Parliament Budget Vote 2 Speech by Speaker Baleka Mbete

Briefing

02 Jun 2015

Parliament Budget Vote 2 Speech by Speaker Baleka Mbete on the 2 June 2015
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Honourable Members
Distinguished Guests 
Ladies and gentlemen

We have completed the first year of the 5th Parliament, which has been vibrant, robust and most importantly a learning experience for all of us, to harness, direct and benefit from.  

Chairperson

This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the people’s Freedom Charter which laid the foundation for our Constitution and the values that guide all of us as South Africans.  

Today those values guide the work of Parliament.

This Parliament, our people’s Parliament, is an embodiment of what is possible when a nation decides to unite and choose a future of hope and progress. Indeed, it is in Parliament where our Constitution, the cornerstone of our democracy was crafted, it is here where hundreds of laws have been passed to improve the lives and the living conditions of millions of our people.

It is in Parliament that oversight of government is consistently exercised. It is here, that in all our diversity as a people we have an opportunity to influence policy and its implementation.  

This is an opportunity which on its own amounts to a substantive achievement. It is a victory which we should acknowledge, as it did not exist in South Africa before democracy.

Honourable Members

No democracy can endure and flourish if the mass of our people remain in poverty, without land, without tangible prospects for a better life.

Systemic challenges which continue to persist, necessitate that we confront the fundamental structural and distributional inconsistencies that impact on poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Our ongoing task continues to be to accelerate progress, deepen democracy and translate political emancipation into economic inclusion and well-being for all our people. These immense challenges require Parliamentary action on a broader level and an ongoing basis.

In going forward, we recognise that there’s an urgency to do things differently and more effectively, in order for us to realise, all the ideals of the Freedom Charter and the Bill of Rights in the Constitution.

This calls for collective action. More than ever before, it requires of us to work with a broad range of partners. To be effective, our responses must be both global, national and local. They must be rooted in our pact with our people.

Chairperson 

According to the National Development Plan (NDP), which was adopted by the 4th Parliament,

“South Africa must translate Political emancipation into economic well-being for all in order to accelerate progress, deepen democracy and build a more inclusive society”.

The NDP encapsulates our aspirations over the long term to eradicate poverty, increase employment and reduce inequality in our society. It has elevated the task of building a capable and developmental state to a higher priority.

It is our role as Parliament to ensure that the ideals in the Constitution and the vision of the NDP is translated into accelerated action.

Strategic Plan

Honourable Members

Our vision for the 5th Parliament is that of “An activist and responsive people’s Parliament that improves the quality of life of our people and ensures enduring equality in our society”.

In providing orientation for our work in the 5th Parliament and along the development path of the NDP, we have been influenced, amongst others, by the injunctions of the Constitution, the quest for Parliament to serve the people by supporting the Members and the desire to fulfil the needs of our people.

This has helped to define the role of Parliament in the developmental state and in this phase of our transition as follows:  deepening democracy; improving the quality of life of our people; building a united and democratic South Africa and a democratic World order.

This orientation has informed the 5th Parliament’s Strategy and objectives that are aimed at ensuring that we accelerate the pace of development by passing enabling laws, exercising effective oversight of the plans of government, facilitating  meaningful participation of the public in the legislative processes and ensuring that the world supports the realisation of our objectives.

Honourable Members 

The pathway towards a developmental Parliament, requires profound change.

Strategic Plan 2014-19, charts a results based approach for the 5th Parliament, over the coming years.

In this regard, six strategic objectives have been adopted which give priority to the following areas: 

  • Enhanced oversight and accountability over the work of the Executive to ensure implementation of the objectives of Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), 2014-19; through amongst others
  • A more nuanced role for Parliament in co-operative governance;
  • Effective and responsive public participation;
  • Enhanced international parliamentary engagement and cooperation ;
  • Consolidation and implementation of integrated processes to fulfil our constitutional responsibility, and
  • The building of a capable and productive parliamentary service that delivers effective support to Members in order to efficiently fulfil their constitutional mandate.

The objectives which I have outlined have been carefully considered to enable a process of re-engineering of the parliamentary administration in order to gather the necessary skill sets, provide the appropriate leadership; contribute towards effective policy making, monitoring and evaluation; and facilitate the implementation of the NDP by exercising effective and rigorous oversight.

Notably, the competences and skills sets required for us to realise our objectives, include deepening our approach of integrated planning or the cluster approach; and enhancing our modalities on monitoring and evaluation across the board in our parliamentary processes.

In this regard, the administration is expected to align their Annual Performance Plans accordingly.

Taken together these measures will see Parliament performing its role in leading the rigorous oversight of key government policies through our oversight and accountability mechanisms.

Rules and Procedures

Honourable Members

Twenty years ago, at the dawn of democracy, we deliberated on the rules we inherited from the old order and started to make some changes. It was during the Fourth Parliament, that a comprehensive review of the rules was embarked upon. As the process of reviewing the rules is complex and requires thorough deliberation, the process was not completed.

The Fifth Parliament has put more vigor into this exercise. Consequently, the Subcommittee on the review of rules has been hard at work – meticulously working their way through fifteen chapters.

They have now considered the whole rule book and have only outstanding matters to attend to before the rules are circulated to political parties for final comment. Thereafter, a meeting of the Rules Committee will be scheduled. It is hoped that new rules will be in place by the third quarter of this year.

I would like to encourage Members to take advantage of the processes underway to contribute towards the review the rules of the National Assembly. This, so as to ensure that our rules are in keeping with our changing circumstances, but nevertheless continue to ensure that the rights and privileges of individual Members, as well as the rights of the House as a collective to discharge its constitutional mandate, are protected.

I wish to reiterate that the Rules are in place to maintain order and foster decorum. The Presiding Officers have an important duty of not only maintaining order during sittings, but also ensuring that the House is at all times able to conduct itself in a manner that allows it to fulfil its constitutional mandate.

As Presiding Officers, we are, however, also reliant on the co-operation of leaders and whips of parties, to assist us by providing leadership and guidance with regard to the conduct of their Members in the House.

Legislation

Honourable Members

The Constitution enjoins us to pass laws. We have over the last twenty years passed key laws that we must ensure are implemented, and where applicable, reviewed.

An important task that we must undertake during this term is to conduct an assessment of the impact of the legislation that we have passed since the dawn of democracy.

Where gaps are identified, these must be brought to the attention of the Executive. Parliament, in line with its oversight imperatives will need to ensure that the necessary interventions are made.

Linked to this, we continue to improve our legislative drafting capacity as Parliament, to ensure that both committees and members receive the necessary support when bills have to be drafted or amended.

Honourable Members, we will continue to update you in this regard.

Committees

Honourable Members

The principle underpinning Parliament’s oversight function is to ensure that policy is implemented in accordance with the legislative intent, and upholds and responds to our people’s aspirations. In this regard, Committees are the primary vehicles of legislative work and oversight over the executive. Importantly, it is through the work of committees that public participation takes place.

Honourable Members will agree that the effectiveness of Committees is reliant on the ability of Members to engage the executive and any other organ of state, systematically and rigorously.

In this regard, as an institution, we will display a sharper focus on oversight which is specifically directed towards government planning, resourcing and implementation of the objectives of the National Development Plan (NDP) over the medium and long term.

To add substantive value, there clearly is a need to refine the Oversight and Accountability Model as we continue to implement it, implement the Public Participation Model; and explore a Legislative Model for Parliament to ensure that we demonstrate improved efficiency and efficacy. This is with the ultimate goal being a Parliament that is empowered and capacitated to deal with the acute effects of poverty, unemployment and inequality that continue to persist.

This new approach also requires fundamental changes in Parliament’s institutional arrangements related to the functioning of Parliament and the Annual Programme, by amongst others undertaking the following measures-  

  • Mandatory committee oversight programme, at least once per month when the House is not in sitting;
  • The introduction of several Focus Weeks, in Plenary and Committees on agreed upon and focused topics. In this process, we will also  afford civil society  the necessary space to engage within the parliamentary precinct on the identified topics; and
  • The introduction of mini plenary debates.

These measures will see Parliament performing its role in leading the oversight of policy and service delivery programmes through its oversight and accountability mechanisms.

Budget and Parliamentary Budget Office

Chairperson

One of the most important roles we are assigned as Parliament is that of national budget review. For legislatures to become more meaningful platforms of injecting the interest and concerns of their constituents into the policy making process, they must have sufficiently sophisticated and resourceful structures to engage, and scrutinise the executive and state bureaucracies.

Through the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, of 2009, we are empowered to amend the budget.

In this regard, Committees are required to annually assess the performance of each national department, and to submit Budgetary Review and Recommendation Reports (BRRRs) to the Assembly – after the adoption of the budget but prior to the adoption of the report on the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). As these BRRRs may include recommendations on the future use of resources, they form one critical part of Parliament’s engagement with the Budget (i.e. the main appropriation) the following year.

The Budget is an important tool to drive radical change, during this, the second phase of our democracy. There is a need therefore to strengthen this critical area of work, as notable gaps have been identified which must be addressed. Going forward, we will engage the Minister in charge of the National Treasury on the introduction of a more synchronised budget cycle which integrates the present parallel budget processes.

Members will know that section 15 of the Money Bills Act, also made provision for the establishment of a Parliamentary Budget Office. 

The Parliamentary Budget Office is increasingly expanding its value and reach. In last year’s Parliamentary Budget Vote, Honourable Members requested that the PBO be substantively capacitated.

In this regard, the PBO has increased its technical staff complement, which have enabled the office to broaden its technical analytical services to Committees and this enables Members to scrutinise executive action, and engage the executive and state bureaucracies.

As we align our oversight responsibilities, the Executive Authority of Parliament has since instructed the Parliamentary Budget Office to assume a central role in oversight of the NDP through the provision of technical analytical work to committees, to ensure that Parliament makes substantive interventions in the implementation of the National Development Plan.

Legislative Sector

Honourable Members

The Constitution enjoins us to work co-operatively with the different spheres of government. In my address to the House last year, I asked that Parliament specifically explore and redefine its role with respect to co-operative governance as the existing system can be improved.

Thus, in the 5th Parliament we will see more emphasis on stronger and meaningful inter-governmental planning and engagement with the different spheres of government. 

In the light of the tenuous situation in some municipalities, we must use the instruments of the Intergovernmental Relations Act to engender calm, stability and ensure a sharper focus on service delivery so that we can all work single-mindedly to achieve the strategic goals of the NDP.

For the 5th Parliamentary term, we have undertaken to further consolidate and deepen the Legislative Sector’s collaboration and focus, in particular the implementation of the NDP.

We will continue to meet regularly with Provincial Speakers and other important stakeholders within the Speakers’ Forum to promote co-operation and to develop best practice and bench-marks for the legislative sector. 

In these unfolding processes, we need to pay attention to the Legislative Sector as a separate arm of government as well as to matters pertaining to the work of Presiding Officers.

Our partnership with the European Union continues to grow.

With the continued assistance of the European Union, the Legislative Sector will broaden its work through international relationships with amongst others, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, SADC-Parliamentary Forum, SADC-OPAC, and Society-of-Clerks-at-the-Table Africa Region.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate 57 Members of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures who have successfully completed the Programme in Leadership and the Postgraduate Diploma in Governance and Public Leadership. These members will be graduating next month on the 2nd of July.

Office of Institutions Supporting Democracy

Honourable Members

In support of Parliament’s oversight role, our Constitution created Institutions Supporting Democracy (ISDs).To facilitate this critical work, Parliament established the Office of Institutions Supporting Democracy (OISD), which falls under the Office of the Speaker.  

In February this year, a very constructive meeting took place between us, as Presiding Officers, and the Heads of the Institutions Supporting Democracy (or ISDs, as they are referred to). This was after we invited the ISDs – as a collective – to identify the cross-cutting issues of concern that they wished to prioritise for discussion.

It emerged from this fruitful discussion that two important issues call for our attention:

The processing of the Report of the Ad hoc Committee on the Review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions, by the 5th Parliament. The first steps towards facilitating this will soon start unfolding.

We also agreed with the ISDs that their Special Reports – usually compiled after extensive research and sometimes also public hearings – are meant to complement the work of Parliament in the oversight that it does. These reports deserve more focused attention and discussions have been initiated with the House Chairperson: Committees to find ways to do greater justice to them. 

International Relations

Chairperson

Parliament’s international relations must address both cross- cutting development themes, as well as implementation modalities. 

Like the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the implementation of the looming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), will have to be monitored on the global, regional, national, and local levels. In this regard, we have to ensure that Parliament is central to strong political ownership and citizen involvement. 

Further, in keeping with our government’s foreign policy, the 5th Parliament will focus substantively on the consolidation of the African Agenda, including Agenda 2063 and the SADC Master Plan.

This approach is premised on our understanding that deeper integration is the key to unlocking the continent’s socio-economic development, consistent with the objectives of the NDP and the Sustainable Development Goals, amongst others.

In this regard, we will continue growing our substantive engagements and participation with key regional, continental and international structures, including, the Pan African Parliament (PAP), the SADC Parliamentary Forum and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

In July this year, South African Parliament will host the 37th Plenary Assembly of SADC PF under the theme “Industrialisation and SADC Regional Integration”, which will take place in Durban.

We will also join the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in hosting an international Conference on Nationality and Statelessness possibly towards the end of this year.

This Conference is especially relevant to us, given the calamity that befell our country recently.

During this term, we will as well turn our focus, to a thus far, under explored area of parliamentary oversight, namely, international agreements and treaties.

To strengthen this aspect of our oversight, we will develop a suitable mechanism to monitor South Africa’s obligations.

An effective Parliament will both need to have the capacity to consider international agreements for their national ratification, and once adopted, be able to examine legislation through the lens of consistency with international agreements, and the provisions of the Constitution and the NDP amongst others.

We will as well give considerable attention to the revitalisation of the Parliamentary Group on International Relations (PGIR). The PGIR is a multi-party, strategic structure that is responsible for amongst others, providing policy direction on IR matters, ensures the implementation of Parliament’s agreed international relations policy, and to advise the Executive Authority on International Relations issues.

We will of course be guided by the recommendations emanating from a two day workshop that was convened earlier this year to discuss the way forward.

Outreach

Honourable Members 

As new issues have emerged during this term, it has also become necessary to review our relations with media to enable them to better understand the work of Parliament and thus better inform our people.

In this regard, numerous meetings and workshops have been held between us and stakeholders such as the South African National Editors Forum, the Parliamentary Gallery Association and Senior Journalists to engage on a range of matters and to foster constructive relationships with the media.  

We will continue to do everything possible for our people to access the work of Parliament. The use of all media is critical if we are to reach our people where they are and in their preferred languages.

Space Utilisation

Honourable Members 

As I reported to the House in the last financial year, the Executive Authority has undertaken that the 5th Parliament complete the work that was started in the 3rd Parliament to address the growing need for adequate infrastructure, also known as the “Space utilisation project”.

This Parliament was designed to accommodate a tri-cameral Parliament and not the needs of an inclusive government such as ours. As Members are aware, the current environment in terms of space is not adequate.

The shortage of office space, parking and meeting venues and other facilities, such as Members accommodation, have had negative logistical and financial effects over the past 21 years.

This directly affects Parliament’s capacity to increase public participation in terms of the public’s involvement in Parliamentary processes. Currently, we do not have   adequate venues and facilities to support these responsibilities.

In our endeavour to ensure the timely implementation of the Space Utilisation Project, this project will be managed by the Accounting Officer of Parliament and the Department of Public Works (DPW).  

Budget Allocations

Chairperson

I now wish to turn to Parliament’s budget allocation. 

Parliament will oversee the national budget which amounts to 1, 2 trillion rand in the 2015/16 financial year. For this financial year, Parliament has received a total allocation of just over 2 billion rand. This represents 0, 16 percent of the national budget.

Honourable Members, this figure of 2,070.1 billion rand, is divided into five programme areas. In this regard-

  • The allocation for programme 1: the administration of Parliament is, 459.6 million rand ; for
  • Programme 2: Legislation and Oversight, is 375.5 million rand; for
  • Programme 3: Public and International Participation, 133.2 million rand, for
  • Programme 4: Members’ Facilities, 234.2, rand and for
  • Programme 5: Associated Services, 364.5   million rand.

In addition to the budget programmes, the direct charge for Members' remuneration is 503.1 million rand for the financial year.

Year on year, we have introduced measures to improve the institutions financial management. For the last financial year, we have once again received an unqualified audit report from the Auditor General.

Underfunding

Honourable Members

For Parliament to be effective in carrying out its constitutional mandate, we need to be suitably resourced. Of note, is that we have improved our internal processes, adopted a zero -based budget and activity based system that takes cognisance of our strategic priorities, which is meant to ensure that our budget is aligned with our strategic objectives, which is linked to the long term objectives of the NDP.

Given the broadened context of Parliament’s priorities over the medium and long term, there is a need for us to initiate and engage in discussions with the Minister of Finance on the proportional allocation of Parliament’s budget.  

Honourable Members

A capable and developmental state cannot operate in isolation. It must work in unison with strong leadership throughout society and an active citizenry supporting development and holding our government accountable.

The successful implementation of the NDP rests on our ability as overseers of the executive, to perform, robust and systematic oversight, so that our people can enjoy a better quality of life.

Part of our role too- is to highlight those areas which the NDP does not cover sufficiently and where further detail is required.

Honourable Members, in closing, it is appropriate that I take this opportunity to thank the Deputy Speaker, the House Chairpersons, and the staff of the Office of the Speaker for their support and help to me in the discharge of my duties.

I wish to thank the party leaders and the whippery for facilitating the work of Parliament.

I would also like to extend a deep sense of appreciation and acknowledgment to the President who has supported our work and thereby making it easy to do our business.

A special word of thanks to the Deputy President and the Leader of Government Business whose easy access and approach to his work has contributed to us managing the interactions with the Executive well.

We would like to thank the collective of Cabinet for your contributions, the Institutions Supporting Democracy and key stakeholders for supporting our work.

Finally, I wish to thank the Secretary to Parliament and his team for ensuring that Members continue to receive the necessary procedural, legal and administrative support. The Secretary had to literally ‘hit the road running’, as he joined Parliament at the point when Parliament had to develop a new Strategic Plan.

This task was indeed performed with success. We trust that he will continue to lead the administration in ensuring that the objectives set out in the Strategic Plan are realised.  

Honourable Members, I wish to emphasise that indeed the solution to many of our challenges lies in being able to listen to, and take into account, each other’s concerns and chart a way forward, in the interest of our people and our country.

Let us get on with the outstanding work at hand. Let us advance beyond rhetoric and be prepared to listen and be persuaded, through robust debate and rigorous work.

And finally, Honourable Members, to borrow from the African Union Anthem, I urge:

“Let us all unite and celebrate together. The victories won for our liberation. Let us dedicate ourselves to rise together. To defend our liberties and unity”. 

I commend this Budget to the House.

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