Les Labuschagne (DALE 1955 – 59)
On midnight, 22 April 2009 I ceased to be a
Member of Parliament after five
interesting and sometimes frustrating years.
Due to family reasons I decided not to stand for Parliament in Cape
Town, but rather make myself available for the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
which meant living at home (Pretoria).
Fortunately I was elected and I thus embarked on my third political
career out of the usual sync. The
traditional “cursus honorum” (for those who had Mr. Searle for Latin) being
City Council, Provincial Legislature and finally Parliament.
When I was originally elected I thought of another ex -Molteno old
Dalian who had preceded me to Parliament, albeit a number of years prior,
namely Jack Wainwright, MP who originally, in the late 1950’s, had stimulated
my interest in politics.
Parliament as I had originally envisaged it had changed, no longer emulating
the Westminster system. Our original Chamber was based on the House of Commons
from layout : same green benches with the “table” separating Government and
Opposition. The intimacy of the historic
chamber of about 180 members had been replaced by a modern large chamber of 400
seats which, due to TV, we are more familiar with. The old Assembly Chamber, scene of history
and drama, declaration of war, assassination and resignation is now a place of
ghosts although still used on occasion as a committee, informal prayer or
meeting room.
I did consider it a privilege to make my maiden speech in this Chamber
during an extended committee on the Foreign Affairs budget and, speaking from
the traditional Leader of the Opposition’s seat facing the Minister, at least
gave me a feel of what it was like in the days of my original aspirations.
Post 1994 our democracy has now an expanded franchise and a
Parliament for 40 million (not 4 million) as in the past, resulting in a current
House of 400 MPs. No longer
predominantly elderly white males wearing dark suits, but a kaleidoscope of
colour (physical and attire),language culture, religion and a goodly number of
women.
Unfortunately the exuberance of the new democracy, while vocal in
terms of clapping, singing (on occasion) and attire, did not result in a
correspondingly high quality of
debate. In fact,sadly, there is no real
debate. Speeches are now read from the
rostrum (sometimes read with all the amazement of someone seeing a road map for
the first time in his/her life).
Previously it was forbidden to read a speech, now it is de rigueur; spontaneity
is lost.
The House did of course sometimes have lighter moments and the
current resident humorous character was
Koos van der Merwe of the IFP, also the longest serving MP. His classic bon mots included ,on being asked
by the Speaker to withdraw a remark, answered, “Madam, I will always withdraw
if you ask me”. Koos also got into
trouble for smuggling a cake with one long candle into the House to designate
the anniversary of his request for an appointment with President Mbeki which
was still outstanding.
The Deputy
Speaker lost it during exchanges and Koos was kicked out. The size of the
massive chamber of course inhibits clever interjections. You really have to shout, and that venerable
tradition of witty exchanges - part of a great parliamentary tradition – is
being eroded. A clever interjection loses
something if it has to be bellowed.
Apart from the front benches accommodating two persons, the back
benches are very long, accommodating about 12 MPs. Mine had a slight broken spring that was never
fixed. The compensation was that for
part of the term I was forced “hip to hip” with an attractive benchmate, but
less so after she was replaced with a pleasant, but male MP from Limpopo!
Sitting on the spring originally made me
wonder how people could fall asleep as is often alleged by the public. However, a long badly read monologue by an
ANC Member in the late afternoon does have a soporific effect.
There were, however, interesting times. Tony Leon was always a
delight to listen to. His intelligent,
well crafted, excellently delivered speeches were intently listened to even by
the ANC, judging by the intense silence.
At the first debate of the 2004 Parliament when he ended by saying to
President Mbeki that we both want the
same for South Africa and that the DA were opponents and not enemies, followed
by going to shake Mbeki’s hand, flummoxed the ANC . They were not sure how to
react and only on the second day did a Minister react and comment that a shake
of a hand doesn’t mean or change anything.
There was high drama when President Mbeki announced Zuma’s sacking
as Deputy President and again when he , in turn, was “redeployed”. Tony Leon’s farewell and the tribute to Helen
Suzman on her death were moving and memorable and of course the controversial
“crossovers” and subsequent repeal of the Act, as well as the public
chastisement of the few Travelgate (small fish) MPs as opposed to prosecution,
also stand out.
The House is a place for speeches and grandstanding today. The real work of the country is done in the
Portfolio Committees, which I gather, have assumed a more powerful role than
the Committees of the previous Parliaments.
It is in these Committees where public hearings are held and the
public comes, whether as individuals or representing firms, organizations, to
comment on Bills and make inputs, where they are heard and are questioned by
Members of the Portfolio Committee. This
is where the civil servants of government Departments appear for interrogation
as part of Parliamentary oversight.
It
was very interesting to see during my last year, after Mbeki was deposed, how
much more critical and enquiring ANC MPs had suddenly become of Departments. Previously they often seemed to see the Department
as an extension of the Minister and criticism would be tantamount to
criticizing the ANC. No doubt all this
was linked to whether the relevant deployed cadres were seen as pro -Zuma or
pro- Mbeki.
The establishment of COPE just before the end of 2008 and virtually
no sessions between late January and March 2009 prior to the elections meant
that we could not have as much fun as we could have with embarrassed MPs, who were
also busy polishing their marbles and more concerned whether the Party would
drop them or not.
I found that if one built up a position of mutual respect with
Committee members and avoided grandstanding then one could actually get
legislation changed. The challenge was
to get the majority ANC MPs to not only listen to you, but to actually hear you
(or vice versa) and avoid forcing a political or ideological standoff and I did
in fact succeed in amending legislation.
I served on the Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee for the full
five years and considered it my main responsibility. I also served on Foreign Affairs, Home
Affairs and Labour for different periods.
Prior to 1994, Parliament sat for the traditional January to June
session and wives and families all went down as also the diplomatic corps and
set the Cape Town social scene. Now Parliament
sits from late January to early December and most MPs commute for the week.
From the DA side only about three non Western
Cape wives and no families spent time in Cape Town on a permanent basis. From
Johannesburg to Cape Town was roughly a 4½ hour door to door journey twice a
week for five years. Now I live at home
and the 67km to the legislature in Johannesburg (old City Hall) takes me not
quite as long. But I can’t wait for the
finalization of the road works, and hopefully removal of the truck that is
always stuck between Allendale and New roads on the N1 every day.
Despite the up and down, boring speeches and interminable travel it
was a wonderful five year experience which I shall always cherish and remain
humbled at the privilege of having been a Member of Parliament.
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