Part of the job of new National Assembly speaker Novisiwe Mapisa-Nqakula is to ensure ministers respond promptly to written questions from MPs.
But last year, towards the end of her nine-year stint as minister of defence and military veterans, Mapisa-Nqakula ignored a greater proportion of questions than any other minister.Image:This emerges from a new analysis of written questions by researcher Rebecca Sibanda, whose report was published this week by theMapisa-Nqakula answered only 72% of MPs' written questions compared with a cabinet average of 94%, according to Sibanda, making her one of the cabinet's two underperformers.
Sibanda said she was hopeful a new mechanism on late replies, adopted by the National Assembly on September 2, would make ministers take their responsibilities seriously. Her research also exposed a huge gulf in enthusiasm between the ANC and opposition parties for holding ministers to account.Sibanda said government and opposition parties have incompatible interests, and majority-party MPs usually choose to maintain the favour of their leadership and comrades.
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