Do you know the speaker of your provincial legislature? Maybe you do, maybe you don't.
Provincial legislatures are some of the least spoken about institutions that form part of our democratic architecture.
In a country that is grappling with a cancer of unresponsive government, unaccountable politicians and rampant corruption and theft, more attention needs to be given to the work done - or that should be done - by these institutions.
We have already seen the potential of parliament to make a complacent executive feel uncomfortable by asking probing and piercing questions. Whether those questions get worthwhile responses is neither here nor there.
The fact of the executive being subjected to scrutiny in a public forum whose mandate is to conduct oversight over political office bearers and remind them that they are answerable to the people is significant in itself.
Like with most things in a democracy, the effective functioning of provincial legislatures hinges on the use made of them by civil society organisations (CSOs) and ordinary citizens.
They provide an avenue for communities and residents to register their concerns as well as make submissions.
One of the important roles of the provinces is to support the local government sector and to intervene when municipalities are unable or incapable of carrying out their developmental mandate.
Thus provincial legislatures should be a port of call. It is us, residents of these poor performing municipalities, who can provide the insights that can prod MPLs in composing the appropriate line of questioning so that we get answers from premiers and MECs about what they are doing to stop the rot in the local government.
For successive years, the auditor-general has reported on the deteriorating state of financial management and controls in most of the country's municipalities.
What is concealed in these reports is the direct impact on people's livelihoods, wellbeing and quality of life. Communities are suffering and feel that their cries are falling on deaf ears.
The trend is for communities and local NGOs to appeal to municipal management or resort to protest, without making use of the provincial legislatures.
On the other hand, MPLs and the legislatures need to do more to demonstrate the value they add to communities, because they exist to serve the public.
The legislative sector in SA has a comprehensive framework for public participation. The aim of the framework is to operationalise the constitutional and legislative mandate to promote public participation in the work of the legislatures. The framework outlines four levels of participation: Level 1 - Inform, Level 2 - Consult, Level 3 - Involve and Level 4 - Collaborate.
The scope for public participation includes involvement of the public in lawmaking, in oversight over the implementation of laws and policies, and in oversight over the performance of government departments.
Among the various challenges to public participation is communication and access to information as well as unequal access to public participation platforms due to capacity and resource constraints on the part of some communities and CSOs.
Although parliament's communication machinery is working to inform the public through the media and is allowing access to virtual meetings during the lockdown, dissemination of information and providing opportunities for the public to engage, remains a problem.
Civil society should not waste the opportunity to ensure that MPLs carry out their mandate by participating in oversight processes.
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