Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech on Wednesday will be the main highlight this week in Parliament.
In the 2013 MTBPS Speech by Minister Pravin Gordhan the following challenges were enumerated:
● “Growth is too slow.
● Unemployment is high and many households are over-indebted.
● Government expenditure substantially exceeds our revenue. Since 2008, we have issued more than R1 trillion in debt.
● Our level of savings is too low to finance the investment we need.
● We import considerably more than we export”.
With this bleak forecast and government revenue declining, all eyes will be on the Minister to see what balancing act he achieves, especially in an election year.
The main legislative event in the National Assembly this week is the second reading of the following Bills:
NEM Laws A/B [B26B-13]
Private Security Industry Regulation A/B [B 27D-12]
NEM: Waste A/B [B32B-13]
Mental Health Care A/B [B 39B-12]
Tourism Bill [B 44D-12]
Restitution of Land Rights A/B [B 35B-13]
Infrastructure Development Bill [B 49B-13]
State Attorney A/B [B 52B–2013]
Rental Housing A/B [B 56B-2013]
Financial Management of Parliament A/B [B1-2014]
Members of Parliament are still busy with committee work. Here is a run down of some of the most interesting meetings for this week.
(The week of 24 February 2014)
On Tuesday, there will be a briefing by the Department of Basic Education on strategies to improve Mathematics and Science.
The Portfolio Committee on Public Works will get a briefing by the Department on the progress towards the completion of the Asset Register (see Department’s 2013 progress report here).
This meeting scheduled for Tuesday, 25 February has been cancelled: The Select Committee on Social Services will receive a report from the Department of Health on District Health Facilities. At an earlier meeting this year, the Committee made it clear that the Department should not appear without the district health managers, as only the latter could give assurance that the facilities were in proper condition.
On Wednesday, the Department of Correctional Services will notify MPs about the outcome of the Review of the White Paper on the Corrections process.
The Portfolio Committee on Health will be updated on the progress, achievements and challenges of the National Health Insurance (NHI) pilot by the Minister of Health.
On Friday, the National Treasury will brief a joint meeting of the Select Committee on Appropriations and Standing Committee on Appropriations on the 2014 Division of Revenue Bill and 2014 Appropriation Bill.
Comments
Keep comments free of racism, sexism, homophobia and abusive language. People's Assembly reserves the right to delete and edit comments
(For newest comments first please choose 'Newest' from the 'Sort by' dropdown below.)