Madam Chairperson, Deputy Minister of Finance and hon members, The SAA Unallocatable Debt Bill seeks to allow the Minister of Finance to borrow R1,3 billion to enable him take over part of the SAA debt that was not allocated to that company at corporatisation.
The Select Committee on finance considered the Bill and in particular its constitutionality, given the remarks made by the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Finance during a debate on the Bill in the National Assembly.
The question that arose was whether the Bill was a money Bill or an appropriation from the Revenue Fund in terms of section 213(2) of the Constitution. The legal opinion from advocates of both the parliamentary law advisers and the state law advisers indicated that, clearly, the intention of the Bill was to exempt the Minister of Finance from having to pay moneys received in terms of this transaction into the National Revenue Fund. Such an exemption is contemplated in section 213(1) of the Constitution. This is made clear by clause 2(1)(2) of the Bill, which clearly stipulates that the moneys so borrowed must be directly transferred to Transnet.
The SAA Unallocatable Debt Bill must also be reviewed as part of the process by Government to restructure state assets and to oil and sharpen the machinery that makes our economy work. The competitiveness of SAA is dependent on the introduction of a statutory equity partner, Swissair, in this regard. This in turn depends on Government's willingness to address the albatross of debt that has been leading SAA into the abyss. It is this big picture that we need to keep in mind.
In future, however, we will request that drafters of legislation clearly identify the status of a Bill with regard to section 213 of the Constitution. Therefore the select committee recommends that the NCOP pass the Bill without amendment and take into account the committee report thereon.
Debate concluded.
Bill agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.