No longer a voice in Parliament, former ACDP MP Marie Sukers has started an organisation called Voice to Parliament to “fight for Christian democracy in South Africa”. During a recent interview I found out more about her remarkable life story. This is Part 3 of a 3-part series.
When Marie Sukers took office as an MP is 2019 she told her staff that there were two important things she wanted them to buy into: The one was efficiency, and the other was a commitment to engage fully and faithfully with every single person who reached out to them.
“Well, it [her work ethic during five years as an MP] nearly landed me in hospital twice as a result of physical exhaustion. But I have no regrets. I loved it,” she said.”
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“I am dedicating my life to the fight for Christian democracy based on capable communities and fighting for the family, because South Africa needs it, Africa needs it, the world needs it. The core foundation for a healthy society is a healthy family — if families are doing well, communities do well and there is less need for top-down interventions from government,” said Marie.
By the time she became an MP, she said ‘we had focused everything on government and not on the individual — not on families. So, for me, it became so important for people to understand that democracy means ‘we the people — not the politician, not the person that’s earning two million rand and sitting in an office writing legislation that takes away the rights of parents”.
“At first, we as a nation were in the euphoria of the new South Africa. But in time, as more and more corruption, mismanagement and poor governance crept in, it was as if the whole country just became apathetic and went into a surivival mindset of ‘just me and my household’.”
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She said one of the highlights of her time in Parliament was being part of the section 194 committee that conducted an inquiry which led to the impeachment of the public protector, Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane. “It had been painful to see Parliament and the political process losing credibility over the years and everything we had fought so hard for and all that we aspired to as a country being denigrated because of poor service delivery at the highest levels.
“And so, section 194 for me was a moment of reclaiming and restoring credibility in the minds of South Africans, to say that these are the tools that must be applied in order for us to have a democracy. I thank God that I had the opportunity to be a part of it.”
She was also grateful that as a member of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education she was able to campaign relentlessly against the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill which undermines parents’ rights in education. Although the bill was passed by Parlaiment in May, she believes the fight is far from over.
In March this year, she visited Israel for the first time, as part of a group of SA Christian leaders who visited the Jewish State on a peace mission. She recalled how, soon after the Hamas massacre of Israeli civiilans on October 7, she saw images of half-naked, bloody women in the back of vehicles surrounded by men.
“It was those images that kept me awake for days afterwards — images of women becoming collateral in what people say is a war for freedom,” said Marie.
While in Israel she apologised on behalf of the people of SA for the SA government taking Israel to the International Court of Justice over the Gaza war. She told Gateway News that she was struck by how quickly the suffering of October 7 victims was forgotten as the horror of the attack was overshadowed by political propaganda. “We never stopped for one moment to acknowledge the pain of the people. There was no compassion, no empathy.”
She said: “I draw parallels between what happens in Gaza and what happens in Mitchell’s Plain and Nyanga when political leadership doesn’t have a moral compass, when they steal so much money that it means we cannot build hospitals, we cannot build schools. On their [Palestinian]side it is different — it is what happens when a political and ideological narrative drives the agenda and not the needs of people.”
Marie said she went into the May General Election conscious that they faced an impossible task. The ACDP was up against parties with massive budgets. She said that as a family “we sacrificed literally everything we had. There was a time we had seven of our own vehicles in the field”.
“We did it because I believe in Christian democracy. Because I know what is at stake — that when the vote happens in Parliament and you have a diminished Christian vote, that legislation that will alienate or that will limit parental rights, will go through as it did,” she said.
Marie said the “ACDP suffered an implosion of votes” and she lost her seat in the National Assembly.
After the election she said she was “enraged on behalf of the hundreds of [ACDP] volunteers who had given up so much, in spite of hunger, in spite of not having means. I was enraged with the political system that allowed for poor people to be exploited, to become voting fodder”.
But she said that after losing her voice in Parliament, “not for one minute” did she consider stopping her fight for Christian democracy.
“Christians should be sitting on school governing bodies. They should be sitting on ward committees. They should be sitting in local government. They should be sitting in provincial government. They should be sitting in national government. And they should be advocating for the principles of their faith,” she said because wherever Christian principles are applied “it yields results that are good for people”.
While there are many Christians in different political parties “it is difficult for those Christian politicians” because “those parties, at their core, are not based on Christian principles”.
In order to continue her fight for Christian democracy, Marie has launched “Voice To Parliament” as a platform to engage elected political representatives and political parties, “to ensure the voices of ordinary South Africans are heard in the halls of power”.
Voice To Parliament has already written twice to President Cyril Ramaphosa urging him to send the Bela Bill — which is awaiting his signature — back to the National Assembly for a proper public participation process.
Marie said she was not asking the President to make a political consideration but a legal one, to remedy many procedural missteps that were made that resulted in many people’s submissions being ignored and many others being unaware of the public hearings on the bill.
She expressed the hope that the new Government of National Unity would be prepared to listen to people’s misgivings about the Bela Bill and avoid wasting money on court cases which would follow if the bill becomes law.
Some of the other issues, “which are close to my heart” which are likely to be taken up by Voice To Parliament, are the threat to close thousands of rural schools throughout SA and the fight around the National Senior Certificate for adults which is something that is especially needed for women who are economically disenfranchised because their schooling was interrupted.
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