The Week Ahead: It's a mad rush...

There is a bit of frenzy in Parliament as legislation and important business that can be completed are rushed to the finishing line while other less urgent parliamentary business is dropped for lack of time.

It's a big week in the NA chamber with MPs scheduled to sit for long hours to vote on several Finance and Money Bills and finalise assorted Committee Reports.

The main plenary event -which has become an annual ritual - is the Debate on 16 Days of Activism for no violence against women and children under the theme Count Me In – Together Moving a Non-Violent South Africa Forward.

The other big highlight will be the question session involving selected Cabinet Members in the Economic Cluster (Labour, Finance, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Communications, Economic Development, Energy, Environmental Affairs, Mineral Resources and Public Enterprises). They will be probed on a variety of issues - everything from specific scandals to controversies around current legislation to big-picture policy and performance will be under the microscope. The practice of oral questions is an established part of the parliamentary day and gives MPs an opportunity to question government Ministers about matters for which they are responsible. No doubt a few MPs will use the opportunity for point-scoring and try to eke out some parliamentary publicity.

Also dotting the agenda are regular items like Members’ statements, motions without notice and notices of motion. A scheduled discussion on the economy and how to transform it to address unemployment, poverty and inequality will cause excitement and create some headlines.

Elsewhere, the programme in the NCOP chamber is more pedestrian where only one sitting day has been arranged. Permanent delegates are set to pass the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill. The Bill provides for the division of revenue between the three spheres of Government. The Amendment Bill addressed matters such as unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditure, emergencies, utilisation of unspent funds and the roll-over of unspent funds.

See full plenary programme here

The Committee corridor has scheduled a number of interesting meetings that are likely to produce big headlines. Here is a rundown of the highlights:

On Tuesday, SCOPA and the Portfolio Committee on Social Development will have a joint meeting with National Treasury, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the SA Post Office to get feedback on negotiations that will see the Post Office take over the responsibility of social grant payments in the new year. SASSA and the Post Office have been at deadlock regarding the plan to phase out the Cash Paymaster System and phase in a new grants payments system. The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Social Development directed the parties to reach an agreement by last Friday but this deadline was not met.

The Ad Hoc Committee on the Funding of Political Parties will commence marathon deliberations (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) on the Draft Political Party Funding Bill following last week’s public hearings. Key issues raised at the hearing included the validity of the 90/10 split of public funding and whether it is in line with the intention of the Constitution to provide for both proportionality and equity. In particular, the fact that the proportionality funding was split between all parties represented in the National Assembly as well as the provincial legislatures but the equity portion was split only amongst parties represented in the provincial legislatures, was a concern. There was disagreement as to whether the 90/10 formula was equitable. Certain presenters suggested that a 50/50 split would be more equitable. The use of state resources during periods of campaigning by the governing party was hotly contested. The capacity and the resources of the IEC seemed inadequate to properly manage both private and public funding for political parties. Several presenters suggested a multi-party democracy fund be set up for donations that were above a certain cap or came from particular donors. Foreign donations and the role of the investment arms of political parties were vigorously debated. The high cost of registering for elections was presented as a barrier to new and smaller parties and to multi-party democracy. The paucity of information about current funding of political parties on which to make concrete suggestions, was strongly emphasised and a common thread in the submissions.

The Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises will continue its inquiry into Eskom. According to a media report, this week has been set aside for those accused of state capture. Meanwhile, there is added spice in light of a Sunday Times report that the new State Security Minister attempted to bribe the evidence leader of the inquiry.

Lawmakers will get an update from the Minister of Energy on government’s plans relating to key and strategic matters in the energy sector. Some of the main issues that will almost certainly be tackled are ways to improve governance and accountability by the subsidiaries within the Central Energy Fund, transformation in the petroleum retail sector and the country’s energy mix policy (including renewable and nuclear).

Ex-mine workers who contracted lung diseases and silicosis may finally receive compensation. Mining companies have set aside billions of Rands to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by victims. On Wednesday, MPs will get a briefing from lawyers representing ex-mine workers on the silicosis class action cases. The Mine Health Safety Inspectorate has achieved a decline in the exposure of employees to airborne pollution, reduction in noise and reduction in health risk (e.g. reported cases of silicosis were 1 609 in 2007 and 635 in 2016). There had also been an increase in the number of employees screened for TB (376 718 in 2014 to 437 436 in 2016).

National Treasury will brief MPs on the rationality of budget cuts in government and impact on service delivery. In the same meeting, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) will provide progress regarding public sector salary negotiations. In February, National Treasury expressed concern about the unsustainability of government's wage bill, which consumes over 36% of the R1,5-trillion national budget. Treasury indicated that it is working with DPSA to reduce the spend on civil servants' wages. Some of the measures could include retrenchments. Meanwhile, unions have indicated that they will not accept low increases despite the weak state of the economy.

At the end of the 2016/17 financial year, municipalities owed water entities R3.7bn. In his MTBPS speech, the Finance Minister said that indebted municipalities “need to rectify governance and management problems, focus on collecting revenues owed to them, and eliminate wasteful and non-core spending”. In March this year, Treasury withheld the equitable share of 59 municipalities for unpaid bills due to Eskom as well as other state utilities such as water boards. The Portfolio Committees on Water and Sanitation and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs have arranged a joint meeting with stakeholders to discuss interventions in respect of the outstanding debt by municipalities owed to water boards and the Department of Water and Sanitation.

The Portfolio Committee on Police will get a report on the investigation into clearance certificate irregularities and financial irregularities involving Crime Intelligence SMS members as reported earlier.

In between, there will be some heavy legislative lifting as MPs consider and deliberate on the following bills: Refugees Amendment Bill, Draft Political Party Funding Bill, Films and Publications Amendment Bill, Marine Spatial Planning Bill, Plant Improvement Bill, Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill, Insurance Bill, Division of Revenue Amendment Bill, Copyright Amendment Bill, Adjustments Appropriation Bill, National Research Foundation Bill, Medical Innovation Bill, International Arbitration Bill and Legal Practice Amendment Bill.

On the sidelines, the Speakers’ Forum will on Tuesday receive the final report of the High Level Panel (HLP), which was tasked to assess the impact of legislation passed by Parliament and Provincial Legislatures since the advent of freedom and democracy in 1994.

See full schedule here

*Note: The schedule is subject to frequent changes and needs to be checked daily.