Legacy Report of Select Committee on Finance

By: Zolani Rento

Date: 09 July 2014

Presentation outline

• Purpose

• Mandate of the Committee

• Legislation processed by the Committee

• Oversight visits undertaken

• International Agreements

• Statutory appointments

• Study tours

• Conclusion 2

Purpose

• The purpose of this report is to provide an account of the Select Committee on Finance’s work during the 4th Parliament and to inform the Members of the new Parliament of key outstanding issues pertaining to the oversight and legislative programme of the National Treasury and its entities.

• This report provides an overview of the activities that the Committee undertook during the 4th Parliament, the outcomes of key activities, the challenges that emerged during the period under review and issues that should be considered for follow up during the 5th Parliament. It summarises the key issues for follow-up and make recommendations to strengthen operational and procedural processes to enhance the Committee’s oversight and legislative roles in future.

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Mandate of the Committee• The Select Committee on Finance was established in terms of Section 4(1) of the

Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, No. 9 of 2009. In terms of Section 4(2) of this Act, the Committee has powers and functions conferred to it by the Constitution, legislation, the standing rules or a resolution of a House, including considering and reporting on:– The national macro-economic and fiscal policy;– Amendments to the fiscal framework, revised fiscal framework and revenue

proposals and Bills;– Actual revenue published by the National Treasury; and– Any other related matter set out in this Act.

• The mandate further encompasses the Committee’s function to legislate, conduct oversight on the Executive actions; facilitate public participation, facilitate international agreements, and review matters of public interest in relation to the National Treasury and its entities and the South African Reserve Bank.

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Stakeholders• Key stakeholders of Committee:

– National Treasury;– South African Revenue Services;– Financial and Fiscal Commission;– South African Reserve Bank;– Financial Services Board;– Financial Intelligence Centre;– Development Bank of Southern Africa;– Auditor-General;– South African Local Government Association;– Land Bank; and – Municipalities.

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Legislation processed by the Committee

The Committee managed to process all the Bills that were referred to it by the NCOP during the 4th Parliament

Challenges:•The National Assembly takes long to process Section 76 legislation. This puts pressure on the National Council of Provinces and its Committees to meet the six weeks cycle deadline; and •Some of the gaps in the Money Bills Act are the tight timeframes and lack of sanctions for non-compliance with the Act by the Committees.

Way-forward:•Section 76 legislation should be tabled in the National Council of Provinces, allowing more time for Committees to go through the six weeks cycle when processing it; and •The Committee should coordinate with the Standing Committee on Finance and the National Assembly to fast- track the process of reviewing the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, No. 9 of 2009, in order to address some of the existing gaps that may prevent effective implementation of the Act.

Oversight visits undertakenChallenges:•Too many municipalities were invited (during oversight visits), which limits time for the Committee to sufficiently engage with all the municipalities.

Way-forward:•During oversight visits, the Committee should consider partnering the best performing municipalities with the under-performing ones in a province in order to share best practices;•The Committee still needs to conduct an oversight visit to Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Western Cape municipalities;•Visit to the South African Reserve Bank.

International AgreementsChallenges:•Submission of draft international agreements by the National Treasury to Parliament did not allow sufficient time for assessment;

•Expiry of the terms of the agreements put pressure on the Committee in processing these agreements.

Way-forward:•The Committee should be afforded adequate time to scrutinise and assess international agreements in order to make informed decisions and make recommendations.

Section 100 (1) (b) of the Constitution (Intervention)

Challenges:•Guidelines were not developed and presented at the time that the national executive placed the Province or departments under administration;•Lack of clarification of roles and responsibilities impacted negatively on the implementation of the intervention; •The scope of the intervention did not have timeframes, action plans, exit strategies, review periods and service delivery plans.

Way-forward:•The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to consider introducing national legislation to regulate the process of an intervention in line with the provisions of section 100 (3) of the Constitution, 1996.

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• In terms of section 15 (1) of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act, No. 9 of 2009, “There is hereby established a Parliamentary Budget Office headed by a Director, the main objective of which is to provide independent, objective and professional advice and analysis to Parliament on matters related to the budget and other money bills”.

• During the month of May 2013, in accordance with subsections 15(5) (a) and (b) of the Act, the Committee jointly with Select and Standing Committee on Finance, and Select and Standing Committees on Appropriations, recommended that Professor MI Jahed be appointed as Director of the Parliamentary Budget Office

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Statutory appointments

• No study tours were undertaken due to time constraints and Parliamentary

Programmes /activities. The Committee should consider conducting study

tours in the 5th Parliament.

• However in terms of policy provision When undertaking a study tour, half

of the costs for the trip is taken from the Committee budget and the other

from the consolidated fund.

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Study Tours

. • The Committee has an important fiscal oversight role in the three spheres

of government especially at local and provincial spheres;

• Time frames might be a challenge in committee activities;

• Legislative meeting (where a Committee considers Money Bills) is vital as such all members of the Committee must make these meetings a priority;

• With respect to Committee meeting, Member should make effort to attend all meetings and, if not possible, an apology should be sent before the start of the meeting.

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Conclusion

Thank you

Enkosi

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