The Week Ahead: Infrastructure theft, the Dalai Lama, and the abuse of older persons

President Zuma’s annual address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is expected to steal the limelight this week. The theme for this year’s event is “Celebrating 20 years of a Democratic Parliament – together moving the NCOP forward as a vanguard of the interests of provinces”. Another story that will grab headlines and cause excitement is the debate on vandalism and theft of service delivery infrastructure in South Africa scheduled for Wednesday in the upper house.

Although overshadowed, the National Assembly (NA) chamber has scheduled a broad and busy programme, which includes a blend of ministerial statements, debates on legislation and domestic issues as well as oral questions to the Deputy President and Peace and Security Cluster.

Some of the questions that the Deputy President will reply to concern the current situation in the Kingdom of Lesotho, how the government intends to address the plight of rural women in accessing antenatal care and whether he intends to have regular sessions with leaders of the Opposition Parties in order to streamline the political management of the government’s legislative programme in the National Assembly.

The Ministers in the Peace and Security Cluster will also have to answer a wide range of questions. The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services will give a response to what progress has been made in improving the effectiveness of the National Register for Sex Offenders and how many persons have been listed on the specified register to date. The Minister of Home Affairs will respond to questions about the Dalai Lama and how he will address fraud, corruption and maladministration in the refugee application process.

The committee corridor is also packed with action this week. Here are the highlights:

Today, the Powers and Privileges Committee begins its deliberations in a closed meeting on the report by the initiator after concluding interviews of witnesses last week. The initiator’s report deals with the disciplinary hearings of 20 Members of the EFF concerning the incident that took place on 21 August 2014 in the National Assembly. The Speaker has also referred another matter involving EFF MP, Floyd Shivambu, where he made a rude gesture to the Deputy President during a sitting of the House last month.

The report of the Ministerial enquiry into the eviction of the Nomzamo (Lwandle) informal settlement will come to the fore on Tuesday. The incident caused a lot of uproar when the community was forcibly removed, with a lot of accusations and counter accusations flying around.

On the same day, the Department of Home Affairs will update MPs on the progress made in the implementation of the Zimbabwean Special Dispensation Project. Also, the Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources will receive a briefing by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform on the re-opening of the lodgment of land claims. The Department had briefed the Portfolio Committee on Rural Development and Land Reform on the same topic in August.

On Wednesday, the Portfolio Committee on Social Development will examine the abuse and murder of older persons. The Police Committee will meet with the Civilian Secretariat to discuss compliance and challenges in relation to the Domestic Violence Act and Firearms control Act.

There will be a briefing by the Department of Telecommunications, ICASA and the various network providers about the state of telecommunications cost to communicate on Friday.

Parliament’s ad hoc committee on Nkandla is expected to meet to discuss its draft report. Opposition parties have already rejected the draft report and stated that they will produce their own version.

Parliament’s Labour Committee will start the nationwide public hearings on the national minimum wage starting in the Western Cape (Gugulethu and Worcester) on 7-8 November. This follows a series of stakeholder meetings that took place in Parliament during August and September.

Click here for a list of all the committee meetings for this week.

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