That week in Parliament

1. What is the SONA? It is an annual address given by the President to a joint session of Parliament and marks the official opening of the legislature. It is designed to be a report on the economic and social state of the nation, and includes a review...

COVID-19 STATE OF DISASTER Education On 22 January, a ministerial directive confirmed: the dates on which state schools should reopen to school management teams, teaching assistants, administrative staff, other educators and, on 15 February, to...

Extension A notice extending the State of Disaster until 15 February was gazetted on 12 January. Hotspots The list was updated on 29 December 2020. Regulations The Covid-19 disaster management regulations for adjusted lockdown level three were amended...

  Following the transition to a virtual/hybrid Parliament in April, the 2020 parliamentary year came to an end on 9 December. It was an unprecedented year.   In March, Parliament took a decision to suspend its programme as a precautionary measure due...

  COVID-19 STATE OF DISASTER Regulations A notice declaring the Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipality a ‘hotspot’ was gazetted on 3 December. On the same day, an amendment to the 1 October Covid-19 lockdown level one disaster management...

National departments, provincial departments and public entities are subject to annual auditing by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA). AGSA’s annual audits examine three areas: fair presentation and absence of significant misstatements in...

Covid-19 regulations and directives The 7 September temporary employer/employee relief scheme (TERS) ministerial directive was withdrawn on 28 November: with retrospective effect, from 15 October presumably reinstating Direction 2 of the 26 March...

It’s a week of farewells and loose ends… The constituency and leave period beckons, with MPs due to depart at the end of the week and return to Parliament next year. But a fair amount of work will be done before they go and there is plenty of...

National minimum wage On 20 November, the National Minimum Wage Commission gazetted a notice calling for comment on proposals for: a 4,5% adjustment increasing the national minimum per hour to R21,69 next year, and aligning farmworkers’ and domestic...