{"id":746549,"date":"2024-01-30T10:24:22","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T08:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=746549"},"modified":"2024-01-30T10:26:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T08:26:08","slug":"south-africans-warned-to-strap-in-for-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/746549\/south-africans-warned-to-strap-in-for-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans warned to strap in for chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/pmg.org.za\/blog\/2024%20Parliamentary%20Year\"><strong>Parliamentary Monitoring Group<\/strong><\/a> (PMG) has warned South Africans to prepare for a &#8220;loud, interesting, and unpredictable year&#8221; in 2024, as politicians rush to round off bills and parliamentary processes while muddying the news cycle in the lead up to the elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This mad rush tail-ends the closing of the sixth parliament of South Africa in mid-May, where the seventh parliament will be formed soon after to take over &#8211; where risks of another round of chaos loom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the PMG, the Sixth Parliament term ends in mid-May. According to the Constitution, elections must take place within 90 days after that, so an election is possible between May and the middle of August 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The process is triggered by the President, who makes an announcement on the election date and this is followed by an official proclamation in the Government Gazette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before that happens, however, lawmakers will be preoccupied with several key events &#8211; starting off with the State of the Nation Address confirmed for 8 February 2024, followed by the National Budget almost two weeks later on 21 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the lead up to the end of term and national elections, the PMG noted that there are currently 54 Bills in Parliament which will likely be getting &#8220;last-minute&#8221; attention from committees and MPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This is in keeping with previous cycles where a significant number of Bills are passed in the dying days of a parliamentary session,&#8221; the group said. &#8220;Given the time constraints, it\u2019s worth wondering if these outstanding bills will be subjected to proper scrutiny and ultimately survive any constitutional challenge.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key pieces of legislation which are expected to be finalised this term include<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Climate Change Bill<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Expropriation Bill<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Electoral Matters Amendment<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Housing Consumer Protection Bill<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>National State Enterprise Bill<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Railway Safety Bill<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Parliament also has other pressing issues such as holding impeachment votes for two judges, finalising various appointments, concluding several investigation and court matters to attend to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PMG said all this will be happening while politicians are distracted by campaigning and political parties trying to one-up each other to win public support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This means plenty more finger-pointing, squabbles, grandstanding, brinkmanship, jousting, endless promises and sound bites,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Analysts have warned that the first half of 2024 is likely to be clouded by political maneouvering, with political parties making bold (and empty) promises and looking for something &#8211; anything &#8211; to use against political opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, pressing issues for the country will go ignored or used for political gain until things have settled in the second half of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>After the elections<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the elections &#8211; which are on track to be one of the most hotly contested in South Africa&#8217;s history &#8211; the new parliament will face a mad rush of its own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Depending on the result, it\u2019s possible to imagine a stronger and more vibrant Parliament or a weaker one. There is a small possibility that a coalition might be needed,&#8221; PMG said. &#8220;A reconfiguration of government will impact on Parliament.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new Parliament will immediately be preoccupied with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Electing a new president <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Appointing parliamentary leadership<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Holding a second State of the Nation Address<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Setting up new structures<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Orientating\/training all MPs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Formulating a five-year strategic vision for the institution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Two major challenges will be the implementation of the Zondo Commission recommendations and how the institution manages the R240 million plus budget cut that will affect its core business,&#8221; PMG said. &#8220;Other tasks include passing the budget and beginning its oversight and legislative work.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/746019\/south-africa-risks-losing-out-on-the-worlds-new-gold-rush\/\">South Africa risks losing out on the world\u2019s new \u2018gold rush\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa&#8217;s election season is already in full swing &#8211; and parliamentary experts warn that things are going to get dicey as the 2024 vote approaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":744685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-746549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746549"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":746573,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746549\/revisions\/746573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}