REVENUE DIVISION, APPROPRIATION BILLS: NCOP COMMITTEE CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

REVENUE DIVISION, APPROPRIATION BILLS: NCOP COMMITTEE CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

• 29 October 2026
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

The NCOP’s Appropriations Committee has called for written submissions on three Bills recently tabled with the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement and yet to be processed by the committee’s National Assembly counterpart:

• the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill (input deadline 17 November 2026; parliamentary hearings two days later)
• the Adjustments Appropriation Bill (input deadline 30 November 2026; parliamentary hearings two days later), and
• the Special Appropriation (2026/27 Financial Year) Bill (input deadline 30 November 2026; parliamentary hearings two days later).

Parliamentary procedures require all three Bills to be processed by the National Assembly’s Appropriations Committee and passed by the House before being referred to the NCOP committee for concurrence. Yet the National Assembly committee has yet to call for submissions and schedule its own hearings.

According to the most recent parliamentary committee meetings schedule, on 28 October 2026 National Treasury briefed members on proposals in the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill and the Special Appropriation (2026/27 Financial Year) Bill. Perhaps the Adjustments Appropriation Bill was covered during the same briefing. Whatever the case, at the time of writing NCOP committee members had yet to be briefed on any of the Bills concerned.

As section 76 legislation with implications for the provinces, the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill may well require special attention from the NCOP and provincial legislatures. As SA Legal Academy has regularly reported over the years, this annual piece of proposed new legislation provides for changes to allocations in the most recent Division of Revenue Act in the context of:

the equitable division of revenue raised nationally among the national, provincial and local spheres of government

the determination of each province’s equitable share of the provincial share of that revenue, and

any other allocations to provinces, local government or municipalities from the national government’s share of that revenue, along with any conditions on which those allocations may be made.

By contrast, as money Bills the Adjustments Appropriation Bill and Special Appropriation (2026/27 Financial Year) Bill focus on additional allocations to national government departments. This matter falls firmly within the National Assembly committee’s area of responsibility.

With that in mind, one might reasonably expect the first call for written submissions on these two Bills to come from the National Assembly’s Appropriations Committee. One might also reasonably expect stakeholder input on these Bills to be factored into a National Assembly committee report for consideration by the NCOP committee in advance of its own hearings.

In the absence of an official explanation, Parliament’s back-to-front approach to public participation in the revenue appropriating legislative process remains a concern.

• committee notice
• Division of Revenue Amendment Bill
• Adjustments Appropriation Bill
• Special Appropriation (2026/27 Financial Year) Bill
• committee meetings schedule, 28 October 2026

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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