Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya has appealed to the Speaker of the National Assembly to ensure that the South African Social Security Agency Bill and the Social Assistance Bill not be displaced from the programme of Parliament this year.
The two Bills were to have been debated in the National Assembly on Tuesday October 21, but the sitting of this house has been delayed until November.
While Speaker Frene Ginwala’s media spokesperson, Lunga Nqgengelele, could not immediately react to the minister’s statement, the provisional parliamentary programme has scheduled two Bills for debate on Tuesday November 11, when the National Assembly resumes its session.
Skweyiya said it was crucial that these bills be considered on that day.
“The bills contribute to the progressive realisation of the rights in the Constitution, and are aimed at further improving the quality of life of the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society.”
The South African Social Security Agency Bill aims to establish a national administration and payment system of social security grants. At present this function is carried out by the provinces. The Social Assistance Bill sets out the framework for the grant system.
The minister also argued that it was “vital” that Parliament completed its work on the Children’s and Older Person’s Bills by February 2004 “at the latest”.
He argued that these Bills “in real and concrete ways” addressed urgent human needs.
“They are the premise of our contract with our people, especially the most vulnerable for growth and development and need to be assigned due priority.”
However, Children’s Institute spokesperson Paula Proudlock said she was concerned about the fast passage of the proposed Children’s Bill and called for it to be delayed until after the election — expected to take place early next year — rather than for Parliament to hastily process it before then.
She said the experience of the passage of the Bills was the National Assembly social development committee did not have the legal capacity to make amendments and had to continually defer to the legal capacity of the executive (the Cabinet). This meant a weakening of parliamentary oversight.
She said the Children’s Bill, in particular, was a highly complex bill and huge sections had been excised in the last couple of months since an original version had been put on the table by the South African Law Commission.
Proudlock noted in particular that a universal child-support grant system had been excised from the Bill. — I-Net Bridge