South Africans will have to find another way to entertain themselves when Parliament ends this week. The legislature has been the source of regular drama, comedy and even bloody action since the start of the fifth Parliament. Citizens have been lapping up all the action with Parliament frequently trending on social media. Many have even changed their normal viewing habits in order to follow the proceedings of the legislature. I suspect that the parliamentary channel (channel 408 on the DSTV platform) has never seen higher ratings.
In contrast, this week is expected to be uncontroversial and pretty humdrum as the programme is thin and many committees have undertaken to do oversight work across the country.
The NA has some unfinished business to deal with; however it is unclear if sittings will be arranged at the time of writing. The NCOP has scheduled a debate for Wednesday on the state of municipalities in South Africa. The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs conducted an assessment of all municipalities to identify the challenges. In response, he has introduced a Back to Basics initiative aimed at ensuring that all municipalities perform their basic responsibilities.
There is some action in the committee corridor. Here are the highlights:
The Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation will host public hearings with stakeholders to address vandalism and theft of water infrastructure in South Africa on Tuesday and Wednesday.
A male citizen from Cape Town is fighting the cause for all fathers of newborns, petitioning for 10 days paternity leave to be provided for them in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. The Select Committee on Petitions and Undertakings will meet on Wednesday to discuss this.
The Portfolio Committee on Labour has arranged public hearings on the National Minimum Wage Platinum in various provinces.
The Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform will visit the Northern Cape and Gauteng. The oversight visit is to assess the extent to which the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights is implementing the amendments to the Restitution of Land Rights Act and seeks to assess mechanisms of support to the land reform projects through the Recapitalisation and Development Programme.
The Portfolio Committee on Economic Development is scheduled to visit some of the projects that it funds while the Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services plans to visit a few of the entities it oversees.
Committees are expected to resume in late January. The State of the Nation Address (SONA) has been scheduled for 12 February 2015.
Click here for a list of all the committee meetings for this week.
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