A review of the national budget, finalising a more efficient way to record Members of Parliament (MPs) attendance of Parliamentary sessions and the National Council of Provinces’ (NCOP’s) Taking Parliament to the People programme are among issues on Parliament’s agenda this quarter.
Critical legislation is also being processed by the NCOP and the National Assembly (NA). As at 13 September, 36 bills had been introduced and 17 passed and sent to the President for assent. Seven of the bills introduced were Private Member’s Bills.
During 2012, 45 bills were introduced and 25 were passed and sent to President Zuma for assent. There is still about a month left for this annual session of the fourth parliament.
The two ad-hoc committees established in September have until the end of October to report to the NA. They are the ad-hoc committee on the Public Protector’s report into the acquisition of the Electoral Commission’s new head office and the ad-hoc committee to consider President Jacob Zuma’s reservations about the constitutionality of the Protection of State Information Bill.
Later this month, Minister of Finance Mr Pravin Gordhan will present the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) to the NA, together with the Adjustments Appropriation Bill. The MTBPS outlines the economic context against which the 2014 budget is being formulated and sets out the spending framework for the next three years. It is an opportunity for government to modify expenditure and revenue patterns so that delivery is accelerated.
Public participation in the budget process has increased since our first democratic election in 1994 The Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act of 2009 has also enhanced the scope for public participation.
Constitutional principles on which the Act is based are that:
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Parliament’s power to amend money bills (which the Act enabled) should be exercised responsibly, carefully and in the national interest. Parliament would have to have sufficient institutional capacity to amend money bills.
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No procedure should unduly put the functioning of the state at risk and so strict timelines were set for deliberations on different bills.
- Public involvement should be facilitated.
The Act resulted in the establishment of Finance and Appropriations Committees which hold public hearings on the budget as a whole and then report to the Houses.
It also provided for parliament’s two houses the NA and the NCOP to consider and adopt a fiscal framework. Before February 2010, this framework was tabled but not debated and adopted.
Another key element which the Act introduced is the preparation of budgetary review and recommendation reports by Parliament’s committees. These reports were introduced in 2010 and may include recommendations on the future use of resources. They are a critical part of Parliament’s engagement with the budget for the following year and the Minister of Finance must respond to these recommendations when the budget is tabled.
NA Committees’ preparation of their budget review and recommendation reports began this week and are scheduled to all be completed by 18 October
The budget is a tool to achieve economic and developmental goals and it is a vital aspect of Parliament’s oversight responsibility. But the scrutiny of departmental budgets against goals and targets is not a once-off activity. It is an ongoing exercise occurring throughout the year. It includes regular reports to Parliament from government departments and reports from the auditor-general on spending and financial management trends.
The Parliamentary Budget Office, also established by the Act, and launched earlier this year will in the future provide expert technical analysis and information about fiscal matters to MPs so that they can carry out their new, budget-influencing role.
Another way in which Parliament carries out its oversight mandate is by visiting specific areas. The NCOP’s Taking Parliament to the People programme, which takes place at the end of October and culminates in an address by the President on 1 November, brings together national, provincial and local government in an engagement with the people of a particular area.
The programme, to be held in the Tshwane Metro this time, was preceded by preliminary visits to projects in the area so that first-hand information could be obtained on what the Executive has done and what the areas of concern are.
The ability of Parliament to effectively fulfil its mandate also depends on MPs’ attendance of the sessions at which deliberations and decisions are made. A process is currently underway to finalise a consolidated attendance policy for Parliament. This process is at an advanced stage within the multiparty Joint Whips’ Forum from which a report will be submitted to the Joint Rules Committee for consideration and decision.
Attendance of both committee and plenary sessions is currently captured manually and political parties must verify these attendance records.
Once the proposed attendance policy is agreed by the Joint Rules Committee, an electronic solution for capturing attendance could be implemented. This should result in higher levels of efficiency and accuracy in capturing attendance and make attendance records instantly available to party whips. The current manual attendance recording system does not enable this.
