President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday address a joint hybrid sitting of the two houses of Parliament. The aim of the joint sitting is to give the President an opportunity to outline South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan.
Parliament will continue to do its work including holding meetings of committees to consider Budget Review and Recommendation Reports, process legislation and conduct oversight work.
The economic recovery plan seeks to address the huge economic fallout and job losses that have resulted from the COVID-19 lockdown.
Cabinet is expected to finalise the plan at its meeting on Wednesday. The focus areas for the recovery plan are:
- Investment in Energy
- Investment in Water and Sanitation
- Investment in Public Transport
- Investment in Road and Bridge construction
- Investment in Human Settlements
- Investment in the Health Sector
- Investment in Education
- Investment in Digital Infrastructure
The joint sitting means the President’s reply to oral questions in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will be rescheduled.
Ahead of that, Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi will brief the NCOP on Tuesday on the measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on jobs.
There will be a total of 42 committee meetings of both Houses.
Below is the statement from the Presidency:
Among the more noteworthy will be a briefing to the Employment and Labour Committee by StatsSA on September’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey.
The Communications Committee will be briefed by the South African Post Office on its turnaround strategy and South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) cash payments.
In the video below, Black Business Council speaks about the Economic Recovery Plan:
