Latest news with #LindsayDentlinger
Eyewitness News
02-07-2025
- Business
- Eyewitness News
Final leg of national budget process in peril amid DA's plans to boycott budgets of compromised ministers
Lindsay Dentlinger 2 July 2025 | 13:24 Picture: @ParliamentofRSA/X CAPE TOWN - The final leg of the national budget process could hit another snag amid the Democratic Alliance (DA)'s plans to boycott the budgets of at least two departments presided over by compromised ministers. A parliamentary legal opinion suggests that the Appropriation Bill can only be passed if all departmental votes have been agreed to. If the DA follows through with this threat, it means the African National Congress (ANC) might again have to shop around for votes to ensure the bill crosses the line when it's put to the vote in three weeks' time. Over the weekend, DA leader John Steenhuisen said that while his party would reject some departmental votes, it would not vote against the Appropriation Bill as a whole. ALSO READ: • MKP, EFF reject transport dept's budget, say it lacks vision for transforming public transport • Majority of political parties in NCOP reject higher education dept's budget, call for Nkabane's axing Steenhuisen said the protest action was in response to the ANC not acting against those fingered in corruption, while firing a DA deputy minister for unsanctioned travel. But a legal opinion to Parliament's Standing Committee on Appropriations advises that all of the 42 separate votes have to be passed first, before the schedule to the bill can be put to the vote. This means if the Government of National Unity (GNU) is not united on even one of the departmental votes, the bill can not be put to the House for approval. "The Public Finance Management Act requires that Parliament first approves the votes in Schedule 1 to the Appropriation Bill and then consider Schedule 1 for approval. The National Assembly rule 328, gives effect to this provision by requiring the same procedure," reads the legal opinion. The DA's latest pushback against the ANC could once again put the ANC in a budget predicament. In March, it had to rely on parties outside of the coalition to shore up the votes needed to pass the fiscal framework, which underpinned a previous version of the budget, which was also rejected by the DA and Freedom Front Plus. Now it may have to do so again to ensure the budgets of all departments, including those run by ministers who don't meet the DA's approval, are passed. The Appropriation Bill must be passed within four months of the start of a financial year, which is the end of July, else departments' spending will be severely curtailed to only 10 percent monthly of the previous year's budget.
Eyewitness News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Kubayi says lifestyle audits underway in Justice Dept in effort to root out corruption
Lindsay Dentlinger 5 May 2025 | 12:34 Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi addressed the 15th Commonwealth Regional Conference for Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa in Cape Town on 5 May 2025. Picture: @DOJCD_ZA/X CAPE TOWN - Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said that lifestyle audits were currently underway in her department as part of efforts to root out corruption. It's been a pledge that President Cyril Ramaphosa has made since the start of his presidency in 2018, but has not been followed through across the civil service. ALSO READ: SIU's Mothibi flags increasing threats against investigators probing corruption Addressing the 15th Commonwealth Regional Conference for Heads of Anti-Corruption Agencies in Africa on Monday, Kubayi said the methods of preventing and combatting corruption should be infused with modern technology tools, such as artificial intelligence. "Through this, we will be able to detect those who are living above their means as a way to starting to understand that as a public servant who are serving, if they live above their means, we will be able to follow the money, but we will be able to also follow the behaviour. That's why we are emphasising the need for us to change the way we investigate is important, and cannot be emphasised more." Head of the Special Investigating Unit, Andy Mothibi, said that lifestyle audits were key to nipping corruption in the bud, providing upfront indicators of where graft may be taking place. "We would like to know if you are living above your means. How is it that you afford that? And we follow the sources of the money and so, as part of the prevention framework, we will be implementing several measures and we will be speaking about those during the five days of the conference."
Eyewitness News
06-05-2025
- Health
- Eyewitness News
BHF, SAPPF given green light to challenge NHI Act
Lindsay Dentlinger 6 May 2025 | 16:11 National Health Insurance (NHI) Cyril Ramaphosa FILE: President Cyril Ramaphosa poses after signing the National Health Insurance Bill into law at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 15 May 2024. Picture: Picture: GCIS CAPE TOWN - The private health care sector has scored a first victory in its legal battle against the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act. The Gauteng High Court has given the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) and the South African Private Practitioners Forum (SAPPF) the green light to challenge the president's signing of the legislation just before last year's election. They had argued that the president assented to the legislation despite the objections and concerns over funding raised during the parliamentary process. The Gauteng High Court found in favour of the applicants that the court did have the jurisdiction to entertain the matter. It said that President Ramaphosa's decision to assent to and sign the National Health Insurance Act into law was reviewable. "It is my respectful view that this court has the necessary jurisdiction to adjudicate this case for the conduct of the president complained of does not involve sensitive political issues or political-laden nor does it implicate the separation of powers," reads the Twala has now given the president ten calendar days to furnish the court with the record of his Board of Healthcare Funders instituted proceedings in May last year to have the president's decision reviewed and set aside after he signed the bill into law in the same month, just two weeks before the general president and health minister had argued that the High Court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate these proceedings and was incapable of it claimed that if the court was capable of review, the president was under no obligation to produce a record of the decision in terms of the rules of court found it noteworthy that neither the finance minister nor the Treasury, which were also cited as respondents, responded to the case. The BHF, which represents private medical schemes, appealed to the president in December 2023, soon after Parliament passed the bill to reconsider implementing it, because it believes it to be financially impractical.
