The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has welcomed the decision of Parliament's Joint Rules Committee to approve the report of a special subcommittee on oversight and accountability which recommends that Parliament be given the power to change the budget tabled by the Minister of Finance.

The trade union federation says it agrees with the sub-committee that "Parliament does not currently effectively participate in the budget process" and supports its recommendation that Parliament should develop an influencing role for itself during the process of compiling the budget.

"This recommendation is in line with the demand which COSATU has campaigned for since March 1997 for Parliament and civil society to have a say over the Budget."

It adds that since that time, it has not made a submission on the Budget, stating before Parliament's Finance Portfolio Committee that: "We are frustrated by the nature of the budget process which renders meaningless both contributions from civil society and the deliberations of the elected people's representatives."

The federation decided that it would only participate in future parliamentary budget hearings unless meaningful participation was made possible through a reformed Budget process.

Cosatu also pointed out that the Constitution requires the enactment of legislation to empower Parliament to amend money bills, such as the budget, instead of the current system of voting to accept or reject them and that government was therefore in breach of the Constitution. It said that without such legislation the participation of Parliament in respect of money bills was reduced to a ritual.

"If Parliament now accepts the Rules Committee's recommendation, it will have brought Parliament's procedures in line with the Constitution and will also honour the ANC election manifesto's commitment to ensure that elected representatives in national, provincial and local spheres have the appropriate powers to shape Budgets."

The federation therefore urged the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces to adopt the Committee's recommendation and implement them fully and without delay, so that future Budgets are debated by MPs and civil society.