Fifth Democratic Parliament’s eventful start draws to a close
A new Members’ Code of Conduct, a historic bilateral agreement between the Parliaments of South Africa and Russia to improve people-to-people contact between the two countries, a joint sitting for the first time of the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to debate the State of the Nation Address and to hear the President’s reply to the debate provided some of the highlights in the first six months of the fifth democratic Parliament.
A new Secretary to Parliament, Mr Gengezi Mgidlana, was appointed in December following the passing away of Mr Michael Coetzee in June.
These highlights went along with the conduct of some Members of the NA which sometimes made for rowdy and marathon plenary sittings and which the Powers and Privileges Committee had to consider .
In November, the NA adopted the Committee’s report and recommendations about allegations of conduct constituting contempt of Parliament by Members of the NA on 21 August when President Jacob Zuma appeared to answer oral questions. Letters of suspension and notices of fines were the sent to 20 members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) found guilty of contempt of Parliament. The EFF has taken to court to challenge the NA’s decision.
Three new matters have been referred to the Committee about unparliamentary remarks in the NA by an African National Congress member and two Democratic Alliance members.
Of the 13 parties represented in the fifth democratic Parliament, about 52% of NA Members and about 86% of the NCOP Permanent Delegates are new.
Parliament’s oversight and lawmaking committees held public hearings on eight occasions in the first six months of the new Parliament. On two occasions, these were at Parliament and on six they were in communities in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape. There were 44 oversight visits, spread across all nine province and NCOP Permanent Delegates also spent a week in the provinces from which they come to assess government programmes and projects first-hand.
Twelve bills were passed at the 35 plenary sittings of the NA and the 29 of the NCOP. There were also seven joint sittings of both Houses to debate issues. In addition, there were 31 debates in the NA and 30 in the NCOP.
Next year will kick off with President Zuma’s State of the Nation Address, debate on the address, the President’s reply to the debate and the Minister of Finance’s Budget Speech.
