LETTER: Portfolio committees must crack on
These committees should function as the engine room for future legislation and be a powerful oversight mechanism
Well done to Genevieve Quintal for her analysis of the portfolio committee system (“Time for parliament to show it has teeth (https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/columnists/2019-06-21-genevieve-quintal-time-for-parliament-to-buckle-down-and-tackle-task-at-hand/)”, June 21). It should in fact be a powerful oversight mechanism and function as the engine room for future legislation. Unfortunately, these portfolio committees were almost completely destroyed in the fifth parliament by the Zuma administration.
There was some hope that the new chairs of the sixth administration would try to perform what was expected of them, but now we see many are tainted before they even begin. When I had to serve on the labour portfolio committee in the fifth parliament, we spent most of the time listening to the chair ranting and raving, literally shouting at labour department officials. Very little was done and I was forced to descend into the “dust of the fight”. ..
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