ParlyBeat

Battlegrounds: Between the land and the law

The plight of a farm-dweller family evicted from their home on a prominent wine farm in Paarl this week put the spotlight back on the growing tension between the legality and morality question relating to farm evictions. This eviction followed days after President Cyril Ramaphosa assured farmworkers in Citrusdal that his party would support farmworkers in their fight against evictions and oppression.

Impressions of Parliament

A People’s Parliament means a Parliament that is accessible and responsive to the public yet Parliament’s performance on these constitutional principles are often a hit and miss. Parliament Watch monitor Sizwe Manqele shares some of his observations of the Portfolio Committee on Police meeting on 12 February 2019.

Calls for policy certainty on undocumented learners

Renewed calls were made this week for policy certainty on undocumented children in South African schools as intimidation against them and school principals continues. The Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO) recently held a roundtable discussion on the challenges undocumented children face in schools. Advocacy officer at the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa Sindi Moyo said the situation is getting more difficult for these learners. According to her they have received reports of at least three principals that were fined by the Department of Home Affairs for allowing undocumented learners in schools. “We need urgent solutions and we need to move fast because the numbers are growing.”

Glitches in online system adding to NPOs’ woes

The department of labour earlier announced that it will name and shame employers who fail to comply with the national minimum wage (NMW), yet its own systems are found lacking. A coalition of non-profit organisations ranging from shelters for abused women to organisations providing post-rape and other related care and residential facilities for older persons and people with disabilities raised concerns in a letter to the minister of labour Mildred Oliphant about problems they are experiencing with the online exemption system.

Don’t politicise our grief, moms warn SAPS and politicians

With election campaigning in full swing safety and crime has become buzz words for politicians, but mothers of children killed in gang violence on the Cape Flats made it clear they will not let their grief be politicised. This follows political parties like the DA and ANC prioritising the safety of communities on the Cape Flats during their election campaigns. DA leader Mmusi Maimane had a voter registration drive in Bonteheuwel in January where he boasted that the City of Cape Town was the first to introduce a gang unit to help keep communities safe. Thereafter the police leadership briefed MPs on the progress of the anti-gang strategy in Parliament. Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa himself has been on the campaign trail in the Western Cape and this week had a public engagement with community stakeholders on issues ranging from gangs to housing.

Parliament will close another four portfolio committee meetings to the public between 26 November until 4 December before the national legislature wraps up for its recess period. This follows at least two letters written to the Speaker’s office in Parliament raising concerns over closing meetings to the public. However, a collective of civil society organisations under Parliament Watch, sections of the media and individuals are still waiting on a response to the concerns they raised. Parliament has since indicated it is still drafting a response to the concerns raised in the letter. So, what are these concerns?

Action not just outrage needed to protect children

Outrage alone will not save our children from harm and neglect but fixing the tools for social protection of children will be a good start. This is how some MPs in Parliament recently responded to the department of social development’s figures showing multimillion-rand underspending on programmes like foster care grants. MPs across the political spectrum in the Portfolio Committee on Social Development raised concern and demanded answers over the department’s under expenditure on social assistance totalling almost R900 million. This concern however, did not necessarily translate into decisive demands for action in the department’s Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR).

Another wake-up call for Parly's Public Participation

As the proposed constitutional amendments to allow land expropriation without compensation is facing its first court challenge, Parliament now has another opportunity to deal with its legislative mandate’s great Achilles' heel – meaningful public participation. On November 15 after nationwide public hearings spanning over two months the Joint Constitutional Review Committee in Parliament adopted its report in favour of amending section 25 of the Constitution. Lobby group Afriforum however, launched a court application to have this report set aside citing serious concerns over the public participation process.

Return Minimum Wage Bill to Parliament, CGE demands

As Cosatu on Monday congratulated the President for signing the National Minimum Wage Bill into law, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) requested the bill to be returned to Parliament to be reconsidered. There has however, been no formal announcement from the Presidency that the bill was indeed signed into law. The CGE’s request follows serious concerns raised by the non-profit sector over the bill’s possible impact on the fate of care workers and other NPO staff. Despite concerns raised, certain government departments until now opted to follow a “wait and see” approach to what has been labelled an impending crisis for the non-profit (NPO) sector, and the women and children depending on its services.

Questions in Parliament is one of the few ways MPs can use to hold the executive accountable. The efficacy of this oversight mechanism however, depends on the extend the executive answers and if they are present during oral question time or in committee meetings. This is not just important for oversight but also transparency as principles of for good governance. Ministers often come under fire for dodging questions. The DA last year took aim at former Social Development minister Bathabile Dlamini who they claimed failed to answer 93% of the questions relating to the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa).

Police failing domestic abuse victims? Counting the costs of SAPS non-compliance

For the past three reporting periods between 2016 and March 2018, not a single police station visited by the SAPS’ Civilian Secretariat has fully complied with the Domestic Violence Act. In terms of this Act, the SAPS must report biannually to Parliament on complaints received against police officers who don’t properly implement the Act and the steps taken against them. Beyond the grim nature of domestic-violence statistics, the costs of non-compliance are often high and can have life-or-death consequences on a victim.

Civil Union Bill gets committee's go-ahead

The Civil Union Amendment Bill recently got the go ahead from Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs when it recently adopted a motion of desirability on amending the Civil Union Act. many hailed the Act passed in 2006, as a big victory for the LGBTQ-community as it extended marriage rights, albeit in the form of a civil union, to same-sex couples. The euphoria over the Act was short-lived as it did not necessarily mean a happily ever after for many same-sex couples who got turned away from certain branches of the Department of Home Affairs.