S AT U R D AY S TA R

OPINION

January 26

2013

11

Motshekga, cabinet accountable for books saga

Minister of Basic Education cannot hide from the constitutional responsibilities that are binding to her
PROF G E DEVENISH

T HAS been reported in the media (Saturday Star Motshekga says shes not to blame for text book scandal) that the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, has denied accountability in the Limpopo textbook saga, where schools in that province were without books for the first seven months of the school year in 2012. She is reported as saying: It (delivering textbooks) is an administrative function and has nothing to do with me as a minister. Basically the problem lies , with the administration and not the political office Section 92(2) of the constitution provides that: Members of the cabinet are accountable collectively and individually to Parliament for the exercise of their powers and performance of their functions. This is known as ministerial and collective cabinet responsibility As far as ministe. rial responsibility is concerned, this extends in general to decisions of an individual minister taken without reference to the cabinet, as well as holding the relevant minister accountable for actions of public servants in his or her department. This was previously a convention that is now a part of our constitutional law. It is submitted that it was observed, both in South Africa and the United Kingdom, within elastic limits, depending on real politic. However, it is clear in the 1996 constitution that a minister as the political head of a civil service department is answerable to Parliament. Professor Albert Venter, a prominent South African political scientist, has explained that individual ministerial

responsibility embodies an explanatory responsibility; an amendatory one; and lastly a , resignatory one. These require respectively , first, that a minister is duty bound to explain what occurs in his or her department; second, to correct mistakes and errors that have occurred; and finally, if the situation is sufficiently serious, to resign. Venter also suggests that a minister is obliged to resign from office in three sets of circumstances, first, in circumstances of a political or administrative nature in which the minister was directly involved; second, where vicarious responsibility for actions of officials in his or her department exists; and third, where personal moral responsibility is assumed for conduct perceived to be unacceptable to the community . Whether under the circumstances a minister does so depends on considerations of real politic. The traditional Westminster mode of expressing intense dissatisfaction with the actions of a minister is to propose a reduction in salary . In the light of the above explanation, which explains how ministerial responsibility operates in a liberal democracy, which is provided for in our constitution, the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, is indeed accountable and her statement that it has nothing to do with me as a minister, is manifestly wrong and must be categorically rejected. Furthermore, according to the doctrine of collective cabinet accountability the rest of , the cabinet, including the president also bear a meaningful degree of responsibility . The definition of collective responsibility of the cabinet, in a parliamentary liberal democracy was formulated by an erst, while British prime minister,

Lord Salisbury who explained: , For all that passes in the cabinet every member of it who does not resign is absolutely and irretrievably responsible and has no right afterwards to say that he agreed in one case to a compromise, while in another he was persuaded by his colleagues It is only on the principle that absolute responsibility is undertaken by every member of the cabinet, who after a decision is arrived at, remains a member of it, that the joint responsibility of ministers to parliament can be upheld and one of the most essential principles of parliamentary responsibility established. The Limpopo textbook saga became a national scandal and disgrace last year, and was no doubt discussed in the cabinet meetings. Nevertheless, both the president and his cabinet have failed, it is submitted, to take immediate and effective remedial action, for which they are collectively and individually responsible. Parliament, exercising its oversight role, must hold them accountable in no uncertain terms. This could be done by demanding the resignation of the minister, or proposing a substantial reduction in her salary . Furthermore, the electorate when they vote in the general election of 2014 will also be able to express their cogent disapproval of the Zuma administration, in this regard. This is the manner in which an authentic liberal parliamentary democracy must operate. George Devenish Senior Research Associate is a former professor of Public Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban). He was one of the scholars who assisted in drafting the interim constitution in 1993.

ISOLATED AND FORGOTTEN: Birds fly over the dilapidated Motholo Primary School in Motholo, Limpopo. Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga (inset) must take responsibility for her department, says Professor GE Devenish. PICTURE: PABALLO THEKISO

Obama spells out a liberal agenda for second term

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama inaugurated his second term on Monday with something approaching a liberal manifesto: a clear statement of what he hopes to accomplish over the next four years. Obamas second inaugural address was such a departure from the soaring generalities of some predecessors speeches that at times it sounded as though he were still running against Mitt Romney: when he hailed the broad shoulders of a rising middle class, for example, or when he rejected the notion that Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security make us a nation of takers. The president anchored his address in the language and aspirations of the Declaration of Independence, but for those who listened carefully he described a second-term agenda of unusual specificity for an inaugural address: immigration reform, including more visas for engineers; voting reform; gun control; preservation of the nations entitlement programmes; investment in highways and other infrastructure; more worker training; equal pay for women; revamping the tax code to combat inequality; and more. Facing up to the challenge of climate change received unusual and welcome prominence in the speech. So did the struggle for gay rights, which Obama placed in Americas long history of expanding freedom to women, blacks and beyond. Citing the pioneers of Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall, the president declared: Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law. Less welcome was the reappearance of one of Obamas favourite rhetorical companions, the straw man. No single person can train all the math and science teachers well need, Obama declared, in a defence of his communitarian vision. And: [W]e reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. The implication was that entitlement reform essential to Americas fiscal health means abandoning the older generation. In fact, the country can safeguard its most vulnerable elderly while investing in children but not without restructuring Medicare and Social Security . Obama recommitted himself, as he has uncounted times, to making hard choices to reduce the deficit. But he again offered no clue as to what those might entail. If that absence suggested a bit of wishful thinking, another sentence suggested a barrelful: A decade of war is now ending, Obama pronounced. That would come as news to the Afghan soldiers still dying at Taliban hands; to the families of more than 60 000 people killed in Syria in the past two years; to French soldiers who have taken on, in Mali, al-Qaeda affiliates who are as much enemies of the US as of France; to the families of American hostages recently slain in a terrorist attack in Algeria. Americas adversaries are not in retreat; they will be watching Obama in his second term to see if the same can be said of the US. Washington Post

Give the JICS more power to investigate prison deaths

HAZEL MEDA
FOLLOWING THE recent deaths of inmates at Groenpunt prison in the Free State and St Albans prison in the Eastern Cape, civil society organisations including the Wits Justice Project and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies have criticised the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) for failing in its constitutional obligation to guarantee the safety of inmates. The Detention Justice Forum (DJF) decried what it called the general culture of impunity prevalent in the DCS. In a press statement issued on Tuesday the , coalition of non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations highlighted problems such as infrequent and inadequate sanctions against warders involved in assaults and deaths of prisoners. South Africas constitution guarantees the right to life and the freedom and security of the person to all citizens, including prisoners. The use of excessive force is prohibited by the Correctional Services Act, the DJF said. According to DJF, the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services (JICS) has reported on a number of prisoner deaths involving correctional services staff through 2010 and 2011, but no officials have been criminally prosecuted for these deaths. The DJF also criticised the South African Police Service for failing to investigate the prison deaths adequately and the National Prosecut, ing Authority for its apparent unwillingness to prosecute the officials implicated. The civil society organisations called for an overhaul of the investigative process used in cases of prisoner assaults or deaths. One key proposal is that the NPA should report to Parliament annually explaining why it has declined , to prosecute cases of prison assault and death. Another proposal is the strengthening of JICS, which currently has limited powers to investigate allegations and can only make recommendations to the Minister of Correctional Services. The DJF said JICS should be given the mandate to investigate DCS officials implicated in deaths and assaults. JICSs governing legislation should be reviewed to enhance its structural independence from DCS. It must be administratively and financially separate from DCS, said Nooshin Erfani-Ghadimi, co-ordinator of the Wits Justice Project. She further explained that the process to appoint the Inspecting Judge should be reviewed to enable stakeholder consultation and a more rigorous vetting. The Minister of Correctional Services should be removed from the process. Hazel Meda is a member of the Wits Justice Project, which investigates miscarriages of justice.

CLEAR GOALS: US President Barack Obama recites his oath of office at his inauguration on Monday. PICTURE: AP

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

METRO MATTERS BEG QUESTIONS
I AM a resident of Ekurhuleni, who is concerned about the abysmal service standards of this Metro, caused mainly by the obvious disinterest of the mayoral committee and Metro managers in addressing this. An article appeared in last Saturdays Star (January 12). This is attached. It questioned why the existing quite competent electricity and water meter reader, Motla Engineering, is being replaced in such an unorganised manner after a chaotic process lasting almost a year. The Metro would not divulge the identity of the new meter reading company, which smacks of possible corruption. The Metro spokesman Makwakwa gave no proper answers to the Saturday Star reporter, Thabiso Thakali. This begs the question, is the appointment a Struggle buddy one where the company concerned will be so incompetent that the water and electricity readings will degenerate into chaos? And that Ekurhuleni will come another Joburg or worse? Another aspect which requires investigation is that above ground water meters with a failure rate of some 40 percent were installed as the result of a suspect tender process last year. Various officials have apparently been suspended (one suspects this is window dressing). Many residents now have holes in the ground where their water meters should be, and dont have proper readings. Replacement of broken meters has been put on hold, no reasons given. They are never told what is going on. Another problem is that rubbish is not collected on time and properly and Germiston is becoming a , cesspit. This poses a serious health hazard to the citizens. So much so, that they have every right to lodge a formal complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission for their constitutional rights to health, being violated. Also, there are many manhole covers all over Germiston, half and totally open, and which have not been put back, posing a real danger because the drop is high and can seriously injure people. The mayor and mayoral executive are largely disinterested and need to be shaken up and investigated. Richard Bennett action. Rafiek Mohamed of the Muslim United Ulama Council of South Africa is quoted as calling for religious tolerance. Isnt it interesting that, when Muslims are in the minority they , call for religious tolerance? By contrast, can anyone think of a country where Muslims are instead in a majority where a Muslim , leader has called for religious tolerance? We had a headline a few days ago on the internet Egyptian Court Sentences Christian Family to 15 Years for Converting From Islam. In Egypt, ID cards carry a persons religion (why?) and it is easy to convert a Christian ID to a Muslim one, but impossible to do the reverse. Shouldnt religious tolerance be a two-way street? Rick Raubenheimer Sandton

APOLOGY, PERHAPS?
I FIND IT very sad that in this day and age of advanced desktop technology we have to read glaring mistakes in our national news print (referring to the headline The Bafana wins that were too go to be true). I think an apology to your valued readers is in order. Steve Buckle

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CURMUDGEON
DESPITE being an old technical curmudgeon, Ive never heard of the Cooper principle of doubling, processing power (Coopers Droop perhaps!). I think you mean Moores Law. (Orchids and Onions, January 19). In Weekend Wheels, January 19, in describing the Subaru, you wrote none of the three of us had backache. That was good to know, but who was the mysterious third person? Ronald Smith

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TWO-WAY STREET
THE Saturday Star, January 19, had an article Religious groups battle food sign ban about a Christian group opposing everyone bearing the costs of food certification for religious groups. This has had one beneficial effect: Unusually Muslims and Jews , stand together in opposing the

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