The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will this week wrap up its work for 2021 with two hybrid plenary sittings that will cover various Bills and committee reports. The NCOP delegates will embark on a constituency period from 16 – 24 December and then go on leave period from 27 December to 28 January 2022.
On Tuesday, the hybrid plenary sitting, which will start at 10:00, will consider five Bills, two reports from the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members Interest and other committee reports. The Bills that are scheduled for consideration are: the National Gambling Amendment Bill, National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Bill, National Forests Amendment Bill, Civil Aviation Amendment Bill, and the Financial Sector Law Amendment Bill.
The Joint Committee on Ethics and Members’ Interests reports cover the complaints against the African National Congress’ Member of Parliament (MP), Faiez Jacobs and that of the Economic Freedom Fighters MP, Julias Malema, for the alleged breach of the code of ethics.
Mr Jacob’s complaints relate to his referring to a ward councillor Mr Angus McKenzie as “a House nigger” in a community chat WhatsApp group last year (2020) while Malema’s breach relates to his line of questioning to Judge Matojane during the Judicial Service Commission interviews.
On Wednesday at 10:00, the hybrid sitting will consider the Rates and Monetary Amounts Amendment Bill, Taxation Laws Amendment Bill, Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill and the Adjustments Appropriation Bill. The sitting will conclude with farewell speeches.
The National Assembly concluded its business last Friday and its Members are scheduled for a constituency period from tomorrow to 24 December and for a leave period from 27 December to 07 January. They will resume their constituency work from 10 – 24 January 2022.
There are two committee meetings that are scheduled to take place on Tuesday and they are scheduled as follows:
The Select Committee on Appropriations will consider and adopt reports on 2021 Adjustments Appropriation Bill; and Proposed division of revenue and conditional grants allocations to Provinces and Local Government.
Meanwhile, the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation and Human Settlements will be briefed by the KwaZulu- Natal MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on the status of interventions and forensic investigations in the municipalities.
