meny-Gibert, S. (2023). STATE OF PARLIAMENT AND ITS MPs: IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES TO OVERSIGHT AND PROPOSING SOLUTIONS. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/parlOversight27-09-2389.pdf

Chicago

Pillay, Devi, and Sarah Meny-Gibert. STATE OF PARLIAMENT AND ITS MPs: IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES TO OVERSIGHT AND PROPOSING SOLUTIONS. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2023. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/parlOversight27-09-2389.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pillay |first1=Devi |last2=Meny-Gibert |first2=Sarah |title=STATE OF PARLIAMENT AND ITS MPs: IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES TO OVERSIGHT AND PROPOSING SOLUTIONS |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=September 2023 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/parlOversight27-09-2389.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pillay2023state, author = {Pillay, Devi and Meny-Gibert, Sarah}, title = {{STATE OF PARLIAMENT AND ITS MPs: IDENTIFYING CHALLENGES TO OVERSIGHT AND PROPOSING SOLUTIONS}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/parlOversight27-09-2389.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }