First day in Parliament

Yesterday went by in a blur and I am now officially a Member of Parliament. It started with our first caucus meeting at 7 am and ended with dinner back at the hotel at 9 pm, in between which I met countless new people from both sides of the House and a fair few surprised ANC members I'd known from my previous life at Adele Lucas Promotions. It had its moments of drama and a few hours of waiting around, but overall it demonstrated a functional South African political system with its traditions, pomp and ceremony intact and respected by all concerned - even the Economic Freedom Fighters, who redefined our understanding of "formal" attire by dressing in red boiler suits and domestic servant attire.

The DA caucus is 102 people, 89 members of the National Assembly and 13 members of the National Council of Provinces. This is over 30% larger than the last caucus, and I am told over half of us are new to Parliament. Everyone was very jolly and hearty congratulations were liberally dished out to and fro. It was interesting to see so many faces in the flesh I had seen on TV or in other media, and listen to them speak. James Selfe, who as Chairman of the Federal Executive presided over the meeting, requested that everyone rise and introduce ourselves to our colleagues while we waited for Helen Zille to arrive. When she did it was very businesslike, with her striding to the dais smiling but with none of the cheering or clapping I had half expected to greet her.

Caucus meetings are internal affairs and what is discussed cannot be made public - as James Selfe said, what's spoken here stays here. Afterwards I met Diana downstairs and had coffee with a few of my fellow MPs before we filed into out seats. It was a very odd feeling, sitting down in my place for the first time and looking out across the House. In the same row as me were some of the new young faces in the caucus. Zak Mbhele, former spokesperson for Helen Zille in her role as Premier of the Western Cape; Marius Redelinghuys, Director of Communications for the DA in the Gauteng legislature; Nomsa Marchesi, who comes from the Free State and is new to the party; Phumzile van Damme, another Western Cape girl and former head of the party's Parliamentary communications and research department; and finally Heinrich Volmink from Gauteng, whom I first met at the Parktown North market at Pirates club in Joburg a few years ago at a DA canvassing table. He is also new to the party and was a doctor lecturing at Wits. All very bright and excited by this new job, all now earning an excellent salary and possibly going on to shadow ministerial jobs at a very young age. Well done to the DA selection panels for latching onto such people.

The Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, got proceedings under way at 10:30 and we got straight into the first part of the day's business which was for us to be sworn in. We went down in groups of ten and I was in the second last group, number 39. It was over very quickly, an hour and a quarter, and that was that. Lots more back slapping and hugging all round. Members were given the choice of an oath or an affirmation, ending with either So help me God or I do. I chose the oath. I signed the two copies of the oaths put in front of me at my desk, one to be retained by Parliament, the other "to be framed and shown to your family" suggested the Chief Justice.

As I looked around I spotted Diana in the front row of the gallery sitting next to ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe. What a hoot! Afterwards she told me he had given her a running commentary on the election procedures, and made a big thing about the ANC consciously choosing a number of disabled peope as candidates. He joked that he might nominate Julius Malema as President while the Parliamentary photographer clicked away. There was a delay during which time I went over to say hello to Mathole Motshegka, former Gauteng Premier and ANC Chief Whip, and married to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshegka. They are old friends of Diana's late mother Adele Lucas and I'd met them several times over the years. He was very surprised to see me but welcoming nevertheless.

Then on to the election of the Speaker. Annette Steyn nominated Nosimo, who was dressed in a gorgeous traditional outfit from her customary wardrobe, and the Chief Justice then explained we had to vote by secret ballot. It took all of 90 minutes for the ballot to be prepared during which time the House was adjourned and we all wandered around looking for people to chat to, amusing ourselves on our mobile phones or just sitting and waiting. As the voting proceeded, Corne Mulder from the Freedom Front Plus raised a point of order about the rules saying MPs must vote, pointing out there were some MPs (mainly EFF) who were not doing so. The Chief Justice ruled that in this instance must meant may, so Baleka Mbete was duly elected and took up her seat in the Speaker's chair, relegating the Chief Justice to another one beside her. She then presided over the election unopposed of the Deputy Speaker.

The Chief Justice then resumed his place for the election of the President, at which point James Selfe rose with the objection we'd discussed in caucus earlier. It prompted the expected cat calls from the ANC. Lindiwe Sisulu and Naledi Pandor both jumped up to speak, Pandor getting to the mic first and saying that Jacob Zuma, who had been nominated, as an MP was eligible for election. The Chief Justice then consulted the rule book and concurred with Pandor, so Jacob Zuma was elected for a second 5 year term.

The House adjorned at around 5:15 and we all filed out, the ANC members swaying and dancing singing My President. We had a group photo on the steps of Parliament, before Diana and I walked back to our hotel past the entrance to the Company's Garden. I took a photo from across the road where just five months ago I had stood as organiser of the Cape Town Summer Market looking onto the Parliament building which, unknown to me, would soon become my workplace. What a very unexpected transition this has been.

The final official event was a cocktail party hosted by Helen Zille and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, a German supporter of liberal parties worldwide. It made me realise that in South Africa we call ourselves a liberal party even though many of our policies could comfortably fit within the UK Tory party, or perhaps more properly within the Lib-Con coalition there. Policy and debate around it will now form an important part of this job I have found myself in.