MPs to fire some pertinent questions at Ramaphosa
Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa will answer questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday as Parliament wraps up its official programme for the year this week.
When Ramaphosa takes the podium, MPs will fire questions on the recently proposed national minimum wage and investor confidence in the economy. He will also be asked whether he has managed to build a stronger relationship between the executive and the legislature, and encourage members of the executive to respond promptly to matters raised in Parliament during his tenure as the leader of government business.
In November, a panel of economists put forward R3,500 as the proposed minimum wage and presented its report to the National Economic Development and Labour Council in a process led by Ramaphosa.
The minimum wage announcement came shortly before Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service delivered verdicts on SA’s sovereign credit rating. Fitch kept SA’s rating but revised its outlook from stable to negative.
Moody’s did not make a rating action, but also revised its outlook from stable to negative.
S&P Global Ratings also has SA on a negative outlook.
Parliament will end its official programme this week, after which MPs will do constituency work until December 19.
Parliament’s presiding officers will host a year-end briefing on Friday at which they will review highlights of the legislature’s work in 2016, and speak about the successes and challenges of the year.
A group of ANC veterans, who have expressed concern about the state of the governing party, will be meeting secretary-general Gwede Mantashe on Monday.
The group had met with the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) ahead of its tense meeting at which a call was made for President Jacob Zuma to step down.
The stalwarts said they had received a report-back from their meeting with the NWC.
They welcomed the decision taken by the NEC to hold a consultative conference but have expressed concern at the outcome of the meeting. These concerns are expected to be addressed with Mantashe.
On the local government front this week, the City of Johannesburg will on Wednesday vote on its procurement policy to make way for the open tender system. Council will also vote on whether the city’s entities should be absorbed into it instead of being run independently.