Questions to the President and Social Services Cluster Ministers in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will take center stage as term four of the parliamentary program resumes this week.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will appear before the NCOP on Thursday at 2 p.m. to answer Questions for Oral Reply from Members of the House.

On Tuesday and Wednesday at 2 p.m., the Social Services Cluster 2C and 2D Ministers will also appear before permanent delegates to the NCOP in a hybrid question-and-answer plenary session. Cluster 2C consists of the national departments of Sports, Arts and Culture, and Human Settlements, while Cluster 2D comprises Water and Sanitation.

As stipulated in section 92(2) of the Constitution, oral questions and answer sessions are among the methods that parliament employs to hold the executive accountable. Members of the Executive (the President, Deputy President, and Cabinet Ministers) are collectively and individually accountable to Parliament for the exercise of their powers and performance of their functions.

The National Assembly will solely focus on the consideration of the Budget Reviews and Recommendations Reports (BRRR) from Tuesday, 10 October, until Friday, 13 October 2023. Parliament's BRRR practice provides an opportunity for an in-depth assessment of the national government departments' service delivery performances, which may include recommendations on the future use of resources.

The BRRR is one of the crucial oversight mechanisms; it enables portfolio committees to integrate and consolidate budgetary oversight with other oversight work related to service delivery implementation by various committees.

Both Houses will hold their respective Programming Committee meetings at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday. Items on the program for the two meetings will include planning for the business of the two Houses of Parliament, consideration of committee reports, Bills before the Houses, and the upcoming parliamentary programme.

On the international front, the Ninth G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20) will commence in New Delhi, India from 12 to 14 October. Parliaments of G20 countries, including the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, have a crucial role as oversight authorities in ensuring governments are held accountable for implementing decisions of the G20 heads of states.

There are about fifty-four (54) committee meetings scheduled to take place this week:

TUESDAY, 10 OCTOBER 2023:
Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities: Presentation by the Content Adviser and Researcher and Researchers on annual report of the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities for 2022/23; Briefing by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) on audit outcomes of the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) for 2022/23; Briefing by the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, the Audit & Risk Committee (ARC) on annual report for 2022/23; Consideration and adoption of minutes.

Standing Committee on Finance: Briefing by the Auditor-General on audit outcomes of the National Treasury and its entities.

Portfolio Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure: Briefing by the Auditor-General on the DPWI/PMTE 2022/23 Annual Performance; Briefing by the DPWI/PMTE on the 2022/23 Annual Report.
Select Committee on Trade and Industry, Economic Development, Small Business Development, Tourism, Employment and Labour: Briefing by the Department of Tourism on its 2022/23 Annual Report; Briefing by the Department of Tourism on its First and Second Quarterly reports for the 2023/24 financial year; Consideration and adoption of minutes.

Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs: Briefing by the Auditor-General on the Audit Outcomes of Vote 4 for 2022/23; Briefing by the DHA, IEC and GPW on their Annual Reports and Annual Financial Statements for the 2022-2023 financial year.

Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry: Briefing by the Office of the Auditor-General on the 2022/23 audit outcomes of the DTIC and its entities; Briefing by the Minister on the 2022/23 Annual Report of the DTIC, as well as on the first quarter financial and non-financial performance of the DTIC for the 2023/24 financial year.

Portfolio Committee on Tourism: Auditor-General - 2022/23 audit outcomes; Department of Tourism presentation on 2022/23 Annual Report; Consideration of minutes.

Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture: Briefing by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture on the 2023/2024 1st Quarter Report; Briefing by the Auditor-General of South Africa on the audit outcomes of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and its entities; Consideration of the Ministers communication on the appointment of the Ad Hoc Committee Panel; Consideration and adoption of minutes (12 and 19 September 2023); Consideration and adoption of the 4th term Committee Programme; Noting of the 2022/23 PanSALB Linguistic Human Rights Complaints Report.
Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development: National Public Hearings on the Preservation and Development of Agricultural Land (PDAL) Bill [B8-2021].

Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation: Briefing by the Office of the Auditor-General South Africa (AGSA) on the audit outcomes of expenditure spend of Budget Vote 41: Department of Water and Sanitation and Entities for the 2022/23 financial year; Briefing by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) on assessing the work of the Department of Water and Sanitation and Entities for the 2022/23 financial year; (14:00-18:00) Briefing by the Department of Water and Sanitation on the Expenditure Trend as depicted in the Financial and Non-Financial Statements of its 2022/23 Annual Report; Briefing by the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority on the Expenditure Trend as depicted in the Financial and Non-Financial Statements of its 2022/23 Annual Report.

Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services: Overview of the Annual Reports by the Auditor-General; Overview of the Annual Reports by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services; Briefing by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on the findings and fine by the Information Regulator; Briefing by Legal Aid South Africa on Annual Report.

Portfolio Committee on Health: Briefing by the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) and the Auditor General on their analysis of the Health Sector’s Annual Reports for 2022/23 financial year; Briefing by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA)
Standing Committee on Public Accounts: Discussion on the legal opinion regarding Brig J. Burger on the Eskom related investigations.

Select Committee on Finance: Briefing by SASRIA on their most recent annual report; Consideration and adoption of the committee report on MFPFAB.

Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation and Human Settlements: Tabling of Negotiating Mandates on Housing Consumer Protection Bill (B-10-2021).
Portfolio Committee on Transport: Briefing by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) on the 2022/23 Annual Report of the Department of Transport; Briefing by the Department of Transport (including the DLCA) on its 2022/23 Annual Report; Briefing by the entities of the Department of Transport on their 2022/23 Annual Reports (RAF, SAMSA, PRASA).

Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy: Briefing by the Auditor-General of SA (AGSA) on the audit outcomes of the Department of Mineral Resources and its respective entities for 2022/202; Briefing by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on their Annual Report for 2022/2023; Continuation of the briefing by Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on their Annual Report for 2022/2023; Briefing by the SA Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA) on their Annual Report for 2022/2023.

Issued by Parliament