The week ahead: The legislature's budget vote, Nkandla, committee meetings and more

Parliament has scheduled a broad and busy programme in the main chambers as well as in the committee corridor this week.

The Legislature's budget vote is the main plenary event. During their speeches last year, the presiding officers (read here and here) focused largely on the legacy of the Fourth Parliament. In contrast, this year’s speeches will be forward looking and the tabling of the Strategic Plan of the Fifth Parliament in February gives us a preview of what to expect. The document highlights that “during the term the Fifth Parliament will focus on the priorities of strengthening oversight and accountability, enhancing public involvement, deepening engagement in international fora, and strengthening co-operative government and legislative capacity”.

During the debate last year, MPs complained about Parliament not debating issues of national importance, the inadequate funding provided to political parties and the poor replies to questions by the Executive. The perceived bias of the presiding officers, the behaviour of the Executive, as well as the shortcomings in the rules are some of the issues that are expected to be raised sharply this year.

Beyond this, the Deputy President will be answering oral questions in the NCOP on Tuesday. During his question session, the leader of government business will have to, amongst other issues, address questions about the Employment Tax Incentive and whether all Ministers and Premiers have complied with the cost-cutting measures as announced by the Minister of Finance in his 2013 mid-term budget speech. Elsewhere, the Ministers in the Governance Cluster will be probed on a range of issues on the same day.

In addition, the NCOP has arranged a number of policy debates on the budget votes for various government departments and entities.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly has scheduled a debate on the relevance of symbols in building a new democratic heritage in light of recent campaigns to remove certain statues.

The fallout from Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko's Nkandla report has been swift with opposition political parties labelling it a “whitewash” and threatening legal action. The report contradicts the Public Protector’s findings and state that the swimming pool, amphitheatre, kraal, chicken run and visitors’ centre in Nkandla are all security features. Parliament is expected to set up an ad hoc committee this week to look into the report. The Nkandla debacle has been like a persistent dark cloud and all the discussions around it, including the Public Protector’s Report, have been characterised by tensions and recriminations. Based on recent media utterances, this will continue and result in more skirmishes and widen the chasm between the ruling party and the opposition.

There are a few intriguing meetings scheduled in the committee corridor: Here are the highlights:

On Tuesday, the Department of Energy and the SA Nuclear Energy Corporation will brief MPs on the SA Nuclear Programme. According to the Business Day, the Minister will have to answer some hard hitting questions about the programme.

The planned workshop with the Minister of Economic Development and Industrial Development Corporation on the latter’s investment strategy and the briefing by the Department of Correctional Services on its parole and offender reintegration system are expected to generate some headlines.

A Joint Meeting of the Select Committee on Appropriations and Portfolio Committee on Basic Education will tackle School Infrastructure Backlogs. Following a three-year campaign by Equal Education, the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, published legally binding Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure in November 2013.

On Wednesday, the Portfolio Committee on Police will have a follow-up engagement with various role players in the gun industry. Earlier in the year, the committee held a two-day summit to discuss issues in relation to firearms by looking at the current firearm regime in SADC countries, the state of firearm management in SA and other SADC countries, the debate in civil society and communities on firearms, broader holistic issues of education, the impact of firearms in communities and safety.

The recent job cuts announced or under negotiations in the mining sector will come under scrutiny when MPs in the Mining Committee tackle this.

Click here for the full list of meetings.

- Please note that the programme is subject to frequent updating. This article is drafted based on the initial programme of the week.