MPs set to put Ramaphosa in the hot seat

DEPUTY President Cyril Ramaphosa faces a grilling from MPs this week when he takes questions in the National Assembly on contentious issues such as e-tolling and the performance of state enterprises.

Mr Ramaphosa, who has become government’s Mr Fixit, has been tasked by President Jacob Zuma to take charge of the e-tolling crisis and the funding problems at Eskom and the South African Post Office.

Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane will pose this question to Mr Ramaphosa on Wednesday: “Has he found that the new dispensation of the e-toll system will be financially viable both for the South African National Roads Agency Limited to continue operating the system and for ordinary South Africans who have to pay for the system?”

After each question, the deputy president has to field four follow-up questions on the same topic.

Pan Africanist Congress MP Luthando Mbinda will ask Mr Ramaphosa about steps to improve the financial status of South African Airways, Eskom and the Post Office, and about the government’s deployment of incompetent political cadres to strategic positions.

Also this week, the wrangle between the National Union of Metalworkers of SA’s (Numsa’s) bid to participate in the Congress of South African Trade Unions’ (Cosatu) special national congress next month is expected to be resolved in court. Numsa has been expelled from Cosatu and the union federation is adamant that it cannot attend the special congress.

African Union leaders are in SA for the 25th African Union Summit. Preparatory meetings for the summit began yesterday and the deliberations will last until Saturday. International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will brief the media on SA’s hosting of the summit today.

Tomorrow Mr Zuma will meet with representatives of various youth organisations to discuss the National Youth Policy and various issues related to the socioeconomic development and empowerment of the youth in the country, in the inaugural session of the Presidential Youth Working Group in Pretoria.

Parliamentary committees will face a full programme this week. Tomorrow, the portfolio committee on home affairs will debate and finalise the Refugee Amendment Bill and the portfolio committee on telecommunications and postal services will be briefed by the department and role players involved in the delivery of broadband.

The portfolio committee on cooperative governance and traditional affairs will receive a report-back on the implementation of the regulations on the appointment of municipal managers and section 56 managers. The regulations attempt to ensure that only suitably qualified individuals are appointed.

There are likely to be tough exchanges in the select committee on social services (National Council of Provinces), when the Department of Human Settlements gives a briefing on the revitalisation of its distressed mining towns programme. Also controversial will be a Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries briefing on issues about small-scale fishing licences.