Tuesday was a particularly busy day in Parliament. We take a closer look at the big debates that took centre stage. (Gallo)
Parliament is supposed to be the engine room of debate and decision-making in South Africa. It was therefore fitting that almost every nagging talking point in the country, with the exception of Manchester United's 20th league title, found its way into Parliament's committee rooms on Tuesday.
No less than 24 parliamentary committees met on Tuesday to discuss various plans, programmes, budgets and pieces of legislation – from police brutality and the deployment of South Africa's troops in the Central African Republic, to the country's dwindling electricity supply and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
Letebele Masemola-Jones, media manager at Parliament, said the buzzing schedule, however, was not unusual for this time of year.
On a normal day for committee work in Parliament there are 15 to 20 committee meetings sitting in Parliament, she said. At the end of April however, the number jumps significantly as various departments and parastatals appear before various the committees to report on their progress from the previous financial year and present their plans for the new financial year.
"What happened [on Tuesday] is not unusual as these interactions are an annual occurrence, especially at this time when departments are due to present budget votes to various committees in Parliament," she said.
Masemola-Jones said that the breadth of the issues covered on Tuesday were reflections of the state of the nation.
"It's vibrant, it's alive and people are compelled to deal with all the issues that make up our daily experiences," said Jones.
Marches and readings
Parliament was also the destination of the Cape Town leg of the South African Democratic Teachers' Union's (Sadtu) march. The union demanded Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and her director general Bobby Soobrayan be axed over a breakdown in collective bargaining negotiations. A parallel march was held in Pretoria.
Parliament also saw a reading of the Tourism Bill, two readings of the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill, and a debate on Freedom Day titled: "Mobilising society towards consolidating democracy and freedom".
That the General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill was read on the same day that the Protection of State Information Bill was finalised may have been incidental, but concerns about secrecy highlighted by both pieces of legislation are not.
The ad-hoc committee on the Protection of State Information Bill met to finalise amendments to the draft law, which was recently returned by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). The meeting was a perfunctory one as the committee already agreed that the amendments proposed by the NCOP would be accepted and incorporated into the Bill.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), African Christian Democratic Party and Congress of the People stated that while they accepted the recommended amendments, they were still opposed to the Bill on constitutional grounds. The Bill is to debated in the House on Thursday, April 25. If approved, it will go to President Jacob Zuma to be signed into law but could still face a challenge on constitutional grounds.
Police brutality debate
The ongoing debate on police brutality in the country has drawn attention to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).
The IPID is tasked with investigating and sanctioning police officers accused of misconduct, including assaulting civilians.
On Tuesday, the IPID briefed Parliament's portfolio committee on police on its strategic plan for 2013/2014.
The committee said the IPID needed to improve the quality of its investigations, and up the number of investigations targets that it sets for itself.
During a statement on the South African Defence Force's deployment in the Central African Republic, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula also accused the DA of being thankful for the "gift of the loss of our soldiers so close to the next general elections".
This sparked objections from the DA with the party's spokesperson on defence, David Maynier, saying the deployment was a "monumental defence-diplomacy failure".
Energy
The country's energy needs were also drawn into focus with discussions on electricity supply and alternative energy sources, like South Africa's nuclear energy plan.
In a crucial meeting of the energy committee, Eskom chief executive Brian Dames told MPs that there was not enough coal available to secure energy demands and that four new mines – at an investment of almost R100-billion – would need to be opened in order to meet demand over the next five years.
Dames said the power producer currently has a 47-day reserve of coal and that it will negotiate more than 20 coal supply contracts in order to meet demands
He also told the committee R500-billion would be needed to revamp old plants and to build new ones, such as the massive Medupi power plant, the first unit of which is to go online at the end of the year.
During the same meeting, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) told the committee that consumers could see further electricity price hikes if government goes ahead with its plans to build more nuclear power stations.
Concerns that building nuclear energy plants would leave room for corruption on a colossal scale were raised but the energy department has already made it clear that the building of nuclear energy plants is non-negotiable.
SABC
Meanwhile, the communications portfolio was thrown in disarray when the SABC's acting chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, a divisive figure in the broadcaster's ongoing woes, attended a briefing by the new interim board, which was set up shortly after the board resigned en masse last month.
The board presented the broadcaster's third quarter report and a three-year corporate plan. Chief executive Lulama Makhobo revealed that the broadcaster was failing to reach its targets, including measures such as retaining a target audience of 60% and launching new channels.
And the criminal justice sector was also dealt a blow, with the revelation by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), during a presentation to the justice portfolio committee, that it would not be able to hire new prosecutors for newly established courts due to budget cuts.
The NPA will also need an additional R200-million to pay its staff this year, and it has suspended its aspirant prosecutor programme in an effort to cut costs.
But it is not just the NPA that is feeling the pinch of an instruction from national treasury for departments to tighten their belts. The department of social development told its respective committee that it is cutting its programme for older persons, substance abuse, people with disabilities, children and families, by R11-million.
DA spokesperson on social development Mike Waters said the minister of social development, Bathabile Dlamini, needed to explain why the budget was cut for an item "most necessary to alleviate poverty for those that need it the most".