Two more private members’ Bills have been tabled in Parliament – each prepared on behalf of the DA.
Leon Shreiber’s Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Amendment Bill seeks to provide for greater transparency and accountability regarding decisions on the salaries, allowances, tools of trade and benefits of South Africa’s President, Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers.
Deon George’s Responsible Spending Bill ‘introduces statutory fiscal rules aimed at containing national debt and debt service costs’. Focusing on consumption expenditure and excluding capital expenditure from any adjustments, in George’s view these rules would ‘implicitly encourage … government to invest more in capital projects’. In addition, the Bill seeks to subject fiscal control to parliamentary oversight.
It is unusual for a private member’s Bill to progress beyond the desirability vote routinely taken by a National Assembly committee when considering whether to proceed with processing new legislation.
Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch