ATC221026: Report of the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament on the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa’s 2022/23 First Quarter Report, dated 21 October 2022

Joint Standing Committee on Financial Management of Parliament

Report of the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament on the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa’s 2022/23 First Quarter Report, dated 21 October 2022

The Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament having considered the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa’s performance in the first quarter of 2022/23, reports as follows:

1. Introduction

1.1 Section 4 of the Financial Management of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act, No. 10 of 2009 (the FMPPLA) provides for the establishment of an oversight mechanism to maintain oversight of the financial management of Parliament. The Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament (the Committee) was established in terms of the Joint Rules of Parliament. The Committee has the powers afforded to parliamentary committees under sections 56 and 69 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution).

1.2 Section 52 of the FMPPLA requires that the accounting officer must, within 30 days of the end of each quarter, report to the Executive Authority on Parliament’s quarterly performance in respect of the implementation of the Annual Performance Plan (APP). The Executive Authority in turn, and in terms of section 54 of the FMPPLA, must table each quarterly report within five working days of receiving it, for the consideration of the oversight mechanism i.e. the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament. The 2022/23 First Quarter report was accordingly tabled on 5 August 2022.

1.3 The senior management team, led by the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Secretary to Parliament, appeared before the Committee in a meeting held on 2 September 2022 during which the institution’s performance in the period under review was interrogated.

1.4 This report should be read along with Parliament’s Strategic Plan for 2019-2024, the 2022/23 APP and budget, and the Committee’s reports in respect thereof.

1.5 This report comprises four parts: Part A, containing the background to the third quarter performance report; Part B, a summary of the institution’s financial and performance information for the period under review; Part C, the Committee’s observations; and Part D, the Committee’s recommendations.

Part A

2. Background

2.1 Mandate

2.1.1 Parliament derives its mandate from:

- Chapter 4 of the Constitution;

- the FMPPLA which regulates the institution’s financial management;

- the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, 2009 No 9 of 2009 which provides procedures to amend money bills; and

- the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act No 4 of 2004 which defines and declares the national and provincial legislatures’ powers, privileges and immunities.

2.2 Mission and vision

2.2.1 Parliament has as its vision to be an activist and responsive people’s Parliament that improves the quality of life of South Africans and ensures enduring equality in our society. Its mission is to represent the people, and to ensure government by the people, by fulfilling its constitutional functions of passing laws and overseeing executive action. To this end, the institution conducts its business in line with the following values: openness, responsiveness, accountability, teamwork, professionalism, and integrity.

2.3 Strategic Priorities

2.3.1 Parliament has identified only two strategic priorities for the Sixth Parliament i.e. to strengthen oversight, and to enhance public involvement in Parliament’s activities.

2.3.2 In order to achieve the above outcome, the Sixth Parliament will:

- improve committee oversight work in relation to the budget cycle in particular, through allowing more time in the parliamentary programme for oversight activities and by encouraging committees to undertake such activities jointly.

- improve the effectiveness of public hearings through greater public participation, expanding public education, better dissemination of information, effective use of broadcasting, technology and social media, the use of more official languages, and encouraging committees to undertake joint public hearings.

2.3.3 To aid the above activities, the institution will:

- enhance research and legal support in respect of oversight activities;

- improve members’ capacity through capacity-building programmes that will empower parliamentarians to be effective and efficient in executing their oversight responsibilities;

- improve oversight and accountability through better monitoring, tracking and evaluation in respect of Parliament’s own work, as well as the work of the Executive;

- ensure openness and accessibility through the use of modern technology in respect of social media, tools-of-trade, workflows and automation; and

- cut costs to allow for operational sustainability.

Part B

3. Fourth Quarter Performance

3.1 Overview

3.1.1 In 2022/23 the institution intends to continue measuring parliamentarians’ satisfaction with the services provided by the administration. Client satisfaction will be measured quarterly through a survey rating the administration’s services along five dimensions most statistically correlated to client satisfaction.

3.1.2 The newly-appointed Secretary to Parliament, during the briefing to the Committee, acknowledged that the 2022/23 First Quarter Report did not provide information on performance in respect of any of Parliament’s five strategic objectives. He emphasised that as the strategic orientation of the institution was reconsidered, provision would be made for Parliament to reflect on progress made as far as the attainment of its strategic objectives.

3.1.3 Parliament’s performance management system had to be aligned to organisational strategies, and had to support the priorities outlined in the Strategic Plan of the Sixth Parliament. The organisational review would include analysis of the institution’s priority areas.

3.1.4 The Secretary to Parliament further emphasised that the administration would design its performance reporting to ensure that what was measured through the member satisfaction surveys was aligned to the focus areas of the Sixth Parliament. The administration should evolve from process-reporting to measuring outcomes and impact. This development will require the implementation of the balanced scorecard methodology.

3.1.5 The administration will develop a blueprint for progressively implementing changes towards ensuring that the institution’s overall performance was accurately catered for in the performance management system. Improved performance will require robust performance monitoring and reporting of outcomes.

3.1.6 A baseline for performance was determined for each indicator following 2021/22 when the member satisfaction survey was first introduced. As a result, performance in the first quarter of 2022/23 was much closer to the targets set.

3.1.7 Table 1 below reflects the institution’s overall performance (as per the member satisfaction survey).

Indicator	Overall Member Satisfaction (%)	Ease of Access	Timeousness	Reliability	Fairness	Usefulness
ICT Services	82,48	82,26	80,65	82,62	N/A	83,23
Facilities Management Services	75,51	74,23	76,47	75,77	N/A	75,38
Capacity Building Services	69,39	68,26	68,70	69,57	N/A	70,00
Research Services	79,02	79,64	80,00	78,15	78,52	79,26
Content Advice	80,66	81,05	81,43	80,71	80,69	80,00
Procedural Advice	75,07	73,75	73,47	75,10	75,60	76,33
Legal Advice	75,64	77,92	77,27	74,58	74,58	75,10
Committee Support Services	84,34	84,33	84,75	85,08	82,37	84,07
Public Participation Support	77,23	78,00	76,40	77,65	77,20	76,86

Table 1: Outcome of Member Satisfaction Survey, First Quarter 2022/23 (Source: Parliament of the RSA)

3.2 Programme-by-programme summary of performance information

Paragraphs 3.2.1 to 3.2.34 provide a summary of some of the key performance-related developments across all three programmes.

Programme 1: Administration

3.2.1 Programme 1 provides strategic leadership, management and corporate services to Parliament, and comprises the following sub-programmes: Executive Authority, Office of the Secretary, and Corporate and Support Services. All targets under this programme were met.

3.2.2 Table 2 below illustrates the performance across Support Services.

Parliamentary Service	Indicator	Q3 target	Q3 Performance	Variance	Status	Reasons for Variance/ Mitigation
Digital service	%Member satisfaction	80%	82,48%	+2.48	Achieved	_______
Facilities management service	% Member satisfaction	75%	75,51%	+0,51	Achieved	_______

Table 2: Performance Information: Support Services (Source: Parliament of the RSA)

3.2.3 According to the table above, sub-programmes Digital Services and Facilities Management Service exceeded their targets by 2.48 per cent, and 0.51 per cent respectively.

Information Communication Technology (ICT)

3.2.4 ICT and broadcasting, and audio-visual services were provided to enable broadcasted virtual and hybrid plenary sittings and committee meetings via television, radio, and digital streaming of oversight activities.

3.2.5 Members of the public could follow virtual and hybrid proceedings of the National Assembly (NA) and the NCOP, and committee meetings live via DSTV Channel 408, and via Parliament’s YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter pages. During the reporting period, the broadcast infrastructure availability was 100 per cent.

Facilities Management

3.2.6 The post-fire relocation of parliamentarians to the sixth floor of the90 Plein Street building was completed in the period under review. The NCOP was also declared safe for occupation, and the process of relocating stakeholders back to the NCOP was ongoing. An additional 70 offices were allocated and were occupied by the various political parties that were impacted by the fire. Plans were initiated for the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI) to expedite the process of transferring floors 9 to 14 of the 90 Plein Street building to Parliament.

3.2.7 The institution would revise the space utilisation plan once the remote work policy has been finalised.

3.2.8 In respect of the Parliament Security Enhancement project, the project charter has been approved and the extension of the boundary fence has been initiated.

3.2.9 In respect of the institution’s emergency preparedness strategy, joint emergency preparedness committee meetings were held every month with both internal and external stakeholders. The terms of reference for a fire engineer were also drafted.

Parliamentary Communications Services

3.2.10 Communication support including media liaison, stakeholder management, broadcast, photographic, video production and branding support was provided to public hearings that took place in the various provinces in the processing of thirteen bills. Sixty-one adverts on bills were published in order to create awareness and encourage participation. Three videos were produced for the oversight visit of the ad hoc committee on the Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery in the Kwazulu Natal province.

3.2.11 In the period under review communication plans were developed to support, amongst others, hybrid and virtual sittings of the NA and the NCOP, the Makhanda Parliamentary Constituency Office Back-to-School programme and report back session, Women’s’ Charter Review sessions in the Gauteng and Northern Cape provinces, the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlement and Environment public hearings, and Youth Day.

3.2.12 More than 290 media advisories and releases were developed and distributed supporting, amongst others, the President’s address on the devastation caused by the flooding along the East Coast, for National Assembly Speaker’s appointment task force of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to mediate in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, for Parliament to consider the appointment of a Secretary to Parliament following further engagements between presiding officers and opposition parties.

Human Resource Management

3.2.13 The organisational realignment project was still reported to be in its second phase which entailed the micro-analysis and design of business operating models, processes, and positional structures to enable a macro-functional design. The following draft job profiles have been designed to support the draft design proposals: Parliamentary Communication Services (completed); ICT (completed); Financial Management (in progress); Internal Audit (in progress); and Members Support Services (in progress).

3.2.14 In respect of talent acquisition, the institution succeeded in filling the long-vacant post of Secretary to Parliament. Mr Xolile George was appointed on 15 June 2022.

Programme 2: Legislation and Oversight

3.2.15 Programme 2 provides for support services for the effective functioning of the NA and the NCOP including procedural, legal and content advice; information services and record keeping; and secretarial and support services for the houses and their committees. The programme covers the core business of Parliament and focusses on the outputs, activities and inputs related to legislation and oversight functions.

3.2.16 The programme comprises the following sub-programmes: National Assembly (House; Committees); National Council of Provinces (House; Committees); Public Participation and External Relations; Shared Services; Sectoral Parliaments and Joint Business.

3.2.17 According to the table below, all targets under this programme were exceeded. Key performance trends under this programme are captured below.

Parliamentary Service	Indicator	Q3 target	Q3 Performance	Variance	Status	Reasons for Variance
Research service	% Member satisfaction	75%	79,02%	+4,02%	Achieved
Content advice service	% Member satisfaction	75%	80,66%	+5,66%	Achieved
Procedural advice service	% Member satisfaction	75%	75,07%	+0,07%	Achieved
Legal advice service	% Member satisfaction	75%	75,64%	+0,64%	Achieved
Committee support service	% Member satisfaction	75%	84,34%	+9,34%	Achieved
Public participation service	% Member satisfaction	75%	77,23%	+2,23%	Achieved

Table 3: Programme 2 – Legislation and Oversight (Source: Parliament of the RSA)

Committee Support

3.2.18 Committee Support is focused on supporting the core mandates of Parliament i.e. law making, oversight, public participation, co-operative government and inter-governmental relations and international engagement.

3.2.19 The institution reported on the number of documents that were prepared in the period under review: Announcement, Tabling and Committee Reports publications (50); committee reports on bills for the NA and the NCOP (20); committee minutes (351 of 373 were produced with the three-day deadline); and committee reports (121 of 127 were produced within the eight-day deadline).

3.2.20 In respect of legal support, the institution reported the following: 12 legal opinions were provided to committees within the required time; 18 legal opinions were provided to the administration within the required time; all contracts and bills that were prepared were prepared in the required timeframe.

Knowledge management

3.2.21 The Knowledge and Information Service Division supports oversight and accountability, primarily through the provision of research services and information services and multilingual language services.

3.2.22 The division produced 384 research products in the period under review in support of oversight activities of, amongst others, the ad hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery in KZN province, and the ad hoc Committee on Section 194 Enquiry.

3.2.23 The division also supported law-making processes through the provision of language services, research and information and documentation including six research papers in support of Parliament’s law-making core mandate.

3.2.24 Legislative support was provided on a number of key bills including the Basic Education Laws Amendment bill, and the 2022 Appropriations bill.

3.2.25 The Research Unit also provided two papers in support of public participation related to the consultation process for the National Veld and Forest Fire Amendment bill, and the public hearings on the Consumer Measures Protection bill held in the Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.

3.2.26 Research and information support is provided on an ongoing basis to the Committees dealing with cooperative government. In the period under review this included three research papers related to the approach to expenditure incurred by the Executive Authority of Parliament or equivalent governance structures; the determination of remuneration of judges and magistrates; and corruption allegations against the current chief executive officer of the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent.

Programme 3: Associated Services and Transfers

3.2.27 Programme 3 provides for facilities and financial support to political parties including leadership, administrative and constituency support. It also provides for transfer payments to entities in Parliament. It comprises the following sub-programmes: Members’ Facilities, Leadership, Administrative and Constituency support to political parties; Transfer to the PBO, Legislative Sector Support, and Office Supporting ISDs. Performance in respect of this programme was not measured.

Members’ Interest

3.2.28 With the disruption, resulting from the fire in Parliament the rollout of the online mobile support solution is of even greater priority to ensure members can access support and information wherever they are located. The policies and reports-informing facilities provided to Members are continually being assessed and reviewed to ensure that facilities are aligned to the needs of Members.

3.2.29 In the period under review the following initiatives were initiated and/or completed: the upgrade of laptops and tablets for members commenced; salary adjustment processed and paid; submissions were prepared for remuneration task team.

3.2.30 The turnaround time for claim processing and reimbursement averaged 3.47 days with R4.393 million paid out in relation to 6 219 claims.

Parliamentary Budget Office

3.2.31 In the period under review the Parliamentary Budget Office produced 12 analysis reports and several briefs including a briefing on the 2022 draft preferential procurement policy, and a submission on the draft Southern African Development Community (SADC) model law on public finance management.

Office on Institutions Supporting Democracy

3.2.32 The strategic objective aligned to the Legal and Constitutional Service Programme entails the provision of objective strategic, procedural and legal advice to Parliament on ISD-related matters to strengthen constitutional democracy.

3.2.33 In the period under review the OSID processed ISD-related statutory appointments in the Public Service Commission (PSC), Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) and Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).

3.2.34 Substantive reports emanating from the work of ISDs and referred to Parliament for either noting, consideration, or consideration and report were processed, namely 26 reports from the Economic cluster, 28 reports from the Governance cluster, 15 reports from the Social Services cluster, and 15 reports from the Peace and Security cluster.

4. Financial Performance in the period under review

4.1 Overview

4.1.1 In the first quarter Parliament spent 98.8 percent or R537,4 million of its appropriated budget of R543,9 million for that quarter. It is projected that the full appropriated budget of R2,757,383 will be spent by the end of the 2022/23 financial year.

4.1.2 Spending on direct charges stood at R139,4 million or 115 per cent of the first quarter budget of R121,4 million. The overspending was the result of budget reductions and the 3 per cent annual increase for public office bearers backdated to 01 April 2022. An overspend of R31,2 million is projected by the end of the financial year. This projected overspending will be a direct charge against the National Revenue Fund in line with section 23(4) of the FMPPLA.

Main Division	October – December 2021				Annual
Main Division	Budget R’000	Actuals R’000	Variance R’000	% Spent	Annual Budget R’000	Actuals R’000	Variance R’000	% Spent
Administration	178,560	176,033	2,527	99.0	776,348	176,033	600,315		22.7
Legislation and Oversight	182,715	179,900	2,815	98.4	754,117	179,900	573,217		23.9
Associated Services	182,600	181,500	1,100	99.3	755,209	181,500	573,709		24.0
Sub-Total	543,875	537,433	6,442	98.8	2,285,674	537,433	1,748,241		23.5
Direct Charges	121,481	139,418	(17,937)	114.8	471,709	139,418	332,291		29.6
TOTALS	665,356	676,851	(11,495)	101.7	2,757,383	676,851	2,080,532		24.5

Table 4: Expenditure across programmes (Source: Parliament of the RSA)

4.1.2 Table 5 below details spending across economic classification.

Economic classification	October – December 2021				Annual
Economic classification	Budget R’000	Actuals R’000	Variance R’000	% Spent	Annual Budget R’000	Actuals R’000	Variance R’000	% Spent
Compensation of Members	121,481	139,418	(17,937)	114.8	471,709	139,418	332,291	29.6
Compensation of Employees (Parmed)	19,178	18,578	600	96.8	88,403	18,578	69,825	21
Compensation of Employees	260,428	258,459	1,969	99.2	1,154,541	258,459	896,082	22.3
Goods and Services (APP)	93,922	90,787	3,135	96.7	357,824	90,787	267,037	25.4
Goods and Services (Members’ entitlements)	35,491	35,134	357	98.9	130,372	35,134	95,238	26.9
Transfers	124,062	123,805	257	100	518,572	123,805	394,767	23.9
Capital Expenditure	10,794	10,670	124	98.8	35,962	10,670	25,292	29.7
TOTALS	665,356	676,851	(11,495)	101.7	2,757,383	676,851	2,080,532	24.5

Table 5: Spending across economic classification (Source: Parliament of the RSA)

4.1.3 The spending on compensation of Members is R139 ,418 million or 115 per cent of the first quarter budget of R121,481 million. The overspending was the result of an approved 3 per cent annual salary increase. The R31,2 million projected overspending for the financial year is as a result of budget reductions.

4.1.4 Spending on compensation of employees was 99 per cent or R258,459 million of the first quarter budget of R260,4 million. Indications are that there will be full spending at the end of the financial year.

4.1.5 Spending on Parmed was 97 per cent or R18,578 million of the first quarter budget of R19,178 million. Indications are that there the entire budget will be spent by the end of the financial year.

4.1.6 The spending on goods and services, relating to the APP, was 97 per cent or R90,787 million of the first quarter budget of R93,922 million and indications are that the full annual budget will be spent by the end of the financial year.

Part C

5. Observations

5.1 Filling of critical vacancies

5.1.1 The Committee welcomes the long overdue appointment of a Secretary to Parliament. The Committee is particularly encouraged by the new leadership’s intention to ensure that every aspect of the institution, including the performance management system is geared towards achieving the Sixth Parliament’s strategic objectives.

5.2 Performance management

5.2.1 The Committee has noted that the administration will develop a blueprint for progressively implementing changes towards ensuring that parliament’s overall performance in respect of public participation, oversight, law-making, deepening international fora, and better inter-governmental relations was reflected in the performance management system. The Committee is particularly pleased that through measuring and reporting on outcomes and impact, instead of merely implementing process-reporting.

5.3 Organisational re-alignment

5.3.1 The Committee accepts that the organisational re-alignment project may be slowed down while the Secretary to Parliament familiarises himself with the operations and needs of Parliament and how these may be best provided.

5.4 Parliament’s budget allocation

5.4.1 The Committee remains concerned about the slow progress in negotiations around securing a budget for Parliament that allows it to fulfil its constitutional obligation of holding the executive to account. It is disheartening that despite repeated recommendations that the matter be resolved, and repeated efforts to be updated on progress made in this regard, no progress appears to have been made.

5.4.2 In addition to the above, the concerns around the liability posed by Parliament’s obligations in respect of Parmed contributions for former members of parliament and provincial legislatures have not yet been addressed despite commitments to commence with exploratory work to find alternative vehicles for this obligation.

5.5 Parliamentary Protection Service

5.5.1 The Committee notes that the appointment of the Head: Parliamentary Protection Service is a priority for the Secretary to Parliament and that the position will be filled early in 2023/24 so as to ensure that the post fulfils the institution’s needs as will be identified through the re-organisations process.

Part D

6. Recommendations

The Executive Authority should provide the Committee with a response to the recommendations below within 30 days of the adoption of this report by the NA and the NCOP.

6.1 Critical Vacancies

6.1.1 Although the Committee welcomes the appointment of the Secretary to Parliament and accepts commitments made to fill critical vacancies as soon as possible and in line with the re-aligned organisational structure, it must emphasise that the necessary work to fill these posts, specifically that of the Chief Financial Officer and the Head: Parliamentary Protection Service should be done with some urgency.

6.2 Performance Management

6.2.1 The Committee looks forward to being presented with the revised and improved performance management framework/strategy. Regular updates on developments in this regard should be included in each quarterly report.

6.3 Organisational re-alignment

6.3.1 The Committee accepts that the newly-appointed Secretary to Parliament must acquaint himself with the organisation and the work that has gone into the organisational re-alignment to date. The Committee should receive quarterly updates on progress made in the process to complete the re-organisation.

6.4 Parliament’s budget allocation

6.4.1 The Committee has consistently recommended that the relevant authorities negotiate and agree to a budget process that allows Parliament to be funded in a manner that recognises its constitutional responsibilities as one of the three arms of state. The Committee had hoped that significant progress would have been made by the 2022 MTBPS but this seems unlikely. Parliament’s Executive Authority and the Minister of Finance should brief the Committee on the challenges experienced, and proposals for bridging the impasses.

6.5 Parliamentary Protection Service

6.5.1 The Committee recommends that every effort be made to ensure that the Parliamentary Protection Service is equipped to execute its responsibilities, and collaborate with the South African Police Service to ensure that the parliamentary precinct is kept secure. In this, care should be taken not to “fortify” the precinct to the extent that it appears hostile to the citizens parliamentarians represent.

Report to be considered.

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