Parliament, Sunday 23 August 2020 – Parliament has a busy programme this week, which includes Questions to the President, Women’s Parliament, ministerial briefing and public hearings on the upgrading land tenure.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to answer questions during the National Assembly (NA) hybrid sitting on Thursday. The questions will be on a range of matters that include gender-based-violence (GBV), government debt that has reached almost R3 trillion, and youth unemployment. {To access the question paper, click here.}
On Tuesday, the NA will hold a hybrid plenary where Members of Parliament will, amongst others, debate an urgent matter of national importance under the topic: “Phased-in approach to the reopening of schools by the Department of Education.” This debate will be led by Mr Siphosethu Ngcobo of the Inkatha Freedom Party.
Meanwhile, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will be briefed virtually by Minister Thoko Didiza on the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s interventions to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development will hold virtual public hearings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, at 9 am, on the Upgrading of the Land Tenure Rights Amendment (ULTRA) Bill. The Bill seeks to address the unfair discrimination of women based on their gender to their right of tenure as found in the case of the Rahube matter, where the deed of grant was tested as it applied to only males. In the Rahube matter, it was an automatic transfer to the male.
A virtual High-Level Women’s Charter Review session to report back to the Free State provincial leadership on the outcomes of public hearings held there in July 2020 has been scheduled for Wednesday. On the same day, the NA will hold a hybrid question and answer session with the Ministers of Cluster 4: Economics namely Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Communications, Employment and Labour, Environmental Affairs, Forestry and Fisheries, Finance and Mineral Resources and Energy. {To access the question paper, click here.}
A hybrid Women’s Parliament under the theme “Generation Equality: Advancing our collective efforts to end gender-based-violence and feminine (GBVF) is scheduled for Friday at 09:00. The 2020 Women’s Parliament will create a platform for report-back on progress made in implementing executive undertakings and interventions initiated to respond to the scourge of GBVF and the Economic Exclusion of women. The Report-Back Session will take stock of progress made and deliberate on how to accelerate the implementation of the strategic interventions within the context of Generation Equality. The session will cover the three tiers of government in order to provide a holistic and realistic picture on the impact of interventions across the country.
Amongst the 56 committee meetings scheduled this week, is a briefing to the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament by the Acting Secretary to Parliament on Parliament’s performance in the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year including the draft 2021/22 Annual Performance Plan and budget.
Portfolio Committee on Police will on Wednesday, 26 August 2020, be briefed by the South African Police Service and the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service on the GBVF related crimes.
TUESDAY, 25 AUGUST 2020
Portfolio Committee on Transport will deliberate on the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill [B 44 –2018].
Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry will be briefed by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition on the Copyright and the Performers’ Protection Amendment Bills; Deliberations on the remitted Copyright and Performers’ Protection Amendment Bills with specific reference to the procedural reservations.
A joint meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy and Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises will be briefed by the Department of Public Enterprises and Eskom on their respective responses to the Independent Electricity Management Operator Bill [B14 –2019].
Select Committee on Health and Social Services will be briefed by the Department of Social Development on the Social Assistance Amendment Bill [B8B-2018].
A joint meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education and Select Committee on Education and Technology, Sports, Arts and Culture will be briefed by the Department of Basic Education on the following: Amended School Calendar; Risk-Adjusted Differentiated Approach; Risk-Adjusted Differentiated Approach on Curriculum and Assessment; and Directions.
WEDNESDAY, 26 AUGUST 2020
Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry will deliberate on the remitted Copyright and Performers’ Protection Amendment Bills with specific reference to the substantive reservations.
The Select Committee on Security and Justice will be briefed by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, and also consider written submissions on the Prescription in Civil and Criminal Matters (Sexual Offences) Ammendment Bill [B 22B -2019] (sec 75). It will also be briefed by the Magistrates Commission on the Report dated 21 July 2020, on the provisional suspension from office of Ms K Bodlani, an acting Regional Magistrate at Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, in terms of section 13(3)(b) of the Magistrates Act, 1993 (No 90 of 1993).
A joint meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises and Select Committee on Public Enterprises and Communication will be briefed by the board of Denel on governance and financial challenges facing the company.
THURSDAY, 27 AUGUST 2020
The Multi-Party Women’s Caucus will be briefed by the Department of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities on the National Strategic Plan on Gender-based Violence and Femicide for the period 2020-2030.
The Joint Standing Committee on Defence will receive a briefing from the Minister of Defence & Military Veterans on the Letter from the President on the extension of employment of members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in support of South African Police Service (SAPS) to maintain law and order, support to other state departments and borderline control to combat the spread of COVID-19 in all nine provinces, as well as on the outcome of the enquiry into the break-in and theft of assault rifles at the Lyttelton Military Base. It will also be briefed by the Chief of the SANDF on border safeguarding and Operation Notlela.
Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs will be briefed by the Mpumalanga Provincial Government on its COVID-19 response plan.
Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services will conduct Interviews to fill a vacancy at the Information Regulator.
FRIDAY, 28 AUGUST 2020
The Portfolio Committee on Transport will deliberate on the Civil Aviation Amendment Bill [B 44 –2018].
Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services will be briefed by the Department of Correctional Services on: measures to address irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure; standard operating procedures and Covid 19 related matters.
Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation will be briefed by the Gauteng Provincial Department of Human Settlements and Department of Water and Sanitation on the following: Business Plan 2020/21; District Development Model; Water and Sanitation Plans, Water Services Authority Plans and Waste Water Treatment Plan.
For the latest full schedule of committee meetings (updated regularly), please click: https://www.parliament.gov.za/parliament-programme
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