Cape Town - Legislatures need to work with the executive on tackling immediate problems relating to economic development, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Tuesday.
"This collaboration, and deeper involvement, is necessary for improving oversight and monitoring over the executive in a mutually reinforcing way," he told the SA legislative sector's international consultative seminar at Parliament.
As such, legislatures had to grapple with the complex economic policy options available to help unlock the country's growth potential.
"Therefore, we cannot emphasise enough the overarching need for better training of Members [of Parliament]," he said.
This task required urgent intervention, and the seminar would debate this extensively and identify the optimal skills-sets needed.
MPs who were skilled and well-informed were better able to fulfil their duties and responsibilities as public representatives, and were more proactive in lobbying, networking, and interacting with various sectors.
It was also necessary to improve the institutional capacity of legislatures in the area of human resources; to maximise the existing research capacity, and to strengthen the legislature's ability to conduct in-depth investigations.
Economic policy
This would help to enhance the legislature's ability to exercise its authority independently and make it more accessible, thereby enabling it to make more meaningful contributions to economic policy, Motlanthe said.
"We are now beginning to see signs of economic recovery from the 2008 financial crisis."
Over the past six months, policy-makers had defused two of the largest short-term risks to global economic recovery.
These were the threat of a break-up of the Eurozone, and a sharp fiscal contraction in the US.
"It is now much clearer that the US, Europe, and other countries are lifting themselves out of the recessions because of decisive and bold actions that were supported by legislatures."
Similarly, the South African legislative sector had to effectively discharge its duty to facilitate consensus which would lead to synergies.
"As such, I am confident that working collaboratively with the executive, business, civil society, and the general public, we will be able to foster better economic development and transformation," Motlanthe said.