Number of visitors to Parliament dwindles

Cape Town – Parliament’s website may have attracted almost double the anticipated traffic at 907 501 hits, but the number of actual visitors to the national legislature was down, according to its 2013/14 annual report.

The reason for falling 17 100 visitors short of its target of 52 000, the annual report explained, was the Education Department’s withdrawal of subsidies for excursions, “leading to cancellations of bookings at short notice”.

A total of 18 120 people attended the sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) in Parliament’s public and international participation outreach, which beat its target of four special parliamentary events by nine extra ones, including Mandela Day and a public lecture.

On the legislative front, not all bills which were tabled were passed, although the NCOP clocked up an 83 out of 83 track record in passing draft laws before it, according to the annual report.

The National Assembly notched up a 74.5 percent rate: while 67 bills were passed, 26 of those had been outstanding since the previous financial year, and 14 would be passed in the current 2014/15 financial year. However, a total of 55 bills were introduced in the 2013/14 financial year.

While parliamentary committees fell short by just two of the targeted 60 oversight visits as “committees were prioritising legislation and Parliament adjourned earlier than anticipated”, the track record of adopting minutes was dismal.