Parliament, Thursday, 16 November 2017 – The Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management of Parliament has expressed a serious concern in relation to inadequate funding of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO). Thus, a resolution to ventilate the matter with the Presiding Officers was taken, following a unanimous agreement by the Committee that the PBO plays a vital role to the constitutional mandate of Parliament.
The Committee was briefed by management of Parliament on the Institution’s mid-term financial and non-financial performance for 2017/18 financial year.
Co-Chairperson, Mr Vincent Smith said, “We are equally concerned about the underspending on the compensation of employees’ budget, considering that Parliament is insufficiently resourced in the research field.”
The Committee welcomed the institution’s performance in the term under review, in which 7 of the 11 indicators that are applicable during the mid-term were achieved. The Acting Secretary to Parliament, Ms Baby Tyawa, said the performance amounted to 68%.
On the finance side, Ms Tyawa briefed the Committee that Parliament has achieved 44.89% performance, in which it spent R1,091 billion of the R2,430 billion annual operational budget.
The Committee also dealt with the revised annual performance plan (APP) of Parliament, and agreed that revision was necessary in light of the reduction in the Institution’s budget, Vote 2.
Finally, the Committee took a decision that the internal audit report on the Secretary to Parliament, Mr Gengezi Mgidlana, be kept under lock and key and only made accessible to members solely for reading under supervision.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CO-CHAIRPERSONS, MR VINCENT SMITH AND MR MOTALANE MONAKEDI
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact media officer:
Name: Mr Justice Molafo
Tel: 021 403 8444
Cell: 081 424 7481
Email: jmolafo@parliament.gov.za
Arrange a tour