Members of Parliament (MPs) on Wednesday protested that they may not have the skill to implement the new Money Bills Amendments Act, which gives them the power to change the budget for the first time.

"The question is do we have the capacity to interrogate and even challenge the budget," said Thulas Nxesi, the chairperson of the portfolio committee on foreign affairs, after a briefing to committee heads about the act that became law last April.

"What is the budget percentage for training of MPs?"

Nxesi pointed out that ministerial budgets were produced by skilled technocrats, and warned that the act risked becoming "symbolic" if MPs did not have matching skills to use it as an oversight tool.

The sentiment was echoed by other heads of committees, including Fatima Chohan, who chairs the committee on basic education.

She said a briefing by Parliamentary legal advisor Frank Jenkins failed to place the act fully in its historical and constitutional context, which called for "an in-built restraint on the part of Parliament" when intervening in the budgetary process.

Joan Fubbs, chairperson of the trade and industry portfolio committee, argued that the Legislature must press ahead with implementing the act, that was more than a decade in the making.

"Yes, we are not ready, but when will we ever be?"

She said in order to do so, the Legislature needed a "highly competent" budget office to be constituted over the next two months to handle the technical aspects of implementing the act.

It allows for Parliament to amend the budget and all other money bills, to ensure that there is a balance between revenue, spending and borrowing and that the budget is in line with the State's priorities.

The legislature must also weigh the impact on the long-term growth of the economy and act if necessary to spare future generations the fallout of overspending.