General: Parliament to proceed with annual Constitution review

In anticipation of conducting the next annual review of the Constitution, the parliamentary committee concerned has called for written submissions by 31 May, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch.  According to the media statement announcing this, the possibility of hearing oral representations has not been ruled out.

Meanwhile, National Assembly and some NCOP committees have entered their second week of virtual meetings to consider the latest annual performance and strategic plans prepared by government departments and the various other entities on which they are required to conduct oversight. These plans include 2020/21 budget vote proposals, underpinned by the national Budget tabled in February. Under normal circumstances, this process would be followed by ministerial speeches in the House motivating for each departmental budget allocation deemed necessary. However, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni intends tabling a revised 2020 Budget (Fin24) reflecting the ‘reprioritisations’ and reallocations required to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic. There have been no pronouncements on how this will be accommodated by the virtual committee meetings now under way.