Issued by SA Parliament
15 February 2001
Parliament will continue to enhance its oversight role in strengthening our democracy and there is no doubt that this year will be one of the vibrant and challenging years for our institution.
LEGISLATION FOR 2001
This year, Parliament will not be generating as much new legislation on transformation issues as in the previous years as this has been mostly covered in the past. Legislation that has now been tabled before Parliament will focus on tightening up and improving existing legislation to close gaps and inefficiencies where they exist.
About 14 bills have now been referred to parliamentary committees, mostly for amendment. These bills include:
INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS
This year we will also revise the Members Ethics Code. A revised ethics code has been tabled and its draft is expected to be discussed by a parliamentary committee next week.
One of the key and crucial projects of Parliament will be the launch of a Plain Language Project to examine how we could effectively use plain language in legislation and parliamentary documentation. This is aimed at fulfilling our ideal of making Parliament more accessible to all our citizens and not just the well educated.
The Plain Language Project will be launched in March 2001 and will look at, amongst other issues, how African languages can be developed in Parliament, how we can adopt and put into place practices and policies that will give African languages the same status as English and Afrikaans in all parliamentary communication and how we can remove all policies that restrict the use of African languages. It needs to be noted that the current policy requires MPs to indicate in advance when they want to use an African language in the House.
The process of developing new Parliamentary symbols, which we launched last year, is also nearing its completion. We expect that before the end of this year, new Parliamentary symbols which will reflect our diverse culture and our political and historical background, will be displayed throughout the institution.
PARLIAMENTARY SERVICE
In line with the principle of Batho Pele - People First - Parliament has embarked on a comprehensive Human Resource Development Plan to improve and strengthen services provided by the Parliamentary Service. In addition to this, an Employment Equity Plan is in the process of being implemented and a deadline for its numerical targets has been set for June 2003. A Skills Development Plan for the Parliamentary Service will also be implemented early this year. A Performance Management System is being developed and is expected to be completed at the end of May 2001. All these organisational plans and systems are aimed at improving the performance standards of the Parliamentary Service and also equipping staff with the necessary skills to effectively serve the institution.
INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION
On the international arena, we will continue to spearhead the campaign to strengthen democracy in the SADC region and throughout Africa, through our participation in the SADC Parliamentary Forum and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association - Africa Region. We will also contribute substantially in the international arena through our active involvement in the International Parliamentary Union and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). It is worth mentioning that in April this year our Parliament will be hosting a CPA Africa Region Conference of Speakers of the various Houses of Parliaments and Legislatures in the continent.
On the formation of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), a process is currently underway to have the Protocol of the Pan African Parliament submitted for approval by the OAU Council of Ministers in March 2001. It is expected that once it is agreed by the Heads of State, it will be forwarded to Parliaments in the countries under the OAU for ratification. The process of the formation of PAP is expected to be finalised before the end of the first half of 2001.
The Constitutive Act of the African Union, which will create the African Union, is currently before a parliamentary committee for ratification. The report will be tabled before Parliament before the end of February 2001. Parliament will not fail our people and the people of Africa and the rest of the world in ensuring that the institution remains a powerful voice for the electorate, exercise its oversight function without fear or favour and continues to participate in strengthening democracy.