Parliamentalities....

"Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work."
- Gustave Flaubert

Yesterday was my first day at Parliament. Since I'm staying in Obs, which is outside of town I set my alarm to get up extra early. As it happened, after a German couple had a domestic dispute and some other people in my accommodation were up at 6am to prepare for work I was up half of the night anyways. After suiting up I hopped on a mini-bus and arrived into town much earlier than anticipated but it gave me time for coffee and breakfast and then went into the office were I was debriefed about my first day. I opted to sit in on the Judicial and Constitutional Development Committee which was dealing with some amendments to two separate pieces of legislation- I won't bore you with the details but for the most part I was impressed with the level of debate, the overall camaraderie between the different parties and the eloquence of several MP's, notably the Chairman. Although I also noticed some interesting dichotomies but I will share those at a later date once I can be sure they aren't limited to certain sections.

In the afternoon I was in on a committee addressing legislation involving retired judges. Basically in South Africa judges remain in service even after stepping down or retiring from the bar- effectively they can be called upon to serve on committees or fill in when there is a need, for which they are paid a salary for life (not a pension). As a result it has been legislated since 2008 that they must disclose their personal assets annually as well as the assets of their partners as a method of ensuring the transparency of the judiciary and prevent 'throwing the javelin'- the theory that judges might be offered a bribe during active service only to take ownership of the bribe after retirement (however the SA judiciary has zero history of bribes, or even a single allegation of corruption). The debate on the proposal to amend was interesting at first however after a while it became very repetitive with the retired justices beating the same drum despite a call by the ANC member to offer an alternative counter proposal which was very sound...All in all a very interesting first day....

In the evening I had dinner- minced lamb roti and salad, at Ganesh Cafe, a really popular local eatery in Obs followed by margaritas with some new friends from Germany only to return home and make some more friends from SA... never a dull moment at the Green Ele.... hahaha... next up wine farms in Stellenbosch and township touring but first a bike trip to Hout Bay with Nyasha....