On 22 and 23 June, the Speakers’ Forum will hold its quarterly meeting in Pretoria to discuss various important matters in the legislative sector’s programme. The two-day meeting will also deliberate on ways to strengthen the sector’s efforts to improve the people’s quality of life by better achieving its mandate. The Speakers Forum is an organisation of Speakers and Deputy Speakers of the National Assembly and all provincial legislatures, as well as the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
Issues lined up for discussion include the European Union partnership agreement, reports on numerous international engagements, a proposed sector gender summit, an update on the South African Association of Public Accounts Committees, and progress made in finalising legislation aimed at regulating the inter-legislature collaboration.
Other discussions that are scheduled to take centre-stage at the meeting include the revised concept of the South African Legislative Sector Oversight Summit; the complementary oversight of Parliament, provincial legislatures and institutions supporting democracy; the Parliamentary Institute and Training for Members and Officials; and the update on sector collective bargaining efforts, particularly the 2023/2024 salary negotiations process.
The Speakers’ Forum oversees the management and coordination of the legislative sector programmes. Some of its successes include the development of the Public Participation Framework and the Sector Oversight Model to ensure Parliament and the provincial legislatures follow common practices.
Another highlight of the Speakers’ Forum was the establishment of the High-Level Panel to assess the impact of laws passed since the advent of democracy, on the quality of life of South Africans. The panel was chaired by former president Kgalema Motlanthe and investigated the impact of laws, with specific focus on land issues, social cohesion and nation-building, and the challenges of poverty, inequality unemployment and the unequal distribution of wealth in South Africa.
Source: Parliament of South Africa