Mashatile issues deadline for tardy ministers to answer parliamentary questions

CAPE TOWN - Deputy President Paul Mashatile has read the riot act to ministers who are not answering parliamentary questions on time. 

He's given them a Monday deadline to answer all outstanding questions or to provide him with reasons for not doing so. 

Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson and Police Minister Senzo Mchunu have the highest number of unanswered questions across both houses of Parliament.

Parliamentarians from both houses have collectively posed over 3,000 written questions to ministers in recent months in efforts to obtain information from their departments. 

But a log from Parliament shows that over 200 questions posed by the National Assembly still remain unanswered. 

If ministers fail to provide answers to the National Assembly by Thursday, the questions will lapse in terms of the house rules. 

The same will apply to the more than 70 questions not responded to in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). 

In a New Year's Eve letter to ministers, Mashatile said if ministers don't meet his Monday deadline for answering questions, they will have to provide him with reasons in writing and the remedial action that should be taken to address the matter. 

With 39 unanswered questions across both houses, Macpherson tops the list of defaulters, closely followed by Mchunu with 38.

With one of the highest question loads, Defence Minister Angie Motshekga still needs to answer 22 more questions across Parliament, followed by Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi with 19.