How Parliament will be keeping tabs on Ramaphosa’s new cabinet

 ·4 Jul 2024

With South Africa’s national executive now comprising various political parties, attention turns to the composition of its oversight structure in Parliament.

The Rules Committee of the National Assembly (NA) convened its inaugural meeting on 3 July to establish internal frameworks.

Among its decisions was the expansion of portfolio committees from 11 to 15 members per committee, saying that this is reflective of the increased representation of political parties in the current term from 14 to 18.

The breakdown of the 15-member Portfolio Committees will be as follows:

  • African National Congress (ANC) – 5 members
  • Democratic Alliance (DA) – 3 members
  • uMkhonto we Sizwe Party (MK) – 2 members
  • Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) – 1 member
  • “Smaller parties” – 4 members

The ‘smaller parties’ will internally determine their representation within these committees.

Each of the 32 national Ministries has a corresponding Portfolio Committee tasked with oversight responsibilities, with a decision to establish a total of 30 portfolio committees (up from 27), excluding joint committees.

The portfolio committees are:

Portfolio Committee
Agriculture
Land Reform and Rural Development
Basic Education
Communications and Digital Technologies
Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs
Correctional Services
Defence and Military Veterans
Electricity and Energy
Employment and Labour
Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
International Relations and Cooperation
Justice and Constitutional Development
Health
Higher Education
Home Affairs
Human Settlements
Mineral and Petroleum Resources
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
Police
Public Services and Administration
Public Works and Infrastructure
Science, Technology and Innovation
Social Development
Small Business Development
Sports, Arts and Culture
Trade, Industry and Competition
Transport
Tourism
Water and Sanitation
Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities

These committees are crucial for government oversight.

They are appointed to monitor the activities of government departments, including the examination of bills, management of departmental budgets, and making recommendations on various departmental matters including that of policy.

While primarily focused on government affairs, these committees also have the mandate to investigate public interest issues within their jurisdiction.

The actual composition of portfolio committees in the 7th Parliament will ultimately hinge on the Cabinet configuration.

Initial discussions under the Government of National Unity (GNU) agreement stipulated that parties heading specific portfolios or departments would relinquish their oversight roles.

With the ANC holding a majority of ministerial positions (62.5%), this means that other parties in the agreement could assume key roles as committee Chairpersons, crucial for oversight functions.

However, it is unknown whether this will materialise, given the ever-changing nature of the coalition negotiations.

Graphic: Seth Thorne

What was also decided was a clustered system of government portfolios for questions for oral replies to Ministers.

In terms of National Assembly Rule 138(1): “Questions for oral reply by Ministers must be dealt with in accordance with a clustered system of government portfolios, as determined by the Rules Committee from time to time and published in the ATC.”

The decided-upon clusters are:

Screenshot: National Assembly Rules Committee meeting

Other determinations of the Rules Committee included the establishment and decision on the composition of the Programme Committee and the Subcommittee on the Review of NA Rules.

The Programme Committee, which was decided to comprise of 29 party representatives, meets weekly when Parliament is in session and decides the agenda of the House for the forthcoming week.

Assembly rules dictate that the committee must include the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Leader of Government Business or designate, House Chairpersons, Chief Whip (Majority Party), Deputy Chief Whip (Majority Party), and other members designated by the Speaker.

On top of this, the committee determined the number of party representatives as:

  • ANC – 1;
  • Chief Whip of the Opposition plus 2 DA members;
  • MKP – 2;
  • EFF – 2;
  • and 1 representative each for other Assembly parties, totaling 14.

Looking at the Subcommittee on the Review of NA Rules, Rules Committee may make decisions necessary for the functioning of the House at the beginning of each parliamentary term.

The Rules Committee plays the key role in establishing the operational procedures and policies that govern the House, and appoints the members of the Subcommittee on Rules

“The Subcommittee is not a decision-making structure and is mainly technical, and therefore need not be proportional,” said Parliament.

It will comprise:

  • ANC – 3;
  • DA – 1;
  • MK – 1;
  • EFF – 1;
  • Other parties – 3.

Read: The biggest winner in Ramaphosa’s 77-seat cabinet

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