The medium-term budget policy statement will be tabled on 1 November, a week later than requested by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, the National Assembly Programme Committee decided on Thursday. 

Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said that while she had received a letter from Godongwana requesting 25 October, this date might clash with other matters that Parliament is dealing with. 

The Inter-Parliamentary Union – an international organisation of national parliaments headquartered in Geneva – will hold its meetings in Luanda from 23 to 27 October. 

The date of the budget and the medium-term budget policy statement are usually set at the finance minister's request, but require concurrence from Parliament. 

The date of 1 November was proposed, to which there had been no objections from any of the parties at the meeting.

Parliament is in a race against time to complete its programme before it is dissolved for the next election. Legislation that is not completed before Parliament is dissolved must be restarted from scratch. This could include critical amendments to the Electricity Regulation Act, needed for the unbundling of Eskom and the establishment of a Transmission System Operator. 

The Programming Committee said on Thursday that the dissolving of Parliament is planned for early March.