The Week Ahead: International Democracy Day & Heritage Day Debates

The NCOP will wrap up its third term.

Delegates will join their NA colleagues from next week to embark on constituency work.

While the National Assembly has been in recess since 7 September, both Houses will resume the final term on 5 October.

A major point of interest will come from Tuesday’s debate to commemorate International Democracy Day, which is marked on 15 September. Like in previous years, parliamentarians will emphasise the importance of democracy, South Africa’s history and transition to democracy and Parliament’s role in upholding democracy.

The nation’s diverse culture and heritage will be a focus at two events. On Wednesday, there will be a lecture on South Africa’s overarching cultural and creative industries, while on the following day there is a scheduled Debate on Heritage Day titled: “Reviving communities and improving their quality of life through heritage sustainability.”

Beyond this, the Covid-19 tax Bills – which are aimed at assisting South Africans and businesses to deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic and national lockdown.- will be considered. Once passed, it will conclude Parliament’s processing of the legislation and they will be sent to the President for assent.

There are several interesting meetings scheduled in the committee corridor:

Tuesday, 15 September 2020

Powers and Privileges Committee, [Consideration and adoption of draft agenda; Consideration and adoption of draft minutes of 11 March 2020; Matters arising; Consideration of legal opinion on SONA incident 13 February (Legal Services); Report on the External Initiator on incident of 11 July 2019; Committee Programme], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-11:00

Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy, (National Council of Provinces), [Briefing by the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land Reform and Restitution on government’s position regarding the fate of communal land governed by traditional authorities in accelerated land reform using state-owned land as a source of land for redistribution; Consideration and Adoption of Minutes and Reports], Virtual Meeting Platform, 15:00-18:00

Wednesday, 16 September 2020

Select Committee on Appropriations, (National Council of Provinces), [OR Tambo District Municipality progress on water and sanitation projects (specifically the projects visited during the Committee oversight of July – August 2018)], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00

Select Committee on Public Enterprises and Communication, (National Council of Provinces), [The financial sustainability (balance sheet) of the Postbank and customer outreach (urban and rural) as well as the impact of Covid-19 on the bank's operations], Virtual Meeting Platform, 10:00-13:00

Select Committee on Petitions and Executive Undertakings, (National Council of Provinces), [Consideration of the EOH Petition (Petition calling for the intervention of National Council of Provinces in relation to the alleged disagreement between the Department of Higher Education and Training, Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA), EOH Abantu (Pty) Ltd and the disgruntled former learners of EOH Abantu (Pty) [Speaker of Gauteng Provincial Legislature, on behalf of disgruntled former learners of EOH Abantu (Pty) Ltd].)], Virtual Meeting Platform, 15:00-18:00

Friday, 18 September 2020

Sub-Committee on the Filling of Vacancies on the Central Drug Authority Board: Portfolio Committee on Social Development and Select Committee on Health and Social Services, (National Assembly and National Council of Provinces), [Shortlisting of candidates to serve on CDA board], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-14:30

Committees provide a platform for the public to present views directly to MPs. Share your on the ground experience and expert information to the relevant committees. Critically, what questions should MPs pose to the Executive as they conduct their oversight work?

We have consolidated our reports on the COVID-19 related meetings here.

View the schedule page here.

*This summary is based on the schedule as it is published on Monday morning. The programme is subject to frequent updating so the link above needs to be checked daily to confirm the programme for the day.