READER LETTER | MPs not keen to debate issues affecting the poor

There are  political parties which parade themselves as  representatives of the disadvantaged but you hardly hear  their leaders  raising parliamentary debates about the slow pace of service delivery.

Ordinary people might think that the self-appointed representatives of the disadvantaged were beneficiaries of the Great (VBS) Bank Heist as no MPs are fighting this matter in parliament. VBS investors continue to lose hope of ever getting their  hard-earned savings back.

 Municipalities are still having backlogs in service delivery projects, as municipal funds disappeared during the bank's heist.

Parliamentary debates are aimed at calling parliamentarians to account for their actions or inactions. Instead of  debating service delivery issues,  MPs are only interested in debates about issues implicating their fellow parliamentarians.

The Nkandla Gate, the Phala Phala Gate, the expropriation of land without compensation, the impeachments of former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and former Western Cape judge president John Hlope  and recently the National Speaker’s bribery allegations, are top of the agenda in parliament.

On a sad note, there’s still no parliamentary debate about the elimination of the bucket toilet system in the Free State, Gauteng, North West, Northern Cape and Western Cape. There has never been any parliamentary debate on Eastern Cape’s annual habit of suspending scholar transport.

Parliamentarians have accepted that Nandoni Dam is unlikely to deliver water to Giyani communities in  future. The 10th biggest dam in SA, De Hoop, is at full capacity for the better part of the year but the Sekhukhune communities continue to struggle for piped water.

Phepisi Radipere GaRamokadi-kadi, Limpopo