Parliament will largely be consumed by Budget Vote debates this week.

These debates provide another opportunity for lawmakers to interact with the budget and are headlined by Ministers, their deputies, party leaders and senior MPs.

During processing of the main budget, the legislature agreed not to hold any debates (this was a departure from tradition), but that comprehensive deliberations on the adjusted budget would be undertaken.

After all the Budget Votes have been debated, each House (the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces) will vote on the whole budget.

The National Assembly has scheduled 23 debates – spread out over four days - for some key departments: Health, Social Development, Basic Education, Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Water and Sanitation, Human Settlements and Police.

Elsewhere, the NCOP chamber has arranged a varied agenda: highlights include oral questions with the Deputy President, legislative business, policy debates and the latest Women’s Charter Review Session.

In line with the broad tasks delegated to the Deputy President, he will be probed on a variety of issues, such as the restructuring at Eskom, redirecting resources towards COVID-19 and the Infrastructure Investment Plan.

Meanwhile, there are several interesting meetings lurking in the Committee corridor. Here is a run down of the highlights:

Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Portfolio Committee on Communications, (National Assembly), [Briefing by SABC on its Turnaround Plan Annexure Staff Optimization and all matters incidental thereto; Report on Editorial Policy in response to interference in as far as the recommendations by Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee Inquiry Report recommendations; Skills Audit Report], Virtual Meeting Platform, 18:00-21:00

Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, (National Assembly), [Briefing by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on different policy options to implement the Constitutional Court judgement on the participation of the independent candidates in the Provincial and National Elections; Consideration of the letter from the President on the determination of salaries and allowances to the IEC Commissioners as well as adoption of the report], Virtual Meeting Platform, 18:00 - 21:00

Wednesday, 22 July 2020

Select Committee on Security and Justice, (National Council of Provinces), [Deliberation and consideration of the Judicial Matters A/B [B 13B - 2019] (sec 75); Briefing by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation on the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in South East Asia, tabled in terms of section 231(2) of the Constitution, 1996; Briefing by the Department of Home Affairs/Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on the impact of Constitutional Court ruling to the IEC and the country that the Electoral Act 73 of 1998 is unconstitutional because it does not allow independent candidates to be elected to the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00-12:00

Joint Meeting: Standing Committee on Finance and Select Committee on Finance, (National Assembly and National Council of Provinces), [Public hearings on the Disaster Management Tax relief Bill and Disaster Management Tax Administration Bills], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00

Portfolio Committee on Communications, (National Assembly), [Briefing by SABC on all outstanding Committee resolutions; Briefing by the Department on all outstanding Committee resolutions in respect of SABC], Virtual Meeting Platform, 18:00-21:00

Thursday, 23 July 2020

Joint Meeting: Select Committee on Appropriations and Standing Committee on Appropriations, (National Council of Provinces and National Assembly), [Briefing by National Treasury on the 2020 Adjustments Appropriation Bill], Virtual Meeting Platform, 12:30 – 15:00

Friday, 24 July 2020

Joint Meeting: Select Committee on Appropriations and Standing Committee on Appropriations, (National Council of Provinces and National Assembly), [Public hearing and Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) input on the 2020 Adjustments Appropriation Bill], Virtual Meeting Platform, 09:00 – 12:00

Committees provide a platform for the public to present views directly to MPs. Share your 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?

We have consolidated our reports on the COVID-19 related meetings here.

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.