The National Assembly has scheduled a physical sitting (Cape Town City Hall) on Monday to consider and debate the report of the Committee for Section 194 Enquiry. The Committee found Adv Mkhwebane guilty of misconduct and incompetence and recommended that the National Assembly remove her from the office of Public Protector as provided for in section 194 (1) (c) of the Constitution.
The question will be put to the Assembly directly for a vote and if the required majority of the members support the question (267 votes needed), the Assembly must convey the decision to the President. Section 194 (3) of the Constitution states that the President must remove a person from office upon adoption by the Assembly of the resolution calling for that person's removal.
This is the first time that Parliament will consider the removal of a Chapter 9 institution office-bearer.
On Tuesday, the Assembly will convene to consider assorted reports and motions.
Wednesday’s main plenary activity is Questions for Oral Reply with select Ministers in the Governance Cluster.
Thursday and Friday have been earmarked for mini-plenaries. This is not surprising given that this is a short term, there are many items on Parliament’s programme and we are in the final stage of the 6th Parliament.
There are 3 mini-plenaries scheduled on Thursday.
Mini-plenary 1: Draft resolution (Dr P J Groenewald): Establishment of an ad hoc committee on the alarming increase in the number of attacks and murders of farmers and farm workers and Subject for discussion (Mr N L S Kwankwa): The benefits of a policy approach that is focused on the informal economy to address inequality, poverty and unemployment in South Africa
Mini-plenary 2: Subject for discussion (Ms J Hermans): The importance of multilateralism in advancing inclusive growth and sustainable development for the South African economy and Subject for discussion (Mr V Zungula): The impact of unregulated informal sector that gives rise to the circulation of counterfeit products, illicit cash flows and other security vulnerabilities to the country
Mini-plenary 3: Subject for discussion (Ms A K Ramolobeng): Assessing progress in strengthening the criminal justice system in the fight against crime and corruption and First Reading debate - Constitution Nineteenth Amendment Bill B17-2023(Chief Whip of the Opposition)
There are also 3 mini-plenaries on Friday but their focus is on the consideration of assorted reports.
Meanwhile, it is Provincial Week in the NCOP. This is one of the ways to make sure NCOP delegates keep in touch with developments and challenges facing their provinces, assess progress made in the delivery of services to citizens and contribute to addressing challenges facing their communities. The overarching theme for this week is “Building Viable Provincial and Municipal Infrastructure for Effective Delivery of Services to Communities”. According to Parliament: “The NCOP delegates, together with their provincial legislature counterparts, will spend the week conducting oversight visits to infrastructure projects including bulk water supply plants, roads upgrades, and water treatment plants”.
View the full plenary programme here
In Committee-land, there is a wide range of meetings that will generate a lot of headlines. Here is a rundown of the highlights:
TUESDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER 2023
Standing Committee on Finance, (National Assembly), [Public hearings on the Public Procurement Bill], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00 Portfolio Committee on Communications and Digital Technologies, (National Assembly), [Report on Sentech distribution tariffs and feedback on the mediation process; GCIS, MDDA, Sentech, ICASA and SABC on deliberations of signal-related costs ahead of the National Election processes; Adoption of minutes], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00
Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, (National Assembly), [Briefing and update by the Department of Home Affairs on the implementation progress on the Automated Biometric Information System (ABIS) and the VFS contract], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00
Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the DTIC on the Black Industrialist Programme in relation to jobs and industrial output], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00
Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy, (National Assembly), [Clause-by-clause on the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill [B13 – 2021]], Committee Room M515, Fifth Floor, Marks Building, Parliament, 09:00-13:00
Standing Committee on Public Accounts, (National Assembly), [Briefing by SIU and Hawks regarding the intelligence report commissioned by the former GCEO on the Eskom; Meeting with Brig Burger on the Eskom-related investigations], Committee Room M46, Ground Floor, Marks Building, Parliament, 09:00-13:30
Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, (National Assembly), [Consideration and Adoption of Draft Minutes and Draft Reports; Briefing on 2023 Examination Readiness by: Department of Basic Education; and Umalusi], Committee Room M201, Second Floor, Marks Building, Parliament, 09:30-12:30
Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, (National Assembly), [Consideration and adoption of the Motion of Desirability; Deliberations on the Climate Change Bill [B9-2022] clause by clause], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:30-13:30 Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, (National Assembly), [Response of the Minister of Public Enterprises to the allegations submitted by the suspended Director-General of Public Enterprises], Committee Room 1, Upper Ground Floor, 90 Plein Street Building, Parliament, 10:00
Rules Committee, (National Assembly), Virtual Meeting Platform, 10:00-13:00
WEDNESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2023
Standing Committee on Finance, (National Assembly), [Public hearings on the Public Procurement Bill], Committee Room M46, Ground Floor, Marks Building, Parliament, 09:00-12:00
Standing Committee on Appropriations, (National Assembly), Briefing by the DPME on governments performance to date against the NDP targets and seven priority areas in the MTSF, as well as the departments performance against budget allocations, Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00
Portfolio Committee on Police, (National Assembly), [Briefing by SAPS on the resourcing of the Public Order Policing Units and continuation of discussions on implementation plan; Update on progress on investigations relating to the State Capture Commission; DPCI and IPID], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00
Standing Committee on Public Accounts, (National Assembly), [Briefing by SIU regarding the IFMS investigations; Progress in resolving implementation of IFMS: National Treasury briefing], Committee Room M514, Fifth Floor, Marks Building, Parliament, 09:00-13:30 Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, (National Assembly), [Continuation of Deliberations on the Climate Change Bill [B9-2022] clause by clause; Briefing by the South African Weather Service on the 2022/23 on the Third and Fourth Term Quarterly Reports for the 2022/23 financial year], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:30-13:30
Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, (National Assembly), [Briefing by Denel on progress regarding the implementation of the turnaround strategy; Consideration and adoption of draft minutes], Virtual Meeting Platform, 10:00
THURSDAY, 14 SEPTEMBER 2023
Portfolio Committee on Transport, (National Assembly), [Meeting with the City of Cape Town and SANTACO Western Cape on the minibus taxi strike], Virtual Meeting Platform, 19:00-21:00 (after NA plenary)
Committees provide a platform for the public to present views directly to MPs. Share your thoughts, 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? Write to a Parliamentary Committee
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.
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