With the sharp rise in the number of rhinos being poached and killed in the past few years, South Africans will be pleased that Parliament is doing its part to address the situation. The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs has organised public hearings in three provinces (the KZN hearings were last week, the Mpumalanga hearings will be this week and North-West next week) with the aim of assessing the efficacy of the current anti-poaching measures to determine what the country should be doing differently. Added to this, the National Assembly has scheduled a debate on Tuesday to discuss rhino poaching and its impact on our heritage.
The social services cluster will participate in Questions for Oral Reply in the National Assembly on Wednesday. The cluster comprises the Arts and Culture, Basic Education, Higher Education and Training, Health, Human Settlements, Social Development, Sport and Recreation and Water and Sanitation ministries. The questions are wide ranging and include topics like the National Health Insurance, teacher vacancies and the country’s preparedness to deal with the ebola virus.
Meanwhile, parliamentary committees continue with their business and these are some of the highlights for the week:
On Tuesday, the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry will conclude its three-day colloquium on beneficiation. The purpose of the colloquium is to identify blockages in the trade and industry sector and recommend proposals to alleviate them. The Committee invited various stakeholders and experts to participate in the event.
The Auditor-General will tell MPs what progress is being made in recovering debt owed to municipalities.
The Department of Basic Education will brief its oversight committee on its state of readiness for the Annual National Assessments and National Senior Certificate.
The Minister of Sport and Recreation will clarify his department’s position with regards to the FIFA investigation into match fixing by the South African Football Association.
On Wednesday, the Portfolio Committee on Labour will conduct a Workshop on the National Minimum Wage.
MPs will be briefed by the Department of Planning, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation on the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Revitalising Distressed Mining Communities. This is particularly relevant given the recent revelations at the Marikana Commission and ongoing concerns expressed by labour.
The recent US-Africa Summit and SADC Summit will be discussed by Members of the Portfolio Committee on Internal Relations and Cooperation.
On the legislative front, the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Amendment Bill [B 8F – 2013] will be under consideration in the National Assembly this week. This bill had to be sent to the Mediation Committee after the National Assembly had earlier rejected the NCOP amendments. The relevant committees will commence deliberations on the Legal Aid Bill, Attorney’s Amendment Bill and Defence Amendment Bill this week. MPs will be briefed by the Department of Health on the Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Bill [B6-2014].
You can find the full list of meetings here.
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