CONSTITUENCY WORK


CONSTITUENCY WORK – WATER SUPPLIES, ROADS, TOXIC WASTE AND DOORS FOR SCHOOL TOILETS


South African MPs traditionally spend Mondays in their constituencies; but three times a year Parliament goes into recess for “Constituency Week”. Parliament’s Information and Content Development Unit followed MPs around their constituencies and reports here on the issues Members encountered in towns and villages around the country.


Information and Content Development Unit of Parliament in Cape Town. The Unit is part of Parliament’s Communication Service.


Being a Member of Parliament in South Africa is all about serving the people. Each and every MP is allocated a constituency. MPs usually work from Parliament, but from time to time they are required to be out in the field. This is where constituency work comes in. During constituency periods,


which is timed to coincide with Parliament’s recess periods, MPs go back to the people they represent in Parliament and report back to them about what is happening in Parliament. They listen to the people’s problems and complaints and come up with solutions to their problems or undertake to take up their concerns with Parliament. In some instances, they get in touch with local councillors to deal with the community’s issues at municipal level. All political parties represented in


Parliament have constituency offices to ensure that MPs serve the people


84 | The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue One - South Africa


they represent. Most constituency offices employ an administrator to be available to the public and parties are entitled to a monthly allowance for each MP to run a constituency office. For smaller parties, for example


a party with one MP, constituency work is much more challenging as they have to crisscross the country during constituency periods. Bigger parties with more MPs have the luxury of deploying MPs to particular constituencies in all nine provinces. What follows gives an example of what MPs from different political parties represented in Parliament actually do during their constituency periods.


African National Congress (ANC) For ANC MP and Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Energy Mr Sisa Njikelana, the public must come first and citizens should not have to


beg for services from government. The legislator says it is the government’s duty to serve citizens. During his constituency work


in Orange Farm in Gauteng province, he was not amused when government officials failed to show up at an agricultural workshop for the community. The workshop was to explore the possibility of setting up an agricultural co-operative sector in the area and was attended by a number of residents from various co-operatives. Mr Njikelana explained that


Parliament and MPs had the constitutional duty of supervising government. He stressed that voters deserved to be treated fairly and with dignity. He said it was intolerable that some government officials were dragging their feet in assisting communities. At the end of the workshop it was resolved that a letter would be written to the


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