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Cape Town - Parliament’s credibility has taken a knock and it must put its house in order, the former speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, said on Thursday.
Breaking his silence for the first time over the two-year Nkandla saga, the ANC struggle stalwart admitted it was “difficult and painful” to watch the Constitutional Court judgment at home on television.
In a damning ruling, the court found that the failure of the National Assembly to hold the president to account was “inconsistent with its obligations to scrutinise and oversee executive actions”.
It also set aside the resolution passed by the house which absolved the president from complying with the Public Protector’s findings on upgrades at Nkandla.
Contacted on his cellphone, Sisulu – who is an ANC national executive committee member – responded that Parliament should have played a bigger role in bringing the matter to a close earlier and ensuring accountability.
“That is the role of Parliament, an important institution of democracy and one of our own making.
“What the Constitutional Court told us is not something that we didn’t know,” he said, choosing his words carefully.
“It was clear to a lot of people, that if you have additions to your home that are not related to security, then you pay. That is in the Public Protector’s report. Clearly this should have been done a long time ago. It didn’t have to take two years.”
While it was unnecessary for the matter to have ended up in the highest court of the country, Sisulu said that “maybe it was a good thing as now there is no ambiguity. It has brought finality,” he said.
The Constitutional Court was clear about the role of Parliament in a democracy, he said.
“Now Parliament must honour the court decision. Parliament must put its house in order and do the right thing. It was quite clear from the start what was needed,” he said.
“Now what is needed is to follow the instructions of the court … We need to move on, get sorted out, get things right,” he said, adding that the dent to Parliament’s credibility was not insurmountable.
“If there is something wrong, you fix it. Our people were able to change the whole system of apartheid and establish democracy. This is fixable.”
Sisulu, who is a research fellow at the Wits School of Governance, said it would not be fair to comment on the current speaker Baleka Mbete’s performance, or indicate whether he would have done things differently if he was still in the chair. He would also not comment on the performance of the ANC caucus.
Sisulu resigned from Parliament after he was not reappointed as speaker or given a Cabinet post when the fifth Parliament was established in May 2014, after general elections. At the time, it was speculated that he had been sidelined after agreeing to establish an ad hoc committee to investigate the security upgrades at Nkandla before the close of the fourth Parliament. This was denied by the ANC.
