Cape Town — Deputy Minister of Social Development Ganief Hendricks has come under fire by the Economic Freeedom Fighters (EFF) for using artificial intelligence (AI) to answer a quesiton in Parliament.
During a parliamentary Q&A session on Thursday, EFF MP Omphile Maotwe voiced her concern that Minister Hendricks was reading a pre-determined response to a follow-up question.
“[The deputy minister] is reading the follow-up response. How did he anticipate what is going to be the follow-up question?” asked Maotwe.
“Maybe we should teach the member about artificial intelligence [AI],” Hendricks said in response.
This admission sparked outrage among MPs. EFF spokesperson Sinawo Thambo condemned Hendricks for relying on AI to answer questions about his department.
“We must raise concern and follow-up with the rules committee about procedures for answering questions in parliament. A minister can’t tell us confidently that he’s using artificial intelligence to answer questions about his department. Chat GPT and AI to answer questions about the department you preside over, and you tell us that confidently? You must be ashamed, and we should develop rules around that,” Thambo said.
WATCH BELOW:
EFF members of Parliament are up in arms over Deputy Minister of Social Development Ganief Hendricks’ admission that he uses artificial intelligence (AI) to respond to questions related to the Social Development Department.
This revelation has sparked concern among EFF… pic.twitter.com/lz5daqdNkm
— News Live SA (@newslivesa) March 13, 2025
According to TimesLIVE, the AI controversy stems from political parties calling for a downsize in Parliament to eliminate unnecessary expenses.
EFF MP Natasha Ntlangwini highlighted the issue of Ministers and Deputies failing to give clear answers to questions, saying it was a persistent problem.
Ntlangwini said it was wrong for Ministers and Deputy Minister’s not to answer questions when MPs take their time to answer questions.
Moatwe criticised Hendricks and said that he, as a Deputy Minister, should be held accountable and be expected to answer questions to the best of his ability.
“He is earning a salary as a deputy minister, funded by taxpayers’ money. What is he doing with it? That’s stealing. How do you get paid and not do the work? It’s unacceptable. He must resign if he doesn’t want to be held accountable,” she said.
♦️Must Watch♦️
The EFF Treasurer General, Omphile Maotwe reminding the house that the rule book states that when a deputy minister fails to answer a question, other ministers can assist.
Since the Deputy Minister of Social Development, Mr. Ganief Hendricks, is clueless and… pic.twitter.com/mhTrvJJfbz
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) March 13, 2025
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
