Parliament’s mid-year constituency period is looming. The National Assembly (NA) will conclude its business next week while the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will end a week later.

In the remaining days, the legislative body is scheduled to pass the national budget, process and vote on several Bills, conduct important debates, hold inquiries, scrutinise government performance and response to various crises, undertake oversight visits, and approve statutory appointments.

Both chambers have scheduled sittings from Tuesday to Thursday.

In the NCOP, policy debates on budget votes dominate the agenda:

Tuesday: Budget Vote 19 (Social Development), Budget Vote 20 (Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities), Budget Vote 9 (Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation), and Budget Vote 14 (Statistics South Africa).

Wednesday: Budget Vote 16 (Basic Education), Budget Vote 3 (Cooperative Governance), and Budget Vote 15 (Traditional Affairs). 

Thursday: Budget Vote 17 (Higher Education and Training) and Budget Vote 32 (Environment, Forestry and Fisheries).

Meanwhile, there is a lot more variety in the NA’s plenary programme.

There is a big focus on gender matters during Tuesday’s sitting. Lawmakers will hold a debate to commemorate 100 years since women were admitted to legal practice in South Africa. In a March 2023 Written Parliamentary Reply, we got a sense of the progress made: the Minister of Justice reported that there were 52.1% women magistrates in 2021/22 and 45.5% women judges in 2021/22. In addition, members will consider the Agreement Amending the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and an Amendment to article 20 (1) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The same sitting will also consider the recommendation of a candidate for appointment by the President to serve as commissioner for the Public Service Commission. The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration resolved to recommend Mr Errol Vincent Magerman for the position.

Select Ministers in the Economics Cluster will be in the spotlight during their oral question session on Wednesday.

The NA will conclude its budget process during Thursday’s marathon sitting when it considers the Appropriation Bill including accompanying votes and schedules.

The week rounds off with the NCOPs Three Sphere Planning Session scheduled for Friday, under the theme: “Delineating key priorities and projects for accelerated implementation at local government level.”

There are important meetings scheduled in the Committee Corridor. The highlights include:

TUESDAY, 6 JUNE 2023

Standing Committee on Finance, (National Assembly), [Public Hearings on the Procurement Bill (provided it is tabled)], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00

Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Department of Home Affairs, the Electoral Commission (IEC) and Government Printing Works (GPW) on the outstanding Committee recommendations from 2019-2023], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00

Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Small Business Development, Tourism, Employment and Labour, (National Council of Provinces), [Continuation of Departmental responses on Negotiating Mandates on Performers Protection and Copyright Amendment Bills], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00

Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, (National Assembly), [Policy inputs by the Department of Health (DoH) and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) on the impact of the Animals Protection Amendment Bill to their policies; Committee deliberations on the Animals Protection Amendment Bill [B1-2021]; Committee deliberations on the presentation made by the Minister on the Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Ingonyama Trust], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00

Portfolio Committee on Communications, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Department on an update on SAPO and the Broadcasting Digital Migration (BDM) process], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00

Standing Committee on Public Accounts, (National Assembly), [Briefing by DENEL on: Non tabling of annual report; Liquidity crisis; Update in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure; Details of matters that are still outstanding, and when it is envisaged that these will be concluded; and Update on the investigations conducted by the SIU], Committee Room M514, Fifth Floor, Marks Building, Parliament, 09:30-13:30


WEDNESDAY, 7 JUNE 2023

Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure, (National Assembly), [Presentation of the updated state of government's Immovable Asset Register; Demonstration of the Immovable Asset Register by the PMTE Real Estate Registry Services; Consideration and adoption of minutes of previous meetings], Committee Room 1, 120 Plein Street Building, Parliament, 09:00-12:00

Standing Committee on Finance, (National Assembly), [Public Hearings on the Procurement Bill (provided it is tabled)], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00

Portfolio Committee on Police, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI/HAWKS) and Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) on progress made on investigations resulting from the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegation of State Capture], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:00

Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the DTIC, the NEF and the IDC on support provided to township economies], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-13:30

Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Department of Public Service and Administration on the first introduction of the Public Service Amendments Bill and Public Administration Management Amendments Bill; Consideration and adoption of the Oversight Report for the Northern Cape and Free State Provinces; Consideration and adoption of the minutes], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:30-13:00

Standing Committee on Public Accounts, (National Assembly), [Meeting with Brig Burger and Commissioner of SAPS regarding ex GCEO of Eskom on allegations of corruption, theft, maladministration, sabotage, lack of consequence management, cartels and other financial irregularities at ESKOM], Committee Room M514, Fifth Floor, Marks Building, Parliament, 09:30-13:30

Committee for Section 194 Enquiry, (National Assembly), [Hearing Day 65: Evidence of Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane], Hybrid (Virtual Meeting Platform and Committee Room S12A, Ground Floor, NCOP Building), 10:00-17:00

THURSDAY, 8 JUNE 2023

Committee for Section 194 Enquiry, (National Assembly), [Hearing Day 66: Evidence of Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane], Hybrid (Virtual Meeting Platform and Committee Room S12A, Ground Floor, NCOP Building), 10:00-17:00

Joint Standing Committee on Defence, (National Assembly and National Council of Provinces), [Briefing by the DCAC on the NCACC First Quarter Report for 2023 and update on progress made on the concerns raised by the Defence Industry to the JSCD during its engagement on 3 November 2022; Consideration of Third Term Programme; Consideration of outstanding minutes], Virtual Meeting Platform, 18:00-21:00

FRIDAY, 9 JUNE 2023

Joint Standing Committee on Financial Management of Parliament, (National Assembly and National Council of Provinces), [Briefings by the National Treasury and the Parliamentary Medical Aid Scheme Board on: progress made as far as developing a budget process for Parliament, and ensuring that its budget is adequate to allow it to perform its oversight accountability functions; and progress made as far as resolving challenges related to Parliament’s obligations in respect of the Parmed Medical Aid Scheme; Consideration and adoption of minutes: 2 June 2023], Virtual Meeting Platform, 08:00-13:00

Portfolio Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, (National Assembly, [Briefing by the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) on disaster risk reduction strategies for the upcoming winter season], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:30

Standing Committee on the Auditor-General, (National Assembly), [Meeting on oversight to municipalities accompanied by the AGSA officials responsible for those identified municipalities], Venue to be confirmed, 09:30-13:00

Committee for Section 194 Enquiry, (National Assembly), [Hearing Day 67: Evidence of Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane], Hybrid (Virtual Meeting Platform and Committee Room S12A, Ground Floor, NCOP Building), 10:00-17:00

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View the schedule page here.

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