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The plenary sitting of the National Assembly on Tuesday is scheduled to consider a draft resolution on expropriation of land without compensation. Economic Freedom Fighters leader Mr Julius Malema is scheduled to present the draft resolution and 85 minutes have been set aside for its consideration.

At Wednesday’s plenary sitting of the National Assembly, the Minister of Police is scheduled to make a statement on the increased killing of police officers, focusing particularly on recent events at Engcobo in the Eastern Cape.

The Wednesday plenary sitting is also scheduled to consider the report of the Portfolio Committee on Health on the South African Human Rights Commission’s investigation into oncology services in KwaZulu-Natal and reports of the Joint Standing Committee on Financial Management of Parliament on Parliament’s 2016/2017 Annual Report and its 2017/2018 mid-year Performance Report.

Thursday’s National Assembly plenary sitting is scheduled to consider condolences for Mr Laloo Chiba and Ms Beatrice Ngcobo. Mr Chiba, who passed away in December 2017, was elected as a Member of Parliament in South Africa’s first non-racial democratic election in 1994 and again in our 1999 election. Ms Ngcobo was the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Tourism at the time of her death last week.

The plenary sittings are also scheduled to consider several other matters, including committee reports on state entities, Motions Without Notice, Members’ Statements and Notices of Motion.

The 33 scheduled committee meetings include a briefing on the 2018 Budget by the Parliamentary Budget Office, public hearings on the 2018 Fiscal Framework and revenue proposals, which Minister Finance Mr Malusi Gigaba tabled when he delivered the Budget Speech, and responses from National Treasury on the public input received. Research has shown that meaningful public participation and parliamentary oversight over budget processes increases social ownership of the budget and effective allocation of funds, while reducing waste.

Hearings also feature in three meetings of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and in a meeting of the Standing Committee on the Auditor General, which will be briefed about policy and legal aspects of public comment received on the draft Public Audit Act Amendment Bill and consider a proposed public hearing programme. The committee’s legislative proposal to amend the Public Audit Act aims to give the Auditor General the authority to deal more effectively with adverse findings on public entities’ management of public funds.

Another three Bills are scheduled for consideration at committee meetings. These are the National Environmental Management Laws Bill, the Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Bill and the National Research Foundation Bill. The way forward on labour Bills is also scheduled for consideration at a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Labour.

Other matters scheduled for consideration at committee meetings include subjects of public interest, briefings on progress with specific government programmes, outstanding public submissions to the Constitutional Review Committee and briefings on the financials, annual, quarterly and performance reports of government departments and entities.

Committee meetings scheduled for the week include:

• Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs: Colloquium on Biodiversity (Tuesday)
• Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs: Briefing by the Director-general of the Department of Home Affairs on information received in relation to early naturalisation of the Gupta family (Tuesday)
• Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services: Discussion with the Public Protector on matters of public interest; briefing by the Public Protector on request for additional resources (Tuesday)
• Portfolio Committee on Transport: Continuation of meeting with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and the Department of Transport on commuter operations and safety (Tuesday)
• Portfolio Committee on Police: Briefing by the South African Police Service, Social Justice Coalition, SAPU and POPCRU on processes of the fixed establishment at police stations (Tuesday)
• Standing Committee on Public Accounts: Hearing on Department of Water Affairs irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure (Tuesday)
• Portfolio Committee on Police: Briefing by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation on their high-profile investigations, rhino poaching investigations, update on firearms and drugs units, human trafficking and trans-national organised crime (Wednesday)
• Portfolio Committee on Science and Technology: Deliberations on the National Research Foundation Bill - responses to inputs received (Wednesday)
• Standing Committee on Appropriations: Briefing by the Human Sciences Research Council on its research proposals about learner transport in South Africa (Wednesday)

These are among key matters scheduled to come before committees of Parliament this week. For the full schedule of committee meetings (updated daily), please click: https://t.co/CcgKDGOQAx

Issued by Parliament of South Africa