Deputy Speaker, let me start off with a small confession. Earlier I spoke slightly longer, and that's because normally, as the Speaker, I do not speak. When I got the opportunity to speak, I became excited. The Speaker speaks just once a year during the Budget Vote. [Laughter.] It is the only time I get the chance to speak. Since the last Budget Vote, I did not have another chance to speak in Parliament, but I will try to cut my response short.
Before I proceed, I would like to welcome the high-level appointees. We have here in the bay people who have been appointed to serve us in Parliament. We have the new Deputy Secretary, Penelope Tyawa ... [Applause.] ... Human Resources Executive, Khaya Manyela ... [Applause.] ... the Head of Security Manager, Zelda Holtzman ... [Applause.] ... and the new Head of the Committee Section, Skhumbuzo Tshabalala. [Applause.] Welcome to you all. [Applause.] I would like to express my sincere gratitude and thanks to members for their inputs and also for the spirit in which the debate was conducted. Your contributions have been extremely important and valuable. I wish to assure you that your inputs will be considered and taken to account. I would also like to thank you for the solutions and suggestions that you proposed.
There are a few issues that I would like to respond to, starting with the time spent on debates. The hon Chief Whip of the Opposition raised the matter that the House is spending less time debating matters of importance to the public and reports of committees and legislation.
Let me explain again that in considering whether a matter of public importance should be scheduled for debate, there are established criteria which include, amongst others, that the subject matter must not be sub judice and that there must be no immediate opportunity available to tackle the matter in the near future.
I, of course, as Speaker, am bound by the Rules and can only approve requests for debate subject to the Rules. I don't carry my own rules. I use the Rules that are there in Parliament. [Applause.] But I have also indicated, even to hon Watson, that I have always supported the need to debate issues in Parliament, which is why I acceded to the request for issues of debate by hon Watson. What we did was to take it to the Rules Committee and they found a slot for it. I did not, but the committee did. We also have the Chief Whips' Forum, which can clearly decide when and what should be debated and what should go into the programme. Hon Watson is a member of the Chief Whips' Forum; I'm not.
I also want to touch on the issue of not responding to letters. Hon Watson stated that I haven't replied to 19 of his letters. [Interjections.] Yes, last year. I have 24 letters, not 19 letters, that I have written to hon Watson, from May last year, and 14 from the hon Mazibuko. I therefore owe you no reply, hon member, because I have already replied to your letters. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
I have indeed replied to your letters, but what tends to happen is that the hon member sometimes goes to the media and says that he will write to the Speaker on this or that issue, which is okay, except that he forgets to write to the Speaker. [Laughter.] This is a problem. On the other hand, hon Mazibuko writes to the Speaker first and then says to the media that she had written to the Speaker. I thank the hon member for that courtesy. [Laughter.] [Applause.]
I now come to unanswered questions. In respect of delayed replies to questions, I have consistently been writing to the Leader of Government Business, and I am aware that the Leader of Government Business continues to raise the issues at Cabinet level. The Leader of Government Business is also here today and has listened to the concerns that have been raised. I have on numerous occasions written that questions must be replied to. That is an ongoing process; we will continue to fight the battle to make sure that questions are indeed replied to.
With regard to the accountability of Parliament, it was raised that there is no accountability mechanism for the executive authority of Parliament. This is not correct. The Governance Model of Parliament created the Parliamentary Oversight Authority, POA, which has the responsibility to oversee and ensure the accountability of Parliament's administration.
With regard to the assertion that there is no oversight of the budget of Parliament, may I again remind the hon members that all political parties in this House are represented in the multiparty budget forum, which considers the parliamentary budget before it is submitted to the POA for debate and agreement. [Applause.]
The POA was established by Parliament to formulate and monitor policy directives in respect of the management and administration of Parliament so as to ensure greater political and financial accountability of the institution. The POA is a multiparty body and reports on its activities, including its deliberations on the budget of Parliament, to this House.
May I also remind the hon members that the Chairperson and I have a constitutional obligation to jointly exercise certain responsibilities on behalf of Parliament. This includes overseeing the administration of Parliament. The ultimate accountability of the presiding officers rests with this House, which elected us. We remain accountable to Parliament for the sound financial management of this institution.
As far as the interpreting services are concerned, hon Dudley, I agree that we do have an obligation to ensure that our debates are accessible to all our people in their own languages. We have taken note of your suggestions and we will ensure that our interpreters receive the necessary training. Thank you very much, hon member.
With respect to the sectoral parliaments, presiding officers are well aware of the problems experienced in the arrangements of these steering committees. These challenges are being addressed, which include poor planning by the administration and late decision-making by the steering committees. This impacts negatively on the image of Parliament and the outcome we want to achieve with sectoral parliaments.
In conclusion, I would like to thank members who have expressed their appreciation for the extra time provide. May I say that it certainly has been put to good use. There is one or two other issues before I leave the podium, one of which is the oversight mechanism as required by section 4 of the Financial Management of Parliament Act. As I've indicated previously, the proposed oversight mechanism as provided in the Financial Management of Parliament Act duplicates some of the roles of the POA.
Due to general concern and inconsistencies within the Act in this regard, the Assembly agreed to refer the Act to the Standing Committee on Finance so that it could evaluate the legislation, including those provisions relating to the oversight mechanism, and introduce amendments if necessary.
I can report that the committee on Finance has made progress with its work and an amending Bill will likely be introduced soon. This is also important owing to the deadlines relating to the authority of provinces. Here, there was clearly a bit of a problem because the provinces were enacting Bills which deal with financial management, which is not a provincial matter. That is why we are dealing with a package of issues to make sure that all of it is in line with the Constitution of this country. Thank you very much, hon members. [Applause.]