Strengthening transparency & responsiveness: What our latest IDP assessments reveal about Parliament

As part of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse’s (OUTA) ongoing work to shed light on democratic accountability, we recently completed another two detailed assessments using the Indicators for Democratic Parliaments (IDPs) framework. The IDPs are an international tool aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that measures how effectively parliaments function in practice.  This phase of our research examines Target 3: Transparent Parliament and Target 4: Responsive Parliament, highlighting the areas where Parliament is progressing, where gaps persist, and what needs to be done to rebuild public trust. Targets 1 and 2 were published earlier this year, and can be accessed here.

The IDPs are an international tool aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that measures how effectively parliaments function in practice.

These assessments have been compiled by the OUTA as an external, independent civil society evaluation of the South African parliament, based on the IDP framework. These assessments aim to critically examine parliament’s performance in key areas of democratic governance, specifically its effectiveness, accountability, transparency, and responsiveness to determine how well it fulfils its constitutional mandate and serves the public interest.

Target 3: Transparent Parliament

A transparent parliament is one where information flows freely, the public can follow decision-making in real time, and both physical and digital access barriers are minimal. South Africa’s parliament has a strong legal backbone for transparency with regards to: Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), the National Assembly (NA) Rules, the  Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and long-standing broadcasting practices. All create a framework that should support openness. But implementation remains uneven.

Where is Parliament performing well?

• Live broadcasts of plenaries and many committee meetings mean parliamentary activity is visible in real time.
• Wide publication of documents such as bills, Hansards, committee reports, and budgets which helps ensure parliamentary records are publicly available.
• Active communication channels, including email alerts, ParliamentTV, a website, YouTube streams, and social media such as WhatsApp groups and channels, broaden public access.

Where do gaps remain?

• Timeliness and accessibility: Many documents are published, but not always promptly, and often in formats that are difficult to search (such as scanned PDFs).
• Technical complexity: Legislative and budget documents are too technical for most non-experts to understand.
• Website usability challenges: Navigation and search functions still fall short of global accessibility standards, especially for persons with disabilities.
• Digital inequality: Rural communities and citizens with limited connectivity remain underserved.
• Outreach that doesn’t reach far enough: Public education efforts exist, but do not adequately penetrate marginalised or remote communities.

Target 4: Responsive Parliament

Responsiveness is about more than listening; it’s about acting. A responsive parliament takes public concerns seriously, provides consistent feedback, and adapts quickly to new challenges. It is also expected to implement the principle of “leaving no one behind”, which is in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Where is Parliament performing well?

• Formal participation mechanisms are in place with public hearings, petitions, committee submissions and stakeholder consultations.
• Rules allow for urgent debates, enabling MPs to raise issues rapidly when crises arise.
• Social Media is used by several MPs to directly engage with the public.
• The Ethics Committee has initiated investigations based on public complaints.
• Multiple communication tools such as social media, TV, press releases are used to share updates.

Where do gaps remain?

• Low public awareness: Many people don’t know how to submit petitions, concerns or participate in parliamentary proceedings.
• Difficult processes: Often make petitioning or submitting input difficult for ordinary citizens.
• Slow or unclear feedback loops: The public rarely knows what happened to their submissions.
• Delays in oversight: Can weaken parliament’s ability to hold the executive accountable during crises.
• Communication is inconsistent: Specifically during high-pressure moments like the energy and water crises.
• Constituency engagement is opaque: there is no available data on how many cases individual MPs deal with, in what areas and how these are processed.

Why does it matter?

Transparency is not only about publishing information, but also about making information meaningful, usable, and accessible. When citizens struggle to follow how decisions are made, or cannot easily access key documents, trust declines and participation weakens.

Responsiveness is the heart of representative democracy. When citizens raise concerns, whether about electricity outages, housing, policing failures or public health, they expect Parliament to act. Delays, silence and political bottlenecks weaken trust and leave communities feeling ignored.

Both transparency and responsiveness are essential pillars of a democratic parliament. South Africa’s constitutional framework is strong, but these assessments reveal that practice does not always match principle. Improving access to information, strengthening public engagement, and ensuring rapid responses to emerging challenges are not merely administrative issues. They are essential to rebuilding public trust and strengthening parliament’s legitimacy.

OUTAs recommendations

Documents need to be published in plain-language summaries and multi-format content. Parliament needs to introduce real-time updates on bills, votes, and committee decisions like ParliMeter. It needs to strengthen website accessibility, including machine-readable formats. Furthermore, expand outreach to rural and youth audiences with more innovative communication tools. Increase resources for disability-inclusive communication. They need to launch public awareness campaigns on how to engage parliament, especially in indigenous languages as well as simplify petition and submission procedures. Parliament needs to introduce public-facing tracking systems so citizens can check the status of their concerns. They also need to formalise parliament’s role in monitoring South Africa’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Conclusion

South Africa’s Parliament has the foundations of a strong democracy. But transparency and responsiveness must become everyday practices and not occasional gestures. By improving public access to information, expanding participation, delivering timely feedback, and better aligning with national development goals, parliament can move closer to being a truly people-centred institution. OUTA, PMG and OpenUp remain committed to supporting the implementation of the IDPs because an open, responsive parliament is essential to a democracy that works for everyone.