Honourable Deputy Chairperson
Honourable delegates
Fellow South Africans
Introduction
Parliament's Budget Vote is an opportunity to demonstrate how Parliament, an organ of people's power, is utilising public resources to pursue its vision of building a people’s institution that seeks a better quality of life for all South Africans.
As you are aware, our Constitution enjoins us to transform our society by establishing a society that is based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights. Building such a society is a process to which all of us can contribute by making our voices heard here in the national Parliament, in the nine provincial legislatures, in municipal councils and in broader society.
It is evident that given our young democracy, our Parliament has a particular role in promoting dialogue and free expression of views by South Africans in a manner that promotes respect and dignity. This is important if we are to heal the divisions of the past.
Through this Budget Vote, we are able to once again present a progress report on the implementation of the strategic objectives that crystallised the policy imperatives for the fourth Parliament. These imperatives are amplified in the strategic plan for 2009 to 2014.
We are fully aware that the 2012/13 financial year is a penultimate year in the work of this Parliament. Soon we will be conducting a mid-term review to assess our performance against our own goals.
I am therefore delighted to present to the House the budget of Parliament for the current financial year under the annual theme "the knowledge economy and development opportunities". We chose this theme because we recognise the centrality of knowledge and technology in modern economies, and as the new drivers of productivity, economic growth and development.
One of the important features of the knowledge economy is that it uses knowledge as an economic commodity. Unlike economy based on resources such as minerals, which are finite, knowledge production is infinite and creates boundless opportunities.
At this point allow me to congratulate our government for winning a major part of the bid to host, in our continent, two of the three components of the Square Kilometre Array. The project has immense spin-offs in the areas of research, engineering and science for present and future generations. The critical question however is how best South Africans can leverage on these opportunities.
2. Parliament's Budget (2011/12)
Honourable Deputy Chairperson, as we reported last year during the 2011/12 budget vote Parliament was allocated a budget of R1.674 billion. This budget was divided into five programmes: administration, legislation and oversight, public and international participation, members' facilities, and associated services. Among others, the following are some of the things this budget helped us to achieve.
2.1 Chamber Upgrade
We have managed to revamp this National Council Of Provinces (NCOP) Chamber with improved sound quality and acoustics.
2.2 Conducting Oversight
We continue to strengthen oversight. For example, the executive response rate to questions has increased to 94%. This is an improvement from 90% in the 2010/11 financial year. Our target is 100% response rate from the executive. We have also created more space for committees to conduct oversight through the introduction of the Committee Oversight Week.
2.3 Legislation
With regard to legislation, the NCOP passed a total of 28 Bills.
2.4 Public participation
In support of public participation, the following were the highlights:
1) Provincial week was continued with the last programme focusing on the achievement of clean audits by municipalities.
2) Taking Parliament to the People – for example, we held a very successful Taking Parliament to the People programme at Nquthu, Umzinyathi District, in KwaZulu-Natal. Follow-up on the work of these programmes is continuing. This year in November we shall be visiting Northern Cape, in Pixley le ka Seme District Municipality. In March next year we shall be going to Mpumalanga but we still need to finalise details with the leadership of the province.
3) Legislative work – we have ensured meaningful public participation when dealing with legislation (examples include our approach to the Protection of State Information and the Traditional Courts Bills). We integrated public inputs as one of the ways to improve the quality of the laws we pass.
4) Public participation model – a parliamentary Task Team has been established and consists of 22 MPs to develop the model. The Team will also work in collaboration with the 9 provincial legislatures.
2.5 Cooperative government and intergovernmental relations
The NCOP will continue to build relations with Provincial Legislatures. We are already conducting joint business review and strategic planning sessions. This is significant given the fact that Provincial Legislatures are the lifeblood of the NCOP, and that we need to promote co-operative government and good intergovernmental relations. This is especially so given the fact that we continue to deal with interventions between the different spheres of government.
2.6 International participation
Parliament has been actively involved in bilateral and multilateral relation activities over the past financial year and the emphasis has been on inter-parliamentary cooperation to enhance good parliamentary governance.
The hosting of the Globe Chapter in preparation for the COP17 Conference as well as the IPU-COP17 Climate Change Meeting that Parliament on the margins of the United Nations’ COP17 Climate Change Conference in Durban last year are some of the engagements that are worth noting. It is important, therefore, that we monitor the resolutions of this Conference and the commitments made by our government in that regard.
Parliament will continue to engage with other foreign parliaments to share notes and experiences in relation to parliamentary governance and international participation broadly. Most recently, our Parliament hosted the President of India and this was an attempt to encourage robust parliament-to-parliament relations in the spirit of the India Brazil South Africa (IBSA) and Brazil Russia India China South Africa (BRICS) initiatives. We will engage this House for a broader participation in the envisaged IBSA and BRICS Parliamentary forum.
Also recently the Parliamentary Oversight Authority (POA) undertook a benchmarking visit to the European Parliament to exchange experiences in the field of parliamentary governance and institutional oversight as it relates to parliaments and state institutions.
Some of the observations during this exchange exercise is that parliaments are evolving. In this regard, the European Parliament notes in its 2025 plan that the multi-polarity of the globalised world, the multi-level nature of governance, the multiple players that are interacting in law-making and political activities are creating directly or indirectly a new context for the legislature. Our Parliament must also learn to adapt in an environment of constant change and learn to react quickly to situations in the interest of society.
2.7 Improvement of Financial Management
With respect to the findings of the Auditor General's report of 2010/2011, we implemented an accelerated programme to improve the financial management environment of Parliament. The most visible and immediate accomplishment of the project was to reduce the number of Auditor General's findings from 115 in 2010 to fewer than 10 in 2011. We continue to receive unqualified reports with reduced matters of emphasis.
3. This year's budget (2012/13)
For the current financial year Parliament has been allocated a total of R1, 763 billion, which includes R430 million direct charge against the National Revenue Fund for Members’ remuneration.
The budget is divided into the five programme areas of Parliament as follows:
- Programme : Administration is R392 million, an increase of 6.5% over the R368 million of 2011-12.
- Programme 2: Legislation and Oversight is R311 million, an increase of 4.3% over the R298 million of 2011-12. R55 million of this is allocated to committees, an increase of R5 million or 10% for the financial year.
- Programme 3: Public and International Participation is R118 million, an increase of 8.2% over the R109 million for 2011-12.
- Programme 4: Members' Facilities is R200 million, an increase of 0.1% over the R199 million of 2011-12.
- Programme 5: Associated Services providing financial support to political parties totals R311 million, an increase of 4.3% over the R298 million of 2011-12.
This budget will be utilised to further implement the work of Parliament for the current financial year which include the following:
3.1 Budget Office
As part of the continuing work to implement the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act on 8 May 2012 we, as Presiding Officers, appointed Professor Mohammed Jahed, who has been seconded to Parliament by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), to assist with the establishment of the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Professor Jahed will work on establishing the Office until the end of the year and will be accountable to the Presiding Officers for functional and operational issues for the duration of his secondment.
3.2 Other initiatives
The other initiatives that are continuing in this financial year are divided into the strategic objectives, in terms of the Strategic Plan, as follows:
- Build an effective and efficient institution
(i) This includes review of organisational structure and other organisational efficiency initiatives. This is a major project that requires political buy-in. We are in the process of finalising our proposals and we will thereafter engage the political stakeholders on how best to support the work of the institution and Members in general.
- Strengthen oversight
(i) This includes, among others, the development and implementation of systems, processes and rules of engagement for delegated legislation; development of oversight monitoring and evaluation (early warning) systems; and implementation of the Money Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act (including the Budget Office);
- Increase public involvement and participation
(i) This includes the development of the Public Participation Model; and expanding the reach of broadcasting with broadcasting infrastructure.
- Improve and widen international cooperation and participation
(i) To build capacity a workshop of the Parliamentary Group on International Relations was held at the weekend to crystallise the role of Parliament in international relations. We are also preparing to host the 59th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in 2013.
These do not answer all of the issues that Members raised during the last budget vote, but they do answer most of them.
4. Matter regarding Secretary to Parliament and Chief Finacial Officer
Before concluding my presentation, I would like to take this opportunity to report on the matter of the Secretary to Parliament and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). As members are aware, the Secretary and the Chief Financial Officer were placed on leave to allow the investigation by the Auditor-General into the salary advance payment to the Secretary to Parliament with regard to the construction of a perimeter wall at his residence.
The report was tabled at a special meeting of the Parliamentary Oversight Authority (POA). The POA considered and accepted the report and the recommendations by the Auditor-General.
In this regard, Parliament will formally engage with Mr Dingani and the Chief Finance Officer, Mr Leslie Mondo, regarding the processes to follow. Both Mr Dingani and Mr Mondo have been on special leave since March 26. The Deputy Secretary, Mr Michael Coetzee, has been acting as Secretary.
5. Conclusion
Honourable Deputy Chairperson, with this budget we hope to strengthen the role of our Parliament. We are aware that ours is to oversee a modern knowledge-based economy. This calls for huge investments in structural and human capacity. The knowledge economy is critical in helping us solve our current and future challenges as a nation in a sustainable manner.
I recommend Parliament's budget totalling R1,763 billion, in the hope that you will support the work of this Parliament in giving the voice to the voiceless and holding the government to account.
I would like to thank all the members and the officials for the role they continue to play in making it possible for us to be involved in this important work that Parliament does for our nation.
I thank you.
