International Consultative Seminar of the South African Legislative Sector
2011
Date: 17 March 2011
Topic: The contribution of Parliament and the South African Legislative
Sector collective towards harnessing aid and global partnerships for
development in South Africa and the Continent.
By Hon. Des van Rooyen
The aim of this paper is to assess and provide discussion points on the role that
the South African Parliament and the Legislative Sector collective is playing in
harnessing aid and partnerships both locally and in the Continent of Africa as a
whole. The focus is on the oversight role and responsibilities of parliamentarians
in law-making, monitoring and evaluation, facilitating public participation, and
ensuring government accountability on matters relating to aid and international
partnerships for development.
Upfront in our discussion of this topic we need to recognize and accept the reality
that aid and international partnerships are the most contested fields in
international relations and development discourse. Underpinning the differences
of views about aid in particular are issues of imbalances in power relations
between the donor and recipient countries, the conditional ties attached to aid
programmes which are assumed to lead to the loss of national sovereignty for
receiving countries, a condition of dependency on foreign donors that is
presumed to be created through aid provision for the benefit of donor countries’
self economic and geo-political interests. It has also been argued that aid
benefits powerful domestic interest groups, contributes to corruption and
because of the conditions attached to aid funding the money often goes back in
the form of overpriced goods and services purchased by recipient countries from
donor countries.
On the positive side of the debate is the view that notwithstanding the challenges
associated with aid or Official Development Assistance (ODA), there are a lot of
countries who are poor, least developed and cannot survive without external
assistance. Typically these countries are characterized by lack of the capacity
and infrastructure to attract investment, increase production and expand trade, in
other words their capacity for economic growth limited and constrained.
Furthermore these countries lack are characterized by a general lack of skills
and education, high levels of poverty, economic vulnerability and poor health. In
this view ODA is seen as a mutually beneficial process and necessary part of an
increasingly globalised world shaped by interdependence, international trade and
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politics. The assumption has been that provision of aid to developing and poor
countries would lead to economic take off, growth and development. The aim of
aid is accordingly to promote growth and reduce the levels of poverty in recipient
countries. In this context ODA is seen as part of international relations and
acceptance of nations’ international obligations towards addressing common
problems, especially within the framework of multilateral agencies such as the
United Nation Institutions. This Seminar today seeks to promote the role of
Parliament and the Legislative Sector in the implementation of the Millennium
Development Goal number 8 which focuses on the development of global
partnerships for development.
The choice of this topic is particularly relevant and appropriate for our country at
this juncture because of our government priority to reduce poverty, advocate for
a new order in the global financial and trade system, and implementing
programmes and strategies for decent work and job creation. The country’s
priorities are consistent with this Goals’ aims of among others to:
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Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory
trading and financial system (includes a commitment to good governance,
development, and poverty reduction- both nationally and internationally)
In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement
strategies for decent work and productive work for youth and
In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to
affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
I have chosen these three aims of the Millennium Development Goal on global
partnership for development to illustrate the importance of having ODA that is
rooted within the recipient country’s own developmental agenda and priorities
rather than being determined by the donor countries. South Africa’s position as a
recipient of ODA has undergone changes since liberation in 1994. The dawn of
democracy led to an increase in the ODA inflows into the country especially in
support for the strengthening of democratic institutions and the Reconstruction
and Development Programme (RDP). This included this European Union
supported programme of strengthening the South African Legislative Sector.
South Africa’s economic development ranking has since changed to be classified
as a middle-income country and therefore is no longer seen as a priority need for
ODA by many donor countries.
The growing strength of the South African economic position and its democratic
credentials has not only led to a decrease in the flow of ODA but also to the
country providing ODA to other countries especially in the SADC region. Most of
such aid would be embedded within country cooperation agreements. An
example of these would be the SACU agreements which are based on a need
take into consideration the developmental imbalances between South Africa and
its partners. As a result of its strength the country is also playing an increasingly
major strategic role in global development, economic and political institutions
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whereby it is advocating for fair international relations and equity between the
developing and developed countries, especially with regard to trade and the
transformation of the International Finance Institutions and the United Nations.
An example of this is the role South Africa is playing in the WTO talks in
advocating for better deals in favour of African and other developing countries of
the South. In all these processes Parliament and the Legislative Sector has a
crucial role to play with regard to oversight, monitoring and evaluation, ensuring
public participation and holding government to account.
Parliament and Provincial Legislature’s role and contribution towards aid and
international partnerships for development cannot be separated from the general
principles and responsibilities as stipulated in the Constitution of the Republic.
The describes the functions of Parliament as among others “to provide
mechanisms to ensure that all executive organs of state in the national sphere of
government are accountable to it; and to maintain oversight of the exercise of
national authority, including the implementation of legislation and any organ of
state”. In addition, Parliament
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facilitates public participation, involvement and transparency;
facilitates co-operative government;
facilitates international participation; and
represents the interests of the people. (Parliament Oversight and
Accountability Document)
Constitutionally negotiations and implementation of ODA is the responsibility of
government. Parliament and Legislatures contribute through their monitoring and
evaluation, oversight, legislative and facilitation of public participation roles.
As a matter of principle and policy for South Africa, ODA must be aligned to the
country’s core development priorities, and managed effectively and efficiently in
support of South Africa’s chosen developmental path. South Africa’s strategic
approach to ODA is that it should be based on the principles of mutually
beneficial partnership for sustainable development for the partners involved,
South Africa takes full ownership of donor-supported interventions, both at a
macro- and sector level, and in all spheres of government. It also takes full
responsibility for meeting the governance, policy and capacity requirements that
would enable it to achieve sustainable development. Furthermore to ensure
transparency and accountability in ODA South Africa takes responsibility together
with the international donor community to establish and maintain an effective and
efficient ODA management system. This system has been established in the
country and is being maintained in the National Treasury.
The design of the South African State machinery is such that there are a number
of Departments and Institutions which have ODA funding for their programmes
and they are responsible for implementation and accountability. The National
Treasury would for reasons of fiscal and revenue management purposes have a
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central point of coordination. It is responsible for the overall co-ordination of ODA
at a macro/ supra-sectoral level, and assisting in ODA co – ordination at sector/
implementing agency level according to specific requirements. In doing so it has
a responsibility for:
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ODA policy development, guidelines, processes and procedures
Overall management processes of interaction between South Africa and
donors
Ensuring alignment between ODA programmes and MTEF, and national
development priorities
Overall ODA monitoring and evaluation, and
Centralized ODA information management
Based on this therefore it means the Minister of Finance is politically responsible
for the overall management of ODA, interpretation and articulation of overall
development priorities as they relate to ODA. Other departments with key
responsibilities in the process of ODA besides respective implementing agencies
are the Presidency, International Relations and Co-operation, Justice, Home
Affairs and SARS.
Parliament and Legislatures have a responsibility to ensure that ODA
commitments are implemented according to the letter of the agreements and that
the money is used for what it was intended for through signed contracts.
In the South African system Parliament and Legislatures within their legislative
mandate they scrutinize and ratify International Protocols and would therefore
deal with ODA. In the main the South African Parliament and Legislatures play a
role of harnessing aid and global partnership for development by:
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Scrutinizing all relevant legislation that governs ODA such as the RDP
Fund Act as amended; PFMA as amended and relevant Treasury
Regulations; Value-added Tax Act as amended; Customs and Excise Act
as amended; Income Tax Act as amended; and Preferential Policy
Framework Act
Scrutinizing departments’ strategic plans for aid related projects and
funding to be able to ensure compliance with protocols, national priorities
and accountability requirements for oversight purposes
Scrutinizing departments’ annual reports to assess compliance with aid
protocol agreements for the purpose of ensuring accountability
Call and Summon departments and institutions to account for performance
on aid related programmes as well as assessing their alignment with
Millennium Development Goals
In terms of progress on the oversight roles:
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Parliament have so far play an important role in ensuring public
participation in development aid through its Committee hearing processes
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Parliament and Legislatures have taken interest in scrutinizing audit
reports on donor funding and ensuring accountability from those
departments institutions
The sector as a collective has forged relations with similar institutions such
as the IPU, European Union, SADC and Pan- African Parliament.
These relations provide platforms for solidarity, mutual learning and an
expression of mutual interdependence. It can be argued that it has been as a
result of the role of Parliament and Legislatures that Civil Society in South Africa
has been able to access information on aid supported government programmes
and therefore ensure public scrutiny and accountability. Notwithstanding this
progress the following challenges are still prevalent:
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weak systems and processes of co-ordination between the Executive,
Parliament and the Legislative Sector on ODA for accountability purposes,
for example there were difficulties in processing the African Peer Review
Mechanism Report and the Report on the Millennium Development Goals
implementation by Parliament and the Legislatures
lack of appropriate mechanisms for the involvement of Parliament and the
Legislative Sector at the initiation and design phase of ODA with regard to
national development priorities
ODA especially from the EU is still tied up with conditions
ODA related to the Bretton Woods Institutions is still full of conditionalities
which are detrimental to the recipient countries
In going forward Parliament and the Legislative Sector would need to strengthen
on their role at the initiation level of aid agreements so as to unsure consistency
with the priorities of the Millennium Goals if the country is meeting them within
agreed targets. They also need to play a bigger advocacy role through their
international partnership platforms to call for reforms in ODA policies,
management and the Bretton Woods Institutions because of their influence on
world ODA.
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