Latest news with #HlengiweMkhaliphi
IOL News
29-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
What the proposed changes to the South African Reserve Bank mean for South Africa
The nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will come up for discussion in Parliament this week Image: Pixabay The nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) will come up for discussion in Parliament this week when the finance standing committee holds a public hearing to amend the law governing the central bank. The bill, a private member's first introduced in Parliament by EFF leader Julius Malema, seeks to amend the SARB Act to make the State the sole shareholder of the shares in the bank. The Parliament programme shows that the Standing Committee on Finance will hold public hearings on the South African Reserve Bank Amendment Bill in a virtual meeting platform on Wednesday. The hearing comes after members of the public, stakeholders and stakeholders were given an opportunity to comment on the SARB amendment bill until June 30. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Those still wishing to make written submissions and indications to make oral submission have until Monday at 12 midday to do so. The bill was first introduced in Parliament in August 2018, but it lapsed in May 2019 during the end of the sixth Parliament only to be revived in October the same year. In 2020, the EFF and the parliamentary legal services had briefed the standing committee on finance on the bill and conducted a first round of public hearings, which were held in November 2018. But, the bill lapsed four years later in May 2024 in the sixth Parliament and then got revived again in July 2024. After the Red Berets pushed for the bill to be on the parliamentary programme for consideration in the new administration, the standing committee on finance resolved in September last year to conduct a second round of public hearings after it was briefed by the Parliamentary Budget Office on its analysis and assessment of the bill's socio-economic impact. When there was no progress in processing of the South African Reserve Bank Bill, EFF MP Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi took up the matter with the National Assembly Programme Committee towards the end of March and was promised a response at the next meeting. Whereas House Chairperson Cedric Frolick had indicated in April that the Standing Committees had been prioritising the processing of the report on fiscal framework and revenue proposals, an advertisement was placed for public comments from June 3 ahead of the public hearing this Wednesday. The bill, in its current form, seeks to delete certain definitions in SARB Act and provide for the appointment of certain board of directors rectors by the Minister of Finance. "A current director of the bank or any member of the general public may nominate persons to serve as appointed directors of the bank in the manner as may be prescribed," reads the bill, adding that appointed board directors shall hold office for three years. The bill proposes that the State should be sole shareholder of shares in the SARB. 'The rights attached to the shares in the bank must be exercised by the Minister on behalf of the State." The SARB's shareholders were 650 when the bill was introduced in Parliament. The bill also provides that the Minister shall appoint two firms of public accounts to act as auditors of the SARB for every financial year.
News24
13-06-2025
- Politics
- News24
EFF calls for national state of disaster as Eastern Cape flooding claims 78 lives
The EFF has urged Cogta Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to declare a national state of disaster in the Eastern Cape after flooding claimed 78 lives. EFF MP Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi said the consequences of the flooding exceeded the provincial authorities' capacity to manage, contain, or resolve the situation. Mkhaliphi said the EFF was painfully aware of mistakes in the past, particularly the failure to act swiftly and transparently after the 2022 and 2023 floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The EFF has called on Cogta Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to declare a national state of disaster in the Eastern Cape. The party has also proposed that a national disaster response command council be set up to deal with the tragedies that unfolded in the province as a result of heavy rain and flooding this week. The death toll stands at 78. EFF MP Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi has written a letter to Hlabisa to urgently request the declaration of a national state of disaster. In the letter, Mkhaliphi said the flooding was a catastrophic event and that the consequences of it exceeded provincial authorities' capacity to manage, contain, or resolve the situation. READ | 'I've never seen anything like this': Eastern Cape survivor recounts flood nightmare 'It is our firm view that the conditions outlined in Section 27(1) of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No. 57 of 2002) have now clearly been met. The scale of destruction, the level of human loss, and the visible institutional incapacity of the provincial government demand that a national state of disaster be declared without delay. 'The premier of the Eastern Cape, Oscar Mabuyane, has himself publicly conceded that the province lacks the necessary resources, technical capability and institutional capacity to deal with the scale of this disaster,' Mkhaliphi said. She added that efforts by provincial emergency services officials, NGOs, and local communities were not enough. Entire roads have been washed away, access to affected rural areas is severely limited, and the recovery of bodies and delivery of aid has been delayed in many areas. These delays cost lives. 'The Disaster Management Act allows for a national declaration where 'existing legislation and contingency arrangements do not adequately provide for the national executive to deal effectively with the disaster'. This is precisely the situation in the Eastern Cape today. 'If the national executive fails to intervene decisively and timeously, we risk even more loss of life, exposure to disease, the collapse of already fragile municipal systems, and deepening trauma to already marginalised communities,' Mkhaliphi added. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to visit the province on Friday. Mkhaliphi said the EFF was painfully aware of the mistakes of the past, particularly the government's failure to act swiftly and transparently in the aftermath of the 2022 and 2023 floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. 'Billions were pledged, but communities are still waiting for houses, clinics, schools, and roads to be rebuilt. Corruption flourished under the cloak of emergency procurement. It is for this reason that we not only call for the declaration of a national state of disaster but also for the establishment of real-time auditing and accountability measures. 'The Office of the Auditor-General, the Public Protector, and civil society stakeholders must be integrated into the national disaster response mechanism from the onset,' she said.
Eyewitness News
02-05-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Parliament searching for venue to host Godongwana's third attempt at tabling a budget
CAPE TOWN - The finance minister's third attempt at tabling a budget has become a logistical headache for Parliament, giving the administration less than three weeks to find a venue to host dome tent which was erected earlier this year for plenary sessions is off limits this May, to allow for it to be reinforced ahead of the winter months and for the interior to be the failed attempt in February and the budget tabling in March were held in the dome, with Parliament's National Assembly chamber currently undergoing post-fire is set to return to hybrid plenary sittings in May, allowing for only around 200 MPs to attend physically in the Good Hope than the chamber of the National Council of Provinces, there's no space big enough on the parliamentary precinct to accommodate over 400 members and staff since the fire razed two chambers in has had to hire flooring, furniture and information technology equipment to set up the dome as a working space, and is now wanting to acquire permanent fixtures to reduce Cape Town City Hall has been used for budget tabling in the past, with costs associated with the Cape Town International Convention Centre used for the inauguration of members said to be too the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is insistent all members must be present when Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tables a new budget on 21 party's Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi: "We can't back to use the virtual platform. As things stand, there's no budget. People are confused, they don't know what will happen. Now we must be told we must not be grandstanding but we must grandstand because we are protecting the voiceless." Godongwana revealed in a parliamentary reply to the EFF in April that the Treasury had spent R2.4 million in preparation for the failed budget tabling in February.
