Finance Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report
Finance Standing Committee
23 October 2019
Chairperson: Mr M Maswanganyi (ANC)
Meeting Summary
Available here once adopted: BRRR 2019
The Committee was convened to discuss and adopt the Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report of the Standing Committee on Finance, dated 23 October 2019
The Committee agreed that only section 16 of the Report should be discussed at the meeting – this covered recommendations. Members asked to emphasise job creation and under spending of National Treasury’s budget, high vacancy rates and numerous acting officials at the SA Revenue Service. Further recommendations discussed was implementation of the recommendations of the Nugent Commission, timeframes for outstanding legislation and current remuneration structure and labour disputes of the Financial Intelligence Centre.
The Report was adopted with amendments.
Meeting report
The Committee Secretary offered apologies from Dr D George (DA) and Mr F Shivambu (EFF).
Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report of the Standing Committee on Finance, Dated 23 October 2019
The Chairperson asked if the Committee should go through the report by each entity or by per page.
Mr W Wessels (FF Plus) said that everything up to Section 16: Observations and Recommendations, were factual and suggested those parts be skipped.
Mr G Skosana (ANC) seconded the proposal.
The Chairperson said that technical matters of the proposal could be emailed to Parliament’s research team.
The Chairperson started reading out Section 16.
Section 16.1: Ms P Abraham (ANC) commented that the sentence was too long in the beginning. She suggested the sentence beginning “the Committee was also briefed” in a new sentence.
Section 16.2: Ms Abraham suggested a full stop after it says “entities that achieved clean audits” so that a new sentence starts with “we express concerns” to highlight the Committee’s position.
Section 16.3: Ms Abraham remarked that it is a long sentence albeit she acknowledged the necessity of the stated information. She said the way in which it was written failed to express a clear and precise message of what the Committee tried to express what was picked up in the oversight process.
Section 16.4: Ms Abraham picked up a typo
Section 16.5: A Member asked for clarity on “lack of procurement” in the wording.
The Chairperson asked the Committee Content Advisor to amend and replace it with appropriate language.
Section 16.6: Ms Abraham enquired whether “a month upon the adoption of this report” could be inserted.
The Committee Secretary agreed.
It was also suggested that it needed to be added to this sentence to indicate that loss must be recouped and returned to Treasury.
Section 16.8: The Chairperson commented on “[T]he failure to achieve Job Fund projects and disbursement”. He suggested these entities be asked account for this failure considering the high youth unemployment in the country.
The Content Advisor enquired if the Chairperson had read the sentence correctly.
The Chairperson said it was not about the content, it was about the Committee needing to note this. Parliament’s decisions and recommendations were enforceable and must be implemented. Anyone who fails to implement should be held contemptuous of laws and be taken to task.
A Member said the Department should come back to report progress.
Mr I Morolong (ANC) commented the Department was unable to quantify the jobs created.
Section 16.11: The Chairperson remarked that the SA Revenue Service (SARS) was always revising its projections and estimates.
Section 16.12: the Content Advisor commented that SARS must fill positions. Officials present in the previous meeting with the Committee were in acting positions – this is what section 16.3 speaks to.
Mr Skosana suggested the part about the Committee’s confidence should be removed. He suggested inserting words to indicate the Committee urges SARS for actions.
The Chairperson asked the Content Advisor to rephrase the section to indicate what the Committee had noted and what it recommended.
Section 16.13: The Chairperson remarked that gender representation is a huge challenge at SARS and commented on the high vacancy rate. He expressed concern of SARS handing out packages which was a waste of revenue.
Section 16.14: Ms Abraham suggested inserting “Committee recommends Commission to return to report progress after having reconciled reports”. She said there seemed to be contradictions. The Committee would like SARS to implement the recommendations suggested by the Nugent Commission and SARS must brief the Committee on implementation of these recommendations. She said it must be made clear that the Committee needed further elaboration from National Treasury.
The Content Advisor suggested a new paragraph be started for this recommendation/request.
Section 16.15: Mr Wessel proposed more substantial legislation to be inserted so that National Treasury would be made more accountable to the Committee.
Section 16.17: Ms Abraham asked that something be inserted to indicate entities’ responsibilities.
Mr G Hill-Lewis (DA) asked to correct “the majority of the Committee” as he did not support the idea of a state-owned bank.
The Chairperson said it was not the Committee’s idea - it was on Treasury’s agenda.
Mr Hill-Lewis suggested the wording “the Committee believes…”
The Chairperson said that if the majority of the Committee agreed then it is the stance of the committee.
Ms Abraham suggested it should be phrased in a way that reflects it was Treasury that had come with the view and the Committee agreed to the view.
Section 16.18: The Chairperson commented that Treasury had too many outstanding Bills that had not been tabled. The challenge the Committee would be faced with are too many un-tabled Bills must be raised.
Ms Abraham suggested inserting the wording that indicated concrete timeframes for each Bill must be provided to the Committee.
Section 16.19: The Chairperson enquired if it was appropriate for the Committee to instruct the Executive on how to execute its powers.
The Content Advisor explained it could result in conflict of interest and thus the existing wording is appropriate and does not constitute overstepping the mark.
The Chairperson suggested removing this part until more clarity is sought.
Section 16.20: Mr Hill-Lewis suggested inserting “Committee welcomes the decision by the new management team to be transparent about the unlisted investments and to place details of these investments online and the Committee encourages even greater transparency”.
Section 16.21: The Chairperson did not think the Mpati Commission Report would be ready by October. He suggested revising the date and asked to include other matters such as writing off loans and supply chain management in this section.
Section 16.23: the Chairperson suggested removing the first sentence.
Section 16.24: Mr Wessel suggested including the recommendation on the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) on the current remuneration structure and labour disputes. Due to the previous CEO and CFO receiving huge annual remuneration increases from about 40-70%, the current incumbents should not get such increases
Section 16.27: Ms Abraham pointed out a grammatical error.
Section 16.28: Ms Abraham suggested this sentence should be added to 16.25.
Section 16.29: Mr Hill-Lewis said R53 million in a whole year was impossible because even the amount that Cape Town drug dealers and gangsters are moving offshore weekly exceeded this amount.
The Chairperson said that it should be added that the money was flowing illegally.
Section 16.30: The Chairperson suggested that the last paragraph of section 16.29 be added as a concluding paragraph.
Mr Hill-Lewis indicated his appreciation of the availabilities of the DG and Deputy Minister and suggested the appreciative remarks be added to the concluding paragraph.
The Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report of the Standing Committee on Finance, dated 23 October 2019, was adopted with amendments.
The meeting was adjourned.
Documents
No related documents
Present
-
Maswanganyi, Mr MJ
Chairperson
ANC
-
Abraham, Ms PN
ANC
-
Buthelezi, Mr EM
IFP
-
Hill-Lewis, Mr GG
DA
-
Mabiletsa, Ms MD
ANC
-
Morolong, Mr IK
ANC
-
Skosana, Mr GJ
ANC
-
Wessels, Mr W
FF+
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