Happening in Parliament this week
Questions to the President and Economics Cluster Minsters, public hearings and consideration of various Bills are some of the key items scheduled on the National Assembly (NA) programme this week – while the National Council of Provinces starts its two weeks constituency period on Monday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to appear before the NA on Thursday (29 September) to answer Questions for Oral Reply. In addition to the six questions about matters of national or international importance scheduled for Thursday, the President will also deal with the supplementary questions to Question No 11 from the sitting of 30 August.
Holding regular question and answer sessions is one of the ways Parliament, as provided for by section 92(2) of the Constitution, holds the President and the Executive to account. The President’s Questions for Oral Reply are scheduled at least once a quarter during session time within Parliament’s annual programme.
Tuesday’s 2pm NA hybrid plenary will consider condolences statements for the recently departed member of the House, Ms Anastasia Motaung, and also consider committee reports on matters such as, Economic Regulation of Transport Bill, National Road Traffic Amendment Bill, Draft Notice determining the remuneration of Commissioners of Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), Request for Approval of The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid: Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 30 November 1973, as well as the consideration of the 2020/21 fourth-quarter and 2021/22 first-quarter performances of various departments and state entities.
On Wednesday at 3pm, the Economics Cluster, which comprise of Ministers of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Communications and Digital Technologies, Employment and Labour, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Finance Mineral Resources and Energy, will appear before the National Assembly for oral replies.
NA is scheduled to start its constituency period on Monday 03 October, a week after the NCOP, with both Houses expected to return on 10 October.
About 21 committees are scheduled to meet this week – with the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Forestry and Fisheries expected to close off the third term with public hearings on the National Veld and Forest Fires Amendment Bill [B24-2021] in the Eastern Cape Province from Friday, 30 September until Sunday, 2 October 2022. The province’s district municipalities to be visited are OR Tambo, Amathole and Sarah Baartman.The Committee has held similar public hearings in Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Limpopo and Gauteng provinces.
The people of the Eastern Cape will have an opportunity to comment on the Bill, which seeks to amend the National Veld and Forest Fire Act of 1998 so as to amongst others, to amend and insert certain definitions; to provide for the facilitation of the formation of fire protection associations by a municipality or a traditional council; and to compel a municipality, state-owned enterprise, public entity or other organ of state which owns land to join the fire protection associations.
The public hearings are held in all nine provinces as part of Section 59 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa which requires the National Assembly (NA) to facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the NA and its committees.
Tuesday, 27 September 2022
Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture,(National Assembly) to receive a briefing by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture on the operational funding shortfall for museums, long term plan and in-depth briefing on the reprioritization of R21 million in 2022/23 funding to address this matter; Consideration and adoption of the Committee report on the flag project investigation
Joint Meeting: Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy and Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, (National Assembly), Brief overview by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on issues raised during the joint oversight visit to theKoeberg Nuclear Power Plant in April 2022, including new developments which might have arisen; Briefing by Eskom on its responses to issues raised by the NUM, including questions which were not responded to during the oversight visit
Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, (National Assembly), [Follow-up briefing by the SIU on the investigation into allegations of maladministration and corruption at the National Lotteries Commission; Introduction of the NLC Chairperson and Board’ Response from the DTIC and the NLC on the SIU findings], Virtual
Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, (National Assembly) to deliberate on candidates for the filling of vacancies in the Commissionfor Gender Equality (CGE)]
Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, (National Assembly), Joint briefing by the Department of Home Affairs and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) on the fight against war on queues and chronic issue of network downtimes at the DHA offices; Briefing by the Department of Home Affairs on the roll out of DHA services to banks and mobile units; Responses by the Department of Home Affairs, the Electoral Commission and Parliament Legal Service and Committee deliberations on the Electoral Amendment Bill
Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation,(National Assembly), to receive a briefing by Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) on audit findings of the Department of Water and Sanitation, Water Trading Entity and Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority for the 2020/21 financial year
Standing Committee on Public Accounts, (National Assembly), to receive an update from the Minister ofHigher Education regarding National Skills Fund investigations]
Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies (Sub-Committee), (National Assembly), [Sub-Committee to meet for deliberations on the outcome of the SABC Board interviews]
Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure, (National Assembly) to receive a briefingby the DPWI on urgent steps taken by the CBE to strengthen its regulatory function over the professional built environment councils]
Portfolio Committee on Police, (National Assembly) to meet for the consideration of the A-List on the Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Amendment Bill [B15-2022]]
Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, (National Assembly), to convene an Engagement with the DTIC and stakeholders on the implementation of the Masterplan for the South African Furniture Industry; Consideration of Committee’s 4th Quarter Programme
Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation, (National Assembly) to receive a briefing by the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) on governance, management, skills development interventions in the construction and related sectors
Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development, (National Assembly), [Enhancing the Contribution of Small Businesses in Times of Crisis: Stakeholder Perspective Analysis;
Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, (National Assembly) to be briefed by Auditor-General on the DoD, DMV, Armscor and CCB: Findings and audit outcomes on the financial and non-financial performance of the departments and entities for the 2021/22 financial year; Consideration and adoption of outstanding minutes]
Friday, 30 September 2022
Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation, (National Assembly) to receive a briefing by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) on Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Institutional Landscape (HESTIIL) Review report; Consideration of the Draft Report on the Oversight Enquiry into the Appointment of Prof Mbati as Vice- Chancellor (VC) of Sefako Makgatho University (SMU) and Related matters;
Portfolio Committee on Police, (National Assembly),is scheduled for adoption of Committee report on theProtection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Amendment Bill [B15-2022]]
For the latest full schedule of committee meetings (updated regularly), please click: https://www.parliament.gov.za/parliament-programme
Source: Government of South Africa