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Parliament pulls off a minor miracle – finally movement also on the NDP

Parliament pulls off a minor miracle – finally movement also on the NDP
Photo by GCIS

28th July 2014

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Parliament on Friday pulled off a minor miracle when, under serious time and workload pressures, it managed at the very last minute to pass the Appropriations Bill, the law that gives legal authority to all 38 government departments to spend the money allocated to them as their share of the R1.1-trillion national budget. It was preceded by a near impossible two-week schedule of all ministers presenting their departmental budget vote speeches which had to be debated by all the parties and then voted on. The bill must be passed within four months of the start of the fiscal year, but this year a general election, the reorganisation of government departments, swearing in of a new parliament and announcing a new cabinet as well as number of holidays all got in the way. Friday was the last day on which it could be passed, failing which, the country would effectively have seen a shutdown of government. So close do we come to disasters that many are not even aware of. Nonetheless, the budget vote speeches and debates of the various ministries provided welcome information with some inter-departmental, inter-governmental and even inter-sectoral cross-references.

·     The significance of this:  It was especially the speeches of the economic cluster ministers and their deputies that were of great significance as they opened an overdue window on government’s plans for the National Development Plan (NDP), for the first time giving some clear insight into what is already being done and how it will be implemented going forward. A large number of actions, programmes and measures that have already been started, as well as those that are in the pipeline, were highlighted and explained in some detail. Also very noticeable during the budget vote speeches and debates was the significant toning down of the use by members of government of the term “radical economic transformation” and its replacement with references rather to the NDP. Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene gave details of  how implementation of the NDP is to be financed sustainably in terms of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) while Planning, Mionitoring and Evaluation Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe explained how implementation by individual departments and government entities will be aligned to a national  Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF). At last there seems to be more urgency and some real movement around implementing government programmes to give expression to the NDP’s vision.

ANC caucus concerned over rushed legislation - reassessment
The parliamentary caucus of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has raised concerns over the possible consequences of legislation that was rushed through Parliament before the general election and wants to avoid a repeat thereof in future.  ANC chief whip Stone Sizani has been quoted as saying “we have to look at laws thoroughly because we do not want any piece of legislation to produce unintended consequences” or be declared unconstitutional. At a lekgotla the ANC caucus therefore decided to reassess all rushed legislation.

·     What it means:  It is not quite clear to what extent the caucus’ decision relates only to future legislation, and also to legislation already passed. But is the caucus means to reassess already passed legislation, it could be welcome news for the extractive sector as both mining and petroleum companies were alarmed earlier this year when the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) Amendment Bill was hurriedly passed by Parliament in March. Already Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramathlodi has asked President Jacob Zuma to delay the signing off of the MPRDA Amendment Bill, and Mr Zuma has indicated his willingness to do so under certain circumstances. Minister Ramatlhodi has also indicated that the private sector will be engaged in a transparent process of finalising draft regulations on oil and gas exploration in South Africa, and that the first draft will be ready within weeks so that oil and gas companies can comment on them.(See our IRN 33/14 of July 18, 2014). Another bill awaiting presidential assent and which could be affected by the caucus decision as to its constitutionality, is the Protection of State Information Bill. With a view to the future, the ANC caucus is anxious to avoid that legislation be deemed unconstitutional or illegal by the Constitutional Court and other courts. In the past the courts have overturned a number of laws passed by the ANC majority in Parliament.

NDP etc. loses as Malema’s EFF wins propaganda war against ANC

Despite the importance of the insightful ministerial budget vote speeches the last two weeks in Parliament and the good news that emerged from some of them, much of it seemed to have been missed by the media and consequently the general public and business remained in the dark for much of it.

·     What’s behind it:  As we pointed out in our IRN 35/14 (to be sent to clients today)  that may be largely because someone in government has yet to pull together all the issues relating to the National Development Plan (NDP) and covered extensively by the economic cluster of ministries last week into a single package articulated in an easily digestible form to business and the general public. But there was another striking reason behind this. That was namely that the ANC is losing the propaganda war against Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). Despite the abundance of good and very important news that should have been reported from Parliament last week, the EFF and especially its shenanigans in Gauteng completely dominated the news. As we pointed out in our IRN 31/14 of July 4, 2014 on the relevance of the EFF in the various legislatures, that is because the ANC is reacting wrongly to the EFF. It is imperative that the ANC should rethink its responses to and handling of the EFF which at present is playing straight into the hands of the EFF.

Written by Africa-International Communications political analyst and editor Stef Terblanche

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