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Opinionista

Parliament: Skip the theatrics, let’s get down to business

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Mmusi Maimane is leader of Build One SA.

Ridiculous concern over dress codes, and ad hominem attacks that have no relevance in the country’s legislative centre is what we’ve seen since Parliament opened its doors, as politicians came off the campaign trail to, supposedly, get down to the real work of law-making. There is this growing notion that those who wear the brightest colours or beat their chests with the most conviction are making sense. This is fast becoming the mark of the Fifth Parliament.

The Democratic Alliance’s agenda in Parliament is two-fold, though the one relates to the other. Our agenda is to ensure that any legislation that promotes job creation is passed, and that all legislation that poses a threat to job creation is reconfigured or abandoned.

Our second agenda is to champion for the implementation of the National Development Plan. We sit with a unique situation where parties – except those who wear berets – on either side of the House endorse the NDP, which is what South Africans voted for. South Africans voted for a plan to be implemented.

Instead of pushing for jobs and the NDP, our political opponents would rather debate overalls and who is a ‘rented black’.

South Africans voted for their respective political parties because of the prospect of positive change. Change that would bring modern development and change that would bring jobs. Whether you voted ANC, DA or EFF, you voted for job creation (of one form or another), not petulance under the guise of being ‘revolutionary’.

The DA will not be drawn into shouting matches on matters of national unimportance; we will, however, eagerly and robustly debate matters of national importance, such as jobs and the NDP.

We now sit with a situation where new immigration regulations, the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill and Private Security Industry Regulation Amendment Bill, if passed, threaten job creation and security in South Africa. This is in contrast with the jobs citizens, in their tens of millions voted for.

A topical departure from the NDP, is that of the continued insistence for cadre deployment, which often leads to a conflation of party and state. For example, ANC Members of Parliament during the Department of Communications Budget Vote saw critique and opposition to SABC COO Hlaudi Mostoeneng’s appointment as an attack on the ANC, when in fact our criticism comes from the NDP, which calls for the professionalization of the state and its institutions.

A look at the headlines in the media will show that the there is only one party that continues to champion the NDP and job creation. Our promise for jobs and change was not just an election slogan, but a call to action.

We may not shout the loudest, but we sure do back our deliberate and pragmatic comments with content that speaks for the millions of South Africans who are tired of unemployment, corruption and failed implementation.

We may not hold the majority in the House, but as the Official Opposition we must ensure that we hold those in the majority to account.

I have previously said that we will not oppose for the sake of opposing; only when it makes sense to do so. In this case it will be when a piece of legislation is not in line with job creation, the NDP and most importantly the Constitution.

Though we sit in a multi-party parliament, our duty is not to our respective political parties. Our number one duty is to the people of our country. We need to put aside our party hats, and together, present South Africa with policy that will change their lives.

As the Official Opposition, our role is to present an alternative to the status quo and that presented by the Majority Party. Where we disagree on many things, we should agree to hear one another, and find a compromise that will best improve the lives of South Africans.

When we are critical, it not because we despise those we disagree with, but because power is kept in check through accountability.

Many of our great leaders, even when they seldom raised their voices, did not do so to be heard; they relied on their ideas, not their voices to be heard.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu summarised it well, when he said, “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.”

We do not always make the front pages of newspapers because we raise our voices, but we continue to expand our presence in the front benches of the National Assembly because of the quality of our arguments. DM

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