Revised Fiscal Framework: Budgetary Review & Recommendation Reports: Stats SA & National Treasury

Meeting report

Revised Fiscal Framework: Deliberations
Dr D George (DA) said that the National Treasury needed to consider what the impact would be on the fiscal framework if South Africa were to zero-rate Value Added Tax (VAT) on books.

Mr D Van Rooyen (ANC) said that it was high time that central expenditure was monitored and that there should not just be a focus on monitoring expenditure at provincial and departmental level.

Mr Van Rooyen said that the Committee needed to look into the concerns raised by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on the role of Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in infrastructure development.

Mr Van Rooyen said that some of the measures that had been proposed in the budget had had a negative impact in other countries. It would be important to know what the impact would be in South Africa. The Committee also needed to be involved in monitoring some of the programmes.  

Mr N Koornhof (COPE) said that even though there had been commitment from National Treasury on reducing government debt there was need for more emphasis. The proposed reduction of debt stock to 40% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2015 was still too high.

Ms Z Dlamini-Dubazana (ANC) said that more clarity was needed on what actions were being taken on overspending. She thought that there was a need for more to be done.

Ms Dlamini-Dubazana said that there was need to speedily address bid-rigging as this was wasting a lot of resources.  

Mr B Mashile (ANC, Mpumalanga) said that the expenditure of enterprises was growing steadily, as evidenced by the expected expenditure figure of R428 billion. However, he cautioned that the proposal to re-examine remuneration and governance within these enterprises should not impact on service delivery.

Co Chairperson Mufamadi said that the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) impacted on revenue base of the nation, so there was a need to look at its role.

Mr Mufamadi further noted that it was important to bear in mind the unpredictable nature of the world economy, without casting doubt on the Revised Fiscal Framework. He added that the Committee was dealing with a process and not an event. The progress that National Treasury had made was partly due to the input from members.

Mr Mashile said that he had observed, from comments made by other Members, that the Committee was in agreement with the Revised Fiscal Framework. 

Co-Chairperson Mufamadi noted that the Committee’s submission to National Treasury was not the end of interactions with that department. As members continued to interact with the document, more suggestions could be communicated to National Treasury. It was important to propose measures that would improve the social well being of the nation and address issues such as unemployment.
                       
Co Chairperson de Beer asked that a report be drafted to capture the input of members.

Co-Chairperson Mufamadi said that the final draft should be ready on Monday morning to be placed on the ATC in the afternoon.

The Committee accepted the Revised Fiscal Framework, including the inputs made.

Committee’s Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR) on the National Treasury
The Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Finance proposed that since the Members had received the copy of the Committee’s Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR or the Report) in ample time to prepare comments, they should go through that Report page by page, to suggest amendments and corrections.

Mr Koornhof said that the six hospitals that were part of the feasibility studies for public private partnership needed to be named as they had were unknown.

Ms N Sibhidla (ANC) said that a recommendation should be added that the tax base should be expanded. Furthermore, another recommendation should be added that the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO) needed to establish a credible business register. The National Treasury should also review the Annual Report format for national departments reporting to Parliament, in line with the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act. 

Dr George said that National Treasury needed to look at consumer protection in the financial sector.

Dr George said that there was also a need to ensure that public funds were properly managed so that there was no wastage of funds.  

Mr van Rooyen said that the Committee needed to emphasis the need to improve the relationship between National Treasury and law enforcement agencies, so as to expedite cases of corruption.   

The Committee adopted the Report, with amendments.

Committee’s Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report on Statistics South Africa
The Chairperson noted that Members had had ample time to study the Report before the meeting and asked that they comment on any amendments or corrections, page by page.

Members observed that the report had a few grammatical errors, and asked that these be corrected.

Dr George said that Parliament needed to play a role in the sensitisation programme around the Census 2011.

Mr Van Rooyen said that Statistics South Africa should ensure that the business register was up to date.

The Committee adopted the Report, with the corrections and amendments proposed.

The meeting was adjourned