Our Constitution requires Parliament to engage actively with the budget process in the interests of good governance and financial transparency.

After the Minister of Finance presents the budget, each parliamentary committee has hearings on the Budget Vote for each state department. The committees scrutinise the departmental budgets, annual performance plans (APP), spending plans, and performance in relation to the commitments made in the previous financial year.

Following their engagements, Committees draft a Report in which they analyse the Annual and Strategic Plans as presented and make observations and recommendations.

This Report forms the basis from which MPs debate the budget and APPs of departments and their entities. The Budget Vote Debates, starting this week, provide another opportunity for Parliament and the people to interact with the budget.

The debates allow Parliament and the public to be updated about what departments are doing, how they are performing, and how public money is being used.

The debates take place in mini-plenaries, i.e., breakaway sessions of the National Assembly. The Minister and Deputy Minister introduce the budget on behalf of a department or entity, and MPs then debate it through a Speakers' List. Multiple budget vote debates will take place at the same time in different venues.

The budget debates will commence on 11 July 2024 and conclude on 24 July 2024.

View the schedule here

After each vote has been debated, each House (NA + NCOP) must vote on the whole budget. The NA will vote on the Appropriation Bill and the accompanying votes and schedules on 25 July 2024. The NCOP will adopt the Appropriation Bill shortly thereafter. If passed, this will conclude Parliament’s processing of the 2024/25 national budget. 

Parliament will monitor spending and performance quarterly and make adjustments, if necessary, during the October/November mid-term budget process.

Following the establishment of committees for the 7^th Parliament, these structures will elect chairpersons before embarking holding meetings on departmental budgets, annual performance plans, spending plans, and performances.

A chairperson plays a dominant role in organising the administrative affairs of a Committee and control its budget. In addition, he/she supervises the writing of the Committee's reports to the House (ensuring that the text presented in the House is the one agreed to by the Committee), helps to formulate the agenda, presides over Committee meetings and provides direction to the Committee staff between meetings.

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Beyond this, both chambers have arranged a plenary sitting:

On Tuesday at 10:00, the NA will hold a plenary at the Cape Town City Hall to consider the election of the House Chairpersons, designate representatives of Parliament to the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum and designate MPs of the House to serve on the Judicial Services Commission.

Also on Tuesday at 14:00, the NCOP will convene a plenary sitting at Parliament. Among the items on the agenda are the election of the Permanent Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, Programming Whip, House Chairpersons, and the election of members to represent the NCOP at the Pan African Parliament, the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum, the Judicial Services Commission, Members of the Magistrate Commission, Members that will serve as trustees of the Political Office-Bearers Pension Fund, and PARMED Medical Aid Scheme Trustee Members. 
 
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.

People's Assembly aims to connect the public to their elected representatives. One way of doing so is through our Replocator tool, which allows you to search for the elected representative in your area.