Corruption Watch Director David Lewis has told the State Capture Commission in Johannesburg that avenues for public participation need to be established in the appointment of leaders of Chapter 9 institutions.
The institutions were established to guard and strengthen democracy in South Africa. However, some like the Public Protector have come under criticism in recent years following court rulings against some findings.
Lewis was testifying at the commission in relation to Parliamentary oversight on how leaders of these institutions are appointed.
“It was our aim and intention to create avenues for public participation in the proceedings. In the previous appointment of Prof [Thuli] Madonsela there was to our knowledge hardly any then that would’ve been seven years prior to that.”
State Capture Inquiry, Parliamentary Oversight-related evidence
Earlier on Thursday, the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) executive secretary, Lawson Naidoo testified on.
Naidoo says electoral reform alone will not change the influence political parties have on their MPs.
Earlier this month, the commission heard how the governing ANC was allegedly instrumental in weakening parliamentary oversight. Last year in June, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Electoral Act was unconstitutional in so far as it only allowed for the election of members of Parliament and provincial legislatures through political parties. Naidoo says political culture within political parties is what stifles the development of the country’s democracy.
“We see much of this across political parties, where party line is taken and no deviation from that and no debate from that is permitted and to the development of policies that can really begin to address the fundamental challenges that we face,” said Naidoo.
