Portfolio committees discussed ahead of Cabinet

Portfolio committees discussed ahead of Cabinet

Parliament has moved ahead to decide on forming portfolio committees while President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to announce his new Cabinet of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

On Wednesday, both the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) held the first meeting of their rules committee to decide how they would conduct their business.

They met against the backdrop of negotiations on the constituting of the Cabinet that was still under way amid jockeying for ministerial positions.

National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza said: “We do not have a sense of how many departments we are going to have.”

NCOP chairperson Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane said that their rules sub-committee on the review of the rules would need to have to look at how the GNU would affect the business of the NCOP.

“We will accordingly subject the rules back to the review subcommittee to have a look at our rules and factor in issues that might have emerged from the Government of National Unity.”

During the meeting of the National Assembly’s rules committee, it was agreed that the number of MPs serving on portfolio committees would be increased from 11 to 15 to accommodate smaller parties as parties had increased from 14 to 18.

The ANC will have five members, MK Party 3, DA 2, EFF 1 and other parties combined 4. National Assembly Secretary Masibulele Xaso said the administration was not proposing to venture into the reconfiguration of the committee until the Cabinet was appointed.

ANC MP Cedric Frolick explained that there would be no restriction in terms of which committees the MPs could attend. MPs heard that the formula used on composition of the committees looked broadly at the strength of the parties and proportionality as well as to accommodate smaller parties.

While some wished the number of MPs on the committees be reduced to 11 in light of parties represented in the GNU, Didiza said they did not have a sense of how the configuration would be.

DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said: “It is better to err on the side of inclusion than exclusion.”

ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli said what was comforting was that everybody was broadly on board in participation in the committees.

The rules committee also agreed on the whips to allocate to parties.

The ANC would have 27, DA 15, MK Party 10, EFF 7, IFP 3, Patriotic Alliance 2, Freedom Front Plus 1 and ActionSA 1 and the other parties qualify for combined three.

MK Party chief whip Sihle Ngubane took issue with reference to the ANC as a majority party when the issue of whips was discussed.

“Let us get out of that dream. There is no majority party any more,” Ngubane said.

The MK Party said it recognises itself as the official opposition because the second biggest party, the DA, is now part of the GNU.

Didiza said the issue of definitions and terminology to be used would be referred to the subcommittee on rules for consideration.

However, when Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks suggested that the smaller parties be allocated an additional whip, ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip shot it down.

Trollip warned that the bigger parties may get more whips if the formula was applied strictly.

The ANC’s Doris Dlakude agreed, saying “this formula is used to be inclusive of all smaller parties”.

The meeting also discussed the opportunities to ask oral questions to the Cabinet and it was agreed that 17 opportunities would be created.

A call was made to increase the question time from three to four hours and it was agreed that the subcommittee would look into it.

Cape Times