Reporter’s Parliamentary Notebook: Pleading poverty in the House

From picket line to public gallery. Members of Parliament’s National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) protested over stalled wage negotiations outside the national legislature shortly before Tuesday’s budget vote in Parliament, and then attended the debate, many still dressed in their union T-shirts.

Opposition parties almost without fail paid tribute to “hard-working” and “dedicated” employees, and raised concerns over another looming wage dispute, citing an official notice that there was no money to pay for wage increases this year.

Daily Maverick has seen the communication under Parliament’s official letterhead, saying National Treasury allocations led to a “deficit on the compensation of employees” and appealing for joint efforts to resolve this.

“This picture threatens the sustainability of salaries for the current employees of Parliament and needs to be addressed urgently,” states the letter dated May 22, 2017 signed by Deputy Secretary: Support Services, Baby Tyawa. “There is currently no money other than what was allocated by National Treasury (R785-million against a current wage bill of R887-million), and it would be irrational to use funds appropriated for goods and services to pay salaries of employees… The swelling of employment cost cannot be allowed to continue uncontrolled as it is a sign of inefficiency and continues to threaten Parliament’s reputation in the eyes of the funders and the public.”

During Tuesday’s Parliament budget vote debate, United Democratic Movement Chief Whip Nqabayomzi Kwankwa talked of “soured” labour relations, as DA Deputy Chief Whip Mike Waters raised “the unhappiness of staff” and “pending industrial action”. IFP Chief Whip Narend Singh argued that while politicians could not become shop stewards they also could not be oblivious, listing “unhealthy staff relations concomitant with low staff morale” and urging Secretary to Parliament Gengezi Mgidlana to “engage more with staff. There have been too many breakdowns since he took over”.

EFF Chief Whip Floyd Shivambu did not mince his words, reminding MPs that his party had rejected the appointment of Mgidlana in December 2014. “We could see from far this guy is corrupt… He is a law unto himself. He does as he pleases,” said Shivambu, calling for his resignation or for Parliament to take action. “Mgidlana, who is protected by the Speaker, he disrespects workers… he gives himself bursaries and all sorts of things,” said Shivambu. “It’s not good workers of Parliament are striking against one man. We are being held hostage by one man.”

And DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen also had his say. “Since Mr Mgidlana’s arrival in our Parliament there has been a rapid decline in industrial relations and for many this is not a happy place to work,” he said, also citing the official notification that there was no money for pay increases.

In contrast, Steenhuisen said, Mgidlana in March 2016 spent seven nights in a Lusaka hotel at R21,000 a night and “enjoyed a rented limousine that cost R800 per hour” while also enjoying blue light brigades, VIP international travel and access to a study bursary. “It seems when it comes to the Secretary to Parliament there is no destination too far or conference too obscure that he isn't ready to pack his bags for,” added Steenhuisen.

In her closing, Mbete moved to rebut the criticism, saying these matters had been referred to Parliament’s internal audit committee for “independent investigations”.

“Around all the allegations and grievances against the Secretary to Parliament, the matters raised, in fact, by various members of Nehawu in particular… we have been interacting with the internal audit committee since last year.”

And she repeated an earlier undertaking on staff salary increases made in her opening address to the debate. “As presiding officers, we are very clear that we cannot have a situation where staff do not get an increase. We have said that very clearly,” said Mbete. “And as presiding officers we recognise staff are our best asset. We have directed management to find money. We have also instructed the Secretary to Parliament to engage the National Treasury, which he is doing.”

Money, or the lack of it, for Parliament clearly was on Mbete’s mind. “On our to-do list is an engagement… (as presiding officers) with the head of state as well as the minister of finance.”

It was a follow-up from ANC Chief Whip Jackson Mthembu’s recommendation that Mbete and her National Council of Provinces (NCOP) counterpart Thandi Modise should meet President Jacob Zuma to discuss the dire state of Parliament’s finances.

However, most of Mthembu’s budget vote speech was dedicated to outlining how ANC MPs would not, and could not, vote with the opposition in favour of the motion of no confidence in the president.

Two days after the ANC national executive committee (NEC) lay down the law for party MPs to toe the line and close ranks around Zuma or face disciplinary action, the ANC Chief Whip in Parliament reinforced that message. That motion is postponed pending a Constitutional Court ruling on a secret ballot in such an instance, brought by the UDM and EFF.

“We come here to do our work, yes, in the public interest, but informed by our political consciousness. None of us are free agents. We are here deriving our mandate from our parties sending us here,” said Mthembu, adding it was “very surprising” that ANC MPs would be expected to vote against their party’s own decision, but not others. “This is not only disingenuous and double standards and double-speak, but it makes a mockery of the party-political system.”

Why turn that system upside down to vote against Zuma, and by doing so effectively vote its own government out of office, he argued: “It is only a bewitched party that can do so… Nobody in the world has done so. We will not do so.”

Then, having clearly set the ground rules, Mthembu ran out of time at the podium.

Depressed labour relations, and deficits in parliamentary oversight, including that of Mbete, dominated much of the four-hour debate in the National Assembly – the NCOP held its debate separately at the same time – but pleas for the proper capacitation of Parliament, in particular its committee section, cropped up repeatedly from both sides of the House.

House Chairperson Cedric Frolick said there were 47 vacancies in the committee section, putting great pressure on other staff, as did the eight vacancies at the National Assembly Table, the black-robed support staff to presiding officers during and outside of sittings.

Others also raised insufficient numbers of committee staff, content advisers, researchers and specialised skills. “You only have five people per committee who are expected to assist MPs. None of the five are at the level of a director-general or deputy director-general, but they are expected to match their skills… This is a misnomer and a miscarriage of the functions Parliament is to do,” said Mthembu.

Shivambu tackled skills in a different way: there should be a legislative office at Parliament to help draft laws as currently it was the executive that drafted legislation and gave these to Parliament “to comment”. For this reason and because “we do not trust the politicians and the officials and the processes that are in place to hold Parliament accountable how the finances of Parliament are handled”, the EFF rejected Parliament’s budget vote, as it has done with every other except the allocations for the Office of the Chief Justice and Statistics South Africa.

Regardless of appeals for more money for Parliament, Freedom Front Plus MP Corne Mulder put it bluntly: “There is no more money. Die geld is op![The money is finished.]”

If Tuesday’s debate on showed anything, it was how divided the House is. DM

Photo: Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete fields questions from journalists at a news conference at Parliament on Friday, 14 November 2014. Picture: Nardus Engelbrecht/SAPA