MPs call for prioritisation of bills to avoid mad rush

MPs have called for the prioritisation of bills sent to Parliament to avoid a “stampede” after the cabinet brought 31 proposed pieces of legislation that have to be dealt with before end of the year.

Speaker Baleka Mbete told the programming committee that the sooner the matter was addressed the better because it would avoid a lastminute rush to consider bills.

Members of the programming committee wanted Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the leader of government business, to attend to the matter because there was no time to deal with so many bills in a short space of time.

Parliament would also be dealing with the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement – to be tabled by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba in October.

DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said he would like the cabinet to prioritise the bills because this would ensure that the urgent ones were finalised on time.

Steenhuisen said the programme of Parliament was packed until the end of the year and it would not be possible to deal with a series of bills in a space of four months.

The prioritisation of the bills would help them to deal with those that are urgent, he said.

Mbete said the prioritisation of bills was important because they could not afford to have a stampede.

She said they would co-operate with Ramaphosa’s office on the matter, as they wanted it to be addressed.

Ramaphosa’s parliamentary adviser, Gerhard Koornhof, said in the list submitted by the deputy president there were dates on which bills would be tabled.

He said they would work with Parliament to ensure that everything was done properly and that nothing fell through the cracks.

House chairperson Cedric Frolick said they were assessing all the bills before the portfolio committees in terms of progress made.

He said if committees did not finalise bills on time they could adjust their programmes, which would include meeting more frequently to speed up the process.

Parliament would also deal with the financials of various government departments and State-Owned Entities (SOEs) from next month.

These entities start tabling their financials in September and committees have to scrutinise the financial expenditure of the departments and SOEs.