Parliament, Sunday 26 April 2020 – The Minister of Health is among the Members of Cabinet scheduled to brief various Committees this week on the work their departments are doing to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since the resumption of the business of Parliament, new Rules enabling the holding of virtual Parliament sittings and Committee meetings were created.

This week, Committees of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces are scheduled to hold joint meetings virtually (from Monday to Friday) and will deal with matters of oversight of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Independent Police Investigations Directorate and the Auditor General are among the bodies scheduled to appear before the Committees this week.

Members of the public may get involved and follow committee sittings live on Parliament TV (DSTV Channel 408), via live stream on Parliament YouTube channel and Twitter page on the links below. You may subscribe to the Parliament YouTube channel to receive instant notification of live feeds.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ParliamentofRSA

Facebook: https://facebook.com/ParliamentofRSA

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ParliamentofRSA


Details of the Committee meetings are as follows:

MONDAY:
Joint Meeting: Portfolio Committee on Health and Select Committee on Health and Social Services - Briefing by the Minister of Health on the state of readiness of quarantine sites in provinces, shortage of personal protective equipment, services provided to refugees and asylum seekers, financial/budgetary implications of this pandemic for the Department, policy implications post the pandemic and update on vaccine trials.

TUESDAY:
Joint Meeting: Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry and Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Industry Development, Small Business development, Tourism, Employment and Labour - Briefing by the Minister on Government’s response to the potential negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the economy and the measures considered to mitigate against it.

Joint Meeting: Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and Select Committee on Security and Justice - Briefing by the Department of Home Affairs on the removal and movement of refugees in Cape Town Central Business District during the lockdown period, on the areas of services to be rendered, closure and opening of the ports of entry during the COVID-19 period.

WEDNESDAY:
Joint Meeting: Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and Select Committee on Education and Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture - Briefing by the Department of Basic Education on an Update and Status of Schooling during COVID-19 Lockdown;

Joint Meeting: Portfolio Committee on Police and Select Committee on Security and Justice Briefing by the SAPS on police management of the National State Disaster lockdown; Briefing by IPID on police misconduct during the National State Disaster lockdown

Joint Meeting: Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services and Select Committee on Security and Justice - Briefing on measures taken by the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services to deal with COVID-19 in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Department of Correctional Services

THURSDAY:
Joint Meeting: Portfolio Committee on Transport and Select Committee on Transport, Public Service and Administration, Public Works and Infrastructure - The Minister to brief the Committees and provide an update on the implementation of Covid-19 regulations in terms of the following aspects: The current adherence to the regulations and implementation by the Department of Transport thereof in terms of the following: Statistics of vehicle movement from 26 March 2020 to date on all roads that have vehicle counting technology installed (TomTom vehicle movement information, ETC vehicle count technology on Gauteng Highways, SANRAL toll gate vehicle count information, Provincial road vehicle count technology installed on roads); Level of compliance with regulations by Public transport operators per category.

FRIDAY:
Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans - Briefing by the Auditor General on the Interim Management Audit Report and a briefing by the Content Advisor on the APP of the department.

For full details of scheduled committee meetings this week, updated regularly, please click https://www.parliament.gov.za/storage/app/media/Docs/zlist/e9437907-1815-4c61-9c72-b40f9564c2dc.doc

ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA 
Enquiries: Moloto Mothapo – 082 370 6930