Exploring the practice of legislative oversight by the South African parliament through an examination of the activities of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

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Periodical article

Title:	Exploring the practice of legislative oversight by the South African parliament through an examination of the activities of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
Author:	Esau, Michelle V.
Year:	2008
Periodical:	Africanus
Volume:	38
Issue:	2
Pages:	95-105
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	regulatory agencies parliament
Abstract:	This paper examines the practice of legislative oversight by the South African parliament through the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA). In spite of a well-regulated framework for oversight, organizational and institutional arrangements are widely contested, particularly in countries that uphold the principle of proportional representation. South Africa has adopted a parliamentary system and therefore provides an interesting case for investigation. The article is guided by the proposition that legislative and policy arrangements introduced post 1994 are not sufficient to guarantee effective oversight. Moreover, factors in the political environment stifle the ability of the legislature to exercise its oversight over the executive and its departments. To this end, the first part of the article presents a conceptual framework for understanding the responsibility of the legislator to the electorate; the second part focuses on the arrangements and practices for oversight; and the third section focuses on the operations and functioning of the SCOPA. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]