South Africans vote for political parties. Each party compiles their lists of candidates, who make it to Parliament in proportion to the number of ballots cast for that political party. To facilitate direct contact between voters and their public representatives – in line with the constitutional imperative for an open and accessible national legislature – MPs are assigned to constituencies by their political parties.

Parliament has dedicated Mondays as constituency days, and there are regular constituency weeks throughout the parliamentary calendar. In the 2014/15 financial year Parliament allocated R254,215,000, or some R635,537 per MP, as constituency allowances to political parties based on their numerical strength in the national legislature.

Take 1: Parliament’s website

The first place to look for a constituency MP should be Parliament’s website. Yes, there is a list of MPs, but click on any name from any political party, and the slots for constituency and recess contacts are left blank. There’s a photo, a name, Parliament’s switchboard number, the MP’s political home, committee membership and e-mail address (so an e-mail on a portfolio-related matter may stand a good chance of reaching the MP) alongside the latest declaration of interests.

Click on the political party, and it opens a page with telephonic and e-mail contacts at Parliament, the parties’ websites and an e-mail address at party HQ.

Take two: Getting through

Getting through on those political parties’ telephones at Parliament takes repeated attempts: lunch time is not a good choice, and neither is after 16:00. Once answered, getting information on constituency MPs remains a roll of the dice.

Neither the ANC nor the DA could identify the MP for a specified area in Cape Town. The DA had troubles accessing some “lists” on the office computer, and referred queries to the provincial party head office. The ANC simply said: “But this is a DA-run council!” and then referred further queries to a member of the political committee, whose contact details were provided. The phone at the IFP offices just rang. The Freedom Front Plus referred queries to the party leader’s office, and from there on to the provincial party office.

Take three: The political party website

Although the ANC parliamentary caucus has its own website with most MPs’ biographies, speeches, motions and statements, finding constituency details is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Some of the ANC MPs, who arrived at Parliament in 1994 or 1999, have constituency details. But these particulars often are out of date as constituencies have been reallocated. Still, the administrators of the few listed constituency offices may at least provide a starting point to actually get to speak to the constituency MP.

Without fail, the administrators contacted were polite and professional, but acted as a gatekeepers.

As the ANC runs constituency offices, perhaps it would be easier to simply pop in; even if MPs are not there, leaving a message may get that face-to-face interaction. That may well be an option if those offices’ locations are known – some are in high-traffic sections of Gugulethu or Athlone – but blink and you’ve passed the ANC’s Mowbray office.

It’s trickier with the DA, which does not run constituency offices. Instead there’s a system of constituency managers (cellphone and e-mail contacts provided) linked to municipal wards. Although the DA website provides the cellphone numbers and private e-mails of all its elected public representatives, it doesn’t help find out who’s representing which constituency.

A DA MP confirmed that constituency enquiries usually come through ward councillors – effectively gate-keeping – and when it wasn’t a local or provincial issue, an appointment with the MP is made. “I will come to you,” the DA MP said.

The EFF seems to run its constituency offices out of its provincial offices.

Take four: Consult the ‘rep locator’

On the “rep locator” on the website of the People’s Assembly, a non-governmental organisation, you search by location, and there’s a choice of various political parties’ public representatives with addresses of their constituency office (and maps), the office telephone and the MP’s cellphone. Ditto for a search by name. Also listed are the MPLs and councillors.

People’s Assembly good governance co-ordinator Megan Lessing said it came down to accountability. “We believe that citizen participation beyond elections helps to institutionalise democratic structures, improve service delivery, reduce government corruption and enhance accountability and individual performance of elected representatives,” she said.

It took some six months to get details before the rep locator was launched in February 2014. It’s possible political parties have changed constituency representation; hence there is a “correct this page” function. Steps are under way to provide GPS co-ordinates for the roughly 330 constituency offices countrywide.

“Despite the policy requiring parties provide Parliament with information on the location of its (constituency) offices and the members assigned to each, our efforts to source this information from both Parliament and political parties proved difficult,” said Lessing. “It’s an ongoing effort but MPs are slowly beginning to share their details with us.”

Parliament on its website says directly contacting MPs is one way of participating in Parliament. “You can contact MPs in constituency offices throughout the country or at Parliament… Most areas in the country have one or more constituency office where citizens can directly contact their MPs. Constituency offices are usually listed in the local telephone directory,” it says, listing Parliament’s postal address and central switchboard. There is also a link to the list of MPs (back to step one!).

While Parliament could argue that constituency offices are the responsibility of individual political parties, questions must be raised over institutional oversight – not only in the interest of the constitutional imperatives of making Parliament accessible and transparent, and facilitating citizens’ participation, but also financial accountability.

Parliament’s 2014/15 annual report in its financial statements on page 74 – the only mention of constituencies in the whole report – shows it paid R254.2-million in constituency allowances that year. In addition, a little over R89.5-million is paid as party support and just short R8.4-million for party leaders’ support.

Parliament did not respond to a request for a breakdown of the constituency allowances, but a rough calculation (divide total allocation by 400, the number of MPs, and multiply by the number of MPs per political party) shows the ANC received R158.2-million (249 MPs), the DA R56.5-million (89 MPs) and EFF R15.8-million (25 MPs).

The official websites of the parliaments in Britain and Germany, for example, not only provide all their MPs’ speeches, written questions, voting records and brief biographies, but also the addresses and telephone numbers of each constituency office. MPs’ e-mail addresses and direct office telephone numbers are also provided. In Britain, political parties’ websites provide constituency MPs’ details, while in Germany most MPs have their own website, reached via a click through from the official Bundestag site.

Neither electoral system is like South Africa’s – Britons elect MPs directly in constituencies, while Germany has a mixed direct and list system – but the notion of MPs being responsible for voters in a specific constituency is the same.

In South Africa, until about a decade ago, there was an official who’s-who-type booklet with the contact details of every MP (including cellphone numbers) and their constituency location and contact details.

In November 2009 an Afrobarometer public opinion survey showed just 3% of South Africans could name their MP, compared to an average of 41% across 12 African countries. That survey also showed MPs believed their top priority was delivering jobs and development (34%), with 19% citing listening to their constituencies. While 46% of South Africans wanted to see their MP in their area at least once a month, 26% said they actually did see their MP.

A review of South Africa’s electoral system in 2003 suggested a change to a mixed system of directly elected constituency MPs and proportionally-elected MPs for greater accountability while maintaining the possibility of smaller parties’ representation. This report by the Electoral Task Team, chaired by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, has been gathering dust somewhere.

And so, political parties remain in the driving seat.

MPs, who like everyone else are deployed on the campaign trail, are likely to use their constituency offices as a base for electioneering, making it vastly easier for citizens to make contact. But what happens when MPs’ campaigning duties are done and dusted could be a completely different story. DM

Photo of SA parliament by REUTERS/Mike Hutchings (SOUTH AFRICA)