Members of Parliament (MPs) have vehemently opposed Parliament's proposal to install a new electronic system that would monitor their attendance.
The system, which is reportedly scheduled for introduction at the opening of the newly elected Parliament, after next year's election, will be used to monitor when MPs enter and exit Parliament and committee rooms.
Traditionally, the chief whip of each party is responsible for disciplining party members and monitoring their attendance, a practice that will become obsolete with the implementation of an electronic system.
Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip Watty Watson says the DA caucus "is totally opposed to such a system". According to Watson, the implementation of a monitoring system will be an intrusion on MPs' movements, in effect 'tagging them like cattle'.
"The government can't even tag prisoners, because it would be an infringement of their human rights, but now they want to tag Members of Parliament. You might as well put a metal ring around our ankles when we enter [Parliament]," says Watson.
FF Plus Parliamentary spokesperson Anton Alberts has echoed the DA's sentiments, saying the party will also oppose the introduction of an electronic monitoring system.
"Often when a member serves on two or more committees, and those committees have sittings at the same time, the member is inevitably going to have to miss one of the sittings. It is often Parliament's own fault for scheduling sittings in such a way that members are forced not to attend," says Alberts.
Alberts says poor Parliamentary attendance is a problem emanating from the African National Congress (ANC) and the Parliamentary management office, and not the opposition parties.
Installation of the system will supposedly cost no more than R500 000, but Parliament was unable to confirm this figure by time of publication.
The system will reportedly use radio frequency identification (RFI) technology, frequently used by farmers to monitor the movement of livestock. This will be combined with a biometric system that requires MPs to scan their fingerprints to register their attendance.
Headcount
Reports of the monitoring system come a few days after the voting of the Labour Relations Amendment Bill had to be postponed due to an insufficient number of members in the house.
In a controversial move, DA members walked out of the house, not only to prevent the Bill from proceeding, but also to expose the ANC's poor attendance in the sitting, says Watson. He says the ANC did not manage to have the necessary 201 of its 264 members in attendance to ensure the Bill was passed, meaning the party would have had to rely on the opposition to pass the legislation.
The ANC's new chief whip, Stone Sizani, slammed the DA's "irresponsible decision to walk out" in a statement, saying: "For us, the issue is not about mere numbers or headcount, but about Parliamentary multiparty participation and engagement."
Sizani was not available for comment on the proposed electronic monitoring system at the time of publication.
The Congress of the People could also not be reached for comment.
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