Parliament Watch: Assessing legislatures’ performance

Who we are?

Parliament Watch is a collective of independent organisations working towards the advancement of social justice, the realisation of human rights, and strong constitutional democracy in South Africa.

Why did we undertake this project?

Parliament Watch considers the legislatures as central to our democracy and having a crucial role to oversee effective service delivery, and advance social justice and transformation in South Africa. The organisations, which make up Parliament Watch share the goal of building the quality of South Africa’s constitutional democracy by collaborating on actions aimed at holding the legislatures to account for their constitutional mandate.

What did we do?

Between 2016 and 2018 Parliament Watch monitored selected committees in the National Parliament and Eastern and Western Cape Legislatures to assess their performance on the constitutional mandates for openness and accessibility, independence and holding the executive to account, and responsiveness to the public. Based on this Parliament Watch made two submissions to Parliament in 2019. This includes a comprehensive report of observations, analysis and recommendations culminating from the three years of monitoring and a Scorecard based on the performance of selected committees exclusively in 2018 and rating them on a five-point scale.

Download Reports here:

Our Partners

Collaborators on the 2018 Scorecard included Equal Education Law Centre; Public Service Accountability Monitor; Right to Know Campaign; Social Change Assistance Trust; Social Justice Coalition; Witzenberg Rural Development Centre; Women and Democracy Initiative: Dullah Omar Institute; Women on Farms Project.

Parliament Watch members who contributed to the three-year report:

2016: Equal Education Law Centre; Public Service Accountability Monitor; Right to Know Campaign; Social Justice Coalition; Women and Democracy Initiative: Dullah Omar Institute; Women on Farms Project

2017: Black Sash; Equal Education Law Centre; Public Service Accountability Monitor; Right to Know Campaign; Social Change Assistance Trust; Social Justice Coalition; Women and Democracy Initiative: Dullah Omar Institute; Women on Farms Project

2018: Cederberg Matzikama Aids Network; Equal Education Law Centre; Public Service Accountability Monitor; Right to Know Campaign; Social Change Assistance Trust; Social Justice Coalition; Witzenberg Rural Development Centre; Women and Democracy Initiative: Dullah Omar Institute; Women on Farms Project

Our Funders

This project is made possible with funding from the Ford Foundation, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa. The views and positions expressed by participating organisations, do not necessarily reflect those of the funding organisations.