Division of Revenue Bill & Second Adjustments Appropriation (2022/23 financial year) Bill: Committee Reports

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Meeting Summary

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Tabled Committee Reports

The Standing Committee on Appropriations met to consider its reports on the 2023 Division of Revenue and Second Adjustment Appropriations Bills for the financial year 2022/23. The Bills were presented by the Minister of Finance during his budget speech and later referred to the Committee for further deliberations.

The Division of Revenue Bill provides for the equitable division of revenue raised nationally among the national, provincial and local spheres of government. The Second Adjustments Appropriation Bill proposes to appropriate additional funding allocations for expenditures approved in the 2022/23 financial year.

The National Treasury made a request for an adjustment to be made to the Division of Revenue Bill for a health grant to help manage a recent malaria outbreak. The Committee understood the seriousness of the issue but could not accommodate the request at the stage where it was adopting the report on the Bill.

The Committee adopted the reports on the bills, and the bills would be debated in the National Assembly.

Meeting report

The Standing Committee on Appropriations (the Committee) met to consider the adoption of the Committee’s reports on the Division of Revenue Bill [B2 - 2023] and the Second Adjustments Appropriation (2022/23 financial year) Bill [B4 - 2023]. Those bills were presented by the Minister of Finance during his budget speech. The bills were referred to the Committee. It had gone through the processes, as were expected by law as the Committee dealt with the two bills. Amongst others, the Committee had to deal with the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) and the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO), who made inputs. The Committee also heard inputs from the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), and the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Ministry (CoGTA). Members had received the draft bills for consideration.

Mr X Qayiso (ANC) said Mr H Mmemezi (ANC) and Ms M Mabiletsa (ANC) had joined the Committee. Ms Mabiletsa would be with the Committee until the ANC had sorted out who would be full-time Members of the Committee.

The Chairperson welcomed Ms Mabiletsa, who had been with the Committee before, and welcomed Mr Mmemezi.

Motion of Desirability: Division of Revenue Bill [B2 - 2023]

Mr Darrin Arends, Committee Secretary, read out the motion of desirability.

The Chairperson asked if the line “Allocations to provinces, local government and municipalities from national government’s equitable sphere” was correct. Mr Arends confirmed that it should say “equitable share”.

The DA reserved its position.

The motion was adopted by the Committee.

Draft Committee Report on the Division of Revenue Bill [B2 - 2023]

The Chairperson took the Committee through the document to check if there were any adjustments that needed to be made.

The DA reserved its position, and the EFF objected.

The draft report was adopted by the Committee.

Mr Bongani Daka, Senior Economist: Intergovernmental Policy and Planning, National Treasury (NT), commented. When the NT was presenting, it noted that there was a malaria outbreak, which at the time of tabling the budget, it would not necessarily have known about, given that the Department of Health only started speaking to the NT after the tabling. The NT requested that the Committee include in its recommendations an allowance for the NT to make changes to the conditions of one of the health grants to allow for a response to malaria. Late the previous day, the NT also received a report from the Committee via its liaison office in Parliament. The NT would submit a small number of minor changes that morning.

Ms N Ntlangwini (EFF) asked when the NT had heard about the malaria outbreak. The Committee had public hearings before the report was drafted. To come that morning and want to make changes was “a bit problematic” for her. The Committee had not had a chance to apply its mind to the NT’s request. It had the opportunity to present to the Committee, and it had weeks of public hearings, during which the NT could have sent that request of wanting to adjust the grant conditions for malaria. Malaria was an important disease that could not be taken lightly, but for the NT to make that request at the current stage of the process was problematic.

The Chairperson was not sure about the legality of the NT’s request.

Mr Sifiso Magagula, Committee Content Advisor, observed that when the Committee did public hearings, all of the stakeholders could make submissions. With the health grants, where Mr Daka wanted to make an amendment, there were groups that had raised concerns about the health grants. The Committee was not aware where the money was going to be moved to. To come on the day of the adoption of the report and suggest to move money, when the Committee did not know where it was going to be moved to, was unfair to the public. It was particularly unfair to the organisations that came to the public hearings.

The Chairperson said the NT’s request was difficult for the Committee when it was adopting its report.. The report it was presenting contained the things it had engaged on. It had considered various things, such as where the money was going to come from, etc. The Committee would have liked to have accommodated the NT, but the Chairperson was concerned about the legality of the situation. He requested that the NT find another way to deal with the issue of a health grant for malaria. The Committee did hear the NT; malaria was a serious issue. The NT’s request would create problems for the whole Bill. The Committee would not be able to consult with its legal team in a short space of time. It was not that the Committee did not see the seriousness of the malaria outbreak, but the NT’s request could “turn the whole Bill on its head” and it was a risk that the Committee would not like to take.

Mr X Qayiso (ANC) agreed that the NT’s request would be problematic to accept without analysing the technicalities. The Committee did not have any option but to put that matter aside, despite the fact that it was a “brilliant” idea for managing malaria. He agreed that the Committee could not put that matter through in the small window it now had.

Read: ATC230317: Report of the Standing Committee on Appropriations on the Division of Revenue Bill [B2–2023] (National Assembly – Section 76), Dated 17 March 2023

Motion of Desirability: Second Adjustments Appropriation (2022/23 financial year) Bill [B4 - 2023]

Mr Arends took the Committee through the document.

The DA reserved its position, and the EFF objected.

The motion of desirability was adopted.

Draft Committee Report on the Second Adjustments Appropriation (2022/23 financial year) Bill [B4 - 2023]

The Chairperson took the Committee through the document to check if there were any adjustments that needed to be made.

The DA reserved its position, and the EFF objected.

The report was adopted.

Read: ATC230317: Report of the Standing Committee on Appropriations on the Second Adjustments Appropriation (2022/23 Financial Year) Bill [B4 – 2023] (National Assembly – Section 77), Dated 17 March 2023

Both bills would be referred to Parliament, specifically the National Assembly.

Adoption of Minutes

7 March 2023
The minutes were adopted without amendment.

8 March 2023
The minutes were adopted without amendment.

10 March 2023
The minutes were adopted without amendment.

Announcements

Mr Arends noted that Friday’s meeting would be the last one for the current term.

The Secretariat was arranging an oversight visit to Transnet and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). The visit would take place between 27 and 31 March. The Secretariat would be in contact with Members regarding the logistical arrangements. On Monday 27 March, the Committee would be travelling to Durban. From there it would be going to Umhlanga, where it would have a briefing with the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), the NT and other relevant stakeholders. On Tuesday, it would be going to the Richards Bay Port to engage with the Transnet leadership and executive management. On Wednesday, it would be travelling to Johannesburg, where it would be dealing with PRASA.

Mr Z Mlenzana (ANC) asked to get the dates from the Committee Secretary.

Mr Arends confirmed that on Monday 27 March and Tuesday 28 March, the Committee would be in Richards Bay. On Wednesday it would travel to Johannesburg, and by Friday 31 March it would be done with its visit.

Mr A Sarupen (DA) said that the DA would be going to its elective conference that week, so it could be a bit difficult for him and Mr E Marais (DA) to do the entire trip. He would liaise with Mr Arends in that regard.

The Chairperson jokingly asked if he could ask Mr J Steenhuisen (party leader of the DA) to change the date of the conference.

Mr A Shaik Emam (NFP) said that he would confirm whether he could go on the oversight visit.

The Secretariat would be dealing with the travel arrangements.

Closing

The Chairperson thanked the Members for their participation in the processing of the bills, and the people who appeared before the Committee. Those who appeared asked pertinent questions that aimed to make service delivery better. He also thanked all of the support staff, who made the Committee’s work easy: The Committee’s productivity was a reflection of the work that the staff did in the background.

He thanked the members of the public who interacted with the Committee. He assured the public that within the constraints that the Committee had, their views were taken seriously. He also thanked the  members of the media who were always on the virtual platform. The Committee appreciated the media’s attendance, which meant that South Africans could be better-informed about what Parliament was doing.

On Thursday 23 March, there would be a debate on the two bills in Parliament.

The meeting was adjourned.

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