Arrangements for the funeral of King Goodwill Zwelithini will take centre stage this week.
The longest-serving monarch in Zulu history died on Friday at the age of 72. He had a diabetic condition.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said last week Zwelithini would be given a special state funeral, usually reserved for presidents and former leaders. AmaZulu traditional prime minister Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi confirmed that the king will be buried in a private funeral on Wednesday night, followed by a memorial function on Thursday.
On Tuesday MPs will vote on whether to establish a committee to look into public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.
Mkhwebane, who has been accused of using her office to defend an ANC faction aligned to former president Jacob Zuma, has been under pressure after a series of judgments that raised questions about her competence, honesty and partiality in dealing with politically charged cases.
If she is removed, she will be the first head of a chapter 9 institution to be booted out of office after a damning report by an independent panel found prima facie evidence of misconduct or incompetence.
The panel, which was appointed in November 2020 after a series of devastating court judgments against Mkhwebane, called into question her fitness to run an agency set up to protect and promote democracy.
The report pointed to evidence demonstrating her overreach and exceeding the bounds of her powers; repeated errors such as incorrect interpretation of the law and other patent legal errors; failure to give the right to be heard to the affected people and sustained lack of knowledge on how to carry out her duties.
DA motion
The backing of at least two-thirds of MPs in the National Assembly is required to remove her.
The ANC is divided on the issue with some party members stating that supporting her removal essentially means the ANC is backing a DA motion. The DA had asked that parliament launch an inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness for the job in 2020.
At the weekend, ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said the party is in favour of the establishment of the committee to consider Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.
“All that will be required at this stage is to agree on whether to proceed with the inquiry…. We are not dealing with the merits of the case, whether someone should be removed or not.”
On Monday, Eskom will hold its quarterly state of the system briefing. This comes as the power utility that supplies virtually all SA’s power struggles to keep the lights on. It announced on Sunday that load-shedding, which returned last week, will continue until Wednesday due to a further loss of generation capacity and to replenish emergency generation reserves.
Before Covid-19 hit, ratings agencies cited state-owned entities, including Eskom and SAA — which carry debts of close to R700bn between them — among the risks to the sustainability of the nation’s finances.
On Tuesday, during a question-and-answer session in the National Council of Provinces, MPs will ask public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan about the issues at Eskom and SAA. On Eskom, Gordhan will be asked about the restructuring plans at the power utility. The minister will also be asked whether his department is concerned about the delays in the revival of SAA.
Also on Tuesday, the standing committee on public accounts will meet department of public enterprises officials to discuss progress made by the business rescue practitioners at SAA.
On Wednesday, deputy president David Mabuza will answer questions during a National Assembly sitting. On Thursday, the governance cluster and some of the economics cluster ministers, including finance minister Tito Mboweni, will respond to questions in parliament.
On Friday, the National Assembly will consider and debate the report of the standing committee on appropriation on the Division of Revenue Bill. The bill provides for the equitable division of revenue raised nationally among the national, provincial and local spheres of government.
Parliament’s portfolio committee on transport will from Tuesday hold public hearings on the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill. One of the most talked about proposed amendments to the act is to reduce the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers to zero.
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