ActionSA’s Parliamentary Caucus Delivers on Commitments as We Reflect on 100 Days of the Grand Coalition Government
Press Statement by Athol Trollip MP
ActionSA Parliamentary Leader
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.
ActionSA’s Parliamentary Legislative Agenda
ActionSA stood on a clear platform in the recent May 2024 election, communicating our obligation to the people of South Africa and will give expression to our manifesto through this new and important foothold we have gained in the National Assembly.
Immediate Priority: Ethics and Accountability
Ethical leadership is a key tenet of ActionSA, informed by our belief that you cannot build a house on unstable foundations. Our arrival in Parliament has revealed that the rot runs much deeper than we ever anticipated, with profligacy and excessive perks indicative of a system that has departed from one of public service to one that prioritises self-serving extravagance.
As such, an immediate task we intend to undertake, is updating the Ministerial Handbook for our bloated cabinet that costs in excess of a billion rand to maintain. We will do everything possible to overhaul the handbook from a ‘How Much Can Politicians Extract from Taxpayers’ guide to one that promotes prudent and fiscally responsible support for ministers.
While fighting to stop the billion-rand luxury excesses enjoyed by the Grand Coalition, ActionSA believes that this effort must coincide with a serious revision of the eligibility criteria for public office bearers.
As we highlighted in light of the Dr John Hlophe controversy, a critical constitutional blind spot exists in the application of these criteria, where there are little to no barriers preventing those who are unfit from being Members of Parliament.
To this end, we have already written to Parliament’s Joint Constitutional Review Committee to call for a thorough review of applicable legislation, rules and frameworks to ensure that eligibility standards for public office are consistent, transparent, and uphold the integrity of both Parliament and all other public offices.
By every available indicator, corruption remains rampant, and to date, the Grand Coalition has done nothing legislatively to combat it. ActionSA believes that there is an urgent need for reforms, starting with a Constitutional Amendment to establish a new Chapter 9 Anti-Corruption Agency specifically tasked with fighting corruption.
Cognisant of the high thresholds for such amendments, today we make a public and clarion call to all parties represented in Parliament to join us in this critical effort. Those who do not participate in passing this constitutional amendment will reveal their true colours as craven representatives unwilling to protect the interest of South Africans.
In line with our core value of non-racialism and inclusive economic growth, long-term economic reforms are crucial to spur growth and effectively address the legacies of our past. Our country faces economic stagnation, impoverishing our people, while the government seems paralyzed, with the left foot not knowing what the right is doing to address this situation and this paralysis is compounded by the advent of the “GNU” with the divergent principles and philosophies of participating parties.
ActionSA will propose the Inclusive Economic Empowerment Act (IEEA), supported by the establishment of the Opportunity Fund, the Universal Basic Income Stimulus (UBIS), and changes to Employment Equity.
The Opportunity Fund will be established as an independent, tax-exempt legal entity registered with the FSCA. It will be managed by qualified professionals to ensure the Board of Directors operates free from political interference.
The Opportunity Fund Levy, a 5% tax on all companies (excluding SMMEs), is projected to raise R55.7 billion annually for inclusive economic empowerment initiatives. This levy will be implemented for a maximum of 30 years, replacing compliance costs of existing empowerment legislation, which are estimated at 4% to 6% of company profits. Funds will be allocated as follows: 10% to tertiary education, 30% to entrepreneurial funding, 35% to infrastructure projects, and 25% for further investment.
ActionSA will support efforts to introduce a Universal Basic Income Stimulus, available to all adult South Africans and permanent residents who register as UBIS recipients. This initiative aims to boost South Africa’s GDP growth by at least two additional percentage points and create an estimated 1.6 million jobs.
ActionSA will further propose a tiered system for minimum wage and tax incentives for companies. These incentives would allow businesses to claim 110% of wages paid to historically disadvantaged groups as an operational expense, rather than relying on racial quotas. This approach aims to increase employment opportunities and foster company growth.
In the coming term, ActionSA intends to introduce a Reserve Sector Bill that fundamentally reforms our R900 Billion township economy, ensuring that it is driven and owned by local residents. A key focus is the reform of spaza shop ownership, which principally advocates for the empowerment of local entrepreneurs which is vital for the sustainable development and prosperity of our communities.
ActionSA believes that these key legislative priorities, as outlined, will set the tone for bold and necessary reforms to place South Africa on the path toward growth and the entrenchment of good governance principles. In keeping with our commitment to being a constructive opposition, ActionSA is not merely in opposition to howl and reject, but to engage and propose sound alternatives.
Introduction of ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker Platform
ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker is a comprehensive index designed to monitor and hold accountable South Africa’s Coalition Government, combining a range of key economic, social, and infrastructure-related performance indicators to measure the governing coalition’s progress on its promises. These metrics are updated in real-time, empowering citizens to see where their government is succeeding and where it is falling short.
South Africans have grown tired of empty promises, an aversion borne out of genuine frustration that, over the past 30 years, the South African Dream of opportunity and progress for all has yet to be realised. Instead, many have been pained to acknowledge that, in many ways, there has been a regression.
As we mark 100 days since the formation of the government, ActionSA has taken up the fight to ensure that, at every turn, the governing coalition is held accountable. As we prepare for the term ahead, the creation of this tracker is an innovative tool that we will make accessible to all South Africans so they can ensure their government delivers, while we, as the opposition, lead the charge to ensure they answer to citizens through Parliament.
Critically reflecting on the past 100 days, ActionSA offers a sober critique of the work undertaken by the coalition government, which, by nearly all measures, has come to represent a mediocre shift in the status quo while the majority of concerns remain unchallenged, from corruption to accountability, from professionalisation to clear, discernible and programmes of action.
Central to Parliament’s focus has been deliberations on the broad austerity measures that feature prominently in the governing coalitions’ first budget cycle. The consequence of this has meant that critical infrastructure and economic growth-generating programmes are not afforded the necessary government investment, which, in turn, cements the continued decline of the state of South Africa’s economic infrastructure.
From devastating cuts to critical departments, some of which includes essential indigent relief, coupled with a stagnant, low-growth economic environment, rising unemployment, and particularly spiralling youth unemployment, and declining manufacturing and mining figures, South Africa’s economic prospects remain bleak.
ActionSA contends that these realities are a wake-up call that while imagined ‘optimism’ may inspire relative confidence in a government’s political standing, it will not translate into meaningful socio-economic upliftment without well-costed, pragmatic and bold socio-economic reforms, which the governing coalition has yet to table.
It is within the context of our broad assessment of the governing coalition’s work thus far, and the areas we believe require proactive scrutiny, that we outline the key overarching metrics below, which our Performance Tracker will encompass to ensure an accurate and objective assessment of the coalition’s performance in key areas.
These key metrics provide the most realistic picture of the state of governance, with performance outcomes collectively dependent on the work of the coalition across all 32 departments. ActionSA is confident that, as South Africans discern between PR spin and reality, this tracker offers factual insights into the actual performance of government, thereby empowering citizens to hold it accountable.
The effort we have poured into making governance as accessible as possible will serve as the framework anchoring our work going forward. ActionSA is committed to ensuring that our Parliamentary Caucus remains the most hardworking and importantly, the most accessible, transparent, and accountable to South Africans, so that by the end of the 7th Parliament term, we will have led with distinction in protecting and advancing the best interests of South Africa and her people.
ActionSA’s Parliamentary Caucus Delivers on Commitments as We Reflect on 100 Days of the Grand Coalition Government
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.
ActionSA’s Parliamentary Legislative Agenda
ActionSA stood on a clear platform in the recent May 2024 election, communicating our obligation to the people of South Africa and will give expression to our manifesto through this new and important foothold we have gained in the National Assembly.
Immediate Priority: Ethics and Accountability
Ethical leadership is a key tenet of ActionSA, informed by our belief that you cannot build a house on unstable foundations. Our arrival in Parliament has revealed that the rot runs much deeper than we ever anticipated, with profligacy and excessive perks indicative of a system that has departed from one of public service to one that prioritises self-serving extravagance.
As such, an immediate task we intend to undertake, is updating the Ministerial Handbook for our bloated cabinet that costs in excess of a billion rand to maintain. We will do everything possible to overhaul the handbook from a ‘How Much Can Politicians Extract from Taxpayers’ guide to one that promotes prudent and fiscally responsible support for ministers.
While fighting to stop the billion-rand luxury excesses enjoyed by the Grand Coalition, ActionSA believes that this effort must coincide with a serious revision of the eligibility criteria for public office bearers.
As we highlighted in light of the Dr John Hlophe controversy, a critical constitutional blind spot exists in the application of these criteria, where there are little to no barriers preventing those who are unfit from being Members of Parliament.
To this end, we have already written to Parliament’s Joint Constitutional Review Committee to call for a thorough review of applicable legislation, rules and frameworks to ensure that eligibility standards for public office are consistent, transparent, and uphold the integrity of both Parliament and all other public offices.
Medium-Term Priority: Fighting Deep-Rooted Corruption
By every available indicator, corruption remains rampant, and to date, the Grand Coalition has done nothing legislatively to combat it. ActionSA believes that there is an urgent need for reforms, starting with a Constitutional Amendment to establish a new Chapter 9 Anti-Corruption Agency specifically tasked with fighting corruption.
Cognisant of the high thresholds for such amendments, today we make a public and clarion call to all parties represented in Parliament to join us in this critical effort. Those who do not participate in passing this constitutional amendment will reveal their true colours as craven representatives unwilling to protect the interest of South Africans.
Long-Term Priority: Inclusive Economic Empowerment
In line with our core value of non-racialism and inclusive economic growth, long-term economic reforms are crucial to spur growth and effectively address the legacies of our past. Our country faces economic stagnation, impoverishing our people, while the government seems paralyzed, with the left foot not knowing what the right is doing to address this situation and this paralysis is compounded by the advent of the “GNU” with the divergent principles and philosophies of participating parties.
ActionSA will propose the Inclusive Economic Empowerment Act (IEEA), supported by the establishment of the Opportunity Fund, the Universal Basic Income Stimulus (UBIS), and changes to Employment Equity.
The Opportunity Fund will be established as an independent, tax-exempt legal entity registered with the FSCA. It will be managed by qualified professionals to ensure the Board of Directors operates free from political interference.
The Opportunity Fund Levy, a 5% tax on all companies (excluding SMMEs), is projected to raise R55.7 billion annually for inclusive economic empowerment initiatives. This levy will be implemented for a maximum of 30 years, replacing compliance costs of existing empowerment legislation, which are estimated at 4% to 6% of company profits. Funds will be allocated as follows: 10% to tertiary education, 30% to entrepreneurial funding, 35% to infrastructure projects, and 25% for further investment.
ActionSA will support efforts to introduce a Universal Basic Income Stimulus, available to all adult South Africans and permanent residents who register as UBIS recipients. This initiative aims to boost South Africa’s GDP growth by at least two additional percentage points and create an estimated 1.6 million jobs.
ActionSA will further propose a tiered system for minimum wage and tax incentives for companies. These incentives would allow businesses to claim 110% of wages paid to historically disadvantaged groups as an operational expense, rather than relying on racial quotas. This approach aims to increase employment opportunities and foster company growth.
In the coming term, ActionSA intends to introduce a Reserve Sector Bill that fundamentally reforms our R900 Billion township economy, ensuring that it is driven and owned by local residents. A key focus is the reform of spaza shop ownership, which principally advocates for the empowerment of local entrepreneurs which is vital for the sustainable development and prosperity of our communities.
ActionSA believes that these key legislative priorities, as outlined, will set the tone for bold and necessary reforms to place South Africa on the path toward growth and the entrenchment of good governance principles. In keeping with our commitment to being a constructive opposition, ActionSA is not merely in opposition to howl and reject, but to engage and propose sound alternatives.
Introduction of ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker Platform
ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker is a comprehensive index designed to monitor and hold accountable South Africa’s Coalition Government, combining a range of key economic, social, and infrastructure-related performance indicators to measure the governing coalition’s progress on its promises. These metrics are updated in real-time, empowering citizens to see where their government is succeeding and where it is falling short.
South Africans have grown tired of empty promises, an aversion borne out of genuine frustration that, over the past 30 years, the South African Dream of opportunity and progress for all has yet to be realised. Instead, many have been pained to acknowledge that, in many ways, there has been a regression.
As we mark 100 days since the formation of the government, ActionSA has taken up the fight to ensure that, at every turn, the governing coalition is held accountable. As we prepare for the term ahead, the creation of this tracker is an innovative tool that we will make accessible to all South Africans so they can ensure their government delivers, while we, as the opposition, lead the charge to ensure they answer to citizens through Parliament.
Critically reflecting on the past 100 days, ActionSA offers a sober critique of the work undertaken by the coalition government, which, by nearly all measures, has come to represent a mediocre shift in the status quo while the majority of concerns remain unchallenged, from corruption to accountability, from professionalisation to clear, discernible and programmes of action.
Central to Parliament’s focus has been deliberations on the broad austerity measures that feature prominently in the governing coalitions’ first budget cycle. The consequence of this has meant that critical infrastructure and economic growth-generating programmes are not afforded the necessary government investment, which, in turn, cements the continued decline of the state of South Africa’s economic infrastructure.
From devastating cuts to critical departments, some of which includes essential indigent relief, coupled with a stagnant, low-growth economic environment, rising unemployment, and particularly spiralling youth unemployment, and declining manufacturing and mining figures, South Africa’s economic prospects remain bleak.
ActionSA contends that these realities are a wake-up call that while imagined ‘optimism’ may inspire relative confidence in a government’s political standing, it will not translate into meaningful socio-economic upliftment without well-costed, pragmatic and bold socio-economic reforms, which the governing coalition has yet to table.
It is within the context of our broad assessment of the governing coalition’s work thus far, and the areas we believe require proactive scrutiny, that we outline the key overarching metrics below, which our Performance Tracker will encompass to ensure an accurate and objective assessment of the coalition’s performance in key areas.
These key metrics provide the most realistic picture of the state of governance, with performance outcomes collectively dependent on the work of the coalition across all 32 departments. ActionSA is confident that, as South Africans discern between PR spin and reality, this tracker offers factual insights into the actual performance of government, thereby empowering citizens to hold it accountable.
The effort we have poured into making governance as accessible as possible will serve as the framework anchoring our work going forward. ActionSA is committed to ensuring that our Parliamentary Caucus remains the most hardworking and importantly, the most accessible, transparent, and accountable to South Africans, so that by the end of the 7th Parliament term, we will have led with distinction in protecting and advancing the best interests of South Africa and her people.