PARLIAMENT: CLARITY NEEDED ON APPROPRIATION BILLS’ PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS

PARLIAMENT: CLARITY NEEDED ON APPROPRIATION BILLS’ PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROCESS

• 28 September 2026
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

Most Bills before Parliament are processed by the National Assembly committee concerned before being considered by its NCOP counterpart. That process generally includes a call for stakeholder submissions and parliamentary hearings.

Once adopted by the National Assembly committee, the Bill is sent to the House for endorsement and – if passed – to the NCOP committee for concurrence, when another call for stakeholder input is made and more hearings conducted.

Yet the procedure for dealing with Appropriation and Special Appropriation Bills appears to be different.

The Second Special Appropriation (2025/26 Financial Year) Bill is the most recent piece of draft legislation to have been subjected to a procedurally back-to-front public participation process:

On 16 September 2026, the NCOP’s Appropriations Committee issued a notice calling for written submissions by 6 October 2026 in anticipation of hearings scheduled to take place two days later. Yet at the time, the National Assembly’s Appropriations Committee had not progressed beyond briefings on the Bill from affected national government departments.

Only on 25 September 2026 did the National Assembly committee issue a notice calling for submissions – by 29 September 2026, in anticipation of hearings the following day. Yet departmental briefings on the Bill took place on 12 and 16 August 2026, followed on 22 September 2026 by one from the Financial & Fiscal Commission (FFC).

Rarely, if ever, is an Appropriation or Special Appropriation Bill amended by the parliamentary committees concerned. Neither do these Bills attract widespread stakeholder interest. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) usually contributes a written submission and oral representation to the process, as does the FFC. Over the years, input has also been received from a range of stakeholders including the South African Human Rights Commission, the Budget Justice Coalition, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse and Equal Education.

But the point of this article is the extent to which public participation in the parliamentary process followed when dealing with Appropriation and Special Appropriation Bills might be perceived to be superficial and little more than a rubber stamping exercise. 

As SA Legal Academy has already reported, the Second Special Appropriation (2025/26 Financial Year) Bill seeks to ensure adequate budgetary support for the Equalisation Fund, which was established under the 1977 Central Energy Fund Act to stabilise the cost of fuel to consumer. It will be interesting to see how many stakeholders participate in the hearings.

Meanwhile, however, clarity is needed on the procedural correctness of a back-to-front process in place ever since South Africa’s seventh democratic Parliament began its work – and the imposition of punishing deadlines at exceptionally short notice.

• Bill
• NCOP committee notice
• National Assembly Committee notice

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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