DA will continue to fight for accountability despite ANC shooting down two Bills
15 June 2022
In a disappointing display of what appears to be willful dereliction of legislative duty, in the Parliamentary Committee for Finance, the ANC has seen fit to vote against the desirability of two non-partisan private members bills.
These bills (download here and here) are aimed at plugging the lacunae in the Public Finance Management Act (1999) to extend Parliament’s oversight capacity in relation to the granting or refusal of government indemnities and securities and to amend section 65(2) of the PFMA to ensure the timeous tabling of financial statements and audit reports.
Despite National Treasury’s support "in principle" for the two bills, the committee has endorsed National Treasury’s curious proposal to outsource legislation to itself which, in effect allows for National Treasury and the executive’s continued unfettered freedom to potentially keep the door open to executive’s discretion in this regard.
The mischief that these two bills attempt to address has been evident for many years. Indeed, both bills were first introduced by the DA in 2018 some four years ago.