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On 14 June 2024, exactly 122 days ago, ActionSA's inaugural Parliamentary Caucus took an oath to respect and uphold the Constitution of South Africa and committed to fulfilling their functions as Members of Parliament and representatives of the people of South Africa, with ActionSA today standing proud in having upheld this commitment in our first public quarterly report of the 7th Parliament. 

ActionSA committed to South Africans that we would occupy the opposition void and hold our position as the rational centre, where, despite our relative size, we intended to punch above our weight and serve the South African people as a constructive opposition in a way that ensures our presence is felt.

At every opportunity, ActionSA has shown that we do not take our representation in Parliament lightly. In line with our commitment, we have utilised every available parliamentary mechanism to ensure that the voices, concerns, and aspirations of ordinary South Africans are amplified.

From the outset, despite the majority of our Caucus having never served in Parliament, ActionSA hit the ground running at the commencement of the first Budget Vote debates. Our Caucus made presentations in nearly every committee, where members simultaneously scrutinised annual performance plans and budget presentations while making submissions in multiple committees. This effort contrasts with the participation of other parties with even larger caucuses, serving as a testament to our commitment to punch above our weight. 

Committed to being a constructive opposition, ActionSA's voting record on the July appropriations cycle demonstrates our balanced approach. We supported 26 budget votes while maintaining principled objections to 15, marking a departure from the practice of rejecting budgets purely for the sake of opposition.

As of today, ActionSA’s Parliamentary Caucus has submitted just under 100 written questions for Executive reply, a number that, when considering our relative size, demonstrates that we have maximised every limited opportunity for questions provided by Parliamentary Rules.

ActionSA has been present in every Parliamentary plenary session, posed questions to every cabinet cluster during executive question and reply sessions, and used every opportunity to submit motions as provided by Parliament's rules, which limits ActionSA's participation by virtue of proportionality determinations.

Proudly, each member of ActionSA’s Caucus of six, which we have coined as the “Super Six”, sits on a minimum of two portfolio committees. Where needed, our members have even made efforts to participate in committees in which they do not hold membership when matters of vital interest to South Africans are being considered, demanding that we make the necessary contributions.

Since our election to the 7th Parliament, ActionSA has made a number of key observations about the work of Parliament and the need for urgent reforms to improve its functions as the bastion of democracy. 

Firstly, the true measure of Parliament's effectiveness lies in its capacity to hold the executive to account and when the Executive adopt an adversarial posture to its work, they undermine the very core oversight function entrusted to Members of Parliament. Importantly, this not only weakens accountability but also erodes the very purpose of Parliament, rendering it ineffective in fulfilling its constitutional mandate.

Of concern is the urgent need for the Deputy President, as the Leader of Government Business, to discipline Ministers and Deputy Ministers in order to address the glaringly poor quality of responses or lack thereof to both oral and written questions, which Members of Parliament depend on for critical constituency and oversight work.

Importantly, the capacitation of members to ensure they have access to all necessary information, from reports to review documents, is vital. Parliament must urgently address the problematic way in which members are often inundated with volumes of information with little time for consideration, which limits their ability to scrutinise such information effectively and, in turn, undermines their capacity to perform their duties effectively.

To address this, ActionSA will continue to ensure that we are active participants in both Parliament's Programming Committee and Rules Committee and will furthermore engage with the Speaker to ensure that these matters are remedied so that we can maximise our effectiveness. 

Over the last three months, ActionSA has shown a fierce appetite for holding the grand coalition to account. This includes leading the charge to hold the Minister of Justice accountable, writing numerous letters to the President, requesting an urgent investigation from the Public Protector, laying criminal charges, and writing to the Speaker.

In various committees and through direct correspondence with Ministers, our members have interrogated departments and state functionaries, focusing on ensuring that we elevate the issues impacting our communities to the responsible authorities. This work has ensured that South Africans have direct access to the government through our office. 

As we head into the third term and continue our work for the remainder of the 7th Parliament, ActionSA is committed to ensuring that we uphold the high standard of performance that we have already displayed and ensure that not a single opportunity is wasted as we work on behalf of South Africans.

Issued by ActionSA Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip