The Week Ahead: Mini-plenaries

There are five weeks left until Parliament rises for the year.

In the remaining days, lawmakers are scheduled to vote on several Bills, approve government spending, hold debates, scrutinise government performance, conduct oversight visits, consider statutory appointments and instruments and finalise assorted Committee Reports.

The NA chamber has a full programme and will be sitting for 3 days: Tuesday’s agenda is pedestrian, with lawmakers considering multiple Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports.

On Wednesday, select Ministers in the Governance Cluster will be probed on a variety of matters during their scheduled oral reply question session. In addition, MPs will consider the Standing Committee on Finance’s Report on the 2022 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals. The Fiscal Framework gives effect to the national executive's macro-economic policy.

There are two mini-plenaries scheduled on Thursday. They serve as breakaway sessions of the NA. According to the rules, any matter may be discussed or debated in a mini-plenary session. This mechanism provides an opportunity for the House to debate a particular topic without having to take a decision at the end of the debate.

Mini-plenary 1: -Subject for discussion (Mr N F Shivambu, EFF): Just energy transition in South Africa (90) -Subject for discussion (Mr B M Hadebe, ANC): Reflecting on the state of coalitions in local government and the need for principles of: deepening a healthy political-administrative interface; good governance; quality service delivery; and good financial management practices (90)

Mini-plenary 2: -Subject for discussion (Mr M Hlengwa, IFP): Building a culture of accountability and responsibility to balance with the proper exercise of constitutional rights and freedoms (90) -Subject for discussion (Mr P A van Staden, FF+): The prevalence of corruption, poor management and incompetence in public health care which has led to the violation of the constitutional rights of patients, backlogs in medical procedures and a multitude of medico-legal claims (90)

Elsewhere, the NCOP has arranged a Ministerial Briefing session on Tuesday. The focus is on measures to unlock the full potential of the township economy and industries. On Wednesday, delegates will debate Cross Border and Transnational Crime, and consider the Select Committee on Finance Report on the Revised Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals. On the following day, motions, reports, legislation and debate are on the plenary programme. On Friday, the NCOP’s Women’s Charter Review report back session takes place in the Free State.

A multi-party delegation will wrap up their participation in the First Ordinary Session of the Sixth Pan-African Parliament on 12 November 2022.

In the background, the work of the independent panel, which will determine whether President Ramaphosa has a prima facie case to answer on Phala Phala, will enter the next phase.

According to the timeline, the panel will consider all information received, deliberate and finalse its report between 7 and 17 November.

It’s another full week in the Committee Corridor. Here is a rundown of the highlights:

TUESDAY, 8 NOVEMBER 2022

Joint Meeting: Standing Committee on Finance and Select Committee on Finance, (National Assembly and National Council of Provinces), [Consideration and adoption of the Committee Report on 2022 Revised Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00

Standing Committee on Appropriations, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Financial and Fiscal Commission on the following: 2022 Division of Revenue Amendment Bill; 2022 Adjustments Appropriation Bill; and 2022 Special Appropriation Bill], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00

Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, (National Assembly), [Joint briefing by the Department of Home Affairs and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) on the fight against the war on queues and the chronic issue of network downtimes at the DHA offices; Briefing by the Department of Home Affairs on the rollout of DHA services to banks and mobile units], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00

Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, (National Assembly), [Oral Hearings on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill [B 2 – 2022]: 09:00-13:00: ChristianView Network; S.A.O U; S A Human Rights Commission; Western Cape Commissioner for Children and Child Government; Equal Education and Equal Education Law Centre; 14:00-17:00: Skole Ondersteuningsentrum; World Changers; National Association of School Governing Bodies; F W De Klerk Foundation], Committee Room S12A, Ground Floor, NCOP Wing, Parliament, 09:00-17:00

Standing Committee on Public Accounts, (National Assembly), [Briefing by SAA on the progress made by the management since the last meeting with Committee and investigations conducted by the SIU on SAA], Committee Room M46, Ground Floor, Marks Building, 09:00-13:00

Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Auditor-General of South Africa on its consolidated report on work of water boards;], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:30-13:00

WEDNESDAY, 9 NOVEMBER 2022

Standing Committee on Appropriations, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Parliamentary Budget Office on the following: 2022 Division of Revenue Amendment Bill; 2022 Adjustments Appropriation Bill; and 2022 Special Appropriation Bill], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00

Portfolio Committee on Police, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) on the investigation into the murder of Lt Colonel Kinnear; Briefing by the Minister, National Commissioner and Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) on the progress made to IPID recommendations regarding late Lt Colonel Kinnear], M515, Fifth Floor, Marks Building, Parliament, 09:00-13:00

Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, (National Assembly), [National Public Hearings on the Housing Consumer Protection Bill [B10 – 2021]: Master Builders South Africa; Master Builders and Allied Trades’ Association; Development Action Group (DAG)], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:10-10:40

Standing Committee on Public Accounts, (National Assembly), [Update briefing by State Security Agency regarding 2014 Cabinet directive to have officials in State organs vetted, especially in supply chain management departments and Eskom officials], Committee Room M314, Third, Floor, Marks Building, 09:30-12:30 Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation, (National Assembly), [Update from the Department on South Africa’s participation in High-Level meetings of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly], Virtual Meeting Platform, 10:00

Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Parliamentary Legal Services on the following issues: how Parliament can exercise oversight over business rescue process of state-owned companies; legislation relating to Business Rescue and Liquidation processes, challenges and recommendations. Legal opinion relating to the legislative framework that prohibits state organs from collaborating or doing business together (public-public partnership) for the public good], Virtual Meeting Platform, 10:00

Committee for Section 194 Enquiry, (National Assembly), [Hearings: Day 33 – Ms Nelisiwe Thejane to appear before the Committee for cross-examination by Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane legal team], Hybrid (Committee Room M46, Ground Floor, Marks Building and Virtual Meeting Platform), 10:00 Select Committee on Security and Justice, (National Council of Provinces), [Briefing by the Independent Commission of South Africa on the formula for the calculation of seats as proposed in the Electoral Amendment Bill [B1B-2022] (S75); Briefing by the Department of Justice and Correctional Services on its response to the public submissions on the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Amendment Bill [B19-2022] (National Assembly – sec 75); and Consideration of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Amendment Bill and Report], Hybrid (Virtual Meeting Platform and Venue to be confirmed), 10:00-13:00 Portfolio Committee on Health, (National Assembly), [Clause by clause deliberations on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill], Virtual Meeting Platform, 10:00-13:00

THURSDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2022

Committee for Section 194 Enquiry, (National Assembly), [Hearings: Day 34 – Mr Cornelius van der Merwe to appear before the Committee for cross-examination by Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane legal team], Hybrid (Committee Room M46, Ground Floor, Marks Building and Virtual Meeting Platform), 10:00

Select Committee on Appropriations, (National Council of Provinces), [Briefing by National Treasury, Financial and Fiscal Commission and Parliamentary Budget Office on Division of Revenue Amendment Bill [B 22 – 2022]], Virtual Meeting Platform, 17:00-20:00

Joint Standing Committee on Defence, (National Assembly and National Council of Provinces), [Briefing by the Department of Transport on South Africa’s National Maritime Security Strategy; Briefing by the DOD on the DOD/Armscor service level agreement; Consideration of minutes], Virtual Meeting Platform, 18:00-21:00

Select Committee on Finance, (National Council of Provinces), [Public hearings on the General Laws Amendment Bill (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorism Financing) Bill], Virtual Meeting Platform, Time to be confirmed

FRIDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2022

Joint Meeting: Standing Committee on Appropriations and Select Committee on Appropriations, (National Assembly and National Council of Provinces), [Briefing by the South Africa Local Government Association on the 2022 Division of Revenue Amendment Bill; Public hearings on the 2022 Division of Revenue Amendment Bill], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00

Portfolio Committee on Police, (National Assembly), [Further deliberations on the Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Amendment Bill [B15-2022]; Consideration and adoption of Public Participation Report], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00

Committee for Section 194 Enquiry, (National Assembly), [Hearings: Day 35 – Mr Cornelius van der Merwe to appear before the Committee for cross-examination by Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane legal team, and for an interaction with Committee members], Hybrid (Committee Room M46, Ground Floor, Marks Building and Virtual Meeting Platform), 10:00 Committees provide a platform for the public to present views directly to MPs. Share your thoughts, on-the-ground experience and expert information with the relevant committees. Critically, what questions should MPs pose to the Executive as they conduct their oversight work? Write to a Parliamentary Committee

View the schedule page here. View the provincial legislature's schedule 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.

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