seminar
26 February 2009
The Speakers Forum will these two days, 26 and 27 February 2009, be taking
yet another giant step, through the hosting of a seminar, in its mission to
strengthen the legislative sector as a distinct arm of government in order to
advance participatory and representative democracy.
Convened around the theme, "Entrenching a strong legislature through the
institutionalisation of the sector approach," the objectives of the seminar are
as follows:
* To review and evaluate the legislative sector's strategic developments and
how the sector has moved strategically from 2004 to 2009.
* To explore strategies of how the legislative sector can continue to be the
backbone of South African society.
* To give tangible meaning to these objectives, the seminar will, amongst
others, try to consolidate the Speaker's Forum's institutional memory by
creating a link between the current crop of presiding officers and the oncoming
ones to the fourth Parliament.
This will be done through a handover of a legacy package to the Secretary to
Parliament tonight during our official banquet. The Secretary will then pass on
the material to the new Presiding Officers and Provincial Secretaries after the
oncoming elections.
The package is a compilation of self-contained booklets covering a lot of
subjects very central to the institutional arrangements and operations of the
Speaker's Forum. Some of the topics covered are: The Role of Presiding
Officers, SA Legislative Sector Policy and Strategic Framework, Human Resource
Development, Gender Mainstreaming, Disability Strategic Framework, Financial
Management Information Systems and European Union (EU) Legislative Support
Programme (2004 to 2005).
Important as are all of the topics covered, it is nevertheless important to
highlight the generous assistance of the EU; hence its representation on the
panel by Ms J Muller, EU Projects Officer. The EU has previously funded the
Speakers Forum's Legislature Support Programme (LSP) at â¬10 million from
December 2003 to January 2009.
This programme focused on the following five areas of the operations of the
Speaker's Forum:
* law making systems and processes, policy development, assessment of
implementation capacity, oversight and accountability improved
* public participation in decision-making enhanced and education in democracy
developed
* improved equality on gender and disability in the legislatures
* skills in legislatures improved
* enhance Information and Communication Technology in legislatures.
The Speaker's Forum decided to direct about R15 million of the funding to
enhancing information communication technology (ICT) towards installing a Video
Conferencing System for the sector. Launched in February 2008, the system was
aimed at facilitating communication between the Legislatures by cutting down
all challenges related to travelling logistics normally associated with
convening of seminars or conference to discuss issues. Now Presiding Officers
are able to participate in conferences with each other from the comfort of
their offices.
The EU has once more came forward and pledged â¬15 million (+R180 million at
the current exchange rate) for the Legislative Sector Policy Support Programme
(SPSP) which will run from April 2009 to March 2013).
Parliament will receive funds on behalf of the Speakers' Forum on a date to
be announced in due course. The Speaker of the National Assembly and the
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will assume the
treasury role whilst the Secretary to Parliament will be the accounting
officer.
For enquiries, please contact:
Mr. Lebogang L. Nawa
Communications Manager
Tel: 021 403 2683
Cell: 082 786 7326
E-mail: lnawa@parliament.gov.za
Issued by: Parliament of South Africa
26 February 2009
Source: Parliament of South Africa (http://www.parliament.gov.za)
