Cape Town – EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has criticised Parliament’s rushed oversight of executive budgets, citing insufficient time for MPs to analyse documents before debates.
Ndlozi argued that committees received materials last-minute, hindering thorough scrutiny and suggesting Parliament was pressured to rubber-stamp budgets without proper interrogation.
“Members received documents in the meeting or the night before and the committees are forced to sit, in most cases, for two hours to consider extensive entities.
“There is no interrogation and it cannot take place under those conditions. There’s no single committee where members received documents at least 48 hours before,” he told the National Assembly’s Programming Committee on Thursday.
Ndlozi criticised Parliament for disorganisation, noting that portfolio committees had to abbreviate meetings and yield venues to others, undermining qualitative parliamentary work.
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He argued that the executive gained an unfair advantage due to delayed announcements on portfolio committees, which were finalised three weeks after the president’s election.
This situation hindered MPs from effectively reviewing and approving budgets by the end of July.
Ndlozi called for postponement of President Ramaphosa’s parliamentary address to prioritise budget scrutiny, highlighting disorganization and urging for adequate preparation time.
MK party MP Mnqobi Msezane voiced similar concerns about insufficient time to scrutinise budget documents, calling for a delay to ensure proper preparation.
National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza recognised the problem but stressed the importance of following set timelines, which involve the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
She noted that some committees might have to reschedule and pointed out that the current programme was approved in the previous programming committee meeting.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
