“Can you hear me chair,” an MP would shout before another chipped in. “Honourable member, mute yourself”, “My gadget is not working”, “Am I audible?” These were common phrases used by MPs this year as parliament adapted to “the new normal” — another phrase they overused as Covid-19 forced them to operate digitally.
The lockdown’s restrictions on travel and gatherings forced MPs to work largely from home and adapt to new ways of conducting parliamentary oversight. The imposition of the national lockdown coincided with parliament’s Easter recess, which saw a prolonged closure of the legislature in April beyond the initial schedule. Parliament suspended its business on March 18, three days after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster and days before the start of its constituency programme.
But it did not take long before the opposition DA and political observers called for MPs to return from their paid holiday as videos emerged on social media of police and soldiers abusing civilians and public unhappiness over the ban on tobacco and alcohol sales mounted. “The question is what is parliament doing about all of this?” asked Lawson Naidoo, of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution.
“They appear to be idly standing by, and allowing the government to rule by executive decree,” he said, adding that it was important to have checks and balances on the measures that were being implemented by government. The DA accused parliament of being a lapdog rather than a watchdog. The party called for the establishment of an ad hoc committee to oversee the National Coronavirus Command Council, but to no avail.
It took the legislature more than three weeks to move into action, when the health portfolio committee held parliament’s first virtual committee meeting on April 10, where health minister Zweli Mkhize briefed MPs about developments around the pandemic. It would take another two weeks before other oversight committees held meetings to hold the executive to account.
The National Assembly held its first plenary session in a hybrid physical-virtual form towards the end of May as budgets, the passing of laws and posing questions to Ramaphosa and his ministers could no longer be avoided. But once parliament got the ball rolling, it reached significant milestones, including passing a supplementary budget to respond to the pandemic.
“We did not just do well, we have had over 1,000 committee meetings and oversight visits. We have had 46 virtual sittings of this house,” said National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise during the assembly’s last sitting for the year.
When it came to public participation, Modise acknowledged that there were gaps that parliament would have to address, especially if the lockdown drags on, to make sure there are no shortcuts when it comes to public hearings.
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